FreymuthCaveney Blog: February 2009

Sienna JAMMIN!!! (Sept 28th)

What Style! What Rhythm!

Cheryl and Sammy get engaged! (Sept 16th)

My sister, Cheryl and her boyfriend of about 3 years, Sammy, got engaged on Sept 16th. There aren’t a lot of details yet, but they are thinking of Fall of 2009 for the US wedding with another wedding in Kenya early 2010. The whole family is excited, Sammy is a GREAT guy and will be a fun addition to the family.

Why you don't leave an 18 month old alone with her Dad! (15 Sept)

For those of you not wise in the ways of toddler poo - these are Diaper Genie refils (aka Garbage Bags)!

See video:

Mason's 1st Birthday! (Sept 13th)

We went to Mason's 1st birthday party. Since it was game day – Sienna dressed up like a cheerleader! The party was a good time, good food and friends etc…

She wasn't the only one with school spirit!

Welcome to our family, Cali! (6 Sept)

After Gizmo died, we decided not to get another cat until after we moved. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Frodo became completely miserable and needy (constantly crying and wanting to be ON us all the time-very un-Frodo-like) – so we went to the Livingston County Humane Society to look for a new cat. We decided that we would adopt a cat, not a kitten, for a few reasons. First, kittens are easier for the shelter to place. Second, we already had one neurotic cat and didn’t want another one – so figured an adult would be a safer bet. In order to help us decide, we took one screaming 18 month old and several cats (individually) into the “interview room” at the shelter. One cat (and only 1) not only was not afraid of said screaming toddler, but came up to her while she cried! We knew immediately this was our new cat! Sweetie AKA Big Momma AKA (now) Cali (just couldn’t be bothered to come up with a more unique and creative name given that we also have to come up with a name for our son very soon) was found as a stray and brought in to the shelter. She is estimated to be about 3 years old. She had a litter of kittens that died (we’re not sure why), but was able to foster a litter of abandoned kittens at the shelter. Go CALI!!

We brought her home and she continues to be one of the nicest, sweetest cats I’ve ever met. She loves to be around people. For the first several weeks, she followed Sienna around everywhere like a dog would – even sitting outside her door at night and crying at the door when one of us was in the room with Sienna reading books with the door closed! Sienna, for her part, is TRYING to learn to “pet nice” and not lay on the poor thing. You’d think that she would learn to stay away!!

Recruiting Starts (Sept 3rd)

Forest’s classes started on September 3rd again. This is Forest’s 2nd to last semester (i.e., 2nd to last tuition bill!!!). He is only taking one class this semester because he expects to be really busy with recruiting all Fall. How recruiting works is that companies who want to hire the UM MBA grads set up company presentations and other types of meet and greets throughout the months of September and October. Forest can attend any of these that he is interested in for the most part, though some of the smaller cocktail parties and tailgates are by invitation only (from what I can see…you get invited to these by 1) getting lucky and they notice your resume posted online by UM or 2) by showing up at their more “open” events and making a good impression). While at these “events” all the applicants do their best to schmooze and make good impressions –as well as to get answers to questions about the company. Every company has a “drop date” by which applicants have to submit their resumes. These dates are staggered throughout the semester (so not all companies on the same weeks). Following the “closing date” of the resume drop, UM submits all applicants to the companies. The companies then have a week to decide who they want to invite for an interview. Those people invited are notified on a certain date. Those people who did not get an interview (but who are very interested in a company) can opt to “bid” to get an interview with this company. Every company who recruits through this system MUST have a certain percentage (around 30%) of its interviews as “open” – or “up for bidding” in order to participate. All applicants are given 1000 points at the beginning of the semester to put toward bidding on interviews. If they “win” an interview, the points are subtracted, if not, they keep the points to bid on another interview. Those people who are invited to interview (a “closed” interview), still have to pay 50 points to do the interview. This is so that people who are not really that interested in a company don’t take away interview slots from those who are more interested.

First interviews start the end of September. 2nd interviews and offers start after that. 1st interviews are done on campus. 2nd interviews are usually at the headquarters of the company. I am “bummed” about the timing of my pregnancy as, assuming Forest gets to go on a few 2nd interviews, I will not be able to go with him to see these places!

One of the best parts of this whole process is that all companies are required to hold any offers they make until January 15th. Therefore, they cannot start putting pressure on him to accept an offer now while he may be waiting to hear other offers from other companies. In other words, he can wait and see all the offers that are on the table before deciding which one to take.

It all seems very complicated in a way – but I think it’s absolutely fascinating! I wish that other fields did this good a job of systematically finding good jobs for their graduates!

In terms of what kind of job Forest is looking for…he is interested in finance, and becoming more and more interested in international finance. The programs that he is looking most seriously at are called “Leader Development Programs”. Basically, the point of these programs is to take a small handful (around 2 to 10 depending on the size of the company) of promising new MBA graduates (recruited from only a few of the top business schools in the country) and groom them to be upper management over a period of 2 to 5 years (again, depending on the company). During this time, the program varies a lot by company, but often involves “rotations” where Forest would be doing several different types of jobs, possibly having to move to different cities and even countries along the way. The goal, at the end of this training program, would be to place the “graduates” (yes, they actually consider them to be graduating) in Vice President or Controller positions within the company (that’s fancier than it sounds, some of these large companies have literally hundreds of VPs and Controllers – one or even more for every single product line).

I think that Forest’s ultimate goal is to work his way up as high as he can go in a large company and then become CEO of a smaller company. …time will tell….

Meanwhile, his current employer continues to try to convince him to stay with them. They keep offering more and more money – and have offered him the 3rd highest position in the company. At this point, what they are offering is likely more than he would get in his first years at a new job (especially when you consider that they have paid about 30% of his tuition for this MBA, which we will have to pay back if he leaves). However, Forest would really like to work with a larger company where there is more opportunity for growth. If he took the job that his current employer is offering, at 29, he’d be the 3rd highest ranking person, but with no room to move up as it is a private, family run business.

RANDOM ALERT! - This is why you don't leave an 18 month old alone in a garage, even for 2 minutes!

Canoe Weekend (30 Aug -1 Sept)

My parents had their annual Seiler Family Canoe Weekend on Labor Day Weekend this year. As always, this involves a lot of great food, socializing and packman, dart and pool tourneys…oh yeah….and canoeing.