Greetings from Minneapolis!

Greetings from Minneapolis!

It has been a week since I started my internship at Ecolab and I am enjoying every minute of it.

Ecolab’s headquarters is located in downtown St. Paul (the older and more historical part of the Twin Cities) but I decided to live in Dinkytown Minneapolis (where you find students from the University of Minnesota, as well as tons of pubs and restaurants). To a certain extent, Dinkytown reminds me of Ann Arbor, so it’s good to have a little piece of “home” with me.

My first week at Ecolab passed by faster than I expected. My manager has been spectacular in ensuring that I could “hit the road running, right off the bat”. Quote, unquote. She arranged a total of 22 meetings for me in the first 4 weeks, making sure that I have the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with senior management. Prior to my internship, I was advised by MBA2s that the summer internship is not just about delivering a good project. It is also about familiarizing yourself with the culture of the company and getting acquainted with individuals from the organization. In fact, one of the senior executives I met advised me that as an intern, I was not expected to understand ALL the details of the business. Rather, I was there to get a holistic picture of how the business is run, and more importantly, to provide a fresh perspective on critical issues.

Apart from executive meetings, HR has also filled the interns’ calendars with multiple social events. We will be spending a full day on a Habitat for Humanity project; going for a Minnesota Twins baseball game; touring the Twin Cities; and visiting the Research and Development facilities of Ecolab, among many others.

My summer is definitely looking very busy, but again, every minute of my first week at Ecolab has been phenomenal and I am excited to find out what the next 9 weeks have in store for me.

Till then!

Two weeks in Seattle... and loving it!

Hey Rossers!


It has been two weeks since I moved into Seattle, first if you are coming here do not expect a lot of sun at the start of your internship (apparently summer does not start at the same time all over the US) you will still see a bit of rain and clouds but whenever you get a day of sun everyone will be out and be ready for a very active and outdoors city, people walk, bike, run and stop for some coffee anywhere. Pike market is a must see (I personally did not enjoy it very much even when it is a novelty for Americans I am too used to them) and of course next to it you can find the "first Starbucks" shop (if you are into that).


Housing is amazing (if you got Amazon or Microsoft, hope to get Harbor Steps and be right in downtown) and a lot of other MBAs are around as are bars, restaurants and the waterfront (really nice if you like running, biking or just walking).


The first two weeks at work have been hard, yes you are an intern and they cut you some slack but it just takes a couple of days until you feel overwhelmed with information and with all the people you have to work with in order to be able to finish your project. Do not worry, you will feel like you are not an MBA intern but a high school intern where you barely know what to do (or at least, that is how I feel).


My Microsoft team is amazing and I am currently working in developing and managing the Hotmail campaign for July 2011 (yes, you are right I am managing the campaign which involves dealing with the creative agency, the research agency and with a lot of teams inside of Microsoft). This last Friday we had something they call "Demo day", where different teams (this time it was the Developer managers) demonstrate how some of the new features work... I got to see how Windows 8 works and some improvements across the Windows platform (let me tell you, it was amazing!... I think I know why I decided on High-Tech now, you are changing how people will interact in the future).


I am still trying to learn how to navigate through a big organization (I come from a country where organizations are usually lean and where it is better to "ask for forgiveness than permission" to get your goals done).


Oh! by the way, I am not crazy about the commute, the morning one is not that bad it will take about 30-40 mins to get from downtown to Redmond, but in the evening it can take up to 1:15 hrs to get back! So, for your convenience, leave at 5pm sharp, or stay in Redmond (the gym is amazing! and it has tons of things to do from racquetball to saunas to pools to cardio rooms and weights) until 7 or 7:30pm.


I will see you in the next post!


Gabriel.

Happy Centennial Birthday, IBM!

My name is Jiawen Mou, an MBA student in Ross School of Business at Univ. of Michigan. After finishing my first year in Ross, in less than one week, I will start my internship at IBM GBS (Global Business Service) Strategy and Transformation Division, working as an MBA intern consultant. Although I don’t know my specific project assignment for the summer yet, I was informed that I would be staffed in Industrial group in Chicago. I am really excited about the opportunity to work for IBM, especially after knowing that IBM is going to be 100 years old this June 16th.
Prior to business school, I had been working as an engineer and project leader in eBay China Development Center, however, I had always been looking for new learning opportunities outside engineering, and that’s why I came to US to pursue my MBA degree. As for the internship in IBM consulting division, I am expecting to experience the life as a consultant and challenge myself to learn new things and think differently.
While being excited about my new job function, I feel more pressure and nervous as the start date approaches. Actually, my biggest worry is still my English abilities. What if I can’t fluently express myself in a conference call!? What if I stumble in a presentation to clients!? Challenging but intriguing!

My First Entry

I am a MBA student from University of Michigan. Starting on June 6th, I will have my summer intern at Cummins, headquartered in Columbus, Indiana. I am part of hte corporate strategy team and I will play as a project leader on my individual project and as a team member on a group project. My individual projet is about the parts business of Cummins and I will drive the process to find hte potential business growth opportunity. For my group project, I am with the other 2 team members to find solid profit potential in South Amercia. I am expecting a lot of challenge from such an experience this summer. Because this is the first time for me to work in US and also this is the first time for me to drive a large strategic challenge myslef alone. I also believe that my work will bring real impact to a fortune 500 company. I am nervous about this challenge and also excited about it. I hope things will work in the coming weeks.

Four Weeks In

In the two weeks that have passed since my last post I've grown more comfortable in the office and been able to do some interesting stuff. I've also begun to drink more coffee. I began the internship doing some fairly un-engaging things - cleaning up client lists, keeping track of wholesalers, scheduling, etc. Since then I've seen a shift toward things that actually interest me. There's still a fair amount of the type of thing that I just mentioned. That comes with the territory, but it all has to get done if things are going to continue to function properly.

My main accomplishments thus far are cleaning up/centralizing the system they use to track clients or prospects, and putting together a detailed investment matrix with information on any of the money managers, mutual funds, bond funds, annuities, or other investment vehicles that UBS deals with. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the relationship is a key element of the Wealth Management business - both to bringing in new clients and keeping existing ones satisfied. Since everything really revolves around the interface between the client and the advisor, it's important that all members of the team are able to track each other's progress to both stay up to date or to pick up where the other left off. I developed a form that allows for easier tracking of interactions with clients and prospects, put it in a place where everyone can access it, and have helped to make sure everything is up to date. I've seen everyone on the team using it, so hopefully that means it's helped to improve the process a bit.

Next one is the investment matrix. This is still a work in progress since there is a LOT of information to consolidate. But it looks to be shaping up nicely. It's going to be used to narrow down options and identify preferred investment vehicles, so it's important that there be a lot of detail in the final product. It's been a good exercise to get me better acquainted with their business and the types of places they feel comfortable allocating clients' capital. Once I'm done with that I have a few more similar projects lined up, so I'm looking forward to what's to come.

Though I've grown a lot more comfortable in the office than I was in my first week or two, I'm only a month in so I'm definitely still getting acquainted with the business. Overall, it's a good place to be and I'll continue to do what I can to make the most of the opportunity

Cisco: Two week mark

So, the internship begins. I am one of 7 interns for Cisco's Human Resources Leadership Program (HRLP) program. It's great to meet like-minded people from different schools because we get to exchange ideas about the projects that we are working on. It's an all female group this year so it's definitely a HUGE change from the business school environment. Another great thing about the summer is apart from our individual projects, we also get to work on "suitcase" or team projects with a few of the other interns. Fresh out of my MAP experience, I think that I could apply a lot of what I learned in the past term to this team exercise.

I am still in the process of getting to know Cisco. So far so good though. My project meets all of the objectives that I set out to achieve for the summer. The environment is a lot like Ross - people are smart, helpful and warm. Anybody I've reached out to has been willing to help me out with my project. The cohort of interns and full-time HRLP participants is very closely knit. They planned a lot of activities to make our transition into Cisco as smooth as possible - one on one's with HR leadership, Comedy Sports, Napa Trip, Baseball game. In addition to this, the Michigan alumni network is very strong. We had a Michigan meet-up last week - mostly interns and full-time Cisco employees from the supply chain division. We still have a little pocket of Ann Arbor in this San Jose campus.

The support system that Cisco builds around the HRLP program is great in helping me adjust to my first ever job in the US. The culture is a lot more informal than what I'm used to. I catch myself being inappropriately formal at times in emails and meetings. I will get better at this :)

The hipster touch of a “summer” in San Francisco

“San Francisco (SF) in is chilly during the summer though.. “ and “You know Mark Twain once said: The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco” were the two most common sentences I heard when I told my “Bay Area” friends that I was going to be in San Francisco for the summer. But I guess I never really believed them. I mean, coming from 6 harsh months of Michigan’s winter, I thought people meant I wasn’t going to be at 90 degrees Fahrenheit (I have to admit that after a year in the US I still do not know how to make a quick conversion from Fahrenheit to Celsius degrees, but I already understand that 90 degrees is quite warm) but at least at a manageable weather such as the one in my hometown Bogotá, were a light sweater helps you protect from a manageable cold wind. Off course I was wrong. When they said SF is CHILLY during the summer they really meant SF is FREEZING during summer.

What does my misunderstanding meant? I over packed the two suitcases I was allowed to bring with me with light summer-ish clothing and I ended up paying overweight for nothing! My luggage was full of unnecessary and inappropriate clothes because when I was packing I decided to leave heavy jackets and warm sweaters to reduce the weight. The result: I have been freezing during the past three weeks, inappropriately dressed, and internally wishing I could wear the nice dresses I brought to go out at night or the sandals I got since February that are waiting in the closet for summer time! Actually, since in Colombia we do not have seasons, and the city I leave at is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, I have always wished to experience and entire summer where I could dress in colors, skirts, top tanks and sandals. Well, apparently this is not going to happen……

Good thing though, Luckily, my mom sent to me a couple of Jackets I had left home with my very good friend Juliana who came to visit this weekend from Colombia. And, after the initial shock and complaining about how the weather ruined the summer fashion, I started to like the effect that had on the city’s fashion the combination of the chill and the hipster atmosphere of San Francisco. And I have to say that I love it!

I had never used more my leather jacket, and my comfy Tiger tennis shoes. Yes, I love the look of San Francisco girls, their tight jeans, comfy but stylish boots, a nice sweater, a hipster scarf and the classiest of the wind breakers: the leather jacket. They wear them camel, green or grey and they look fantastic with those 70’s style sunglasses and a very loose pony tail…

Let the cold come! If it comes with that hipster touch…

My BJ's Intern Journal, week 1

My summer adventure was actually started right after I got on my flight to Beijing. I was asked twice by Delta in Seattle and Tokyo about my travel certificate to China. Although I told them it is okay to renew my expired certificate at the BJ airport with my photo, Taiwanese ID , they all insisted on double checking with the China embassy before issuing me the boarding pass. Moreover, the immigration officer who issued me the new certificate wrongly typed my gender as “Male” and the Customs let me pass without pointing out the mistake. I firstly noticed this is a big issue when I was rejected by the bank teller saying that I can’t open an account there if there is such obvious mistake in my ID. Later, the company helps me apply the work permit also told me the medical checkup report shows me as a man, then I realized things is getting worse and I have to solve it soon. Luckily, the immigration officer I contacted showed much kindness and promised to assist my reapplication process. With his kind help, I save several tedious steps and received my “correct” certificate within 2 days. Sounds like the end? No, to collect all the required documents for my work permit, I went to the police office to get the “registration form of temporary residence” and reserved another medical checkup which is requested by the labor bureau. Hopefully, with all the efforts and hard work I have done, I can receive my work permit soon!
Let’s go back to work! I met my direct manager the first day of work. He is a very attractive gentleman who was relocated to China from Ohio only 6 months before. We talked over my summer projects and walked through what has been already done and what can I contribute to. As a project manager under strategic marketing department, the first project I would be working on is to evaluate the potential Chinese market for existing farming machinery currently used in South America. The other one is to understand the value chain of sugarcane and introduce the right product to reduce customers’ burden of increasing labor rate. I am so excited about the chance to leverage the analytical capabilities from my previous working experience and implement the framework from class to develop marketing strategy in the real world. For my first week, I read through a stack of valuable materials, extracted the relevant information and came out with a rough project plan during my manager’s absence. I will update you guys the project process and my Beijing experience next time!

Wk 1: Hello from the Land of the Thunder Dragon!

I arrived in Bhutan on May 28 without my luggage. Thanks to Singapore Airlines (not!), my luggage was left behind in Singapore. Regardless of this hassle, my excitement went through the roof as soon as I stepped off the Druk Air plane at Paro International Airport. The sight that greeted me was breathtaking! Bhutan’s international airport is situated beside majestic mountains. The scenery on the way from Paro to Thimphu, the capital and where I will be staying, was also remarkable. I saw monasteries, lakes, valleys, and numerous mountains covered with green foliage. I am very happy to see the last great Himalayan kingdom!

The people here are very friendly and helpful. An officemate helped in retrieving back my luggage while another showed me the local market and the best restaurants. Because of her, I was able to buy my elixir, Diet Coke (hahaha…). And, another peer volunteered to give me daily rides to and from work. I am thankful for my new friends.

My internship started on May 30. As I mentioned in my first blog post, I will be conducting a cost analysis project for Druk Holdings & Investments. My first week at work was very productive. I learned more about the four government-owned for-profit companies in my project portfolio. I am eager to gain knowledge on the costs involved in four new industries: natural resources, financial services, telecommunications, and airlines. This project will truly enhance my problem-solving capability and broaden my business knowledge.

This week, I read the Annual Reports for the past five years of the DHI’s companies. Next week, I plan to conduct interviews with DHI’s executives so I would grasp a better understanding of the companies’ cost drivers and problems. I have also been in contact with a Kresge librarian provided by the William Davidson Institute (WDI) for my fellowship project. The librarian will help me in researching competitive and comparative data for the four DHI-owned companies.

I will update you again next week. I am now off to play basketball with some Bhutanese friends. J

P.S. Oh, I saw the King! Fine… I only saw his car but he was inside it when the car passed me! LOL! J

the Gamers Bay

Hey pals,

first week at Ubisoft San Francisco went great. I found a great apartment in the new district of SOMA, with an unbelievable view of the ocean. I am two minutes away from the Ferry Market Building, and I enjoy spending saturday mornings at the market.
It takes me about ten minutes to walk from my apartment to the Ubisoft HQ. Weather has been nice, not much rain, not too warm. The vibe in this area of town is amazing, you can feel the excitement and the winds of change in the air. Everybody around here seems to be working in Hi tech or design, and it feels very entrepreneurial.
My dress code is extremely formal: t-shirt and jeans.I am working in the Operations department, and at the moment my project is being supervised by the VP of digital marketing. I will have several small projects throughout the twelve weeks, and my first one is almost over. I have been researching the competitive landscape of a specific genre of games and providing ideas and suggestions to implement in game. I am using many of the tools and lessons I learned at Ross, but there are no numbers and data and therefore the process is very qualitative.. and I love it.
I cant spare much info since everything happening in the industry is super secret, but I will give you more information soon.
Thanks!
Nicola

Chicago, week one

Hi all,

Last week I started my internship at Sears Holdings which is located at Hoffman Estates, a suburb north west of Chicago. I must say that most of the time I am embittered why Sears is not located anymore at Sears Tower in Chicago. I can't imagine a nicer place to work than the tallest building in America, however that's life and in 1992 the company moved to the suburbs due to amazing tax break they received from Illinois. Therefore right now I live in Extended Stay America in Schaumburg which is next to Hoffman Estates, and I am waiting that my downtown apartment will be ready in two weeks. Hence I don't have any Chicago's experiences to share other than realization that the suburbs of Chicago is a never ending "Desperate Housewives" neighborhood. At least my morning commute is short...

During the first three days of the internship we had a really nice orientation. We learned about the company and learned about each other which is what I enjoyed the most. The power of the Senior Leadership Program is the communication among its participates and the mutual help. In order to achieve it we must be friends with each other and the program director tried really hard to make it happen, and very successfully I should say. I became to know fellow MBAs from all the top 10 programs and I must say that after hearing about their experiences in school, both academically and socially, I became a much bigger advocate of Ross. The combination of the experiences we are getting in Ann Arbor and how much we are enjoying it all is unparalleled to any other top program. In the end of the day we are all working together, getting the same compensation, therefore I can't find any reason not to attend Ross. I'm sure next year I'll be a much better Student Ambassador...

As for the internship, well, it just started this week and after the great time we had in the orientation I worked only one day at my department so I will be much more knowledgable to speak about what I really do in my next post of the blog...

Have a successful Memorial Day shopping,

Yoav.

Marie Claire: Week One

Last Monday at 8:45 AM, I hurry down 57th street and right as I hit 8th Ave, I look up and see the most unique building right on the corner. And it's my office building, Hearst Tower. Work begins....Now!

Where do I even start? Well, the first thing that comes to mind about my internship at Marie Claire is that I dont think I've ever done this much walking in a day. I walk into the fashion closet at 9 AM, and I get out at 9 PM. And anytime between then, there's a good chance I'm running around the streets of Manhattan, picking up couture dresses from PR Consulting or dropping off Manolo Blahniks back to the Manolo Blahnik in-house corporate offices. The first week has been ridiculously overwhelming. I can and will say that the fashion industry is definitely nowhere close to easy and glamorous for a starting intern.

However, one thing for sure is that I am learning. A lot. So far, there has not yet been a day where I haven't learned something new. One of the main things I've learned is that everything in the closet has a picture filed in inventory. And anything that leaves the closet must be documented. A daily task that I am responsible for is to check in packages that come in by request from our editors, and for returns that are made back to the in-houses and fashion PR firms.

Within only a week, I have realized just how crucial it is to pay attention to detail. Little details make a huge difference, and it really can't be emphasized enough to be organized and detailed at everything you do. My first week was quite an experience (I cried after my second day), and it has undoubtedly gotten better each and every day. My internship is definitely an adjustment to my otherwise regular (and quite boring) lifestyle, but it's a positive one because it is incredibly eye-opening.

Marie Claire is expecting a total of 36 fashion interns throughout the summer, and already, old interns have left last Friday and a rush of new interns are expected tomorrow morning. I look forward to meeting all of the new interns and to learning things that have yet to be taught.

Until next time!

Lisa

Frist Two Weeks

Hi All,

My first day in the office was May 9th, which will be two weeks ago tomorrow. I spent a lot of time trying to mentally prepare, and day one actually went a lot more smoothly than I expected. Things got off to a bit of a slow start, with the majority of the morning spent making introductions, setting me up with an email/phone/desk, and getting to know the ins and outs of the office. I had expected to still be a little nervous but I got accustomed to my surroundings pretty quickly and was ready to get to work on my first project that afternoon.

Wealth Management is a business where the relationship is key, so it's important to have up to date information on all clients and prospects. My first task was to go through the prospects in Outlook and verify that we have their correct contact information on file. It took a few phone calls but I was able to track down just about everyone whose information was incomplete and make sure we are up to date. A few days later I was given a similar task (in that it required a few hundred phone calls) to get in touch with wholesalers (of mutual funds, annuities, fixed income funds, etc) to request that they send over some "golf swag" for a charity outing my boss is helping to organize.

As I expected, there's going to be a good amount of grunt work required of me throughout this internship, but I'm happy to do that because I'll also have the opportunity to take on some more interesting projects and get some perspective on the industry. For instance, I was given one task to research another financial advisor in the area to come up with a client list and estimate his assets under management. In addition to that I've been trusted to assist one of the investment strategy associates with some portfolio analysis that will (hopefully) help persuade some clients to trust more of their assets to UBS. I haven't gotten started on that, but I'm looking forward to it when I get around to it. On top of that, I'm sitting in on a lot of the internal meetings as well as meetings between FAs and wholesalers or representatives who come in from hedge funds, essentially offering the same service. These meetings have really been a highlight of the experience so far. I'm still new to the game so some of it goes over my head, but it's exciting for me to be in a place where everyone shares the same passion for this stuff as I do.

In all, I'd say these first two weeks have been sort of like an orientation for me. I haven't had a chance to work on anything major just yet, but I've been able to deepen my understanding of their business and the economy/markets it relies on. As this isn't a formal or structured internship, they didn't have too much for me to do when I stepped in the door on day one. But the team sat down toward the end of last week (while I was out) to brainstorm ideas and come up with projects for me to work on. So we'll see what tomorrow has in store for me.

Bay to Breakers (ie. B2B): my welcome to San Francisco

What a best way to land in San Francisco but to attend The Zazzle Bay to Breakers. This has been a tradition for nearly 100 years; a 12k footrace held every third Sunday in May with serious runners and costumed participants. San Francisco at Full. The race, that Begun on January 1, 1912 with just over one hundred local runners, now attracts tens of thousands of runners and walkers from all over the U.S. and the world.

Bay to breakers was one of those events aimed at helping rebuild the city after the 1906 earthquake. While It was intended as a precursor to the athletic events planned for the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exposition, it is now a pure expression of what san Francisco is, its culture, it people, its vibe…

At approximately 7 in the morning San Francisco streets are filled out with an amazing crowd dressed (or undressed) with a wide array of costumes and group themes. Imagine anything and you’ll find it. Cowboys, drag queens, soccer players, packmans, twisters, and unnecessary nudity. But most people are not running they’re walking, and drinking. So the streets are full of joy, craziness and love. What else can you ask for?

My friends and I were a thanksgiving dinner: a turkey, pilgrims, and Indians walking on the streets until we found a spot in a park where we could watch and meet semi naked Greek warriors, a group of people wearing t-shirts with Charlie sheen quotes, Teletubbies, a guy offering free breast exams, a naked married couple, a couple laying and getting very touchy and several police officers trying to evacuate the crowd. At one point you could not know if the policemen were part of the race.

Bottom line, the best cultural immersion to what the city of San Francisco offers…… (more info on: http://zazzlebaytobreakers.com/)

First and last days of vacation

Hi

My name is Yoav, right now I am in the transsion from being a first year MBA to become a second year MBA at Ross. Meanwhile in two weeks from now I will be a Senior Leadership Program Intern at Sears Holdings Corpporation, or as I will refer to it from now- SLP at SHC.

I am very excited about the internship, which is a general managment rotetional program at the headquaters of SHC that are located in the suburbs of Chicago. I find this program to be a good fit with someone like me who haven't decided what he wants to do in his life. In the program I'll be able to rotate among different Bussines Units of SHC (there are approximatly 34) and the different functions which may be anything - from Business Development to Finance, from Marketing to Operations. I hope that by the end of the summer I'll be able to better focus myself towards the future. Of course that if I land a job offer that I would like to recieve,I will mainly focus during my second MBA year on the night life that a great student town like Ann Arbor has to offer...

Wish me luck,

Yoav.