Networking Reception and Interviews

Well, the original FIMBA cohort made it through the first semester. We managed to take over the Devos C study area with our diagrams regarding the production process and conversations focused on reorder points and safety stock. We finished up our Basics of Integrated Business Processes on Monday and turned our full attention to the interviews with the corporate partners.

But I’ve skipped ahead. The week before that we had the networking reception—aka: speed networking. This is a lot like speed dating complete with a bell when the time is up, but minus the dating part and add in 12 mini interviews. Regardless of how much we made fun of the “speed dating” night—I think we all really enjoyed it and it definitely made us a lot more comfortable in the interviews of the past week as well as gave us a better idea of what companies we would like to be a part of.

After the networking reception, we turned in our lists of our top six companies and the companies turned in their top six candidates (seriously, the comparisons to speed dating cannot be ignored). Grand Valley then matched us up with five or six interviews each.

We interviewed with some of Grand Rapids’ elite companies last week. That experience alone was amazing—let alone having the privilege to be the fellow for one for 11 months. The companies included: Almond Products, American Seating, Amway, Consumers Energy, Fifth Third Bank, Mercantile Bank, Mill Steel, Priority Health, Steelcase and X-rite. Six interviews in three days sounds like a lot. But most of us were shocked by the amount of free time we had. It was a welcome break. However, this weekend the topic that is at the forefront of every FIMBA members’ thoughts will be the debriefing that we have on Monday morning, when (hopefully) we find out where we will be for the next 11 months!

A Change in Course

Well, this is the start of week four of GVSU’s first FIMBA outing (week six, if you count orientation and the business prep academy). After two solid weeks of heavy academics, last week was a jumpstart in career services and planning, focusing predominately on resume building, cover letters, and interviewing. Today interview questions (both from interviewer and interviewee) was the topic of discussion, and we’re all in the process of scheduling mock interviews with the career services office to see what we do right and wrong.

The career focus is pertinent, as our networking reception is this Wednesday. For those of you who are new to the program (which is all of us), Wednesday is the night when we have a chance to better know the potential employers, and hopefully make a good impression. I’m honestly not partial to networking events; I have my own opinions on them, and I’ll choose not to share them at this point. But even I can’t help but be excited about this: after three weeks of having my nose in a book (nothing wrong with that), this is our chance to get up, move around, and hopefully stretch a little. The career focus, especially in preparation for Wednesday, is a welcome change of pace, something I think we all needed after the first two weeks. Is it a chance to breathe? Nope. But when you’re diving into career opportunities like we are, would you really want one?

That’s all for now, but be sure to leave a comment if you’ve got a question or two.

-Kyle

Welcome to August!

So FIMBA has made it through the first month... extremely quick, and seeming longer than just one month. We have finished two of our three classes and are finally starting to adjust and get some breathing room.

This week is preparation for our interviews and job placement with the corporate partners. We have been working with Bree Gorham from Career Services to improve our resumes, discusses cover letters, and will be participating in an 'etiquette lunch' tomorrow to help us on Wednesday night for our Company Networking event.

We still have our SAP class in session which ends next Monday with our final exam and turning in our last cumulative SAP assignment.

We are all excited to do our interviews and find out where we will be placed, as well as enjoy our break between semesters.

Come back again for more from our Cohort!

--Jon--

Update

We're all studying for our first exam in MBA 603, monopolizing the whiteboard supply of Devos campus. After some hard work I think we're all ready to show what we can do. Wish us luck.

Hip, hip, HAWA!

Following Week One of Class

We have just completed our first full week of classes and first homework packed weekend. As Scott and Corey have said—team building in week one was excellent to see where each of us came from and what we were looking for out of this program. The business prep academy in week two further continued with the 12 of us getting to know each other –you can’t really avoid it when you spend the week driving around in a 15 passenger van. That brought us to our first full week of classes.

Now, we knew going in that it was going to be a challenging program. We knew we were going to be spending a lot of time doing homework and not have much of a social life, especially these first few weeks with condensed classes—that’s what we signed up for. But there’s only so many hours in a week—so we’ve spent some time trying to figure out a schedule for this program that is going to allow us to get the most out of it that we can and also meet faculty expectations. Probably the coolest thing about being the “guinea pigs” and trying to set a high standard for the FIMBA program has been working with the faculty and administration to try and get this program to be the best that it can possibly be. It has been cool to see our concerns and offered solutions considered so carefully. Everyone has been so respectful, honest and flexible of everyone else that I have high hopes for the future of both our cohort and future ones.

On another note, I think this first class week has really set the bar on how we are going to interact with each other throughout the next 13.25 months. I feel like I spend all day with my “FIMBA friends” and then I go home and talk to them via phone, texting, Facebook chat, Wimba, or video chat. No one is afraid to ask questions or say that they don’t understand what is going on. We truly do support one another in order to reach our maximum potential.

Also, I was asked to post this: a potential catchphrase, as mentioned today in our morning class—“WE ARE FIMBA”. Kind of like WE ARE SPARTA…. Just throwing it out there J

Here is a summary of what we discussed briefly in class. We are looking for a catch phrase, status, slogan, motto or whatever you want to call it in order to label the FIMBA Cohort. This is a way to help brand us and not only market the group to employers but strengthen the program for future years. Everyone can use this post to add his or her ideas so that we can later discuss which one we want to use. List your saying and then give a brief description of what it means to you or the significance to the group.

“Lift as you climb” – This is a philosophy that I try to live by every day. We are all a product of the people we surround ourselves with. No one single person can achieve all of his or her dreams without the help of others. As we all climb to reach our goals make sure that we are helping others the same way that they have helped us.

FIMBA

Well FIMBA we hit the ground running and after a fast paced week I’ve had some time to reflect. We have discovered already with the help of Dr. Arnold that we have a very well balanced group. Through the DISC assessment we have learned much more about each individuals leadership strengths and weaknesses. As we continue forward lets not forget that we all have each other’s support and that as the first FIMBA cohort we are committed to setting the standard extremely high.

Dominance – Clay, Corey Scott

Strengths – accepts challenges, makes decisions quickly, taking authority, manages trouble well

Influence – Jake, Erika, Kim

Strengths – makes favorable impressions, very articulate, creates a motivating environment, entertaining

Steadiness – Jeff, Haley

Strengths – demonstrates patience, develops specialized skills, good listener, shows loyalty

Conscientiousness - Elizabeth, Jon, Ben, Kyle

Strengths – concentrates on key details, weighs pros & cons, analyzes performance critically, uses systematic approach to situations

Through the first couple weeks we have helped push each other and offered support. As we continue to learn about everyone’s expertise just remember that we are all here as a team. I am very grateful to be part of such an amazing group of people. In order to make sure that we all achieve our goals remember to lift as you climb.

Dr. Arnold and Team Building

Hey everyone,

I think from day 1 everyone was a little nervous about starting a program that we are the primary founding members of. Nervous because of an intense workload as well as the fact that none of us knew anyone in the program to begin with. That feeling disappeared by the end of Day two thanks to some great team building and leadership by Dr. Damon Arnold. In the first 10 minutes of our three day conference, Dr. D had us stepping outside of our comfort zone doing activities that made us realize, "hey I look like a fool doing this, but so does everyone else". From that point on we realized that there are going to be times when we can't do this alone. We are going to have to lean on each other and learn to ask for help. By the end of the first week it felt as I had 11 new brothers and sisters, and of course Uncle Arnold. I hope that next years Cohort gets to have the same experience and the chance to grow as people.

Welcome!

It's July 11, 2011 and today begins the official blog of the first ever Full Time Integrated MBA at Grand Valley State University. There's 12 of us all together and this marks our second week in. Things are intense already, but we're all excited to be a part of this program and work together.

Follow us on here, we'll be updating it throughout the year and we'll all have something to add. Subscribe to our rss feed and hear about us at Grand Valley. We're going to be busy, but feel free to comment and ask questions.

More to come soon on our first 2 weeks, including the team building we did with Dr. Arnold at the Kroc center and the beginning of our classes.

Jake Jansen-Yee