I attended a Round Table Discussion event this evening by Proctor & Gamble. They organise this every year to reach out to graduating students from my university. I wasn't too sure what to expect but the topic "Think Global, Act Local" did look interesting and the line up of speakers was very credible so I figured why not...
It was an ok session... most of the sharing by the speakers followed by panel Q&A was ok... people were mostly asking about P&G's marketing stragegies, surviving as a global company with so many brands and all that... not too bad, but I guess I just wasn't that impressed (considering how we've seen some REAL SUPER speakers at IC)
Anyway, the Q&A was followed by dinner (GOOD FOOD!) cum networking. So they had tables for different functions within P&G and 1 or 2 employees per table to speak with us undergraduates and address our questions... I think I kind of scared the guy at my table cos I was asking quite a lot of questions...
Is this your first job? Why did you leave the previous one for this job? Does your degree matter in what you do? What do you do? Does P&G provide trainings? Is it compulsory or how do they encourage employees to take these up? How diverse is the workforce in P&G? How does P&G get involved with the local communities (CSR)? Are there internal postings outside of Singapore? Are the operations handled by P&G or outsourced (since the guy was in logistics)?
And I wanted to ask the HR people stuff like how they build the learning culture in the company, how they see the youths of today being able to cope with a diverse and team based work environment, how they identify with their values (which are quite similar to those of AIESEC coincidentally).. but yeah the HR people went off before I could bombard them....
But anyhow, what I noticed was really the type of questions I asked VS what some of the other undergrads asked...
What are working hours like, what is the dress code to work, what is the salary range, how much do the grades matter, will there be training if we go into a function not related to our degree... And the "best" questions of the night came from this guy to the HR hiring manager for Product Supply: Some of the people gave us some tips about the application process. Does it really help if we look at the Purpose, Vision and Principles of the company? What do you look for in a resume? Should we answer the online test according to who we are or really aligned to the values which the company are looking for? Like do it just for the sake of impressing the company? (I suspect this was why the HR manager wanted to go off before I could ask her questions... If I were doing HR and someone asked me questions like this, I would be so not impressed...)
but anyhow, yeah the experience definitely got me thinking... what I ask and seek to find out does seem different... the rest or you even probably think I'm quite silly to not ask about salary and what experiences they look for in recruiting...
but anyhow, I think after this bit of reflecting, I realise that perhaps it is simply because I look for that diverse, dynamic, challenging learning environment more than the material perks a job can offer... and I think that well.. I am happy with what I am looking for =)
3 comments:
i think its just because you're a trained aiesecer that has experienced organisational management and engagement at the highest level. you know that the salary is going to be decent and the dress code is going to be boring, so why ask? what's important to you is how challenging an environment it's going to be and how much it aligns with what you want to achieve. Plus the added curiosity of how they manage the organisation.
And questions on how best to tackle their selection process don't even cross your mind... you're an AIESECer and this is your personal selection process, of course they'll hire you, and if they don't... someone else will and it'll only be their loss :-)
Yeahhhhh you go girl! Deserve the best!
Sharon for MCP(again!)!!!!!
Haha.
That just shows how AIESECly you are :)
Well, the experiences of you and them are quite different, i supposed, so you guys expected something different from a job.
Not so surprising, when you think of how different the conversation is with AIESECers and your university friends... (at least for me).
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