Here on the blog we have tried to give readers a little bit of ourselves.

We’ve opened up a window on what life is like working at RB and have been happy to answer your questions, direct you to interesting and relevant information and try to show you what you could expect if you decided to take up the Reckitt Benckiser opportunity.

Since we launched the blog in April 2009 we have had 45 different writers from all corners of the company. We’ve had blogs written from India while our employees were visiting local initiatives with Save the Children, we’ve seen our Campus Brand Managers start to blog about their on-campus activities and we’ve had an array of guest bloggers – including our very own CEO Bart Becht who wrote about Building a Company of Global Entrepreneurs

The aim of this blog was always to show readers what opportunity means to RB, and to highlight what ambitious, tenacious individuals can achieve here.

And our bloggers – graduates, management trainees as well as those with well-established careers – were charged with showing you this world, bringing it to life and sharing their thoughts and experiences.

Now the blog has been recognised for it’s ‘outstanding achievement on an international scale’. And we are delighted! my RBopportunity has been handed the number one spot in the European Excellence Awards 2010 for Best Corporate Media Blog.

The awards ceremony, held in Prague on December 9th, aimed to bring together the finest work in the field of communications and were presented for “only the most outstanding accomplishments within this arena”.

We still see our blog as very much in its infancy. We have lots to tell you and lots to share. This award is a fabulous recognition for the hard work from all our bloggers as well as the readers who have made it such a great success.

Thank to all our bloggers and readers who contributed to this success.

As you may have read, some posts on this blog give advice to those job seekers who really take their search seriously, going further than just looking at the careers section on an online portal and applying.
Of course, that may work on some occasions, but why not stand out from the crowd right from the start of the process?

Have a look at some of the interesting posts published on My RB Opportunity regarding this area:

4 Steps to getting the job you really want
Choose a career not a job

In addition to these tips - and thinking of those who like to be different or creative when facing the challenge of finding a job - I would like to put forward some ideas I found in a post at the College Recruiter Insights by Employers blog called How to humanize your job search.
The post highlights how helpful socializing and building relationships with what could be your future co workers can be.

It basically gives three bits of advice:

1. Meet the bloggers:
This point recognizes companies’ blogs as a great opportunity to connect with employers: you can understand them in terms of how they work and you can even contact them (leaving relevant comments that can also be read by hiring managers!)

2. Connect with future co-workers:
This is mentioned as a way to get directly linked to someone who is inside the organisation you are interested in. The fact is that many companies look for referrals to cut their hiring costs (even RB has its own Employee Referral Program, where employees can recommend new hires).
So you should not underestimate this opportunity, as it can lead you to a job.

3. Humanize your LinkedIn profile:
Finally, the post emphasizes the importance of having recommendations on your LinkedIn profile and gives you some advice about when you should ask them (ie. A current client tells you how much they enjoy working with you, someone emails you to compliment you on a facet of your work, etc.)

So, as a blogger, all I can say is: what are you waiting for?!
Here we are – this blog is open to all the comments you want to leave us. Don’t hesitate to ask us questions, or strike up a conversation. Use us, that’s what we are here for.
It could be we are your first step on your way to find a job.

Hello!  This is my first post as a member of the RB blogger team, and I am excited to have the opportunity to share my thoughts and experiences with you in the coming months through my weekly contributions to My RB Opportunity.

I thought that the title “Has it been 6 months already?” truly sheds light on the speed and intensity of my career experience at RB thus far.  I have hit the ground running, and I haven’t had a moment to look back yet!

It was the morning of Monday, July 13, 2009 when I walked through the doors of RB’s U.S. headquarters in Parsippany, NJ, and joined the Lysol brand team as an Assistant Brand Manager for Toilet Bowl and Bathroom Cleaners.

There was little orientation and I wasn’t the “new guy” for long, immediately becoming a contributing member of the team and immersed in the day-to-day activities and projects of the brand, many of which I soon started managing and leading on my own.

It is very exciting and humbling to be on such a nationally-recognized and universally-trusted brand.  And while some people out there may not think too deeply about the world of household cleaning products, I have learned just how much thought, research, analysis, time and effort goes into every one of those products sitting on the retailer’s shelf.

I have also learned what it takes to be in brand management.  A brand manager is in many cases the general manager of a business, and he/she often acts as a project manager or the hub of a cross-functional team.  A brand manager must be a solid relationship builder to keep teams strong, cohesive and productive, and must be “dangerously” knowledgeable in all the areas of the business in order to make meaningful and effective decisions for the direction of any given project.  It’s not easy; however, RB has given me this challenge and I am proud to have the opportunity to face it head on.

I can’t believe how fast my first six months have flown by, but that just goes to show you how engaging an opportunity is at RB.  It also helps that you get the opportunity to work with other similarly-motivated, ambitious individuals, as RB does a great job selecting team members whose values and motivations align with the company’s 4 Core Values: Achievement, Ownership, Team Spirit and Entrepreneurship.

Now, working on Lysol Bathroom Cleaners and Dual Action Wipes, as well as being a cross-functional team lead on the Lysol web team, I look forward to sharing more of my RB experiences and stories with you in the coming weeks!

First of all, happy New Year to everyone who is reading this blog!

In December I posted about the importance of considering the culture of a company before joining them and asked whether it actually matters.
Well it does, but I didn’t go into any depth on the question of how and where you would find out what a company’s culture really is like.
So I would like to talk a bit about it now.

I read an interesting discussion related to it on Linked which asked the question:
“How valuable is a company blog/twitter account/Facebook page in discovering what their culture is like?”
It went on to ask:

If you’re looking for a job and want to evaluate a company and their working culture/values to see if you will ‘fit in’, where do you look?
Do you rely on word of mouth, the internet, corporate websites? Or do you hunt out any use of social media for an ‘insider’ view.
And do you think social media is a better way of finding a job which speaks to your passions?

Well, if I wanted to evaluate a company’s culture I would definitely use any online resource within my reach.
It’s easy, quick and you can gather lots of information from all sides and from many different sources.
As library and Information Science professional Amalia Menon states in her answer to the question: “Social media is just another tool/resource to finding out more about a company. Use it with other resources and you’ll have enough information to make a decision whether a company is a good fit or not.”
And Linda LoCicero, from The Staffing Company, adds: “Culture is extremely important in considering a new position. Yes, it’s important to have a paycheck, but if the overall fit of the organization does not mesh with who you are and your own personal values it can lead to bigger problems in the long run . . .  Using social media is a great way to find a position that is lined up with your passions. There are so many options available for making connections with people who have similar passions. You never know where it could lead you!”

In my opinion social media helps you to create a more realistic idea of what you are going to find. You are able to put face to a company’s employees (even contact them!), to read about what they are doing on a daily basis, etc.

And even if you are already an employee at the company, it can be really interesting to read what your colleagues do or say within the company.
In my case, I really like to read what’s on the DiscoverRB Twitter page. RB it’s a multinational company and it’s not easy to get an idea of the work of every single employee, so it’s wonderful to have a place where you can read something about it.

Another commenter on the discussion, social media professional Jessica Routier, adds: “I agree. The company’s culture will be best portrayed as a mixture of everything they put on the web. As a general rule, I think that social media – Twitter especially – allows companys to show their more relaxed side”.

Blogger Robert Taub also wrote an interesting article ‘Tell-tail characteristics of company culture’ on the Secrets of the Job Hunt site, encouraging job hunters to “learn what you are getting into before you accept your new position”.

And if you are here looking to investigate the culture of Reckitt Benckiser, then this blog will definitely give you a feel for what it is like to work here (read the last post from Praveen – A peek behind the scenes of a fast-moving FMCG company -  and you’ll see what I mean )