I Considered Myself a “Small-Company Person”

If life is what happens when you’re making other plans, then business school is what happens when you discover you like your “survival job” at a NY-based private equity firm more than you like dancing and singing on stage. Upon graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in musical theatre, I moved to New York City to pursue my lifelong dream of being on Broadway. For more than a year, I performed and wrote a column for Back Stage Magazine, and, to help pay the rent, I also kept some of New York’s best financial minds organized and on time.

One constant in both the theatre and business worlds is that, while hard work is paramount, at some point, a little bit of luck is also required. In my case, I was working as a part-time administrative assistant at Warburg Pincus when an amazing opportunity came my way: an offer to join the marketing team in a professional role.

It didn’t take long in this new position for me to realize two things: 1) I loved marketing and financial services, 2) To do either of those things at a meaningful level, I needed to get an MBA. When I revealed these conclusions to several of my mentors, they all agreed I should pursue an MBA.  They also challenged me: “How do you know you love financial services, or even marketing, when that’s the only industry and the only function you’ve had any exposure to?” 

This was a fair question. So, when I was asked to join a start-up in my hometown of Portland, Oregon a year later, I accepted. It was a chance to explore another industry (organic food retail) and work across multiple functions. At My Sister’s Soup Company, I did everything from sales promotions to inventory management and site location analysis. I loved the entrepreneurial experience of wearing a number of hats. However, I missed the sophistication of the financial markets and strategy of B2B marketing.  I also discovered that, while I could do financial and operations tasks effectively, marketing and sales was where I truly excelled. 

When it was time to apply to business school, I was comfortably certain that I wanted to pursue marketing within financial services, which helped greatly in focusing my application process. I was convinced that I wanted stay on the West Coast for business school, so I sorted through the rankings and admissions guides to find schools in California and Washington. Somehow, despite its Southwest location, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas kept appearing on my list. I decided to apply to Texas and three other programs and visited each school. Within an hour of visiting UT, gut instinct kicked in and McCombs jumped to the top of the list. It’s difficult to completely articulate how I knew Texas was for me, except to say that I felt totally comfortable there.

My business school experience at Texas has been nothing short of incredible. The opportunities I have had, the friends I have made, and the professors I have learned from have absolutely changed my life. By far, my most rewarding experience at McCombs has been Venture Fellows, a student-run organization that places selected members in internships at Austin-based private equity and venture capital firms. As part of Venture Fellows, I interned during the school year and over the summer at a new investment firm which acquires, develops and commercializes intellectual property (IP) assets. In this role, I was able to leverage my PE marketing, investor relations and fundraising experience to help launch a new fund. I also had the opportunity to learn about IP assets. Initially, the technical world of IP was completely outside my comfort zone. Over time, I developed an understanding of the complex IP landscape, which was very empowering, and I’ve discovered it is applicable to many different business issues. This knowledge, combined with the other new skills and experiences I acquired during business school, expanded my view of what was possible. It was the confidence developed from these experiences that encouraged me to apply to GE’s ECLP program.

As a company, GE piqued my interest from almost the beginning of business school. Strategic Management was one of my favorite classes and we spent a number of weeks on GE case studies. But in terms of a job for me, it didn’t seem likely. For one thing, I considered myself a “small-company person” having spent most of my early career with start-ups or small firms that invest in start-ups. For another, I wanted to do marketing and sales, and I considered GE more of an operations and finance company.

However, I began to reevaluate my position regarding small vs. big companies during my summer internship. I loved the autonomy that I had at my internship and learned a lot about dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty. But I realized I also needed ongoing training and mentoring, which most small firms don’t have the resources to provide. I also recognized that there are just as many entrepreneurial activities at big firms as there are at small firms. I decided I would try to find something with a marketing/sales focus at a large firm known for great training, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. So, when I discovered GE’s ECLP program, it almost seemed too good to be true.

Remarkably, only a few days after I discovered ECLP, I received an email from a UT McCombs alum and current ECLP who was looking for students who might be interested in applying. I responded immediately and was introduced to four McCombs alums and ECLPs, a recruiting “Team Texas.” After learning more about the program, I submitted an application and participated in several phone interviews. Team Texas had warned me it would be a lot of hurry up and wait until the final round, the Interview Forum in Crotonville, so I continued to keep my fingers crossed. 

Fortunately, I was invited to Crotonville to interview for GE Capital, along with one of my good friends at McCombs, Franklin, who was invited to interview for GE Energy. At this point, Team Texas kicked it into high gear. The forum would consist of two traditional, behavioral interviews, but it was also required that we prepare a 5-minute pitch for an idea or product that we would present to a group. Franklin and I worked hard, practicing our pitches and doing mock interviews, but what really made the difference was the advice and support from Team Texas. Both of us were offered positions in the ECLP program and we both immediately accepted.

On paper, the ECLP program always made sense for me, but I knew it was right on a personal level when I visited Crotonville. Similar to the way I felt at McCombs, gut instinct kicked in: I just saw myself there and felt a real kinship with all of the people I met. On the flight back to Austin, I felt sad that I would have to wait weeks to know if I got an offer, and even then, there would be many more months to wait until we started.

My greatest expectation for the ECLP program is that, like business school, I will continue to expand my view of what’s possible and what I’m capable of doing as a result of the experiences I will have and the people I will work with at GE. I recognize that this is a tall order and that no job is perfect. But if my initial experience with GE and ECLP is any indication, my next 19 months are likely to be just as unbelievable and rewarding as my last.

Posted by Kathleen