New Skills and Great Connections Led this Scheller College EMBA Alum to his Dream Job.
“Hey, I’m Charlie.”
Those three words were enough for Charlie Harty to land a Forecasting Manager position at The Coca-Cola Company. Well, those three words and his journey through the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business Executive MBA (EMBA) program.
“I was new to the Atlanta area. I knew I wanted to start my MBA and I wanted to expand my professional network with great new contacts,” Harty said looking back on his experience beginning the EMBA program. “I’m so glad I chose the Executive MBA program at Georgia Tech. I told myself during the first week of the program that everyone is new and kind of shy, so if I’m walking down the hall and see someone, just introduce yourself to them and say ‘Hey I’m Charlie!’ It might be awkward for about three seconds, but then you start talking and that ultimately led to great connections. One of those new connections is how I ultimately found my job at Coca-Cola. I would tell anyone coming into the program to just be willing to put yourself out there and build that network. The Georgia Tech Executive MBA students and alumni are great people with great connections.”
Harty took full advantage of the dedicated EMBA career resources and networking opportunities during the 17-month weekend MBA program at Georgia Tech. This former Cryptologic Warfare Officer credits the network he developed, the skills, and in-depth knowledge he gained in his Management of Technology MBA specialization as the two biggest factors in gaining his new career position.
“One of the most valuable aspects of the EMBA program in addition to a world-class education from Georgia Tech is getting to meet other ambitious and driven people in the Atlanta area. I loved getting to work with them, developing friendships, exploring China together and enjoying each other’s company outside of class,” Harty said.
Harty had a slightly different start to his career in business, serving in the Navy for five years after graduating from the Naval Academy in 2012. After transitioning from the military to the civilian world in 2017, he pinpointed his need for an advanced degree.
“I’ve always had a passion of wanting to learn more about the way things work,” Harty said. “Coming out of the military I realized how much I had to learn. That’s when realized I needed to get an MBA because I want to be competitive for that next level of my career. I started looking into the best MBA programs in the area and Georgia Tech was at the top of that list. I was especially interested in the Management of Technology specialization because I didn’t have any previous entrepreneurial experience, but it was an area I really wanted to get into and learn more about.”
However, Harty quickly realized as he began his Executive MBA journey, his experience in the Navy had prepared him for an advanced degree. He relates that one of the major things he learned in the Naval Academy was not necessarily how to do any one thing, but how to figure out how to do anything. It’s a lesson he carried with him throughout the EMBA program and now with him to The Coca-Cola Company.
“In the EMBA program, especially on group projects where we all came from different industries and backgrounds and experience, it was all about working together and maximizing each other’s skillsets,” said Harty. “I had a lot of fun doing that with my teams at Georgia Tech Scheller and that’s when this opportunity at Coca-Cola came up. I’m getting to put a lot of my finance skills developed from my MBA program to use. That was one of the primary things I was looking for coming out of the MBA. How can I branch out into different fields of business that I didn’t have much experience with like finance? I wanted to find a job where I could put those new skills I’d learned to use. Thanks to what I learned in the Georgia Tech Scheller Executive MBA program and the great connections I made, that is exactly what I get to do now.”
Learn more about the 17-month Scheller College of Business weekend Executive MBA Program