1. GE - It seems obvious, but its amazing that each year some candidates don’t do this bit of homework. We recognise that GE is a big company and it takes a long time to understand its intricacies in detail, but it’s important that you have a reasonable understanding of the company and its areas of focus. If you are looking for a good place to obtain some of this knowledge, try reading some of our annual reports and consider subscribing to GE Reports, our daily updated news site/web blog. You can also read what some of the analysts and financial papers have said about GE recently.
2. Focus on a specific business - We are generally looking for people with relevant business sector expertise (energy, transportation, healthcare, finance, etc.), so please make sure you are up-to-date on developments in your sector. Specific business sector focused websites and news feeds are ideal. Consider using tools like Google Alerts to provide you with relevant news alerts about developments in your sector. Some questions to think about:
   • What are the key challenges?
   • How will the sector develop in the medium term?
   • What is GE’s position in the sector?
3. Leadership style -  This is one of GE’s biggest strengths. Think about your style of leadership, examples of when you have succeed as a leader, lessons learned about leadership, etc. For me, the first step to becoming a great leader is to think about your own leadership style and how it affects any team you work with or lead. There are many sites that discuss leadership and management, however one of my favourites is Manager Tools, a great series of weekly podcasts on management and leadership issues produced by two seasoned executives. For the past five years, I have been listening to them provide simple, practical and executable advice for hundreds of leadership and organisational issues.

So that’s my top 3 tips. Visit GEECLP.com for more information. Good luck!

Posted by Adrian

ECLP is certainly a global program with approximately 50% of each class coming from outside of the United States including countries like Japan, Brazil, China, Nigeria, Russia and Australia to name a few. The program also offers opportunities for many of its participants to travel abroad on international rotations and short-term assignments. For those who are unable to travel abroad for an international project, the program has committed to hosting at least one global conference outside of the US every other year. In fact, the January 2011 ECLP Conference will be held in Shanghai, China.

Over the past 6 months, a core team of 9 ECLPs has been working with the ECLP leadership team to create additional global engagement opportunities during the program. Thus far, the team has identified a number of short-term and long-term opportunities to explore. In the coming months, the team will be analyzing the costs, benefits and feasibility of each of the global opportunities to create business cases for the most promising. These global initiatives include:

1. International rotations
2. International CE/SWAT project requirement
3. Optional two-week international in-country CE/SWAT projects
4. Language & cultural training
5. Webinar events featuring global GE business leaders with international experience

The new Global Engagement Team is currently seeking creative ideas as well as passionate new members who wish to help bring a greater international focus to the ECLP program. For more information or to join the Global Engagement Team, please click here.

Posted by Jeff, Luis and Hannah

As our country was less impacted by the financial crisis and quickly able to recover during the global slow down, GE Brazil’s hiring pace did not diminish. Our current ECLPs (classes of 2011 and 2012) are in great shape: We are all working on projects in key growth industries for GE and for Brazil, such as Aviation, Oil & Gas, Water, Energy and Healthcare.

In my current rotation, I am building GE’s go-to-market strategy in the sugar and ethanol market. Over the past 10 years, this industry has been growing at a double-digit rate in Brazil. I am charged with exploring the opportunities this massive growth presents and providing recommendations on how GE can lead in this industry.

From a business perspective, sugarcane production and usage in Brazil has evolved dramatically. Brazil began cultivating sugarcane in the 16th century, while under Portuguese rule.¹ During the 20^th century, sugarcane became not just a food commodity, but also a fuel commodity. In 1970, the government launched the PROALCOOL initiative, which made Brazil the first country in the world to use ethanol as a transportation fuel. The PROALCOOL program aimed to phase out fossil-fuel usage in automobiles by mandating that ethanol fuel be blended with traditional gasoline. In the late 1990’s, technology advances allowed flex-fuel vehicles, which could run effectively on any blend of gasoline and ethanol, to take off. By 2005, ethanol usage wasn’t just limited to the automobile industry. Mills stared to use the residual core from the sugar cane as available biomass to generate power. Later came biopolymers, feed ingredients and countless other products, all derived from sugarcane, a distant relative to garden grass.

Surprisingly, for all the product possibilities of this plant, Brazil currently utilizes less than 2% of its agricultural land to produce sugarcane. More than 80% of this land is located in the Center-South of Brazil, thousands of kilometers away from the rainforests, meaning that production could be expanded substantially without impacting valuable environmental land. There is such potential for growth in this industry, but obviously there are also still challenges including foreign investment, pressure from global markets, and the ability to improve efficiency in current mills while still maintaining alignment to new international standards.

The potential and challenges of this industry also present a great opportunity for me to grow. There is high interest in sugar and ethanol across several businesses within GE – Brazil making my rotation very relevant. As a result, I have experienced a high level of exposure to a number of GE executives. For my mid-term report, I had the chance to present my project to several global leaders and will have the opportunity to present to them again for my final report in late October. Even though I will move on to my final rotation in November, I may be fortunate enough to see some of my recommendations implemented before I’m gone.

Career development opportunities in Brazil are vast. Our country is growing so rapidly that nearly every industry, from Mining, Oil & Gas and Aviation to Consumer Goods and Healthcare, is experiencing the same pace of growth as Sugar & Ethanol. The combination of this growth and the capabilities of a company as large and diverse as GE make being an ECLP in Brazil a pretty unique experience.

Posted by Luis

When Gail Blanke talks, people listen. The New York-based life coach and founder, president and chief executive officer of Lifedesigns LLC, was one of many speakers at this year’s global conference.

She was poised at the podium, with a distinct attitude and sense of purpose that commanded attention and respect. Watching and listening to her motivated me to consider what I can do to create a more powerful professional presence. In short, I’ve been inspired by Gail.

Author of the book, Throw Out Fifty Things, a de-cluttering guide to lighten your load, Gail talked about letting go of the old view of yourself and the “type” of person you think you are.  She encouraged us to contemplate what we would toss in the trash. At my table, the answers varied from tangibles like a BMX bike to more abstract items, like in my case… I said I want to cast away my doubts to make room for more self-confidence.

Gail also talked about six steps for thriving on change and mastering the art of self-reinvention (read them all on her website). But one step in particular resonates with me… never underestimate the power of a vision.

She asked a fundamental question: “How good could we make it?” Whether it was career related or personal, we pondered for a few moments, and then wrote our visions in our notepads and imagined how good we can make them. Leadership is about having a vision, taking risks and driving change… like an ECLP improving a process for example, challenging the status quo or introducing a new market segment or product. Come to think of it, this applies to our personal lives, too.

Leadership is also about action and dedication, or as Gail said, you must run! Well, you don’t literally have to run – unless that’s your thing. The point she was making is that you should find something you’re passionate about – ideally something that’s good for you mentally and/or physically - and stick with it no matter what, even when those little voices are telling you that you can’t do it.

I plan on making a trip to the bookstore to purchase her book because not only am I fascinated with her personality; I find her ideas pragmatic and utilitarian. I’m also throwing things out to de-clutter… and when I’m feeling tired and don’t want to workout I’ll fight that voice inside my head and run!

Posted by Callie

Even at my most ambitious, I still have at least one day a week when my super-slick, Arctic Zone lunch bag with the built-in ice pack doesn’t make it to the office. Luckily, we do have a cafeteria one floor down that has a lot of yummy options. This is a welcome respite from the crowded and pricey restaurants on Park Avenue.

GE has a company-wide healthymagination initiative called Your Health Your Way. As you may have guessed by now, we insist on calling it by its acronym: YHYW. As part of YHYW, our cafeteria has an incentive system in place for employees called Change Your Way. In this program, if I make a healthy choice in the cafeteria – for instance, if I choose to get the soup and salad option – I get coins that can be redeemed.

There are two denominations of coins. Red coins are for entrée items that have certain fiber content, calorie count, etc. Blue coins are for small salads, fruits and veggies, etc. The parameters for what qualifies as coin-worthy are strict. I consider myself a healthy eater and my first time in the cafeteria, I walked out coinless. As a result, the rewards for the coins are legitimate: two red coins can be redeemed for a free entrée and two blue coins can be redeemed for a free soup, small salad, etc. in what is already a relatively inexpensive cafeteria.

I have no idea how this will play out, but my guess is, while the Arctic Zone lunch bag will continue to make the occasional appearance, my Monopoloy-esque desire for a massive collection of red and blue coins will win out.

Posted by Kathleen

On a hot summer day in 2004, I stepped foot into the 201 Merritt 7 building in Norwalk joining the GE Capital team as a marketing analyst. Business was booming then – the mood was great and people fluttered the hallways with cheery dispositions. I awoke every morning feeling excited and challenged. However, I quickly realized that I needed to get to know people – the experts, great teachers, and employees who really enjoyed working here.

Over the years I’ve met and worked with so many people across many different functions, from marketing and sales to operations and IT. I established connections at all levels of the organization. Meeting colleagues informally, raising my hand to help out and attending various networking events allowed me to demonstrate credibility and build my personal brand.

Six years later I found myself ready for a new challenge so I joined ECLP to broaden my expertise in marketing and gain exposure to sales, risk and capital markets.

For my first rotation, I’m working in sales with the Media, Communications & Entertainment business within the Sponsor Finance platform. On my first day, I spent a little more than an hour with my assignment leader and we shared our backgrounds and talked about the rotation. One thing I promised I would do – for myself and for him – is to outline my goals and objectives (G&Os) so that I can refer back to what I said I would do and compare it with what I accomplished.

I’m learning how to do things that are quite foreign to me, like creating an underwriting cash flow model to better understand how much debt GE is willing to finance – whether a company is looking to make an acquisition, refinance their existing loan or various other reasons. I’m at the core of what GE Capital does … pretty cool, right? 

I won’t stop asking questions, being curious and scheduling meetings with whoever is free to meet with me. I believe that you can move up in an organization as large as GE if you have a positive attitude and a willingness to learn. I can honestly say that after six years with the company, in many aspects, I feel just as new as I did when I joined in 2004.

Posted by Callie

Sunday

The conference kicked off early Sunday morning with a variety of community service activities. Among the volunteer opportunities offered was a project at Adopt-a-Dog, Inc. in Armonk, NY. In between the time spent on yard work and laying gravel, our team enjoyed playing with all of the shelter dogs. Fortunately, we avoided dog bites, poison ivy, and sun burns to get the job done and get back to the hotel just before the World Cup final! 

Monday

After a keynote presentation from Vice Chairman and CEO of GE Capital, Mike Neal, the ECLP classes broke up into sales and marketing cohorts for the first two days of training. The focus for the sales class was uncovering customers’ hidden needs and finding solutions to match their goals. The training used a mixture of lecture, role-playing, and a computer sales simulation to engage the class and encourage ECLP interaction.

In the marketing cohort, ECLPs focused on understanding the history of GE’s brand and how it continues to evolve in today’s world. The cohort also focused in on the importance of digital marketing skills within GE. Outside firms including Google, Jive, Seed Media Group and Big Spaceship joined the conversation to provide best practices on paid search, social media and visualization techniques.

The day concluded with a build-a-bike event hosted by GE’s Women in Commercial (WIC). Over 100 ECLPs, alumni, and GE leaders gathered and assemble 17 bicycles for the Boys & Girls Club of Ridgefield, CT.

Tuesday

Nabil Habayeb, President & CEO of GE in the Middle East & Africa, opened our day with a discussion about being a “global insider.” With a growing portion of GE’s growth coming from emerging markets, Habayeb emphasized the need for ECLPs to participate in global projects and learn more about other parts of the world.

After a second day of sales and marketing training, the ECLPs were ready for a night of fun. Although rain threatened the beach party at the Woodway Beach Club in Stamford, the intermittent showers during the event did little to dampen the fun. The delicious appetizers and BBQ fare tempted gluttony but was quickly worked off on the volleyball courts and dance floor.

Wednesday

After a fun night out, the crowd perked up for the live GE Marketing forum global broadcast. CMO Beth Comstock fielded questions and offered her impressions of the evolution of marketing at GE.

Later in the day, Frances Frei, a Harvard Business School professor, kept the 2011 class on its toes with her quick wit and insightful strategies for how to build a sustainable services organization.

Jeff Immelt, GE Chairman & CEO, concluded our day with a discussion focused on GE’s next growth areas and our global outlook. After providing us with his thoughts on GE and the ECLP program, he opened the floor for about an hour of candid Q&A, during which he walked the aisles and captivated the crowd with his stories of interactions with various governments from around the globe.

Thursday

The week’s theme of global leadership continued with a keynote discussion on the subject from Paul Saunders. His lessons of respecting cultural differences were not lost on the crowd as they pondered whether the proper French greeting required two or three kisses on the cheek.

By the evening, the ECLP class of 2010 was dressed to impress for their graduation dinner cruise on the Long Island Sound. Fortunately, they were back by midnight to join the rest of the ECLPs enjoying a fun night that included Wii, billiard tables, casino games, a dance floor, and various other forms of entertainment.

Friday

Day Six ended with weary-eyed ECLPs recapping the week over coffee and a few drinks in the hotel lobby – another great conference in the books. Best of luck to the 2010’s! For everyone else, see you next January in Shanghai!

I’ve been thinking about fast failures a lot during this week – my first in the “new venture” of my career at GE Capital. In this case, success to me isn’t necessarily the homerun idea. Success in my view, in the short term, is more about figuring out how I can add value. How can I help my new assignment leader (AL) and his team? How can I be relevant?

This is why I am so grateful that, during ECLP training, it was constantly stressed that in this program, you are expected to take some personal risks. Put yourself out there. Speak up. Provide a fresh perspective. Of course, a big part of being relevant is asking a ton of questions and actively listening to the answers. I’m trying to spend a lot of my time in these first few weeks talking to people in my business about what they’re working on and what their problems are. But I’m also putting concrete things together and getting them in front of my AL and team members for genuine feedback. Though my attempts to add value may not be on the mark, they’re certainly stepping stones on the path to being relevant. Hopefully the homerun idea comes later…

Posted by Kathleen

The Recruiting Steering Committee (RSC) has certainly done a great job supporting the broad strategic direction that the champions of ECLP have designed. As GE continues to expand globally, become more health-focused and improve its digital footprint, so does the RSC. This past year we launched the RSC for EMEA and started the process to localize our recruiting efforts and ECLP support for the region to be more responsive to current and future program members and alumni. We embraced the company-wide healthymagination initiative and positioned it at the center of our planning for the 2^nd Annual ECLP case competition (Darden, GW, Thunderbird, Texas, ND, USC, Carnegie Mellon…we are coming to you!!!). And we grew our digital presence even further with new and exciting changes to both eclpblog.com and geeclp.com. The video blogs, in particular, have been a great addition and really give prospective ECLPs and their families a first hand perspective of life as an ECLP. I don’t think we could have asked for better tour guides of Seattle and Minneapolis, then Catherine and Lou!  Thanks to everyone on the team for their great contributions and fantastic ideas!

We have already begun the planning for the next twelve months and are eagerly anticipating the results of the creative and innovative ideas the team has come up with to attract the next great ECLP class!

Posted by Keith

The 2010 Recruiting Steering Committee (RSC) had its first meeting at the January ECLP Conference in Orlando, FL and now meets in Greenwich, CT to discuss accomplishments and new goals. The upcoming case competition is certainly on the agenda as is the development of this blog.

Long time readers of this blog will already know about the success of last year’s case competition between USC and ND and how its lead to the expansion of the competition to 4 additional schools. Soon this event will become the premier recruiting tool for ECLP interns. 

Long time readers of this blog will also have noticed the physical changes to the blog. There is a new layout, new pages (Out and About, Where are They Now?, follow eclp, etc) and a new channel (video). But what you may not have noticed is what’s occurred behind the scenes – a new platform for hosting the blog and a new process for gathering content. 

And this is my favorite part of RSC – the people. RSC is made up of about 20 current ECLPs. These are all people that are rockstars in their current rotations and still make sure to take time on their nights and weekends to improve the recruiting process of ECLP.

When you hear talk about Platinum Standard, it all starts with the RSC members. In order to get the best talent, we need to have the best recruiting practices and we need to have the best people to put those in place. These people are not afraid to make suggestions, present their ideas, and follow through on execution. They take pride in being an ECLP.  I continued to be impressed with their endless amounts of energy. Sometimes I think they must have 48 hours in their day, compared to my 24.

Thank you to everyone involved in this years Recruiting Steering Committee and to all of its supporters!

Posted by Heidi

At the same time we’ve tried to work consistently to bring down our environmental impact. With intiatives like carbon offsets for flights, reduced use of plastics and disposables, and reducing paper and printing waste where practical, ECLPs are striving to “walk the talk” when it comes to conservation.

In that spirit, ECLPBlog.com is happy to provide access to digital copies of the conference meeting schedules. Separate calendars are available for ECLP classes of 2010, 2011, 2012, and Summer Interns 2010. We’ve included all the information in the agenda booklet in a form that easy to sync to your Blackberry, iPhone, or other mobile device. So in addition to or in place of the agenda booklet, you can now have all the relevant information right on your mobile device.

Links to the files are below. Once you have downloaded the file and saved it to your desktop, you can simply import it into your calendar program of choice and sync to your mobile device as normal. We’ve also included a short tutorial covering how to import the calendar and sync with your iPhone, Blackberry or Android mobile device.

Please note that these calendars are only available for GE employees. For those trying to access the files from outside of GE, please sign in to the GE network and try again.

Please leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

ECLPBlog.com Team

ECLP Class of 2010 Schedule
ECLP Class of 2011 Schedule
ECLP Class of 2012 Schedule
ECLP Interns Summer 2010 Schedule

We did this by partnering with Ustream to produce a live video stream of the party. Fans were able to access the live stream on Bravo’s website, or on Ustream’s mobile app. Prior to the event, my responsibilities were facilitating a contract between Ustream and Bravo, and making sure our ad operations group was able to receive the feed live from Ustream’s cameras at the event (with space for ads, of course!). During the event, however, my responsibilities included everything from coordinating interviews with the housewives, to making sure the camera crew had access to facilities. Luckily, Melanie Wolff (class of 2011) was able to help…it’s not easy getting fans to let go of housewives for interviews!

Aside from a few technical errors, the event was a blast. Fans flew from all over the country to meet the housewives at the Brownstone, experience the red carpet, eat endless catered food, watch the premiere, and even get complimentary “NJ Housewife makeovers.” It was also a success, with fans posting about the event to Twitter and our Facebook fan pages in large numbers. Although it’s hard to attribute the live stream to on-air success, the premiere of Real Housewives of New Jersey managed to beat expectations and gain at least one new fan.

Posted by Myles

In the Middle East & Africa (MEA) marketplace, MGEC is most commonly a senior secured lender offering asset based lending, cash flow lending, vendor financing and leasing products to companies and conglomerates that need capital. MGEC will focus on the MEA region’s key sectors: Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Transportation, Sponsor, Energy and Industrial. Of its 54 current employees, 10 are enrolled in various GE leadership programs, which underlines MGEC’s commitment to recognizing and developing talent in the region.

Thus far, my role as a MGEC ECLP has been very exciting. In my first rotation, I worked with the Marketing/Originations team in Abu Dhabi. One of my projects was around the development of the Islamic Finance strategy for MGEC. This project gave me great executive exposure, both in working sessions and presentations, as well as the opportunity to meet with key customers and establish relationships with businesses in the region. I was also involved in a GE Corporate led project, which gave me the opportunity to work on high level strategies for the region and share our team’s findings with Corporate senior leadership.

In my second rotation, I am currently working as part of the MGEC-Global Coverage team. This group reviews GE originated transactions offered to MGEC to determine their viability before underwriting and approving the deals. In this role I have looked at a variety of investment and business development opportunities, allowing me to build new skills and gain experiences that are developing me into a future GE commercial leader for MGEC.

Posted by Ahmed Al Qassim

About Mubadala GE-Capital

GE Capital and Mubadala Development Company PJSC, a strategic investment arm of the Abu Dhabi Government, jointly own MGEC. Over time, each shareholder is expected to invest approximately $4 billion of equity. MGEC is an independent company with its own corporate governance structure, Board of Directors and decision-making Investment Committee. MGEC is led by CEO Ron Herman, former CEO of GE Equity. As of June 2010, MGEC has participated/invested in 26 transactions and has recruited 54 employees in its various functions (the vast majority based in Abu Dhabi).

Recently, the Nigerian Ministry of Transportation and GE Transportation celebrated the delivery of the first five of twenty-five C25 EMPD diesel locomotives to Nigeria – introducing new technology and a total revamp to the Nigerian rail system. 

The delivery represents a landmark company to country (C2C) agreement that was signed in May of 2009 between the Federal Government of Nigeria and GE. The locomotives, as well as the rehabilitation of the countries rail infrastructure are key elements of a development plan that spans oil & gas distribution, electric power generation, water & waste treatment, healthcare, aviation and Integrated safety & security.

The arrival of the locomotives marks a major milestone for the rail industry, which has been in decline for decades. Originally built in the 18^th century by the British colonialists, the Nigerian rail network is approximately 3505km of narrow gauge track and 300km of standard gauge track. The Nigerian Railway Corporation was once one of the largest employers of labor; but currently has 7,000 employees. There is a lack of skilled labor, maintenance culture, tools and facilities. As a part of GE’s commitment to Nigeria, several training workshops on operation, service and maintenance are planned to ensure effective usage of the locomotives in addition to local empowerment and job creation for the Nigerian workforce through a GE’s localization program.

GE’s commitment to infrastructure in the developing world is not the only story here. The journey of the locomotives themselves serves to highlight GE’s global inter-connectedness. The locomotives were built by GE Transportation South America, GE Transportation’s affiliate facility located in Brazil.  The locomotives 2,500 horsepower engine that was supplied by GE Transportation’s diesel engine manufacturing plant in Grove City, USA was designed specifically to accommodate Nigeria’s weight per axle and clearance characteristics to be used primarily for freight and passenger service. So from Brazil to Grove City and finishing in Africa, GE Transportation tapped global capabilities to meet Nigeria’s infrastructure needs.

This marks the beginning of Nigeria Railway Infrastructure revitalization and GE has been fortunate to play a part in it. The delivery of the first five locomotives to Nigeria provides hope to thousands of employees in the struggling railway industry who will benefit from state of the art GE technology, local skill transfer, empowerment through engineer training, and much needed stimulus to the Nigeria economy spurred by an increase in rail activity. I am honored to be a part of the exceptional team that has worked relentlessly on this project which can potentially serve as a model to the railway industry for the entire African continent.

Posted by Mohammed

Kathleen has also joined the ECLP Blog team as she and another Class of 2012 ECLP, Dave Folwell, will be chronicling their respective journeys through the program from the beginning. Check out our Journey of an ECLP section to read both of their first posts.