Be the star of toilet paper technology.
Pros
Nice to have on your CV that you worked for P&G R&D - it says that you are a very clever person. Infrastructure (IT, phones, offices, canteen, cars) are very well done, optimized for best performance. Salary in the upper third on the market, usually a bit higher than competitors. Good opportunities to work in foreign countries. Job rotation - you explore many things during your career. People are sympatric usually, like to support and connect. Generally cooperative environment (vs. the competitive environment of Nestlé or ReckittBenckiser for example). Huge organization: lot of knowledge, lot of resources. Marketing is doing a good job, so the business usually runs well. At an FMCG/Marketing based company, this is very important.
Cons
Self-selling is more important than actual performance. And as a marketing driven company, working in a factory is not very beneficial - I had many times the feeling that marketing does the nice bit, factory does the dirty bit. Well, these FMCG products (hygienic pad, toilet paper, cleaning tissue, paper handkerchief) are not NASA technology or Lamborghini engine development. Not very challenging, and not much reputation. So they make you believe that your work on something important, but let's be realistic, toilet paper is just toilet paper, independently of the colors of the flowers and the nice chamomile smell. So you might believe in the end that the center of the world is Cincinnati, OH, USA. Well, it is not. Very closed and internal company culture, they never take ideas or people from outside. Senior management has been working for P&G for all their life and has seen nothing else of the world. Very hard to get in, and as it is not a performance driven culture; the decision is more made on your personality style/sympathy, than on your actual results. You have to show that you are a superstar all the time. Kind of "brainwash" feeling after a couple 3 months. You spend all your working time and all your free time with P&G. Selling your soul describes well the situation. But many people want just that, a company that takes care of them. This company is just scary way too big.
