If you’re just starting your career, now is a great time to join GE. Whether your interests lie in engineering, finance, manufacturing, marketing and sales, human resources or information technology, we have an opportunity for you in leadership programs and entry-level positions.

GE was rated the #1 Leadership company in 2010 and we are always looking for Top Talent to join IMLP.  GE The American Renewal is happening. Right now. Visit GE Careers to apply today.

Yes, you read that right. For the next six months, I'll be working in GE Aviation Services in an area known as Intelligent Services. This team looks for innovative ways to provide value to customers of our Aviation Services business - for instance, a shipping company with an engine being repaired in one of our service shops, or an airline needing to purchase spare parts.

The main product that we're looking to offer in this area is known as myEngines - a suite of mobile applications that can be accessed around the globe to receive and transmit Services data in real-time.

Along with several of GE Healthcare's initiatives and GE Energy's SmartGrid program, myEngines is part of a broader GE effort to move IT out of the back office (supporting our internal business processes) and offer IT products directly to our customers.

The myEngines suite will include lots of different application modules, each to provide certain information or functionality to our customers. My responsibility for this rotation will be to design and implement a strategy regarding user preferences and administration that will stretch across all the different modules. Another major responsibility will be to manage the development of a native Blackberry application for myEngines. This will be a great opportunity for me to really own an important project for this high-visibility, cutting edge area of our business!

Today I received some exciting news.

My employer was ranked as the #1 global company for leadership.

BusinessWeek recently released the results of a survey conducted by Hays Group that ranks the top 20 companies for leadership, as well as how leadership is linked to financial results, demographics, and waht these organizations value most in leaders.

According to the survey results, the top valued traits are:

1. Strategic Thinking
2. Execution
3. Inspiring Leadership
4. Decision Making
5. Teamwork

Plus, what's really cool is that the results specifically mention leadership programs and how they are integral to the overall success of leadership development.

"LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS BETTER ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO DELIVER ON MY COMPANY'S GOALS/STRATEGIES"

And IMLP is one of those programs. This is great news for all of the leadership development programs at GE.

Unlike some of the other training sessions, FOL is not just attended by those in IMLP - so I got to network and interact with people from the other leadership programs (HR, Engineering, Finance, etc) and some direct hires to GE as well. And since several classes are held at Crotonville simultaneously, we also got to network with some GE managers and executives in the evenings over karaoke in the recreation building.

The class covered a variety of topics like finance and business acumen, presentation and communication skills, GE's values and performance management, and managing your personal/professional brand.

Another great thing about Crotonville was the food - not only were the meals really good (and there was always dessert!), but we also had lots of snacks at every break. Some of us decided that FOL stands for "Feeding Our Leaders" instead!

First, as a part of GE Money, we received GE branded pedometers and a number of other healthy gadgets and toys. GE also has started a number of internal contests for people that eat healthy or walk the most over a period of time. These contests have inspired some competition in the workplace and frequent lunch conversations about who had more steps that day, who will win the contest, or who we think is cheating (because who walks THAT much... shouldn't they be working haha).

New hires are being introduced to GE in an innovative way, thanks to the new Welcome site, which serves as a great starting point for finding out additional information on GE and the working culture here.  

The new site, http://www.ge.com/welcome, covers all the basics (and beyond). 

New employees can learn about the company, what it's like to work at GE, and read tips for getting started. Each part of the site is interactive, encouraging employees to explore.
 
Here are the highlights:

25 Things About Us teaches employees about GE without the standard list of facts and figures.  Each of the 25 bubbles contains trivia and links to more information about our company.

Working Here consists of three sections: Quick Tips for Success, Understanding "GE Speak," and our Operating System Overview. 

• Quick Tips take the new employee through the first week of his or her job in a game board format, with helpful hints along the way. 
• GE Speak displays a series of speech balloons about common phrases and acronyms that some take for granted but might confuse a new employee who's not familiar with 'GE language.'
• The Operating System Overview demonstrates our operating rhythm in circular and calendar formats.

Boot Shopping in Houston

I only have a few weeks left in Houston.

So, I find (in my experience from moving every 6 months), it's appropriate to not only "close out" one's rotation, but also the overall living experience.

For me, this is my first time in Houston (and Texas overall) and I realized that there was something missing.

Cowboy boots.

I know, I know. But, everyone here wears cowboy boots (and hats, and belts) and so I asked myself, "when is there a better time to buy a pair of cowboy boots? I am in Texas!"

So, I took the plunge. I headed to a true country western store, met a real cowboy named Buck, and tested out every style, height, and color of boots on the shelf.

The outcome? A pair of boots that are made in Texas (see photo on the left).

Now I'll always have a great story to tell when people ask about my boots, and it will include memories of my 6 months in Texas!

Healthcare IMLPs Pose on the SlopesA group of IMLPs recently visited the GE Healthcare Surgery facility in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We took a tour of the manufacturing floor featuring the C-arm product and learned about the unique business.

While we were in the area, we also were able to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.  We took a tour of Park City where the Sundance film festival was being held and we skied at a few of the resorts in the area.

It always amazes me to see how GE reaches so many places across the United States and the world.

For many of the LP's this was nothing new as they were finishing their 3rd Rotation and moving to thier 4th/final rotation. However for myself, and a few others, this was a first.

For those who are new to the term "pitchouts," let me elaborate.

At the end of each rotation, LP's are required to sum up everything they worked on into a 3-4 minute pitch. Not too extreme right? Well I quickly found out that cramming the 4 different projects I was working on into 3 slides while still getting my points accross is a skill that took weeks of refining.