School assignment for evaluating various career paths
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MEMORANDUM_________________________________ __ To: Beryl From: Nathan Date: February 1, 2010 Subj: Career Assessment This coming summer will be my last summer as an undergraduate in Electrical Engineering. While I will be returning to NC State next year for graduate school, identifying desirable characteristics of potential workplaces is something I must begin considering now. Therefore, I will pick three potential companies and develop a method to rank them. The purpose of this memo is to compare three potential employers by identifying important criteria and ranking the companies so that I will be able determine which one most closely fits my needs. METHODOLOGY My research will begin by identifying three companies of significant interest to me and doing some background research on them. After identifying these companies, I will select the most important qualities that I look for in an employer. While I was able to rank the criteria from most to least important, I found that no category was dramatically more important than the other. For this reason, I see no reason to adjust the way each category affects the company’s overall score. Using information from web-sources, conversations with my peers, and personal knowledge, I will rank the three companies in each of the categories. The score average should indicate which of the companies is the best fit for me. OVERVIEW OF COMPANIES General Electric:
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MEMORANDUM___________________________________To: BerylFrom:NathanDate: February 1, 2010Subj: Career Assessment
This coming summer will be my last summer as an undergraduate in Electrical Engineering. While I will be returning to NC State next year for graduate school, identifying desirable characteristics of potential workplaces is something I must begin considering now. Therefore, I will pick three potential companies and develop a method to rank them.
The purpose of this memo is to compare three potential employers by identifying important criteria and ranking the companies so that I will be able determine which one most closely fits my needs.
METHODOLOGYMy research will begin by identifying three companies of significant interest to me and doing some background research on them. After identifying these companies, I will select the most important qualities that I look for in an employer. While I was able to rank the criteria from most to least important, I found that no category was dramatically more important than the other. For this reason, I see no reason to adjust the way each category affects the company’s overall score.
Using information from web-sources, conversations with my peers, and personal knowledge, I will rank the three companies in each of the categories. The score average should indicate which of the companies is the best fit for me.
OVERVIEW OF COMPANIESGeneral Electric:
General Electric is one of the largest and most diversified technology companies in the world. GE employs over 300,000 people in six continents. (DatamonitorGE) I am interested in working for the energy infrastructure segment of the company. GE has been a major player in conventional energy generation and continues to lead the way in areas like solar energy, smart grid, and wind turbines. (GE)
Duke Energy:
MEMORANDUM___________________________________Before acquiring Progress Energy, Duke Energy employed nearly 20,000 people. (DatamonitorDukeEnergy) After the recent purchase of Progress Energy for thirteen billion dollars, it is the largest power company in the United States both in the number of customers and in power capacity. (MSNBC)
M.C. Dean
M.C. Dean is a design-build electrical firm located in Dulles, Virginia. Including this company in the comparison is important because it is where I will be interning this summer. M.C. Dean is a small privately owned company employing around 2000 people. (MCDean) They do large commercial design projects ranging from power distribution in hospitals to secure communications and command centers in the pentagon. Of the three companies listed, this is the only one where I will be able to include my own personal experience.
SELECTION CRITERIAIn order to begin to quantify the value each of these jobs offers, I have selected four criteria to rate the companies that I am interested in. From most to least important, the criteria are: progressiveness, potential for growth, work-life-balance, and reward. These values are further defined in the following sections.
Progressiveness:This is the most important quality that I look for in a potential company. I look for a company that is leading the way in cutting-edge technologies. It is very important to me that I find a company that is constantly experimenting with new technologies and not stubborn in using old ones. A progressive company will not only keep me interested in my work, it will ensure that the company will continue grow and prosper. Another aspect of this category is the companies attitude towards the environment. It is very important to me that I join a company that plays an active role in reducing its environmental impact.
Potential for Growth:This category is intended to include not only the capacity for promotion, but also the companies reputation for rewarding good performance. Some important factors to be considered are financial growth, size, and company politics. Ideally the company would be known for hiring from within, and promoting for performance rather than other political reasons.
Work-Life Balance:
MEMORANDUM___________________________________Work-life balance for me is a very subjective category that depends many more things than just the number of hours worked each week. Another consideration for this category is quality of life while at work. A company with reasonable workload and stress levels is more desirable than one that expects too much or even too little of their employees. Another consideration is the freedom the company gives its employees pursue their own interests in the form of picking projects or guiding them altogether. This category also considers takehome work.
Location:The locaton of my job is one of the more important qualities I look for in a company. Interestingly, this category has a very small effect on my decision except in extremely negative cases. As an example, a job that required continually travelling or that was located in a rural area may eliminate it from my search altogether.
COMPANY EVALUATIONSProgressiveness:
General Electric: GE is known for leading the way in cutting edge technology. They are very closely involved in the modernization of the energy infrastructure. Working for GE would mean having the potential to design the products that would meet the world growing energy needs. While GE is certainly motivated primarily by profits, they have made a huge effort to build a green image by developing environmentally friendly solutions.
Duke Energy: Duke has not built the best reputation for its progressiveness. Between the reluctance to consider green alternatives and their failure to adopt new technologies, Duke will not receive a very high rating in this regard. However, due to recent advances in technology, I am hopeful that these tendencies will soon change. By joining Duke Energy, I would hope to someday implement green generation and smart grid technologies.
M.C. Dean: M.C. Dean is a very small company compared to the two listed before. While their resources are limited, the CEO of the company is very adventurous in undertaking new challenges. What started as an electrical company, now brags specialties command centers and secure communications systems. The company is also known for finding ways to reduce cost and waste within the construction process. Will the company is not necessarily cutting-edge, it is progressive.
Potential for Growth:
MEMORANDUM___________________________________General Electric: GE is the largest of all three of the companies. It offers its employees numerous programs and classes to foster personal growth. While GE allows almost unlimited room for growth, it is also likely that it is the most competitive. Many employees suggested that company politics make advancement difficult. The company offers competitive salaries, but several employees agreed that it is not enough for the given work-load. (GlassDoor)
Duke Energy: Duke Energy has a fair amount in the area of growth potential. From conversations I have had with employees, I have learned that computer engineering has diverted many potential power engineers from the field. For this reason, the workforce is fairly old and management positions may be opening as these employees enter retirement.
M.C. Dean: M.C. Dean has been growing at an exponential rate for the past ten years. The company readily accepts new challenges and jumps on any opportunity to grow. Over the past ten years, the company has grown from one department to five distinct departments and opened an office in Germany. If the company continues to grow at this rate, I anticipate management positions opening as a result.
Work-Life Balance:
General Electric: GE is not known for work-life balance. Employees have said that work weeks are often too long and that stress levels are high. (GlassDoor) I suspect that due to the challenging nature of the work, I would find myself continually occupied with work.
Duke Energy: From what I have heard from peers, the environment at Duke Energy is considerably less stressful than at GE. It is also possible that I would find tasks to be repetitive or unsnagging, making time at work less enjoyable.
M.C. Dean: During a presentation by M.C. Dean a representative claimed that work-life balance was a priority for the company. After asking many of the employees, I learned that the company did not rally offer anything special. Work-weeks generally lasted over 50 hours and often increased dramatically as a project deadline approached.
Location:
General Electric has 235 manufacturing plants in the United States alone. Duke Energy has power plants and distribution lines all across the Eastern United States. For these companies, the desirability of the location would vary from one offer to the other. Power generation is most likely to occur near a populated area, but could also be in a very rural area. M.C. Dean is
MEMORANDUM___________________________________located in Dulles, Virginia close to Washigton, D.C. This area is heavily populated and is currently a desirable place for me to live.
CONCLUSIONTo illustrate the results of my search, I will attempt to rate each company from 1 - 10 in each of the criteria. This is shown in the following table:
General Electric Duke Energy M.C. DeanProgressiveness 9 4 6Potential For Growth
The table almost accurately illustrates the way I feel about the three companies. Duke energy fell behind dramatically in progressiveness and location. I feel that there are countless characteristics of potential companies that also affect the decision.
This was a very interesting project to do at such a critical time in my life. It is very useful to break down a company’s allure into components. I’m sure it is something that I will continue to use on some level for all of my future job hunting.
Works CitedDatamonitorDukeEnergy. Datamonitor. 11 August 2010. 30 January 2011
<http://web.ebscohost.com.www.lib.ncsu.edu>.
DatamonitorGE. "General Electric Company." 29 September 2010. Datamonitor. 30 January 2010 <http://web.ebscohost.com.www.lib.ncsu.edu>.
GE. GE Energy. 2010. 30 January 2010 <http://www.gepower.com/businesses/ge_wind_energy/en/index.htm>.
GlassDoor. Company Profile. 2011. 30 January 2011 <http://www.glassdoor.com>.
MCDean. About M.C. Dean. 2011. 30 January 2011 <http://www.mcdean.com/about/about.htm>.
MEMORANDUM___________________________________MSNBC. Duke Energy buying Progress Energy for $13.7B. 10 January 2011. 30
January 2011 <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40999920/ns/business/>.
