Three Reasons to have an IMLP Internship - GE Power & Water

College goes by really fast.  And for those of us who aren’t lucky enough to know exactly what we want to do after we graduate, it can be scary and worrisome trying to figure out how to narrow all of our options down.  That’s where internships come in. But once again, most people only have two or three summers to try different jobs and companies out.  That was something I struggled with when I was trying to figure out where to do my last internship after completing one in Atlanta, GA with GE Energy Services two summers ago.  But three weeks into my second internship with GE at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, I’m definitely glad I came back

The People – As anyone who has worked at GE can tell you, the people here are amazing.  At a big corporation, you might expect that people become apathetic, bitter, or unwelcoming of newcomers.  And coming in as an intern, you expect that as someone pretty much at the bottom of the totem pole, few people will care about your work or about you.  That is completely untrue at GE, especially as an IMLP intern.  I’ve been introduced to so many people and even upper-level executives because everyone here is interested in what new perspectives interns can bring.  I’m naturally a shy person, but I know that anyone I meet here will always be very welcoming and supportive.

Professional Development/Support – Along with the general welcoming attitude, there is also a high level commitment to helping interns develop themselves during the internship.  The focus isn’t just on what you can bring to the business through your assignments, but also what GE can provide for you as you develop professionally.  I’ve been through intern-wide resume reviews and interviewing workshops as well as more individual strength and weakness coaching with my boss so that I know that I’ve grown as a professional by the end of my ten weeks.

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Intern Perspectives: The GE Family

When presented with the question ‘who is your family?’ most Americans immediately respond with the people they are related to through blood or marriage, right? Well, the answer most of us often overlook is the people we spend most of our time with day in and day out – our colleagues! Statistics show that these are the people we tend to share the majority of our waking hours with. So with that being said, why wouldn’t the relationships we build at work be the number one factor in determining how satisfied we are with our company?

Before deciding to work for GE, I spoke with many recruiters from various industries and interviewed with numerous companies. However, the unique thing about the people I spoke with from GE was their tendency to hold a strong commitment to the company and people they work with. They were passionate about the work they were doing, they enjoyed sharing information about their career and company, and they all said the people are what make GE such a great company to work for.

The tone I was hearing didn’t sound like a people that thought of the company as a good place to start a career, but rather a place to spend their entire career. Around the same time, I came across an article that said my generation would work for around 5-10 employers over the course of a lifetime. So you could image my surprise when I came across a group of people that worked for GE most of their career and are still excited about their contributions to the company and the positive impact they are having on the world.

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IMLP Intern Experiences - GE Capital

It’s a dark and stormy day in Norwalk, Connecticut—more fitting of March than June, where noon is as dark as 7 pm—but one young intern is safe and warm in the cozy confines of his cubicle. Mid-afternoon strikes, the storm worsens, and the unthinkable happens: the Merritt 7 GE Capital building’s internet goes down. Experienced employees go wild, and panic runs amok: except, not really. The veterans of GE take it in stride, find another path or alternate tasks to work on, and the busy, motivated but still casual environment continues as usual. It is week three of the internship, a Thursday afternoon, and my time with GE has been more than I expected.

Coming into the program as an IMLP intern, I really had no idea what to expect. I spent the months leading up to the start date wondering what parts of my college curriculum would be called to action in my first “real world” application of my IT studies. So for the last two weeks I have been working with a relatively new tool called the Google App Engine, a gadget which takes Java apps and hosts them to Google’s cloud. I already had some basic experience with Java, and some basic experience with Web Apps, but I had never used them together. Now I have. My experience with GE has been a pleasant mix of the familiar and new challenges and a push to make me develop new skills.

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Summer Intern Strategy

Many of us have been summer interns at some point in our college careers. Internship experiences can range from filling coffee cups to filling spreadsheets, and some are more beneficial than others. What defines a good internship? What should the student get out of it, and what should the company get out of it?

These are the questions we asked ourselves over the past few months as we prepared for a batch of new interns to arrive this summer. As the GE Transportation IMLP Recruiting Committee chair, I headed up the strategizing around what our intern activities will be for summer 2011. Rather than simply having a few pizza parties, we’ve decided to try to give them a taste of what it means to be an IMLP. Our goal is to help each intern make the best decision about whether or not IMLP is right for them.

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Apply Now! - IMLP Intern Honors Award Program

It takes talent and vision to shape the future of technology. At GE, innovation is in our DNA and we’re using our imagination and the power of IT to transform the world. Bring your ideas to life. Apply today for an Information Management Leadership Program (IMLP) Internship and you could be selected for an IMLP Intern Honors Award.

Be one of 20 winners to receive a $5,000 cash award PLUS a paid internship that puts you on the fast track for a full-time IMLP position upon graduation. Start your career with the company ranked #1 for its leadership development programs for college grads.

*Applications due September 26. To apply and learn more visit ge.com/imlpaward

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