Saturday, November 15, 2008

Sometimes classes get in the way...

I think the biggest challenge about LFM and MIT, is not understanding what you're learning in classes but managing your time - there are WAY more things to do on any given day than you have time for. They've actually coined a term here called FOMO - Fear of Missing Out. With so many opportunities, one feels like they have to do everything to get the most of the experience. And, in any given day there's dozens of things to balance: classes, company presentations, club meetings, internship search/networking, general socializing ... oh, and don't forget homework & studying. It's really a miracle anything gets done.

One neat thing I've been able to be involved in, that's a bit different from the normal LFM activities, is something called Retail Lab. My team is working with Victoria's Secret helping them improve their peak holiday season hiring strategy. It's a pretty neat experience for a few reasons: one, it gives me the opportunity to meet Sloanies that I wouldn't otherwise meet, and two, I'm getting exposure to an industry that I'm interested in but have had no previous opportunity to be involved with.

Company presentations are another big thing in the Fall and can sometimes be tough to manage, since LFMs don't have to recruit through the normal channels for an internship, attending a company presentation is really only necessary if it's a company you think you might want to work for after graduating.  In which case, it never hurts to begin the networking.

And, speaking of jobs, the past few weeks have been a flurry of internship & interviewing activity. The '09s all returned from their internships to interview with the partner companies for full time positions.  3 days of interviews, and a lot of people had pretty full days. Additionally, the off-cycle internships for our class have all been posted and the discussion of whether or not to submit a cover letter and resume has been a popular convo around the office. This year there are 12 off-cylce internships, which, if they all get filled, would be the most off-cycle internships yet.  Going off-cycle is a tough decision, I actually spent a lot of time debating what I should do and for many reasons decided to stick with the normal cycle.

On the fun side, this Fall some of the LFM X's decided to start an IM hockey team.  One of our classmates played competitively in undergrad, so he's our coach.  But, most of us had no hockey experience. I had never played hockey and probably hadn't been on skates in around 10 years, but it turns out it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be... and I had a blast!

All in all the Fall is as busy as they said it would be!

As always, if you want to hear about something specific, let me know!

2 comments:

  1. Howdy from Poway, CA again, Johanna!
    Quick question- Do you guys have any opportunities to intern abroad?

    Thanks!
    AR

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  2. Yup! There are usually a few opportunities every year to go on an internship overseas. But, it always depends on the company's needs.
    For the class of '09, here's the breakdown:
    Canada: 1
    China: 1
    Mexico: 2
    Scotland: 1
    Spain: 2
    Switzerland: 2

    So far for our class, most of the on-cycle internships are not yet posted, but of the few that are, there is already one internship posted for China.

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