Sales
Sales are fundamental to any FMGC company’s success. This means increasing both net revenue and market share. This requires strong business planning and the best in-store sales execution as keys to success. Driving this success requires global and local teams working closely together in a highly organised environment.

Results speak for themselves and once you begin to achieve in this sector you should expect your career to move quickly. Career development in sales means learning all the skills you need to deliver results through retailers. This will probably mean development roles in all areas of local and global sales, and preferably to make you the best you can be, some time in marketing.

Marketing
Marketing is about one thing: passion for the consumer. Every marketer here has an unquenchable thirst for finding out what consumers think on a daily basis - then they develop simple solutions. Each country will have its own brand portfolio and while smaller local brands are under the direct control of that country, key global roles are traditionally to manage the priorities of global brands. This means local marketing teams working very closely with global marketing and taking an international view of all marketing activities. Your work might include developing and delivering above-the-line campaigns, creating the innovation pipeline, working with consumers’ groups, maximising international brand equity, sharing learning worldwide and much more.

Research and Development
Without R&D, FMCG’s businesses have no future. These are the teams that turn great marketing concepts into bestselling products. To give you some example of the impact or R&D in this industry, over 40% of all Reckitt Benckiser revenue comes from products introduced in the last three years. Effective R&D is driven by teams of dedicated scientists, chemists, engineers and specialists, all of which need an unwavering focus on the consumer.

Often R&D will be divided into key groups. To use Reckitt Benckiser as an example again their three ‘pillars’ are:

New Technologies: A forward-looking global team that aims to anticipate the future needs of our consumers and seek out new technology to deliver solutions.

Category Development: Works with marketing to get new products to launch within three years.

Scientific Service: Formed of local and regional teams who focus on products that are already launched and on the market.

These teams use their technical expertise for a range of projects, from developing a local-need flavour change to delivering a ‘Squeeze’ cost-saving initiative.

Information Services
Information Services (IS) is integral to the success of all other business functions - helping give a competitive edge by ensuring secure, global, robust information systems are always in place. Overall, IS is charged with creating a technical landscape agile enough to cope with change and capable of improving business effectiveness. Your input is fundamental in order to develop innovative solutions that make strategic business initiatives possible. This requires you to build strong internal partnerships. Equally important is a focus on assessing, identifying and moving forward only those solutions that truly add value. Building a admirable career in IS involves exposure to different areas of the business but there are there may be a wide variety in the routes you can take to obtain the skills and knowledge you’ll need from very structured to highly flexible.

Finance
Finance professionals the FMCG sector will often work with a globally orientated business working in either local or global teams. Consider that net revenues can be over £5 billion and you can get a sense of the scale at which you work. Every country in which a company operates is likely to have a local finance function meanwhile global finance functions could be based anywhere in the world. Together, these finance teams work on all aspects of finance - from tax planning to cost forecasting - to ensure we deliver maximum shareholder value. Finance influence and measure business performance across the full range of value drivers also holding the responsibility of secure data integrity and compliance throughout the organisation.

Supply Chain
Supply Chain covers the entire journey, from raw material to finished products with the customer. In this industry things happen fast. That’s why people who are quick thinking and fast acting in a highly advanced global supply chain is so valued by businesses. In Supply Chain you don’t just contribute to overall business strategy by supporting categories and regions as the company grows net revenues. You also drive gross margin expansion and the improvement of cash management. As if that wasn’t enough, you need ensure that service, quality and innovation standards never drop.

Human Resources
Here you work to balance operational and strategic HR objectives across the business and across the world. The global strategy always comes first, and the primary focus of most HR professionals will be Talent Development. The primary aim will be to ensure that the global pipeline of high calibre, internationally mobile people are well placed and well prepared to deliver for the business long-term. Finding people of the right quality is no easy task, and so graduate recruitment is a high priority for HR in most markets. Once people are onboard, you share the responsibility for growing their careers through training, development and succession planning. You will become the drivers of your company’s culture and so need to lead through high impact behaviours. Finally, you also represent the interests of our people - making sure everyone enjoys fair treatment at every level of the business.