Walmart Leadership Development Program?
So I have an offer for the Replenishment Leadership Program at Walmart. Quick Breakdown:
-6 months of supply chain training
-After 6 months you are assigned a product category and you are responsible for the inventory management/demand forecasting of that product for all 5000+ stores in the United States.
-Within 6 months managing inventory worths over 1 billion dollars
So it is a supply-chain position. I know this isn't this forum's specialty, but how do you think this job would look for MBA exit opportunities? Is this a M7 level experience? My plan would be to do this for 3-4 years and then go for an MBA.
My other offers are PwC Tech Consulting in Seattle and Goldman Sachs Tech Analyst in SLC.
Thanks for your help!
confusedSenior
Bump-- this got swallowed fast in posts. Any insights would be incredibly helpful!
Bump-- my last attempt.... no one has any feedback whatsoever?
I'm not entirely sure but I'll give you my insight:
Having the name of a Fortune 1 company on your resume will only ever help you. Those are some pretty big numbers/responsibilities that will definitely stand out as well. Leadership programs with big name companies (Walmart being the biggest name company) always place pretty well.
This will set you up really well for B-School. Have some extra curriculars and a solid GMAT and I'd be really surprised if you don't make M7.
Honestly as much as I hate Walmart, the position seems really cool. At GS it doesn't have that same "umph" but having GS on your CV doesn't hurt plus its SLC. Where is the job location if I may ask?
It's Bentonville, Arkansas-- Walmart's headquarters. Thats the real downer to it as a single male. On the plus side being at their headquarters will allow some awesome business training/development. Salary is much lower than my other offers, but COL is dirt cheap in Arkansas. They are pretty equal when you factor COL.
I have GS from being an intern. It's a technology software developer role though its back-office, not FO. Whereas the Supply chain position at walmart is core to their business in retail.
Well us Southern girls are the best ;) But honestly follow your gut. Seattle ain't a bad place to start, but it is expensive. Walmart is extremely cheap, unless you've been there for 20+ years... Good Luck with your choice!
Best thing for business school is to do something unusual that differentiates you. The Walmart experience will be highly valued by adcoms. I would much rather be sitting next to someone with Walmart experience who lived in Arkansas (you could tell some good stories about that) than another person from PwC tech consulting.
That being said, four years in the role sounds too long, especially if you're managing 1B+ after only six months. If you like Walmart, gun for a rotation to another part of the company, or move on after two years.
Considering your other two locations are SLC and Seattle I wouldn't worry too much about Arkansas. I mean, Seattle is a nice city, but you aren't exactly choosing between Chicago, NYC, and Arkansas so it shouldn't be a huge consideration.
I think the Walmart job sounds pretty interesting, I know if I were in b-school or looking at an application I would want to hear more about it. When it comes down to it, at PwC you will be getting beat out by management consultants and Goldman SLC will get lumped in with Goldman NYC IB which is obviously not what you want to be up against. Walmart makes you able to show an impact with a unique experience at one of the most well known companies in the world.
If I were to take Seattle PwC tech consulting, how would that affect my mba possibilities? I assume it would still be s good shot for schools ranked in the 10-20 category e.g. Duke, Texas, ucla, etc.?
Supply chain is one of those in demand careers which is a great fit for a business minded, technically inclined and quantitatively skilled guy. You won't ever make quant-level money, but you'll be compensated very well seeing a supply-chain and logistics is a HUGE field that can meant the difference between competitors and their advantages.
As others say, I doubt you'll have a hard time with at least something in the M7 seeing as its diverse but still 'valuable' experience. I know that Accenture has a supply chain consulting arm, and I'm other consulting arms do as well. If not there's always the possibility of branching off into your own consulting type firm after years and years of experience.
I'd say stick with 2-3 years at Walmart in this role and then maybe get into some consulting or higher level supply chain work. Either way, I like it the most from your options.
Also I think Walmart is known for good bennies for their office workers.
Sounds like a good program,and it should bode well for MBA admissions. Hope for two title changes before applying if you stay there the whole time and are enjoying it. If you want to leave and try something else, there are a LOT of options for you. My wife is in sourcing, and I had no idea there was so much demand
Crazy idea, but you should also consider what YOU want to do. All three are somewhat different roles that can lead to different careers. What role do YOU find more interesting? What career path do YOU want to explore? Remember, b-schools will also look at promotions, letters of recommendation, career goals, etc. when deciding your candidacy. If you love what you are doing, you will get the promotions, your managers will write amazing recommendations and you can clearly state why your experience pre-MBA will help you with your career post-MBA.
Plus, 4 years is a long time and a lot can change. What if you don't even want to go to b-school in 4 years? Personally, I would never make a career decision based on what a b-school may think of me 4 years down the road.
Solid point. I just get nervous I'm going to make some decision that will ruin the rest of my career after reading some posts on here. A lot of posts make it seem that there is only one path to success and you're pretty much chump change if you make a wrong decision.
We don't mean to give that impression, but there are a lot of decisions that people make career wise that turn out to be sub-optimal in hindsight. Of course, there's not as much discussion about the decisions that turn out well. Just like surveys skew negative because customers love to complain, but don't bother to say nice things as much
100% agree with this.
it's stupid to think about girls or MBA adcoms for a job. Location I could accept because you could grind out part-time schools at local schools to avoid salary losses, and that would be nice if a good school is nearby to commute..
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