Let the Countdown to Thanksgiving Begin

The last couple of weeks have been a little bit of a blur. Most of my time is spent keeping up with all those case studies, writing assignments, and group work (all of which we have plenty of). Even though we are more than half way through the semester, I was finally able to meet up with my peer mentor. Prior to the start of the semester she gave me all the information she wished someone had told her. I loved her honesty and found it to be extremely helpful. I was excited to meet her and trade some specific stories. After sharing some "battle stories," she told me a little about her Corporate Residency with Staples. She has a split role between brand and product management. Having a retail background, it was interesting to hear about the corporate side of the business and all the details that go into every decision.

One of the more exciting things has been the start of the expert panels in our Friday morning Career Management class. The first and most exciting (yes, I am a little biased) was the Marketing Panel. We heard from experts at the Aberdeen Group, the Bullfinch Group, Grace, Ben & Jerry's, and Hasbro. They all gave great advice with perspective to their industries, but all were in agreement that the most important thing is to find whatever it is you are passionate about. The experts came from a variety of industries and positions within marketing, which was helpful to get an overall view of marketing.

That night we had our MBA Halloween Party at the Tavern in Allston. Though this was not an official MBA Connections event, a good portion of the class came out to celebrate. One of my friends from undergrad even came out to celebrate with us! As I said in one of my first posts, I think it is great that we are all close and enjoying spending our free time with each other, especially considering the amount of time we spend together during the week.

(2nd & 3rd photos courtesy of Phuong Nguyen!)

November officially hit with a very busy week with a combination of deli verables, meetings, and networking. We had our seco nd Student Representative meeting with Dan. Having it on a different day of the week allowed different reps from previous years to attend. It was nice to hear new opinions and meet other students. Since the Thursday afternoon skills sessions are over, Dan really wanted our honest feedback to help him decide his plan for next year. Hopefully our honesty helps the class of 2014! I am already looking forward to seeing how things are done and what next year's first year students will have to say.

My fellow Connections officers and I met this week to start planning our holiday festivities (yup, there will be multiple celebrations) and community service contributions for the semester. To follow suit of last year, as VP I have been put in charge of community service. With the holidays coming up we have so many opportunities to give back, and we immediately started brainstorming and narrowing in on what we hope to pursue.

As a great follow-up to the Marketing Panel, I had an Executive Luncheon with Ben Taylor from Hasbro. Hasbro is one of the most competitive companies for those interested in marketing, so we all absorbed as much as we could from Mr. Taylor. He was very generous in offering advice on the Corporate Residency interview process. I found this lunch to be the most entertaining (the guy plays with toys for a living, who wouldn't have fun?). Also, my learning team has been analyzing Hasbro and Mattel for our Accounting project, so I feel like I have been eating, sleeping, and breathing Hasbro for the past few weeks (and will continue next week with the Insider Insights!), so this lunch was a refreshing change to the financial statements. Mr. Taylor even gave us a challenge to help us prepare for the Insider Insights (and maybe even show our enthusiasm about the company). And to be honest, what sounded like an easy challenge turned out to be quite challenging.

That night, as a class, we were able to put our networking skills to work at the Networking Reception. Blue Cross Blue Shield, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Raytheon, and Staples were a few of the 20 or so companies that attended. Many of the representatives were also Northeastern alumni. I will admit, in some cases I asked more questions about their opinions and experiences with the MBA program than their current positions. The night kicked off with a speed dating type of approach. Each student and company representative were assigned a table. Each table talked for five minutes or so and rotated at the bell (yes, a literal bell). After a few rounds we were unbound from the structure and able to mingle freely.

The following morning we continued with the expert panel for Supply Chain Management. Like the Marketing panel, the experts came from a mixture of companies and industries and had solid advice for those interested in the career track. I was curious to learn more about the specifics within supply chain as I will be taking advantage of the certificate that is offered through the program. One of the reasons I enjoy marketing is that everyday is different. My biggest take away from the Supply Chain panel was just that, everyday is different. One expert even mentioned that he cannot make "to do" lists because it will never get done due to everything that comes up unexpectedly.

After the panel, I had an Executive Luncheon with one of the experts, Adam Baran from GE Aviation. To be honest, aviation is no where near my passion, but I feel as though I could learn a lot working for Mr. Baran as a Corporate Resident. He uses a mentor approach with his employees, which is the type of relationship I work best in. Also, GE has created its own little community within the plant that offers things like a gym and educational classes to take during lunch (which is noted in a few of Katrina's blogs) and Mr. Baran's excitement for the company really came through. At the end of lunch he even offered to set up a tour of the plant for those in our class that are interested. This was my final lunch for the semester, and like everything else, I can't believe they are over!

It's crazy, and I can't speak for everyone, but I didn't realize how busy my schedule actually appears until I look back on it. This post does cover a two week period, but only touches on the highlights. I didn't even get into detail about team meetings, weekly homework assignments, and other various events. That being said, it is not all study, study, study. No matter what we manage to have fun amid all of the craziness.

*The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of Northeastern University, its staff, faculty or affiliates and are solely the opinion of Keri Deming