Terp, I kind of read that GE quote to mean that many of the people who join the rotational program coming out of MBA had consulting backgrounds. Which makes a lot of sense, I know a fair amount of people here who come from consulting and want to transition into a GM program. Honestly, GE is not extremely high up on a lot of GM people's list any more. Their brand isnt what it was 20 years ago, its still strong but other companies are more popular these days with top MBAs. GE has diluted their brand by hiring heavily from lower ranked schools, how many top 5 MBA's want to be 1 of 150 and of those 150 many come from programs well outside the top 20. GE also pays below market compared to other programs, so if you take 120k of debt on to go to school that 20k difference can be a pretty big difference maker when decision time comes around. I can see GE being a popular place for a lot of experienced folks like MC. I talked to an alum who is a SVP at GE and came from a major energy company. Any company with 300k+ employees will have to hire high up managers.
One telling thing in my opinion about GE is their retention of employees that get hired into their ECLP is pretty crappy compared to other companies programs. I went through old career reports here and checked to see where alums are in their careers now and GE had probably the worst rate...it seems people use them for a stamp much like MC firms and IBing. So there have to be plenty of openings for talent if everyone is leaving.
However, other companies have incredibly high retention. Chevron is over 90% for their program during the last 10 years still are with them, which is amazing considering that MBA's have a reputation of switching jobs often. To keep people they obviously are treating them well, advancing them, and compensating them.
Agold, as to timelines it really varies...also different companies use different titles...its not like IB or MC which have pretty standard job titles. You can make VP at some companies within 5 to 7 years but at others where there are far fewer VP's, and those VP jobs are much higher levels it could take 10-15 or even more. It really depends on the titles that companies like to use. Salary wise it once again really varies. Thats like asking what is the salary for a banker going to be in 2015...its impossible to answer these days. Honestly if you are super concerned about money then GM isnt for you. People who are going for GM usually are more focused on having overall career satisfaction and excellent work/life balance. My opinion if I am 40 and making 200k a year thats great and will give me a great lifestyle. Personally I would rather be working less than 50 hours a week on average and making good but not amaing money than making seven figures and 80+ hours a week...but hey thats just me and my desires.
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Kellogg Class of 2010...still active and willing to help. However, I do not do profile reviews, don't offer predictions on chances and am far to busy to review essays, so save the energy of writing me a PM seeking help for these. If I don't respond to a PM that is not one of the previously mentioned trash can destined messages, please don't take it personally I get so many messages I have a hard to responding to most. The more interesting, compelling, or humorous you message the more likely I am to respond.