I'm writing this sort of as a diary of my recruiting. This is going to be published after I've accepted an offer, but I want this post to be an example of how up and down recruiting can be for LGOs (and similar to other MBAs who are recruiting for full-time positions in their second year). This does not include coffee chats, phone calls, etc... Just companies that I conducted at least first round interviews with.
To preface these entries I want to let you know that my focus was trying to enter the technology industry. The role I was most interested in was to work as a sourcing manager because I wanted to learn more about Chinese manufacturing, but was open to other positions as well.
September 3rd: Received word from Emerson Electric that they want me to fly in at the end of September for an interview! Woo hoo! Job seems really interesting (analyst for their corporate continuous improvement team) and the location is amazing (Susan and I spent some time in Saint Louis and we have a lot of friends there).
September 8th: Received word from Nike that I will not be receiving an offer.
September 17th: Google hangout interview with Nest Supply Chain. I thought it was going to be an informational interview, but it turned into an interview! I think it went well as the director who interviewed me told me to stay in touch.
September 26th: Flew out to Saint Louis for an interview with Emerson Electric. Thought it went well! I had about 4 interviews with senior members of Emerson Electric's leadership team.
October 1st: Two phone interviews with Dell's Supply Chain Strategy team. Wow, case interviews are tough! I should have prepared a little bit more for those interviews.
October 3rd: Woo hoo! Invited to interview second round for Dell's Supply Chain Strategy team in Austin.
October 7th: Interview with 3M for an internal consulting job on MIT campus. The mini-case turned into, what I thought, was a full blown case. Whew... I should have studied some more market sizing cases.
October 9th: First full-time offer from Emerson! YES! Super excited about the role and the team. The role offered was in their corporate continuous improvement office (called perfect execution at Emerson electric) as an analyst.
October 20th: Phone screen interview for Microsoft Supply Chain. They told me that they will get back to me in three weeks.
October 21st: Three first round interviews with Apple for Product Operations, Procurement, and AppleCare.
October 23rd: Told by Apple that I have been selected as an alternate to fly-out to Cupertino. Odd, never heard of being placed in an alternate status by a company for a final round interview... I guess that means that they sort of liked me but not as much as my classmates who they selected to fly-out. I think that if one or more of them decline to fly out, I'll have an opportunity to go to the second round interviews. Also, heard back from Nest (WHOA!) that they want me to fly out to Palo Alto for interviews on the 31st of October (Halloween!). COOL!
October 24th: Civilization Beyond Earth comes out. Great game by the way and it ties into my next update which is with Dell's Alienware team (they make PC Gaming machines).
Interviews from the 28-30th of October take place during MIT LGO's on-campus partner interviewing week. During this week MIT LGO's partner companies interview MIT LGO students for full-time roles. The partner companies I interviewed with are Dell, Amazon, and SanDisk.
October 28: Interview with Dell for an Alienware product manager position via on-campus interview. Two interviews with Intel for their Accelerated Leadership Program (ALP). Heard back from Intel that I have NOT been selected to move forward in the process that evening. I was a little sad to hear that as I had prepared a lot for these Intel interviews. I think I spoke to over 10 current or former ALPs at Intel. Heard back from Dell that I will be having a second round for Alienware! Yes!
October 29: Two interviews with Amazon and one with SanDisk. I found out that evening that I'll be moving onto the second round of Amazon interviews happening the next morning.
October 30: Two interviews with Amazon (Pathways and Amazon Web Services). Found out from Apple that I'll not be moving onto the second round. A little bummed that Apple rejected me, but nothing I can do about it. Similar to Intel I prepared heavily for these interviews by talking to employees at Apple who were either MIT LGO alums or military veterans.
October 31: One phone interview with Alienware prior to my Nest Labs interviews. Have two more phone calls scheduled with Alienware. All afternoon in-person interviews with Nest Labs in Palo Alto. I was on-site at Nest Labs from 12:30pm to approximately 5pm. I think my actual interviews started at 1:30pm with back to back interviews. What a blur of interviews (I think I had a total of 8 interviews).
Found out later on that evening that I received two Amazon offers (one for Pathways and one for Amazon Web Services)! Amazon's MBA hiring process was amazing, In one week they conducted first and second round interviews, along with sending out offer letters! WOW!
November 3: Cancelled interviews with Dell. Also, let 3M, Microsoft, and SanDisk know that I was not going to continue recruiting with them.
November 6: Met with a Microsoft recruiter and asked if he would re-consider my former email to him telling him that I wanted to bow out of recruiting. He let me know that he was happy that I changed my mind and that he was going to invite me out to interview. Received an email and am flying next Friday to Seattle for Microsoft.
November 14: Interviews with Microsoft Supply Chain in Redmond, WA. Night prior to the interviews the interviewees (about 30 of us) had dinner with some members of Microsoft's supply chain team at a restaurant on campus (Spitfire!). Great food by the way. Had four interviews with various Microsoft employees for 45 minutes each. I thought that their interview process was the best on site second round interviews (I thought the Amazon interviews were great but they happened at MIT). Our home-base during the interviews was a large lounge with food, drinks, and a large TV hooked up to an XBOX on Microsoft's campus!
November 18: Call from Nest Labs with a rejection... The feedback was that they needed someone who did not need as much ramp time as I required (applied for a supplier management position).
November 21: Email from Microsoft. At first I thought it was another rejection email, but was surprised when one of the first words was "Congratulations." Woo hoo! Offered a role in the Microsoft Supply Chain group. Tentatively for a sourcing role, but they told me I had to wait until Monday to find out details.
November 24: Had a call with a Microsoft recruiter. I was selected to fill the role of a sourcing manager for Microsoft! Yes!
November 26: Call with one of my interviewers from Microsoft who is a sourcing senior director. Great overview of the role and the support Microsoft provides to new college/MBA hires.
November 30: Call with a sourcing manager about her experience at Microsoft. She has been there for a year and half and has felt very supported throughout her experience.
December 3: Call with an LGO alum at Amazon Web Services. She is really enjoying her time there and encouraged me to consider taking the job offer.
December 8: Signed Microsoft's offer letter! I'll be heading to Seattle after graduation!
Running Summary (in descending date of interview):
- Nike: No offer after an internship.
- Emerson Electric: Offer for a role as a Perfect Execution Analyst role (their process improvement/lean corporate function).
- Dell: Alienware product Manager and Supply Chain Strategist. Selected to interview Round 2 for both positions but declined after hearing back from Amazon.
- 3M: Completed a round 1 interview but declined to move further after hearing back from Amazon.
- Microsoft: Offered a role as a sourcing manager and signed!
- Apple: Rejected after being placed in alternate status after R1 interviews.
- Nest Labs: Rejected after in person interviews. One of the few rejections where I was provided any sort of feedback (thank you!). They let me know that I did not have enough relevant experience so my ramp up time would take too long.
- Intel: Rejected after Round 1 interviews for ALP.
- Amazon: Offered two roles from Amazon. One for the Pathways program (working as a fulfillment center manager) and a role with Amazon Web Services in their infrastructure group.
- SanDisk: Completed a round 1 interview at MIT for a Strategic Production Operations Manager role. Declined to move any further after hearing back from Amazon.
My next blog post will be about what I learned from this recruiting process...
No comments:
Post a Comment