February 09 through March 09 was a very exciting time for me. I was interviewing with P&G for the role of Business Transformation Associate with its IDS department. The interview process itself took about a month-and-a-half with 5 rounds of screening, with couple of visits to P&G’s Head office in Weybridge, UK. In the end I was happy with my performance and my efforts.
The results that came in an email on 28th March 09 from a member of P&G’s Financial Solutions BA, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Ltd, Newcastle brought with it a welcome delight. The email read “We can confirm that you have now completed our interview process and have met our hiring criteria…. We expect to make job offer decision at end of April.”
Between end of March 09 to end of April 09 I was a happy lark, but then came the twist in the epic saga on 30th April. I received an email from P&G’s Corporate Recruitment Team and it read “Unfortunately we are no longer looking to recruit candidates into this particular role, and as such will not be able to forward your application further in our recruitment process……Please do refer back to our website at www.pgcareers.com in order to search for another role that you feel is suited to your strengths. The website is updated frequently, so checking it regularly will ensure you are kept informed of the latest developments. Depending on your selection, we may be able to move you to the stage you had reached during your initial application. ”.
Being who I am I pursued P&G to understand the root cause of this new decision. The first impression in my mind, however was that it was due to sever economic downturn that UK was experiencing at the time. I reached out to the SVP IT of P&G UK at the time, with whom I had my final discussions, and the response from her read “The competition for our summer internship programme was very tough this year as we had a large number of very strong candidates… I’m very sorry we’ve not been able to offer you something at this time, and hope you’ll keep a look out for other opportunities in the future..”
Clearly, I saw two different versions being played out here. I suspect somewhere between SVP and the recruitment team a decision to sideline my application was made. For all the vindictive feelings that were simmering in me at the time, I decided to channel my energy in to positive affirmation. And finally in mid June 09 came the opportunity that was carved for me and it read:
“UK Market Development Strategy……….. This is an opportunity to undertake and present new information for this large and important market sector. Most current market information, even relatively recent market research reports, has suddenly become invalid due to the unexpected and sudden nature of the economic crisis.
Key tasks:
Key areas for research and analysis include:
- regional output across the UK construction sector
- economic forecasts and drivers of business activity in each region
- changing customer needs and expectations within the supply chain
- innovation requirements to meet emerging customer demands
- key competitor activity and responses to market changes
The output from this research activity will feed directly into the development of a region by region sales and marketing strategy for the X group of companies. This will be designed to re-position the company to exploit opportunities emerging from the changes within the market. In turn, the new sales & marketing strategy will drive group operating strategy across the UK. Significant change management activity will result from the overall business strategy that is developed.
Key tasks:
Key areas for research and analysis include:
- regional output across the UK construction sector
- economic forecasts and drivers of business activity in each region
- changing customer needs and expectations within the supply chain
- innovation requirements to meet emerging customer demands
- key competitor activity and responses to market changes
The output from this research activity will feed directly into the development of a region by region sales and marketing strategy for the X group of companies. This will be designed to re-position the company to exploit opportunities emerging from the changes within the market. In turn, the new sales & marketing strategy will drive group operating strategy across the UK. Significant change management activity will result from the overall business strategy that is developed.
Key outputs/deliverables:
A report covering market summary analysis and scenario forecasts for the relevant UK Construction sectors over the next five years.
Opportunities for presenting the output within and across the industry will result for the successful candidate, supported by the sponsor. This could create a high profile for the applicant within this sector."
A report covering market summary analysis and scenario forecasts for the relevant UK Construction sectors over the next five years.
Opportunities for presenting the output within and across the industry will result for the successful candidate, supported by the sponsor. This could create a high profile for the applicant within this sector."
And thus my journey with my current client X began; a lot has changed between July 09, when I started working with X, and now. As I bring this journey to you, I promise it will get as interesting as it can.
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