Jennifer Gill '01

I chose comparative literature because the courses were the most interesting and Comparative Literature seems to attract the best professors from a variety of disciplines. At the time, it seemed like the best of both worlds and I knew that I could figure out how to make sense of it all from a career perspective later. Ten years later, I found myself at INSEAD, one of the top European business schools. To get into INSEAD, you need to speak three languages and have worked abroad. Without Comp Lit, the Rassias method, and the inspiration of Graziella Parati, I never would have managed working in Italy, and certainly would have never made it to INSEAD. Now I am the Business Manager to the Chief Technology Officer of Vodafone. My boss has an annual budget in the billions and 22,000 people across 28 countries reporting up to him, and I am responsible for coordinating all his activities, event and deliverables. His motto is 'hire in your weakness' so as the CTO, so he chose to me to be his right hand 'man', with a strong background in writing, culture and, well, being organized. In this capacity, I write his speeches, board papers, and deliverables to our executive committee, with the support of all the brilliant engineers and technologists at Vodafone. It is a privileged position, and I have a fly on the wall view of how the world's biggest TelCo functions at its highest layer. At the moment that I chose my major, I never could have charted a path that brought me to where I am today, but I knew that by following the courses and professors who stretched my imagination the farthest, I would find a career that went beyond the ordinary.

In July 2008 she wrote - "The ability to develop new frameworks that allow me to present meaningful analysis for a wide range of business problems has helped me enormously as a consultant and is a direct result of my Comparative Literature background."

I am starting an MBA program in France at INSEAD, an international business school. INSEAD requires that all its students graduate with three languages. While business school may seem like an unlikely destination for a Comparative Literature major, the language requirement at INSEAD appealed to me because I know that it values a student body with a deep appreciation for language and culture. I have tried many different professions on for size since graduating from Dartmouth: English teaching, Human Resources, Tourism, and finally, IT consulting. Much to my surprise, I felt the most at home and challenged as an IT consultant with IBM. I really enjoy translating difficult IT concepts to my clients, and then explaining my client's requirements to our development team.