How I got here?

Fed up with the quagmire that is Monster.com and other internet job boards cluttered with spam and sketchy at best "career opportunities", I did a quick search on the BYU Alumni Career Board and saw an interesting post by Gallup. To be honest, I don't remember what position was advertised but I knew it was something in Consulting at Gallup. Both had a good brand association for me, but I didn't even know that the two were related. I always thought of Gallup in terms of the Gallup Poll and their prediction that Truman would win over Dewey. Delving into the various online resources such as Vault.com, I found great reviews about work-life at Gallup. I knew the Gallup brand was highly credible and naturally leaned away from the larger consulting firms--thanks to my brother's experience at KPMG. What did I have to lose? I shot the recruiter my resume via email, followed by a voicemail and then waited. It took a few days before I was invited to take an online selection test. It seemed like it went on forever--as extenuated by the redundancy of some of the questions.

I assumed the online Gallup test had gone poorly, since I had heard nothing for weeks. Then, out of the blue, I received a phone call from a Gallup recruiter. She said they would like to do an in-depth telephone interview and that one of their interviewers would be contacting me shortly. When she called, she was very friendly and accommodating...at least until the interview began. She went cold on me and my jokes seemed to echo in the silence. I wasn't sure if my answers were concise or complete enough. At the end, she simply said, "Thank you, we'll be in touch."

Several weeks passed as I received job offers in Telecom, Private Equity, Pharmaceuticals, and one in brand management at a consumer products conglomerate. I was ready to make my decision when Gallup's recruiter called back saying that a manager is interested and would like to do another phone interview. I told her no problem, as long as if things went well, they could "job offer" me by Monday. It was Wednesday. She was leaving for vacation, but said she would see what they could do. 2 phone interviews and a weekend trip to Omaha later, and I had my offer. The Omaha campus was incredible. Everyone from the receptionist to the lunch lady seemed to love working there and knew everyone else by name.

The position I was offered was a Partner Apprentice. It's an accelerated track to Partner that consists of several 6 month rotations working in the various business practices. The upward mobility sounded attractive and as a 26 yr old, I felt important interviewing directly with a member of the Executive Committee. After some negotiations, I was on my way to Omaha.

After 10 weeks here, I feel at home. It seems like I made the right decision and so far at least, Gallup has lived up to its reputation. My advice to others out there in a similar situation is to open a lot of doors so you have plenty of options when making the decision. It has lasting effects. Make sure you like your potential manager and their manager. Read the online reviews and don't sacrifice your personal life to work at a "big name" company. In regards to Gallup specifically, I'd be happy to answer any questions about the application process. While it seemed a bit unique at the time, I have learned that this same process helps a lot of Fortune 1000 companies hire and retain the best talent. Companies pay a lot for Gallup to go in and use the same tools and methodology to find and develop rising stars. The processes that may have seemed tedious for me in the beginning, pay huge dividends to clients who believe in the science behind our selection tools.