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[[Commercial Leadership Program CLP] [Adam] [ GE Healthcare]]
[You are listening to "Jobs in Pods."]
[[P.C.] Welcome to "Jobs in Pods", the only podcast where you can hear real employers, ]
[leading recruiters and staffing agencies talk about their jobs and how to get them.]
[I'm your host Peter Clayton.]
[This job cast will feature Adam Hutchison with GE Healthcare's commercial leadership]
[CLP is an 18-month leadership training program, created to accelerate the ]
[development of entry-level talent.]
[CLP is specifically designed to build the next generation of leaders within GE Healthcare.]
[Qualified candidates can expect a great deal of exposure and job experience from ]
[3 challenging rotations in multiple locations within GE Healthcare.]
[It includes formal classroom training in GE's state-of-the-art facilities]
[mentoring from senior leadership and career planning leading to a full-fledged commercial role.]
[Adam, thank you for speaking with us today on "Jobs in Pods", and to start off with]
[can you describe a typical day for us as part of the commercial leadership program?]
[And tell us about some of the projects you've been working on?]
[First off, I just want to thank you so much for having me today,]
[and you know what, the first thing I'll start with in describing my job is kind of touching on ]
[these 3 challenging rotations you mentioned a little bit earlier.]
[[A.H.] So within the CLP, during the first phase your typical day may start out where you're ]
[shadowing different reps in the field, whether it's someone in ultrasound or CT.]
[So you'll get up early in the morning, drive out to do an account for a meeting you previously]
[scheduled, and you'll spend the day shadowing a rep in the territory really to learn from their]
[best practices when it comes to customer relations management, or just general sales practices.]
[So that's one of the key elements to the first phase and at the tail end of that phase, to ]
[touch on one of the projects I worked on, I was actually able to go into hospitals]
[where we had a previous relationship, and I would talk about some of our projects, and our ]
[products that we are developing at GE Healthcare.]
[So say I would go into an account and meet with a cardiologist at a hospital, and ]
[with their permission, speak to the them for a few minutes about our product]
[portfolio, some of our new tools and technologies on our ultrasound systems, and ]
[hopefully at the end of that meeting, have a second meeting lined up and a demo lined up]
[where we could possibly show them our systems ]
[and use it on a potential patient to lead towards a purchase.]
[[A.H.] Yeah, and honestly, coming just right out of college as an undergrad it's ]
[a tremendous opportunity to go right into the field and meet the cardiologist, meet the ]
[sonographers, meet the people that work in the hospital, because you don't get that chance or ]
[that opportunity down the road when you're actually managing your own territories.]
[So I took advantage of that very much so during my first phase.]
[If I could touch on kind of the second phase of training really briefly, that's actually where I ]
[am currently, and I am at the GE Healthcare Americas headquarters, and what I've been ]
[doing is really working on 4 key projects, and these 4 projects had been passed down from]
[executive management within GE Healthcare from businesses with an ultrasound]
[or potentially outside of ultrasound on the corporate side.]
[But what it all boils down to is that during this phase, not only are you tasked to deliver]
[on these projects, whether it's giving a presentation to one of the executives ]
[on any assigment they may give you, or strategizing ]
[based on a project that already exists.]
[At the end of the day, you have 4 projects with a great amount of information within them.]
[So really what this offers an opportunity for is I get to leverage my strengths that I developed]
[while I was an undergrad while managing these 4 projects, communicating with executives, ]
[then I also have to work on prioritizing the work I do, because]
[every day of the week the executives I'm working with]
[are expecting some form of a deliverable or some form of communication.]
[So it takes a lot, and honestly I'm into my first week here.]
[Seems like a lot of work, but that's what we sign up for here, is the kind of exposure you get]
[with working with executives, and their expectations are certainly high based on ]
[what work they've seen from CLPs in the past.]
[So I'm working towards really making an impact within these businesses in GE Healthcare,]
[and that's one of the incredible aspects of the commercial leadership program,]
[it's how closely you get to work with the executives, within marketing, or on the product]
[side in the businesses, and really developing strategies ]
[with people that run and manage the company.]
[[P.C.] Okay, so tell us a little bit about the 3rd phase that you'll be going into, what are the ]
[[A.H.] So the 3rd phase really is an opportunity for you to get your feet wet. ]
[So after phase one when you've seen specialists in the field and you've seen their ]
[best practices on the sales side, and phase 2 when you actually get to see some inside]
[information within corporate headquarters, you can leave and go into phase 3 really ready ]
[to sell, and while you're under the umbrella of the commercial leadership program,]
[really the purpose of that is so that you can push it. ]
[You can push your limits, you can take risks in terms of how you manage your customer ]
[relationships, how you try and develop sales and you can still have the ]
[opportunity to make some mistakes.]
[Obviously we go out into phase 3 ready to go and do customer counts, managing ]
[a few of the hospitals and communicating with the cardiologists or radiologists at those ]
[to people within the program, learn and glean from what they're doing right, what mistakes ]
[they may be making, and at the end of that phase, which is only 6 months long, ]
[then you are a full-fledged product sales specialist in your field.]
[So specifically Peter, I'll be working within cardiovascular ultrasound.]
[At the end of this program, I will be a representative for a specific territory in the ]
[United States and I will be responsible for the hospitals in that territory, ]
[and you really manage your own territory, you manage your business.]
[It is your responsibility in phase 3 and when you are a full-time rep to reach out to those ]
[hospitals, to set up customer meetings, and to really be a touch point and a resource for the ]
[customers that you are responsible for.]
[[P.C.] Okay, so Adam tell us a little bit about some of the training that you have received ]
[as being part of the CLP program.]
[training system that is called "My Learning."]
[Depending on the assignment, sometimes we'll have training on specific sales techniques]
[or we'll have training modules for our modality to learn more specifically about cardiovascular]
[ultrasound to help you speak to that modality when you're speaking with the ]
[cardiologist or the radiologist.]
[In addition to that of course you have the formal training you receive ]
[from the experts in the field.]
[I can definitely say that while I was down in New Orleans during my first phase I had ]
[4-5 hour trips one way to a hospital and I would spend that time ]
[with a representative in the car.]
[And of course that's an opportunity you do not pass up.]
[That's a chance to learn from the experts in the field.]
[So really, that's kind of an informal way we receive training but I would consider it maybe ]
[one of the most critical elements of our training experience.]
[Additionally, in the way of informal training, because we get exposure to executives, ]
[we take every opportunity we have to learn from what they've done.]
[And actually at the end of phase 2, while we're here at headquarters]
[we have specific product training in classrooms, so I have not completed that yet]
[but I know that I will be receiving specific training for ]
[cardiovascular ultrasound from some of the experts in the field.]
[I'll get specific sales tools training from some of the IT department within health care.]
[So really it's kind of a 3-tiered training process while we're up here in Milwaukee.]
[[P.C.] Okay, so tell us about some of the people you've met and worked with at GE Healthcare.]
[[A.H.] On a more daily basis I work with my project sponsors,]
[that may be marketing managers, but also my teammates.]
[Some of the--I mentioned I'm working on 4 projects.]
[A few of those projects are team-based projects and currently in Milwaukee within my ]
[class of commercial leadership program trainees, there are 18 of us.]
[We all have cubicles next to each other and we will frequently interact when it comes to ]
[project deliverables or building say a plan for execution for any given projects.]
[One of the key hurdles of the job is being able to prioritize your ]
[communication and with 4 projects]
[it becomes somewhat of an additional task, but it's very critical and I know that as part ]
[of the training program it's something they want us to learn from so that when we're executives]
[getting 400 emails a day we know how to manage that amount of information.]
[[P.C.] So on a personal level Adam, how do you feel the CLP program has helped in your career ]
[development and in furthering your professional goals?]
[[A.H.] When I was applying for a job, I knew I needed to do something that would ]
[keep me engaged, keep me excited.]
[Also, allow me to leverage what I've learned so far and what I'm going to learn working in a ]
[company and make an impact in that company, in that business.]
[Really coming to the commercial leadership program has allowed me to leverage some of ]
[my strengths and build upon maybe the weaknesses ]
[that I recognized coming into the company.]
[So whether it's product or sales education or preparing you to interact with executives on a]
[daily basis, really the CLP gives you a full range of those opportunities.]
[We have the chance to see the inner workings, whether it's with a sales specialist or]
[the engineering side, while having the ]
[responsibility to present and communicate to C-level managers.]
[I should also say the responsibility within the commercial ]
[leadership program is really very unique.]
[GE has really shown that it wants to train us while we get our feet wet.]
[It's enabled me to learn quickly, make some mistakes, ]
[and have some early project successes.]
[I don't think there are very many opportunities out there that allow you to have this level of ]
[responsibility and exposure this early on in a training career within a large company like GE.]
[And I mentioned this before, but you can make an impact within your business.]
[The way this relates to career development and progression in my mind is when I'm ]
[working on a project, if I can see the end result and I can really feel a tangible connection to ]
[that project, it makes it that much more exciting to come to work every day.]
[And when I wake up in the morning, I know that I have people that are depending on me]
[within GE, and I think every one of my counterparts can say the same thing.]
[We are here to make an impact within our businesses, and that's something that]
[our manager really hopes for us to do while we're here at headquarters.]
[And once we're out in the field back during phase 3 and beyond, ]
[the hope is that we'll be able to]
[take the relationships we've made here, keep in mind the lessons we've learned from working]
[at a corporate headquarters, and from working on the sales side, and potentially become the ]
[future leaders of the business because this isn't a program only for sales, ]
[this is a program for becoming the future leaders of the company.]
[And it's going to be difficult, definitely not something we feel entitled to, but at the end of]
[the day, they're giving us the tools that will prepare us to be]
[ the future leaders of the company.]
[I know there are many current executives from GE that came through leadership programs ]
[like the CLP, and I'm really excited to launch my career at GE.]
[I think this is the only place I would want to be, and it's been tremendous so far.]
[I look forward to the next 12 months.]
[[P.C.] Well Adam, thank you so much for taking time to speak with us today on "Jobs and Pods."]
[[A.H.] Absolutely Peter. Thank you so much for the opportunity.]
[[P.C.] That will do it for this edition of "Jobs and Pods."]
[To be considered for the GE commercial leadership program and learn about all ]
[the career opportunities at GE, visit ge.com/careers.]
[We'll also place a link to these resources on Adam's feature page on jobsandpods.com.]
[And remember, you can find us anywhere podcasts are, including itunes, podcast.com]
[And to stay current with all the great jobs, employers and recruiters featured in our ]
[job casts, check out our growing "Jobs in Pods" Facebook community and join in the conversation.]
