Procter & Gamble

Graduate jobs explained

P&G hires around 100 graduates per year into the following business areas, with the intake for 2012 creeping up slightly to 120 graduate careers. Graduate roles are pooled in with management roles at the company, implying that graduate positions are inherently designed for progress into supervisory roles in the future.

Furthermore, of particular interest are graduates with abilities in a second language. Procter and Gamble developed an apprenticeship scheme in 2011, increasing the competition numbers. As such, a key characteristic that graduates are advised to use when applying is to emphasise their language skills, should they have any. It is particularly in these roles, working with international clients, that graduates are in demand.

Graduate schemes in full

Graduate opportunities at Procter and Gamble tend to arise as business requirements demand. As such, the list below covers all the areas in which graduates might expect vacancies to arise - but this varies depending upon immediate need in those divisions.

1. Consumer and market knowledge: working with clients to ascertain both individual and market needs, to feed back to wider product teams.
2. Customer business development: attempting to align products and marketing so that it appeals to retailers and customers, as well as serving internal goals.
3. Engineering: three, fairly self-explanatory divisions; modelling and simulation, project management and technology & process development.
4. External relations: liaising with external media in the promotion of products, press releases, conferences and so on.
5. Finance and accounting: external compliance and internal control management. This amounts to tasks such as conducting accounting of external partners or analysing products.
6. Human resources: a variety of functions are available, working in such divisions as recruitment, compensation and benefits or learning and development.
7. Information and decision solutions (IT): essentially all forms of IT within the company, from internal systems to sites used by the public.
8. Manufacturing: quality and safety testing of processes and products.
9. Marketing: designing marketing campaigns according to two stages; ‘the first moment of truth’, buying the product, and ‘the second moment of truth’, actually using it.
10. Research and development: P&G has eight innovation centres across Europe in which it uses modelling and simulations to develop products.
11. Strategic purchasing: working with suppliers to resource the best materials and so on for P&G’s prodcuts.
12. Supply network operations: essentially managing all the processes and logistics of getting products into the stores, including predicting demand and thus supplying appropriate numbers for particular stores.

Potential candidates should keep an eye on the company’s job search site for vacancies, which can be applied for all year round.

Work experience explained

P&G offers a range of internship opportunities in all of its business areas across the UK. There are around 80 places every year, each lasting 10 to 12 weeks. There are also some further opportunities to complete an internship abroad, for which candidates can apply directly. Including those internships in western Europe, the number balloons to 500.

The company uses internships as a recruitment tool: strong interns are likely to be offered a job at the end of the scheme. As such, interns’ performance is assessed, usually based on project work and how they perform in a presentation at the end of the internship.

Who can apply, and what you'll do

Internships tend to be open to penultimate or final year students from any discipline, except for research and development and product supply roles, for which science or engineering degrees are required. Interns are involved in live projects, under supervision, and receive continual feedback and coaching sessions.

Training differs between roles, but all interns gain an understanding of the company’s lines of business and its brands and products, as well as developing business acumen.

Key business areas

Business areas that interns could join include:

Strong interns are likely to be offered a job at the end of the scheme.

• Consumer market knowledge
• Customer business development/sales
• Engineering
• External relations
• Finance and accounting
• Human resources
• Information and decision solutions
• Manufacturing
• Marketing
• Research and development
• Strategic purchasing
• Supply network operations.

UK locations

Internship locations depend on the role applied for and may be in a regional office or a research or manufacturing location. Most business and technical roles are likely to take place in Newcastle, Reading and Surrey. Accommodation is typically subsidised by the company.

Alternatives to internships

As well as internships, P&G has various shorter ways to experience the company and the type of work it does. These fall under the umbrella term of its ‘Career Academy’. Typical events last for two or three days and often revolve around a case study exercise based on a challenge that the business might face. Again, these are often used as recruitment tools, with students who perform well frequently receiving an offer of a full-time job.

Currently there are UK-based events for both commercial and manufacturing careers, which are open to final-year students and recent graduates.

Training and development

The company provides on-the-job training for its new starters from all divisions. The nature of the training depends on the business area, though some sessions are on typical management topics such as those developing leadership and interpersonal skills. P&G states that it tailors its training programmes to individual needs.