Way2Top

I was reading the Business Week insider article, summarizing the interview with Stephen Chambers, Oxford. Here’s the final question thrown to him..

How do U.S. students like Oxford?

A: What they tend to rave about is twofold. This bsiness school is a department of a major university, so you can associate with physicists, lawyers, and historians from outside the business school. You also get the chance to attend an 800-year-old institution, which inspires an amazing amount of loyalty. You have to wear a white bow tie for exams and a gown for dinner, and people love that.

Wearing a Bow-tie for exam and gown for dinner is not my cup of tea! But it is interesting though..Hope ISB doeesn’t have any such practices

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Some excerpts from the Interview with Steve Canale,General Electric

Q: What do you look for in an employee?
A: We’re going to the top schools, so we’re already pretty confident that these people are sharp and have the right credentials and aptitude. What we’re looking for is cultural fit, people who are willing to learn and don’t have huge egos. GE is a meritocracy. We reward and promote based on performance. People here have to handle change and high growth. To fit in, you have to articulate your ideas well and be able to span the different organizations of the company.

Q: Are the pay packages you’re offering now more competitive than they have been recently?
A: They’ve always been competitive. But in general, bonuses and stock options are still down, and salaries only increased about 4% compared with last year. MBA recruiting has picked up a bit in another way: Instead of having one or two job offers, MBAs now have three, four, or five.

Q: What advice would you offer an MBA who wants a job at GE?
A: Don’t be as concerned about getting a job as you are about getting the right one. You need to know where your heart and passion lie. One commonly made mistake is to think of things too broadly without realizing exactly what you want to do. For example, if we’re interviewing someone for a sales and marketing post in the ECLP and he tells me he’s interviewed for finance and Wall Street jobs, I am a little bit suspicious.

Q: What skills do most MBAs need to improve?
A: GE has set a very high bar on integrity, ethics, and governance. A lot of the schools have sharpened their focus on those areas because of the problems over the last few years in Corporate America. We welcome those efforts.

Q: What’s the one thing that an MBA can do to impress you?
A: It’s very nice to get an e-mail or, in some cases, a written letter expressing interest in your company or asking additional questions. I like the idea of someone going out of his [or her] way to link back to the company and say, “Hey, General Electric, I really appreciate your time,” as opposed to treating it as just one more interview. It sounds basic, but it’s amazing how many people don’t do it.