General Electric (GE) is one of the largest multinational conglomerates (a collection of separate firms) worldwide, headquartered in the US and with a company history tracing back to Thomas Edison in 1989. GE Operates in transportation, healthcare, aviation, oil & gas and power sectors and was ranked 9th in the Job Crowd’s top 100 larger intake firms to work for in 2014 – 2015. Based on reviews from over 100 employees, GE secured an overall score of 4.2/5, doing particularly well in environmental awareness (4.6), training (4.5) and career progression (4.5).
The average salary received by graduates at GE was between £31,000 – £33,000, with one graduate explaining that ‘base salary varies from country to country in which you have your contract’ and others describing that graduates also receive ‘annual pay increases of 2-3%’. Average working hours were 8am – 6pm; as one employee put it, ‘you will be expected to work long hours if you are based in the bigger sites. If you are looking for a 9-5 job (even if that includes the occasional long night/weekend), you do not want this job.’ although others said that hours ‘…vary a lot based on team’.
The best and worst things about working for GE included;
‘The opportunities that GE give you – such as training and travel. The pressure to get things done resulting in long hours.’
‘Responsibility, exposure to leadership, leadership opportunities, training, networking (between people), support. The scheme isn’t as technical as it could be. However, they have listened to the graduates and have made GREAT strides to ensuring there are more technical rotations.’
‘Exposure to senior leadership. Training – both personal; leadership, etc and professional; working skills, training courses (ITIL, LEAN Six Sigma etc). Opportunities – can pick rotations in many different areas. Work/life balance – a lot of hours needed to succeed and excel.’
Interview tips given by GE graduates advised applicants to ‘Be punctual, polite, and engaging. Prepare for technical and competency based questions, so that you can give a relaxed and natural response to all the rehearsed questions, and feel comfortable enough to handle the unexpected questions’. Other advice included; ‘Prepare, research and be yourself. That’s all GE ask for. Show that you have a personality, that you are a real person. Not just a robot that can complete work.’ and ‘…the graduate programs have assessment centres instead of just a traditional interview which lasts about half a day consisting of interviews and other activities’.
Interested in finding out more? You can find the full range of job reviews for GE here!
