I’ve settled into my project and made fairly good progress. At P&G, strategy sits with the finance division, so I’ve had the pleasure of working on a competitive intelligence project. I first had to familiarize myself with some of our powerful databases and then use that information to create more detailed reports. It is quite accounting intensive, and I have been given nearly complete freedom in how I structure my time and finish my project. P&G is great about giving us the necessary tools but also requiring each of the interns to make his or her personal touch on their respective projects. I’m excited to see how my work will end up assisting the company.
I took a few days away from my normal project this week to fly to Newcastle. P&G spent a day showing the finance interns about the multitude of various finance roles within the company: finance working in a customer team, forecasting, product supply and plant finance, audit, treasury, banking, financial solutions, account managers, and payment services. We spent the second day touring one of our plants producing premium fragrances and hair coloring. We also had the chance to experience some of Newcastle’s famous nightlife. I now have a better grasp of some of the opportunities I would have should I continue working for P&G after I graduate.
However, life isn’t all work. Most of the interns have joined the corporate gym so we typically work out together every days after work. We then carpool home (only sales interns have cars) and spend the remainder of the night cooking and hanging out in the common room or going to one of the many surrounding restaurants or pubs. Weekends are spent exploring London or traveling; we’ve visited Oxford and many touristy London sights.
Last post’s trivia question was which 2 in 1 shampoo hit market leadership in the UK after only four weeks. The answer is Head and Shoulders. This week’s question: How many legal separate entities does P&G have?
