General Electric

Name: Steve Canale
Position: Manager Global Recruiting and Staffing Services
Education: St. Bonaventure University, marketing and philosophy
Location: Fairfield, CT

How did you get your start at GE?
I was hired right out of college into one of GE’s Corporate Leadership Development Programs. I’ve been with GE for 32 years. It’s unique, not many people can say they’ve been at their company for 30-plus years.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
One of the things I enjoy the most is having the opportunity to find and have an influence on GE’s future pipeline. We, as a group, could be hiring the next CEO or CFO of GE down the road, and just knowing that is really gratifying.

What do you look for in entry-level employees?
A few words come to mind: Self-confidence, intellect, ability to learn and grow, ambition, integrity, and a strong work ethic. Half of our hires are engineers, we also look for a lot of IT and business majors.

Can you give us any sneak peaks into the typical interview? What kind of questions should candidates expect?
I can’t reveal our questions, but I would recommend you make sure you know yourself. We like candidates who are honest, and aren’t afraid to admit, “I don’t know” if they don’t know the answer to one of our questions.

What is the office culture like?
GE has a common culture across all of our businesses, but there is an element of the culture that’s unique to the different industries and geographic region that the companies are in. GE Healthcare, for instance, has a different culture than GE Capital or GE Energy. There is a common denominator through all our companies though: We have an open culture, we’re inclusive, supportive, and we work hard but also play hard.

What is the biggest misconception about working at GE?
That we work too hard! Over the decades I’ve been at GE I have seen a huge transformation towards work/life integration. Young people today want to work on their own terms. If someone needs to leave at 3:00 to go to their child’s baseball game, that’s fine, but you often will see that person online at 9:00 sending out some emails. It’s really the ability to integrate work and personal life that most people strive for, and I’ve seen GE transform to meet that demand. I wish I had this work/life integration 30 years ago! But overall, it’s great, and it’s a sign that GE trusts and empowers its employees.