In my previous post I talked about the 2010 graduate program in Brazil. There are seven of us in total: 2 in Supply, 2 in Sales, 2 in Marketing and one in IS.

I recently interviewed two of my fellow graduates in the marketing team to give you an insight into the program. Read on find out what they told me about their first months at RB.

1. Introduction to Graduates

University and specialization
Natalia: Business – University of Brasilia
Thiago: Business – University of São Paulo

Previous job experiences
Natalia worked for a newspaper in Brasilia in the Marketing field (competitive intelligence) and as a marketing consulter for a junior consulting company
Thiago worked for Nielsen in the field of markets searches and launch of new products.

2. In Brazil, there are many graduates programs, so why did you choose RB? What are your expectations of this program?

The first point that was emphasized by Natalia and Thiago is the company culture and values of RB. The core values of Entrepreneurship, Team Spirit, Leadership and Ownership made a strong impression on both of them.

These two also dream of an international and fast moving career. Obviously, RB’s profile caught their attention with its worldwide presence and its incredible growth, particularly within the developing markets – Brazil is one of them. Their hard work and passion and the opportunities the graduate program offers, enable them to rapidly grow within the company.

Natalia points out that she was willing to work in the consumer goods market. She has always liked RB’s products in Brazil, both the global brands and the local brands that are very strong here. As she was living in Brasilia and had relatively little experience in large companies, RB’s selection process with its different steps and exams was the perfect opportunity to shine and to move to São Paulo, the economical capital of Brazil.

Thiago had more experience in market research and was looking forward to change focus. Looking for an opportunity to work within the industry, he jumped on RB’s offer.

3. What is the stucture of the marketing graduate program?

The marketing/sales graduate program consists of 6 months in marketing and 6 months in sales/trade. It enables the graduates to identify in which field they want to pursue their career.

If after one year they choose sales, they will begin with a field position which can be located anywhere in Brazil.

4. You are working in the marketing department. What is the role of this department within RB Brazil?

Natalia and Thiago’s answers show that they are definitively on the same page. They said that Marketing is a great area because you have to work hand in hand with all the other departments of the company. Launch new products together with R&D, work on regulatory matters with the legal department, consult the supply department to know when it is possible to deliver an order to particular customers, verify with sales department if a new line is as successful as foreseen… Marketing people have to be very adaptable and to respond quickly to complex problems.

But that is not all. They also have to present lots of figures and analysis to senior directors, to explain how RB Brazil will be able to reach its objectives.

Marketing – it is the short, medium and long term strategy. No time to rest.

5. What is your job within this department? What responsibilities does it involve?

Natalia works on different innovation projects for the powerful local brand Veja but unfortunately, she cannot share too much about it: competitors would love to know what she is preparing.

But that’s no all. She is also responsible for the insecticide local brand ‘SBP’ and more particularly for the Citronella and Eucalyptus products. This means that she is in charge of the whole chain: the new ads in the media, the first sales figures (market share, volumes, position of the competitors, prices…), and the decisions concerning the packaging. She also has to identify all the opportunities for RB to increase the market share (price strategy, satisfaction of the consumer). In order to get to know the market, she meets the clients and makes frequent visits to the selling point to see the shelves by herself.

Thiago is in charge of Dettol. As I explained in my first blog article, this powerbrands has been launched in Brazil this year. Well, Thiago has the huge responsibility to ensure a rapid market share increase. He works on innovation and launch new products. One interesting part of his job is the relationship that he has to strengthen with the Brazilian Pediatric Society. Therefore, he participates to congresses and organizes symposiums. He is also in charge of an educative project in Brazilian elementary schools. The objective is to teach children to have good hygiene habits. Thiago has to amplify the project in a context of cost reduction. Tough challenge.

6. As a graduate, you are exposed to tough projects and challenges, and also to stress. How do you manage to deliver the results you are asked for?

For Natalia, RB is a company where everything happens very fast. You get accustomed to manage the high expectations and the short deadlines. She has the profile for that. And at RB, she relies a lot on her manager. He is a very serene man who manages to pass clear objectives to his team. He also does not hesitate to orientate and to show the best practices.

Thiago, on the other side, is definitively a very calm guy. For him, stress or no stress, he keeps on moving forward.

7. Already 3 months within RB: what is your feeling? What has been the best moments of this period?

Natalia recognizes that the first days had been a little overwhelming. The expectations are really high for the graduates. But it is all for the best because nowadays, she already feels that she is much more prepared to take up the daily challenges. And she is looking forward to learn a lot more soon.
For her, the best moments are when she is able to meet with senior marketing directors. “They think big”, she tells me. They have a huge experience and many ideas. She likes to be exposed to the references of the company. At RB, there is a high level of exposure and visibility, and you have to see it as an opportunity to learn and to shine.

Thiago particularly likes to see that his work leads to good results. He recalls the success of the pediatric seminar. For him, the learning curve is much accentuated, and this is very gratifying. This is the company culture: you are directly put in the middle of the projects. The training is on the job. Difficult? Sure, but you learn a lot faster.

8. And what do you expect for the next future?

Natalia is expecting to learn lots of stuffs. She thinks that the two phases of the program, in marketing and sales, will enable her to be well prepared to her future position in the company. She wants to outshine the expectations of the people working with her. In a much longer term, she wants to develop a successful career at RB and possibly to live in a foreign country. She would definitively love to go to the USA or to Europe and to learn to work in more mature markets.

Thiago is looking forward to the sales part of the program. He is widely open-minded to face what comes next. In a long term, he already knows that he will have an international career. In this objective, he is open to assignments in numerous countries to learn on the field and he also hopes that his career will lead him to live in Europe or in the USA.

3 weeks within Reckitt Benckiser (RB) and I am already being given the amazing responsibility to tell you why I chose RB Brazil and why it is a fantastic place to be. There is so much to say – I will need more than a post. Hope that you are ready to jump in with me.

RB? 3 months ago I had never heard of it. At that time, my reaction was probably the same as yours:

- “Reckitt Benckiser
- Rec… what???
- Vanish, Harpic, Finish, AirWick, Woolite, Dettol, Calgon, Gaviscon, Nurofen…
- Stop! Enough! All these brands are from the same company?
- Reckitt Benckiser.”

But you are here, so you already know that (If not, you can discover all the brands through the PowerBrands game). The real point is that 3 months later, I don’t see a better place than RB Brazil in 2010 to begin a challenging and fast moving career.

Why?

First, why Brazil? I arrived here 2 years ago. I wanted to get out of Europe and its rather low growth rate at the time of the economic crisis. Therefore, I decided to focus on one of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries. They are said to be the future of the world economy so I decided that it was worth taking the risk. What is life without adventure? Brazil was my preferred option and I managed to get a first contract in the steel industry in Belo Horizonte. The truth is that it is only living in this country that you really see that it is growing incredibly fast. Then you perceive that everything will happen in the next few years.
Steel industry was interesting but I wanted more for my career: more challenges, more risks, more initiatives and more responsibilities.

I defined my priorities:

- Consumer goods market: to be closer to the customer

- Multinational company: to have an international career

- Fast growing company: to work on dynamic and challenging projects

- Responsibilities and opportunities.

This was a demanding checklist and it led me directly to RB and its Brazilian graduate program (more on that soon).

Take a look yourself. I won’t give you all the figures but:

- RB is one of the top players in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) market

- This Dutch/English company is present in 60 countries and sells in 180 countries over the world

- It promotes international careers right from the start and opportunities are day-to-day reality.

Why RB Brazil is the best place to be?

RB Brazil has the highest production volume of company worldwide

Sales rose 19pc in Reckitt’s developing markets, and in Brazil, the growth have already exceeded 20% in 2010 and it is foreseen to continue this way

Everything will happen in the next 5 years :

- Personal Care: Dettol. This powerbrand is a major success worldwide but has just been introduced in Brazil. The potential is huge!

- Pharma: Gaviscon, another powerbrand that have just entered the Brazilian market in September 2010, marking the step of RB’s arrival in the Brazilian pharmaceutical market. Other products are already on the starting blocks. This is really exciting!

- Well Being: Durex and Scholl. RB has recently acquired SSL and therefore is now the owner of 2 other powerful brands. How and when will they develop in Brazil? I bet that I will not have to wait a long time to see them on our shelves.

As many other companies, RB focuses lots of its investments (Capital Expenditure) on Brazil.

What does it mean for us?

Lots of innovations, lots of opportunities and lots of achievements.

And I am lucky enough to be on the inside!!

What do you think makes a global team?
International locations? Yes.
Different nationalities of team members? Yes.
Mobility of individual staff? Yes.

.

Overall, what is the essential element that makes a global team a truly “One team” instead of several groups that work for the same company in the same department?
Well in the RB Information Service function, this essential element is trust. IS people sitting in one site trust that their team members sitting in another continent can fully understand and help resolve their problems, trust the team members sitting across the ocean and can upgrade their local servers and promote their programs.
That is what’s happening in today’s IS.

.

So, how do you build this kind of trust? High quality of delivery, accurate and effective communication and well-known expertise and efficiency. These are all important factors that need to be built in multiple dimensions.
Every day we are facing our objectives, our customers, our team members and we need to deliver the project or service in a constantly improving and measurable level of performance.

The accuracy and effectiveness of communication can be a challenge to all the international enterprises and organizations, it is especially important in a function that needs to get full alignment across all levels, all countries, from global to each local site. Working in RB IS you will not only learn the technical expertise but soft skills like the different types of communication skills such as - presentation skills, how to make a winning demonstration in conference, how to be convincing in front of business team and how to manage team from 3rd party.

.

To those who are considering seeking job opportunities in RB, I want to share with you a little bit more on this.
What is RB looking for when they recruit new people? Through my personal experience, the most important attribute RB is looking for is – Leadership.
This is also what will be continually enhanced when working for RB.

Being trustworthy and the ability to earn other’s trust is the key part of your leadership.

So, you want to join RB? You want to be one of the best in RB?

Learn how to build trust from today onwards.

Would you consider relocating for your career? For many, moving away from home is daunting enough, but moving to a different city or country can be downright terrifying – especially if it’s for an extended period of time. But for the brave few who opt in, the adventure is just about to begin…

Yesterday, my fellow blogger Luigi wrote about RB being a company without borders and how relocating is an important part of our company success story. Don’t get me wrong, I had my apprehensions about relocating from my hometown of Melbourne to Sydney for the RB Graduate Program. How would I be able to survive without my family? How would I meet friends? Where would I be able to find a decent cup of coffee in Sydney? Granted, home for me is only a quick plane trip away, but the reality is that I can’t catch up with friends and family as often as I’d like..

So why do it?

Sometimes, the reality is that you need to relocate because the job opportunities are simply not there in your own city. However, the professional experience and opportunities presented to you in being mobile is only the tip of the iceberg. I made it a personal goal to live in another city so, when I was offered a position on the RB Graduate program, it was like killing two birds with one stone!.

In 2006, I went to live in Tokyo, Japan as part of university student exchange. Things weren’t easy at the start; I had to deal with the culture shock of living in another country, assimilating into a culture that is so at odds with the West and the frustration of not being able to communicate in Japanese. But I managed to pull through, meet some great friends along the way and have some awesome experiences under my belt!

Bumping into a Geisha in Kyoto, Japan

How did I turn it around instead of just giving up and going home? I tried not to be scared of the unknown or prejudiced to something unusual or different, which is easier said than done! My living experience overseas was definitely the catalyst for wanting to move away from home for my first graduate job. You learn so much about survival, tolerance, dealing with people from different cultures and keeping calm under pressure – all of which are great skills to have both personally and professionally.

Catching up with RB Graduates outside of work…

It has been 16 months since arriving in Sydney and even though there have been some tough moments along the way, I wouldn’t change a thing because I’ve experienced so many more highs than lows. I’ve been able to embark on my chosen career path, explore Sydney with my tourist cap on, meet new friends and deal with the dilemmas of learning how to cook, juggle finances etc – all of which I would not have experienced if I had still been living at home.

We RB Grads work hard and play hard!

Here’s what other RB people, who have relocated internationally and work in the Australian business, have to say:

.

“The Australian market is so different from New Zealand. I’ve really been able to gain a different perspective from working in a much larger market. If I had just stayed in one place, I wouldn’t have had so many learnings…” Katie, Assistant Brand Manager and fellow graduate.

.

“Moving to Australia has been a great experience. The client structure and what you can do instore is so different from France. Career mobility is such a big thing in RB and I definitely wanted to take advantage of it. I’m glad that it’s not just PR fluff…it really happens!” Arnaud, Senior Brand Manager.

.

So why not choose a company that takes you places? Visit the RB jobs website and apply now.