| Topic Name: |
My 2 cents on the FMP |
| Message Name: |
Sure |
| Date Posted: |
03/15/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
HBS 2003, I was wondering if I could get your input on a decision I'll have to make.
I'll be interning with the FMP program this summer in the corporate office, and I will have the opportunity to interview for a full time position with my choice of 3 divisions.
If my goals in the next 5 years or so is to get my MBA at a top 10 and move on to another industry, which divisions should I interview for and how would you approach the whole leaving for MBA scenario?
Thanks!
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| Message: |
I'll answer your second question first, because it is the easiest: DO NOT mention you MBA goals, at all. Not during your interviews/summer, not during you first couple of years at GE. Not while you work in finance for GE. It is a very anti-MBA culture.
You bring up the MBA thing when you've proven yourself to be an "A1" (top performer), have a real trackrecord of doing good stuff for the Company, and have Company Offiers (who are not in finance) who will back your application (and you should ask for a leave of absence, even if you don't plan to return).
I didn't bring up my MBA goals until I had move out of finance, and had two promotions. The Company Officer who ran the business I worked for was, at that point, a mentor and strong supporter of mine. I could trust him. If I had mentioned the MBA thing while I was still an FMP, I would have been black listed.... By the way, Jeff Immelt is a Harvard MBA. I taled with him when I was thinking of applying. He told me that GE didn't want me to do it, but that if it was a goal of mine, I should go for it. Good honest advice.
About your first question, I came up through Plastics. At the time, it was a great business. Many of GE's top leaders came up through Plastics (Welch, Immelt, Calhoun, Rice, etc...). It has changed since the big reorg last year.
If I were to return to GE, I'd probably want to work for Healthcare or Infrastructure. Industrial is a broad mix, with some great businesses, and some not so great businesses.
If your goal is to go to a top MBA program, you want to see the "real GE." To me, that is not NBC. I think you also want to work for a "real business," a business that makes and services something. So, I would not work for one of the old GE Capital businesses. A finance guy in a financing business becomes an accounting guy.
When I did FMP years ago, most of the GE Capital FMP's were wannbe I-Bankers. FMP, and GE Finance, is not banking.
Again, my advice is to work for a business that actually makes and services products, and that is core to GE's future growth. The kind of varied experience one gets doing 6 months of manufacturing finance in a plant in Ohio, with 6 months of sales support in The Netherland, with 6 months of Financial Planning & Analysis in Massachusetts, etc... makes for a great developmental and learning experience, and looks great on a B School application.
Then, off of FMP, you need to do something cool. Again, I chose not to do Corporate Audit Staff. Most of my friends did. Some have done very well. Some completely burned out. To me, I wanted to move toward being a general manager, so I made different choices, which helped to make me interesting to B Schools. My CAS budies have become too indoctrinated in GE (of course, that's just my opinion). It is a fantastic company, but you have to maintain your objectivity and create options for yourself.
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