Pros
Ah, where to start. I was curious about what other reviewers had to say about Jardine Matheson (JM), specifically the JETS programme. Sadly, the other reviews are mostly boilerplate with a lack of critical thinking. This is a pity since it seems that many people apply to the JETS programme each year - and it appears that these people are making a major decision without important information. Here's my take on the JETS programme - make of it what you will, and I hope that it helps prospective applicants come to an informed decision.
The JETS programme has been around in some form for decades, although there have been multiple rebrandings over the years. JM management trainees used to be called "Jardine Johnnies" - British white, male, upper-crust, public schoolboy types who decided to have an adventure in Asia.
The world has changed massively since JM was founded 187 years ago. The British empire has disintegrated, the Americans rule the roost, and Hong Kong's glory days are long gone, eclipsed by a rapidly-ascendant China. If you're looking for a top, high-performance organisation, JM is not it. My advice would be to join the Americans or Chinese and learn from the best.
Why do I say that JM is not a high-performance organisation? JM often states that they have strong relationships that stretch back decades, and this is true. What this also means, is that people in those relationships frequently call in favours, and you will observe in action when people are given positions in the upper echelons of the organisation, which, frankly, they have no business getting.
Anyone who works in JM knows that it's not really an "up-or-out" culture. Naturally, this results in a large pile of mediocre minds and third-rate performers pile up. Gross incompetence will get you removed of course, but if you keep your head down and don't do anything obviously stupid you can stay as a middle manager until retirement. This might be a good or bad thing depending on your own level of skill and ambition. Suffice to say, if you want to test your mettle by duking it out with the best, JM is not the place to be.
So how is this relevant to a JET in the 21st century? In some ways, the programme has improved over the years. The intake is a lot more diverse than it used to be, and you get many more women and Asians instead of your usual lily-white cast of British public schoolboys. Asians are not stupid nor do we hold the British in unduly high regard - the Chinese are absolutely crushing it and this has only served to expose the deep inadequacies of Hong Kong's traditional British businesses. At least JM is not Swire which runs an utterly racist programme of having separate management trainee schemes for white people and Asians.
JM's senior management currently seems sincere about implementing a digital transformation throughout the company, which frankly, is about 10 years overdue. Will they succeed? Hard to say. Too many people at the top fundamentally don't understand the transformative power of technology for businesses - in my time at JM I've attended far too many events where I had to download a separate app - sorry to say this guys, but any JM employee under the age of 30 is laughing at your amateurish attempts to appear technologically-sophisticated.
When I joined the JET programme, I was told that the programme was meant to train General Managers. I think that this was possible several decades ago when the world was simpler, but not as we enter the third decade of the 21st century. The JETS are rotated too frequently throughout the different businesses, and not given deep enough exposure to core operations in specific industries to be truly effective leaders. This also creates a problem when it comes time for the JETS to be given a management position after graduating the program - many of the JM businesses are reluctant to give JETS these management positions because they know that the JETS don't have the necessary industry expertise to perform as expected.
My last point here concerns the HR department at JM level. After having interacted with numerous HR departments in various companies in several countries, I can only conclude one thing - the people with the lowest IQ and least ethics in the organisation are almost invariably concentrated in the HR department. JM is no exception. JM HR seems to be unable to design clear HR processes with the appropriate performance metrics, and they are unable to communicate clearly and honestly. Instead, it seems like JM HR cycles through the following tactics: (1) bumbling their way through and hoping everything turns out OK - usually leaving a fair amount of collateral damage in the process, usually shown by high turnover or people not getting the positions they deserved (2) frequently lying and politicking to save their own hides (3) finding ways to increase their own headcount and compensation while throwing garbage on other JM business units. If you are reading this, you know who you are. It's my sincere hope that your conscience kicks in and you remove yourself before causing more pain to other people. Unfortunately, given the fact that you are overly-compensated relative to the amount of value you add, my guess is that you will do anything necessary to continue in your comfortable position.
This is not to knock the many good people that I met while at JM, even in JM HR. There are many sincere, well-meaning people who, unfortunately, are unable to resist the tidal waves of garbage that constantly rush towards them. As a JET, it was a pleasure to work with these people, and I wish them all the best.
Cons
See above. One thing I would like to add is that you meet a fair number of older British gentlemen in JM who seem to think that the British Empire still exists. It's OK to be old, but it's not OK to be old, arrogant, and out-of-touch - desperately clinging to your throne and title and letting the organisation ossify through your outdated thinking. It is my sincere hope that these people die of a heart attack or retire soon so that some fresh air can run through JM.
