I know from personal experience during my MBA career search process that getting your foot in the door of a CPG or FMCG firm as a brand manager is extremely challenging.

Many employers recruiting entry-level candidates for brand management are looking for previous brand marketing and/or brand management experience; however, the “Catch 22” in this situation is that many entry-level candidates haven’t had previous brand experience due to the lack of opportunity.

Well, I just learned that RB is creating such an opportunity for students in the U.S. to break into brand management with the launch of our Campus Brand Manager program at Penn State University, Columbia University and University of Michigan. This program has been very successful in other countries worldwide, and for the first time in the U.S., students will have the chance to develop their marketing skills and gain valuable brand marketing experience with a global leader in the FMCG industry.

What do Campus Brand Managers do?

As a Campus Brand Manager, you will help raise awareness of the RB brand on your campus. That includes coordinating career events, promoting RB and our opportunities to your fellow students with provided materials and resources and working to develop and execute your own ideas and creativity in getting the RB name out there.

What do Campus Brand Managers get out of it?

As I mentioned above, most importantly, this is a great opportunity to work with a global leader in the consumer goods industry and to gain invaluable experience, skills, network contacts and references to add to your resume and job search arsenal.

In addition, you do get paid a base salary of £400 (over $600) per semester and a stepped bonus against achieving various targets upon which you agree. I also understand that RB not only gives out an award to the most successful Campus Brand Manager at the end of the year, but also gives this individual a cash bonus and a fast-track onto the second stage of our graduate program.

If you attend Penn State University, Columbia University or University of Michigan and are interested in applying for this rewarding opportunity with RB, go to http://www.myrbopportunity.com/career-opportunities to download an application form.

If you’re interested in learning more about a career with RB and other available opportunities, please visit http://www.reckittbenckiser.jobs and continue to read our blog at http://www.myrbopportunity.com to learn more about our company and culture from our RB team members.

My colleagues and I were at the University of Sydney in March to promote the RB Commercial Graduate program to prospective graduates.

Reckitt Benckiser who?

It wasn’t surprising that students had no clue who we were. But when we started listing about our brands – Strepsils, Nurofen, Pine-O-Cleen and Napisan, they were more inclined in finding out what we had to offer in terms of a marketing/sales career.

Working at the University of Sydney Careers Tent

No doubt our company is held in high regards amongst the FMCG and financial industries, but final year students often overlook our graduate program, not only because of the lack of familiarity of the RB corporate name, but because of many unfounded qualms and reservations which I would like to address in this blog post.

Working with unglamorous brands

Sure, marketing air fresheners or insect repellents doesn’t sound like the most riveting job and for many of you, your ideas of marketing products revolve around luxury goods or cosmetic products with massive launch parties. However, just because our products aren’t glamorous doesn’t mean that you won’t be learning heaps along the way.

“When I found out I was going to be working on multipurpose cleaners, I thought it was going to be a challenging brand to work on because I hate cleaning!” said Katie, Assistant Brand Manager for Pine-O-Cleen and Glen 20 in Australia and fellow Commercial Graduate.

“However, when I started getting involved with the product, I quickly understood just how loyal consumers are to these brands, even though it’s just a general household item. Combine that with an understanding of our fantastic strategies and you soon become just as compassionate as your consumer.”

“You’ll still be actively involved in new product development, designing ads, dealing with PR and advertising agencies and have access to huge marketing budgets – just as exciting as any cosmetic product,” Katie said.

RB is ranked 14 in top 20 Advertisers in Australia. (Source: Nielsen Australia, June 2009)

In Australia, RB rates as one of the top advertisers in Australia, ranking higher than P&G, Unilever and McDonalds. So whilst there are more glamorous brands out there in the marketplace, working with strong FMCG brands means big marketing budgets and frequent advertising touch points, so it’s a sure way you’ll develop your skills and experience to become a savvy marketer.

3 Years for a Graduate Program is too long!

How can we compete with competitors who offer programs that only last for a year? How about the opportunity to develop a strong foundation in both marketing and sales that puts you yards ahead of the competition?

Whilst some marketing graduate programs are shorter in duration, the chances are you will finish and get an entry level position within the company. At RB, you’ll be expected to take on the role of a Brand or Account Manager position after the Commercial graduate program, a position which normally requires 3+ years experience.

Think of the 3 years as your developmental playground, a time in which you will be exposed to both sales and marketing functions, get involved in meetings, conferences, get full transparency amongst the senior and regional leadership teams and access to training and mentoring that other direct entry employees may not get access to.

Time flies when you’re having fun, learning new things and experiencing new challenges!

I’m only interested in Marketing and don’t want to do Sales

Bet you didn’t think that you’d be slaving away at university for 3+ years and end up implementing layouts in a supermarket in your first full time job.

“From the outset, it was certainly the least appealing part of working at RB, sales always felt like a dirty word when I was at university. But looking back, my time on the field was the most valuable base foundation I could take into my marketing role. You can offer a different perspective based on your experience on the road and have a greater understanding of how a customer may react to a new product launch or campaign” Katie said.

Katie giving a presentation at University of Sydney about life as an RB Graduate.

To think that you can have a successful career in marketing without being exposed to sales is quite risky, considering the two are interrelated. And don’t discount sales as a fulfilling career either, as graduates who were so keen on marketing as a career have ended up as successful Account Managers after their graduate program.

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High expectations are put on all of the RB graduates, but if you’re a go-getter, you’ll thrive and get the opportunity to hone your skills in a flexible yet structured environment. Have a look on our careers website for more information.

As I explained in my post The Power of One has just begun back in January, the entire U.S. brand marketing team here in Parsippany was relocated to a temporary space on the second floor of our building for 8 weeks while our fourth floor was being renovated.

I honestly can’t believe how fast those weeks have flown by, for as of Monday morning this week, all of us were installed into our newly-renovated work environment and let me just say, the new workspace is outstanding.

The major differences include:

No cubicles or closed offices: Everything is open, we can now see everyone in the office with a simple turn of the head.   Even the team work areas are open, inviting more collaborative activity.

Sunlight and bright decor: All of the surrounding windows are in full view, allowing sunlight to pour in and brighten up the floor.  This in conjunction with the brightly-colored carpeting, wall decor and new furniture creates a truly motivating work environment.

Integrated team floor plan: Now in addition to being much closer to our brand team members, we now sit right next to our colleagues in Trade, Demand Forecasting and Supply which I have already noticed is helping us increase our daily collaboration on ongoing projects.

This renovation is part of RB’s “Power of One” plan to break down the walls (literally and figuratively) separating co-workers so to increase our interaction, improve our productivity and take our company culture to the next level.

I can already tell that this new Power of One work environment has taken its desired effect and can’t wait to see where it takes us moving forward this year.

This past Friday night, the RB US Marketing Team was wined and dined at our very own Household Marketing Awards (HMA’s) ceremony at the Morristown Museum in Morristown, NJ to celebrate a year of achievement across all of our brand teams.

Now I, and I am sure a number of you out there, tuned in to the 2010 Academy Awards on Sunday night; however, I can honestly tell you that after Friday night, watching similar events on television will never be the same again.

We all arrived at the front entrance decked out in our finest attire and were greeted by camera flashes and questions from 7 or 8 members of the paparazzi. Once we pushed our way through to the door, we met ceremony attendants on the red carpet who quickly took our coats and swept us over to be interviewed and photographed with “Joan Rivers” and “Howard Stern.”

Once we made it past the cameras and celebrity interviewers, we enjoyed drinks at a cocktail hour with music playing in the background while we awaited the beginning of the awards ceremony.

The ceremony was extremely entertaining, hosted by both “Ellen DeGeneres” and our GM of HH Marketing, Alexander Lacik.  The awards were fair and well deserved for all of the brands.  Lysol won best copy for its recent H1N1 TV copy featuring our very own Joe Rubino, Lysol Microbiologist and R&D Director. While each brand team is generally familiar with what the others are doing with their media, NPDs and EPDs and various campaigns, seeing the nominations for the various awards gave us real insight into everything our many brand counterparts take pride in doing on a daily basis and the successes they have achieved, and I believe that the ceremony really brought us all together as ONE overall marketing team.

After the ceremony, there was a fabulously-catered dinner awaiting us and an after-party with live music.

I thoroughly enjoyed the event and have to thank the planning committee, the event coordinators, the Morristown Museum and everyone else involved in making Friday such a memorable night.

Who knew brand managers could become celebrities?

LinkedIn is the leading professional network on the web, so if you don’t have an account already, get one today! If you have one already, you’re off to a great start.

LinkedIn is an invaluable asset to all professionals and students out there providing you many unique features, including your own professional online resume, its own job board, a comprehensive company directory and more.

One feature you job seekers may not know about or have fully explored is LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups are free to join, and you can choose to join up to 50 groups from a list of thousands of user-created groups for literally just about anything. Not only do these groups provide you access to connect with and contact fellow group members who could become future partners, employees, investors, customers etc., but the groups’ discussion board and news sections can provide more networking opportunities, answers to your questions and insightful advice, tips and support. You can also contribute answers, comments and your own expertise to the groups’ discussion boards to establish your own online personal brand on LinkedIn.

While there are thousands of quality groups out there that I encourage you to check out, here are the Top 10 LinkedIn Groups for Aspiring Brand Managers to help you build your own brand and launch your career:

• 1. Reckitt Benckiser Community
• 2. CPGpeople
• 3. CONSUMER PACKAGED GOODS CONNECTS
• 4. CPG Branding and Marketing Forum
• 5. Brand Innovators Network
• 6. 280 Group: Product Management & Product Marketing
• 7. Shopper Insights & Marketing Professionals
• 8. Future Trends
• 9. MBA Highway
• 10. Career Rocketeer

*These groups are not listed in any particular order.