Robin Martin-Jones Case

Robin Martin-Jones graduated with a business degree in finance from a mid- sized state university. In her last semester of her senior year, Robin began meeting with and interviewing with the college recruiters from a variety of financial service institutions. Although she was most interested in working with a small, more entrepreneurial-type firm, Robin was very impressed with one large Fortune 500 organization. The recruiter shared with her the many advantages of working with his firm. The training programs, future educational opportunities, career development options, and mentoring programs all sounded too good to pass up. When the recruiter mentioned how far women had advanced in his organization, Robin was sold. She accepted the job offering and looked forward to starting with the firm.

As a "fast tracker." Robin joined 15 other men and women in an intense 18-

month training program. These organizational newcomers learned many facets of the business. The best and brightest of these young people were told that 5 of them would be chosen to continue their studies in an MBA program with the firm picking up all the costs. With excellent recommendations from her supervisor, Robin was selected to receive this educational support along with 1 other woman and 3 of the men.

Robin applied and was accepted into a top MBA program and. again, excelled. She worked part-time for the firm and attended classes full-time. Two years later, Robin graduated near the top of her class. She returned to the firm full-time and quickly received a promotion from financial analyst to assistant branch manager. The other MBA graduates received similar opportunities in other locations of the firm. Over the next 2 years. Robin continued to receive strong performance reviews and was given the opportunity to relocate and learn other facets of the business. Although reluctant to leave the branch, she knew that to advance in the company she could not afford to turn down this offer. After a successful stream of different positions, each one building upon the skills of the others, Robin settled into a mid-level management position with responsibility for 10 financial analysts. She enjoyed this position and noted that others who had gone through the same fast-track program were at the same level in the organization and could liaison with her on a number of special projects.

During this time, Robin married and began to balance her career with her family life. When she decided to take advantage of the family leave policy that gave her 6 weeks paid leave after the birth of a child, she congratulated herself on choosing a family-friendly company that accommodated both her family goals and career aspirations. After the birth of her child, she returned to work on an 80 percent flexible work arrangement with full management support from her superiors. Her performance was consistently rated outstanding,