I was about to graduate last summer in 2009 and I was arduously looking for a job at any place that would provide not just a good corporate brand name but also a learning and development package that would prove lucrative in the long term as well.
And Presto! I was offered a Graduate Trainee position with RB Pakistan after going through the assessment process. I remember at one stage I had the option to go to two other credible companies but chose RB to be my employer of choice.
This decision was not whimsical because although the other two organizations were also good corporate brand names, it was only RB that offered a learning package like no other. Our graduate trainee program comprised of a 1 week orientation period which was to be followed by a 6 weeks placement in Sales, where we were required to visit and study each individual region’s markets in the country and understand the dynamics of the entire process. We considered it as a field trip – and what a fine field trip it was – apart from studying markets we also got to travel across the country and witness many popular landmarks of the country.
Once we were back it was time to put all that learning into action. All of us were placed in Trade Marketing for 4 months with individual projects and reporting lines. Here we partook projects with national applications and the experience gathered in the Sales rotation was coming handy.
But that’s not the end of the line! Once the 4 months were over we were then shifted to the Marketing Department where again we had live projects and individual brands to look after. Again each trainee liaised cross functionally for the completion of their projects and we realised how each rotation was adding value to us. After each rotation (Sales, Trade Marketing and Marketing) we were to present our projects and findings to the Management Committee (Comprising of all Functional Heads and the CEO).
It is after going through this experience that we realised that we had gone through all the Sales and Marketing Functions in the organization and were actually equipped to work in any of these departments efficiently. I was then promoted to Area Sales Manger two months earlier than expected for a year after where I shall be placed in Marketing as my final placement. So by the time my placements are complete I shall be a Jack of all Trades ready to become a Specialist in one.
At RB not only do you get a chance to specialize in your function of interest but you are also granted the opportunity to add value to yourself by going through other related functions so as to gain a final perspective so thorough and so complete that the executions of your ideas pan out exactly as per plan. Other big FMCG companies have realized the value of such a dynamic Graduate Trainee Program and are still attempting to morph such programs in their organization but so far it is still RB who leads the road of entrepreneurship and achievement in this facet as well!
So if you want to have a career that soars its way up to success you need to be at an organization like RB to understand, fully, how the world of Sales and Marketing combine and work.
