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MARCH 2004 MBA JOURNAL: YEAR TWO Amber Clark: Academics, the Placement Process, and More "Over the course of the semester, I have come to realize what a precious commodity time is. I've gotten to the point where before I do anything I ask myself if my time would be better spent doing something else." My Russian holiday came at the end of a long and grueling semester. The rumors that the second year of B-school is a piece of cake are not true. It's a scheduling nightmare because nothing is coordinated, and you have half-a-dozen different teams with different classes and concentrations, some of which are easier than others. In addition to my regular Outlook calendar (which was chock full all semester), I had another little pocket calendar that I used to keep track of critical due dates for major projects, papers, and exams. I generally had about three of these critical deadlines a week, in addition to all of the regular assignments and readings. On top of that, I was also working about ten hours a week on trying to finish the book I was working on for my summer internship, in addition to juggling my graduate assistantship duties, graduate women in business activities, and full-time job interviewing. It's been the busiest four months of my life! Needless to say, what social life I had went out the window, much to my chagrin. One of the reasons I came back to school was to meet new people and socialize, expand my horizons, but the relentless pace of business school just does not allow that. Over the course of the semester, I have come to realize what a precious commodity time is. I've gotten to the point where before I do anything I ask myself if my time would be better spent doing something else. This radically changes your perspective on things. I've learned to relentlessly set priorities. For example, if a lecture is just a rehash of the assigned reading, then I don't spend time on both, because I haven't got time to waste anymore. I realize now how much time I used to fritter away, and now I'm more productive. But it's also made it very clear that this isn't the way I want to live my life over the long run, because inevitably you shortchange spending time with your friends and family, which ultimately is the thing that matters most. At least it is to me.
What is a rotational program? Basically, it's the fast track. A lot of Fortune 500 companies have these two-year leadership development programs where you rotate through different three or four jobs in your functional area in order to quickly get to know the company. For example, if you're in HR, you might do a rotation in compensation, then one in organizational development, then one in labor, then one at headquarters. Often, you're not guaranteed a job when you complete the program, but if you've done well they will place you in a good position on the corporate ladder, leapfrogging you over people who do not have MBAs and have not been through the rotational program. The whole point is to groom future senior management talent. Rotational programs are nice in that you learn a lot quickly and get exposure to some of the highest-ranking, influential people in the company. The drawback is that you generally are required to rotate through different geographic areas, as well. Maybe you're in headquarters for six months, then in California for six months (nice!), then in some plant in Nebraska for six months (not so thrilling), then who knows where. You don't know where you're going to end up going into the program, and how much say you have as to what rotations you do and where varies greatly from company to company. From a personal standpoint, this sucks. If you're single, it pretty much means that you can forget about starting a relationship while you're in the program. If you're currently seeing someone, it means you're looking at a long-term relationship for two years. And if you're married, it means that either you do the long-distance marriage thing, or your spouse gives up his or her job and follows you around for two years. If you're a woman, the latter scenario is not likely, so basically accepting a rotational position means putting your marriage on hold for two years and hoping it survives. That's a lot for a company to ask from you. I didn't really understand this when I started applying for full-time positions. I was feeling desperate to at least get an interview, so I applied to every marketing and HR job that was posted on eRecruiting (the Broad School's recruiting network). This approach netted me three first-round interviews early in the semester with Dow for marketing and with Eaton and Raytheon for human resources. Only after I got on the closed lists did I start doing research. All three jobs were rotational. A friend of mine from the program had interned at Eaton and thought it would be a good fit for me in terms of culture. It also seemed like it might be possible to do one rotation at headquarters, go out to a plant for 6-8 months, and then back to headquarters for the last rotation, minimizing my time away from Yuri. I was also interested in Dow because it had the advantage of being in Michigan and the rotations were all in once place. Raytheon I wasn't so keen about. For one thing, it didn't give you much input into where you did your rotations. Second, I just couldn't see myself working for a defense contractor, where "kill chain" would become part of my regular vocabulary.
 
BW MALL
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