So I thought it was time to give an update from South Korea… The past month has been phenomenally busy! I have been back to the UK for my Christmas break and whilst in Europe I took business trips to Poland and Portugal.

This is an example of how RB people are constantly looking for and creating opportunities to maximize our understanding of our industry. Where many people would concentrate on a relaxing holiday, my first thought was returning home created perfect opportunities to visit European RB factories. These trips allowed me to get real first hand observation of how certain products are produced and now I plan to run production line trials for both products in one of our Korean factories in the next couple of weeks.

Like my colleagues, I’m totally focused on my work and if that means staying at work late to finish an experiment or taking last minute trips then I’m more that happy to do so. This may sound like a lot of hard work, and trust me, working for RB definitely isn’t for everyone, but if you have a genuine passion and drive then you can have the most rewarding successful career you could imagine.

So far in my 17 months with RB I have worked on an innovative new Airwick launch, travelled to Italy, UK, Poland and Portugal with the business and I’m due to launch two new products to the Korean market in the next few months. All this has been made possible because I joined a company that disregards traditional laid-back career progression and pushes you to develop quickly and constantly. If this sounds like the pace of development you want from your own career then have a look what opportunities are available with RB at the moment.

If this post has made you think of any questions you have about working for RB, the graduate scheme or R&D jobs in general, please comment below and I’ll answer.

The world’s first sustainable city especially planned for international business – So of course RB has an office based here!

When I started researching into my placement in developing markets, part of the reason I chose to work in South Korea was the location of the RB R&D facility here. We are based in New Songdo City – a complete artificial island created from what used to be ocean just off the Eastern coast of South Korea. This city marketed as “The Gateway to Northeast Asia” and its location 35 miles from Seoul and 15 minutes from the international airport means that international commerce is efficiently nurtured. By being based here, RB’s R&D facility is in the heart of the most forefront technological development in the region. Along the corridor we have the Korean Polar research group and in the surrounding buildings we have the R&D centres for many instantly recognizable global technology companies.

Not only are we in a superb location for research and development, but also the city has environmental sustainability built into every aspect of its design, from the 40% green space plan, recycling of sea water in the parks, to the encouragement of eco-friendly transport. This is a very interesting environment for me to work in, especially as the projects I work on are built on a similar environmental awareness. Just a few of the sustainable approaches RB is currently using include producing smaller concentrated versions of products, reducing quantity of packaging and educating consumers to use environmentally friendly procedures. We also have Carbon 20 targets to reduce the carbon footprint of our products.

Living in a city with a holistic vision on sustainability helps me appreciate how RB’s sustainability efforts fit into the daily lives of the consumers who use our products. It’s the simple things like line drying clothes, or using a dishwasher instead of hand washing (yes – it actually uses less water!) that work towards improving our carbon footprint. And the thing I love the most about living in this eco-friendly place is that I’m there whilst working for a company that is positively encouraging similar sustainable practices!

If you have read anything about RB then you’ll know by now that our core values are essential to how our business is so successful. Since relocating to the Korean business I have seen some examples of how these core values are displayed and used to their fullest. The RB Iksan factory, based on the East of Korea has one motto which is displayed proudly throughout the building – ‘One team, one heart’. These four simple words (well three if you don’t count the one twice!) sum up all four of our core values perfectly.

To have a successful business you need teamwork, cooperation, support and shared knowledge. This is where the ‘one team’ comes into play, displaying shared Team Spirit and consequently Achievement. The sense of one team is constantly strengthened with frequent team meals and socials, such as the Kareoke evening I attended after a meeting in the Seoul office last week (that’s me attempting to sing in the photo!).

The second part of the motto, ‘one heart’ describes a vision that each and every individual needs passion, dedication, Ownership and Entrepreneurship to achieve that extra edge which turns a good product into a great one. One heart beautifully describes the close working relationship between the RB employees not only within supply but throughout all our functions.

It’s when this synergy of one team and one heart come together that provides the key to achieving all four core values. Despite this English phrase being a second language to most of the team here, they all understand the importance and meaning of this simple phrase and this focus helps them achieve the level of success which RB is so proud of.

Who would have thought that in less that one year since my MSc graduation I would be based on the opposite side of the world working for one of the leading FMCG companies?

Well that’s exactly what I’m doing! Following a one year placement in the RB R&D Centre of Excellence in the UK, I am now based in the Incheon, S.Korea office for six months. This amazing opportunity is allowing me to not only gain experience in the challenging ‘scientific services’ function of RB, but also learn about completely new culture and lifestyle to the one I’m used to in Europe. So you may ask how it is possible to arrange such a diverse placement? With RB you simply have to ask!

The culture we have actively encourages international movements therefore when I communicated to my new director that I was eager to explore a placement in Korea he gave me all the positive backing I required to make my dream a real opportunity.

I’ve been based in Korea for a couple of weeks now and I’m enjoying every moment of the experience. The role I am currently working in is to support the launch of new products and relaunch of existing products in the East Asia market. All the timescales are very short (the product will generally be launched in less than 6 months) therefore the work is enjoyably fast paced and challenging. I’m mainly working on local fabric care products, and to assist in my knowledge of this field RB supported a training trip where I visited our main fabric care R&D site just outside of Venice, Italy.

If you are interested in working in research and development and want a job which is dynamic, constantly evolving and excitingly challenging then I would strongly suggest considering applying to RB’s graduate scheme. Then who knows, it could be you sat in the Korean office in a couple of years time!

If you have any broad or specific questions about the RB R&D graduate programme please feel free to post questions below this blog and I’ll aim to share my knowledge and experiences in more detail.