Sales Grads
2006 - Beth
2006 - Fiona
2004 - Rob
2004 - Evelyn
Beth Warson
Business Development Executive
SALES GRADUATE PROGRAMME
“I joined Nestlé in September 2006 after studying Philosophy at York University. All I knew was that I wanted to pursue a career in sales, marketing or FMCG and, to be honest; Nestlé was the first company I encountered! I really liked the society within Nestlé, I felt I would fit in and could see a strong path for my own development.
I spent one year as a Business Development Executive for Rowntrees, covering field sales in the West London territory. That involved me calling on the multiples to drive compliance and incremental confectionery sales. I’ve just moved into the Food and Beverage division to take on the role of Customer Activations Manager for High Street and Convenience.
I developed an interest in Activations because of my time in the field: I wanted to understand and be part of the process of executing branding promotions in store from a Head Office perspective. And I wanted to be in the thick of it, working with account teams and brand managers, utilising insight and merchandising to tailor and match brands and promotions to the various demographic bases in the best way possible.
The BDE role was certainly interesting. It really was a year to learn about myself as much as it was about sales, FMCG and the confectionary market. I imagined the role to be much more lonely than it was but it was fine – except for the particularly testing London traffic! As I’m new into Activations, I’m yet to find out exactly how everything is here, but the outset certainly looks very exciting.
Nestlé is a fun, sociable place to work but has a real determined focus to be number one. That comes through in the training we receive. There are various team training sessions within the field roles: presenting courses, team building and negotiations, for example. As part of the graduate scheme there’s a thorough induction at the start where your development and progress structure over the next three years is set out. Pretty huge stuff as you can imagine.
My long-term aim is to be the first female CEO of Nestlé! But, bringing it slightly more to the present, my next personal aim is to learn as much as I can from Activations and use this opportunity to find out what I can be most valuable at. One step at a time!
My advice to those on a similar path? Keep an open mind; listen to what people tell you and ask lots of questions: you will have valuable things to say, don’t keep quiet just because you are new and fresh out of uni!”
Fiona Lamont
Field Operations Executive
SALES GRADUATE PROGRAMME
“I joined Nestlé in September 2006 after studying Marketing BSc Hons at Lancaster University. I knew I wanted to take on a Marketing and Sales role within FMCG as I felt the dynamic, competitive and aggressive nature of the industry could offer me a challenging and exciting career.
Through visiting career fairs, websites and employment publications, I gained an understanding of which opportunities were open to me. The Nestlé Sales graduate scheme stood out from the rest. Not only tailored to my individual needs, it also offered continuous support in my career development. I felt that I’d benefit greatly from a scheme offering experience in a number of roles. Theirs consisted of three different placements: one in Field Sales, one in a Head Office-based Sales role, and the third, either another Sales role or a role in Customer Marketing.
I began my life with Nestlé Rowntree in Sheffield, as a Business Development Executive (BDE). As part of a regional team, I was responsible for managing my own territory and the accounts within it. These ranged from small Co-ops to massive Tesco Extras. Each call involved ensuring stores were compliant with Head Office-agreed activity agreed, influencing additional orders and negotiating discretionary space for incremental displays. As you can imagine, a huge part of my role involved building great customer relationships.
I followed this with a role as a Field Operations Executive – the role I’m currently in. It’s here at York Head Office, where I originally came to take on a six-month placement within Field Operations. Unlike the BDE role, this role involves working within the impulse channel – an area that I previously knew nothing about. I’m responsible for ensuring account priorities and activities are achievable, and communicated accurately to the Sales Development Executive (SDE) team.
When you first join the company, there’s a jam-packed training programme in place to ensure you feel confident and capable when you’re first let loose in your own territory. After this initial training, there are a number of courses to attend as part of your regional team. Along with these team courses, you also receive accompanied visits whilst on call so your trainer can identify your strengths and weaknesses and help you build on them.
Having recently started my second placement in Field Operations I quickly realised that I would benefit from an introductory finance course. I broached the subject with my line manager and I am now booked in on one! If you can justify your need for training and how it will be beneficial, Nestlé is wholeheartedly supportive in aiding your career development. I’ve had Excel training and completed courses in Finance and Presenting with Impact.
When you’re field based, being a Business Development Executive can be a lonely role, so I’m really enjoying working in an office environment in my second placement. The offices are open plan so interaction with other colleagues is easy and the culture here means it doesn’t take long to make lots of friends.”
And if you’re looking for proof that showing what you’re made of actually gets you somewhere…? Meet Rob.
Brief history of a showstopper:
Name: Rob Brown
Joined Nestlé: April 2002
Current job title: National Account Controller - Morrisons
Career path so far:
Assistant Brand Manager – KitKat - 12 months
Field sales executive – Central London – 6 months
Customer Marketing Executive – Asda – 6 months
National Account Manager – Biscuits and Gifting - Tesco - 2.5 years
National Account Controller – Morrisons – 12 months to date.
Career highlight (so far…):
Being one of the youngest National Account Controllers on a Top 4 multiple within the business.
What I have to say about Nestlé:
People here are passionate, committed and determined. Those qualities have created a very positive environment, with a strong emphasis on delivery and accountability for results. It’s the type of business that boasts an atmosphere where expectations are high but always met; where plans and processes are strongly insight-driven but open to calculated risk taking; where senior leadership is strong; and where fast promotions and open career paths await the talented.
The hardest thing about my job?
Trying to influence the customer to support your plans, even in the face of strong competition. Though, working at these world-class levels, you wouldn’t expect competition to be any less fierce.
Next target in my sights:
National Account Controller on Top 2 Grocer – namely, Asda or Tesco
And after that…?
Board level Commercial Director within 10 years, MD following that.
How I’m going to get there:
1) A contact matrix with customers means I’m already a lead contact for Senior Personnel
2) Continue leading and managing a cross-functional team – sales, demand planning, customer service and customer marketing
3) Building functional knowledge and commercial experience every step of the way
If I could give you one piece of advice:
You don’t need to decide your chosen career from day one, so if you’re unsure, just make sure the company you choose has a superb training and development scheme and gives you a breadth of experience in a variety of roles. This will help you formulate your own ideas and take control of your own career.
Evelyn Bate
Business Account Manager
The then SALES & MARKETING GRADUATE PROGRAMME (old programme name)
“I studied Chemistry at Birmingham and joined Nestlé after graduating in 2000. I'd considered the Police for my first graduate job, but after spending the day at the police assessment centre and feeling like I had to behave differently to fit in and get on, I wasn’t so keen. In contrast, I really enjoyed the Nestlé assessment centre and was totally relieved to find I could be myself.
If I am honest, I really didn’t know what to expect from this role. I didn't understand how the confectionery market worked and what account management entailed. I think it has been more about being who I am and using common sense and applying what I’ve picked up as I’ve moved through various roles in the company.
Those roles have included: three months as a Field Sales Executive calling on corner stores; six months’ specifically working with Asda as a Business Account Exec; nine months as Assistant Brand Manager of Marketing on Yorkie; 18 months’ Customer Marketing experience on New Business/Compass and Sodexho; 18 months as an Area Manager responsible for a Field Sales team; and two years in Sales, as an Account Manager on Asda CBB and Waitrose.
The highlights of all of that were seeing real market share growth in Waitrose; personally winning two ‘key achiever’ awards and being a named facilitator on our Leadership training course: Lead to Win.
Alongside that leadership training and our regular support, we get skill-based training for anything specific we need for our role. The hardest thing about my job is being in situations that challenge my natural style, but even then, they help me develop. I may not be sure exactly which roles I’m looking for next, but it’s my aim to always be challenging myself and to stretch to the best I can be. Being clear about things like that helps me drill down the steps I need to take to achieve my goals.
Nestlé is performing very strongly this year. Being part of it through challenging times really makes you appreciate how successfully we’re doing. I’ve always been proud to work for Nestlé but I find I am even more so now. People here are brilliant too. I love working in the team I’m in and get on really well with everyone. The key thing is meeting your challenges with friendly support and having fun along the way.
If you’re considering a career like mine, go for it! It’s diverse, it’s challenging and you get to see real results, so there’s a sense of achievement, accountability and responsibility. If I could offer one piece of advice though, I’d say just learn to be yourself. You don’t want to spend your career pretending, when there are places out there where you can be you - that’s a long time working. It’s as much the role and the company need to be right for you, as you for them.”
