This essay aims to reflect on the experience obtained during my placement year at Procter & Gamble (P&G) as an Associate Information Technology (IT) Manager for the year 2017-2018. It includes details on the work experience acquired, the technical knowledge gained via training, and my personal and professional development during the year. It also ties in the lessons learnt from the challenges faced at work with future opportunities for learning and improvement and how studying ITMB proved beneficial to my role at the company.
As an Associate IT Manager in the Global Consumer Relations (GCR) department, my role is heavily focused on enabling contact with consumers by leveraging technology such as Chat, and Email forms. My projects involve front-end development and managing projects that will enhance the consumer’s experience as they journey through P&G’s websites in an attempt to contact P&G.
At the beginning of the placement year, students were asked to create a document ‘Statement of Placement Aims’ that detailed out the short and long-term objectives that one hoped to achieve during one’s tenure at the company. One of the key objectives that I mentioned in the ‘Placement Aims’ document was to exceed expectations on projects assigned to me through successful planning and execution. At P&G, employees are required to satisfy the PEAK indicators measure performance. These metrics are indicators of innovation, productivity, potential to take risks, excellence in execution and collaboration. Although I have not had my final appraisal at this time, during my mid-year feedback session, my manager rated my overall performance as ‘having exceeded expectations at this stage’ and I was rated as ‘Exceptional’ or ‘Very Strong’ on all of my PEAK indicators. This feedback proved to be a motivational tool for me to continue working hard on my projects and successfully deliver them and I hope that in my final appraisal, I will have delivered even better results.
To prepare for my role, I went through numerous training sessions to ensure that I had a strong foundation of knowledge that I could utilise when working on my projects. P&G has a conducive environment for learning with an emphasis on self-learning and on-the-job training. During my initial on-boarding sessions, I received informational safety assessments, IT compliance trainings, and workshops to understand P&G’s business model and the industry it operates in. The week-long Intern College was very useful in helping me understand how IT fits into the company, and the nature of my role and responsibilities in the firm. Apart from monthly trainings for interns, I also attended an annual IT College where industry experts conducted workshops on the latest technology that is transforming the way consumer-goods industries operate.
However, apart from the company-wide training, I also received role-specific training that directly assisted me in fulfilling my project requirements. GCR uses Salesforce as its Customer-Relationship-Management (CRM) System. Hence, I went through extensive Salesforce training via online learning modules on LinkedIn and Coursera. According to a 2017 Burning Glass report, Salesforce is the 7th most in-demand software skill with a greater need for such skilled workers in the IT industry (Medium, 2017). Possessing such knowledge early on in my career will benefit me greatly when I apply for graduate jobs this year.
Given the focus on self-learning, I realised a need to learn about Google Analytics for one of my projects, and hence got certified in the same. I am also in the process of completing a 5-course Search Engine Optimisation Certification on Coursera. While these training materials were not mandated by the company or my team, it has been highly appreciated that I have gone beyond the training available at work to hone my IT skills.
My role in GCR focuses on front-end development, hence it is essential for me to understand how consumers use P&G websites in order to build the user interface. A study on work placements has reported that employers look for graduates who have been able to relate theories learnt at university with practical events at workplace (Little and Harvey, 2007). Modules that I took during my first and second year proved to be essential to my work at P&G.
The BMAN10641 Human Computer Interaction module that I did at university was very useful during the design phase of my projects, as I knew how to map requirements, convert them into designs, build a prototype for testing, and then garner feedback to improve the interface design as per LT07.
In addition, the module that I found most beneficial was BMAN10690 Integrative Team Project in Year 1. During the module’s Credit Suisse case study, I found myself taking up technical and business roles, by developing the application as well as being the team leader, and this was my first opportunity to multi-task in a technical and business role. This experience would come back to help me during my project on ‘Search Engine Optimisation for P&G’s Frequently Asked Questions’ where I played a dual-role: of an Application Manager and a Project Manager. The module guided us through a process of identifying the business problem, creating business, stakeholder and technical requirements, creating a project plan, and executing the solution. The study materials, coupled with P&G’s lecture on Project Management during one of the classes, helped me understand the different Project Management Methodologies, identify the most suitable one for my project and execute it. Owning the project as well as acting as the Application Manager can be quite daunting, given the global scale of this project, however, having the experience that I gained during this year-long module, boosted my confidence and helped me display my leadership and team-work abilities. The showcases at the end of every semester helped me gain the experience of pitching my ideas to management, and this proved beneficial when I made my first recommendation in the sixth week of my placement, which led to some good feedback during my initial appraisal. The enquiry-based learning approach taught in this module was quite effective in helping me understand how to reach the root of a problem using the 5 WHY method that promotes deep thinking (Serrat, 2009).
In my initial work plan, the requirement for this project was only to monitor the visibility and user count for our Contact Us Pages via Google Analytics, and use the analysis to make a business recommendation as per LB07. Using this 5 WHY approach, I was able to identify a key problem in the SEO process of FAQs, and go beyond my listed projects, to create an opportunity for myself to convince the management of the problem, its scale, and convince the GCR Lead Team to prioritise this project in its annual project portfolio in order to give me the resources required to successfully resolve this issue (LB03). Following the approval, as the Project Manager, I worked on creating a project plan and other project documents with assistance from my mentor, Richard, who is an expert in Project Management, for development and delivery of this project (LP01).
In addition to this project, I also worked on the Development and Deployment of Contact Us Pages. The project required a complete re-design of the old Contact Us Pages template in order to cater for P&G corporate and brand websites globally. The first step in this project, as a new intern, was to understand the CRM System i.e. Salesforce, and the architecture of the old Contact Us Pages. Then, I moved on to understanding business requirements, creating a development and a global deployment plan for 1293 Contact Us pages (LT06), and managing vendors that were developing this solution. This project had a hard deadline on May 25th, 2018, as Global Data Protection Regulations in the EU went live then, and a key component of the project was to integrate the notification functionality on the pages that was key to GDPR compliance. Through the planning and delivery of this project, I demonstrated the ability to achieve LB01. The project went live in April 2018, to give me a month of monitoring and allowed me to introduce enhancements for this solution.
Through this project, I was able to contribute $40,000 in FTE Savings towards GCR’s goal of $5 Million Savings by eliminating the old version of Contact Us Pages thus preventing the need to integrate GDPR compliance functionality on both versions of page. The importance of this project can be highlighted by the fact that non-compliance with the regulation can result in fines of €20 million or 4% of annual turnover of the company (European Commission, 2018).
Since GCR focuses on improving consumer experience when contacting P&G, it is essential that the department leverages new technology to find better ways for consumers to get in touch with P&G. To invite innovation in this space, P&G sponsored the ITMB module on Business Analysis for 2nd Year students. As an intern in GCR, who has also been a student on the same course, I approached the Recruitment Team to understand if there was a way I could be involved in the module and was given the role of the GCR SPOC. As the SPOC, I was responsible for arranging and leading interviews with the students pursuing this module. This allowed me to test and utilise the knowledge I had gained during my placement. I also had the opportunity to judge the final showcase and talk to students about placements at P&G, and pursuing a technical career, especially as a woman. It was a new challenge for me to be a representative of P&G, and given my positive experience working with the company, to bring in fresh talent that would further the success of IT as an organisation in the company.
According to Women’s Engineering Society, women make up only 15% of all STEM roles in the UK (PwC, 2017). A similar gender ratio was seen in my team as well. Thus, a prominent challenge I faced at the company was fitting in to the team culture. Hence, it was easy to feel left out of social events, and lunch-table talk. Having learnt from my mentoring sessions with Karen, who was my woman mentor to succeed as a woman in IT, a key tip was to lean in – a lesson then reinforced when I read ‘Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg’. A prominent theory enforced by her as well as by Jane Lansing, the vice president of Emerson Process Management was to create and influence situations that would allow for your participation (Lansing, 2015). Hence, while initially I did struggle with fitting in, over the year, I developed my own tricks to establish my presence in line with LI04. For example, initiating conversations about topics I had a fair knowledge of, being curious and asking questions, organising team activities that I would enjoy as well such as team dinners, instead of the usual go-karting. This not only helped me build a stronger rapport with the team, but also help the team realise the imbalance of gender in the team. In a feedback session with the senior manager of my team, I did mention this challenge, and this helped open a dialogue of how we can involve women more, and I saw the team make a conscious effort towards being inclusive of women in activities, work-related or otherwise.
Apart from technical skills, I also worked on personal development. P&G places a huge emphasis on ‘Leading with Courage’ and encourages employees to be in charge of their own opportunities and find their career path. This is done so via encouragement to meet with management executives to understand the latest developments in various departments and via networking at work. The Women in IT group organised a Women’s Day event, where women were encouraged to network. Not only did I find it easier to meet colleagues and learn about their work, but it also helped me find my woman mentor at work, Karen, who has been quite influential in helping me understand the work culture at P&G. Given my ambition to reach the C-suite in an IT role and her experience as a Senior Manager at P&G, she gave me useful advice on networking, gaining exposure, and effectively creating my presence in the company.
Using her advice, I have been meeting with members on the UK Employment Board i.e. the team responsible for hiring full-time graduates in the UK in order to understand the roles available and matching them with my skill sets in the light of P&G wanting to hire me after my graduation. I intend to remain in contact with the Internship Programme Lead, and with Karen through my final year at university to be aware of the various roles that open up and understand the skills that I may need to master in order to be considered for the employment opportunities.
Over the last quarter, I have also been in discussion with P&G to use consumer data collected by GCR for my dissertation. As I am working on drafting a proposal for the dissertation, I keep going back to the study material used in BMAN20851 Research Methodology, as that gave me the first idea of how to go through the process of writing a dissertation. Having done that module in advance helps me understand the requirements of a dissertation and complete all the necessary development and research for mine before I begin my final year in September. Having done all of my research during summer will ease a lot of academic pressure in the final year, as I can focus on other modules, or even applying to graduate jobs.
A study on work placements indicates that employers view students with work experience positively, thus giving these students an advantage at the point of entry in the labour market (Little and Harvey, 2007). This placement year has not only given me an opportunity to grow technical skills but also allowed for personal development. Moreover, my experience as an IT Project Manager this year has improved my work ethic greatly. At university, there is only one hard deadline for assignment submission, and the journey to it does not matter. However, in the professional world, projects need to be broken down into tasks, and the project manager needs to make sure the project is on the path to success. It has also allowed me to explore the various career paths in technology, and I will go on to build more IT skills in the coming year to further supplement my university education.
To be able to successfully complete my project and handover the assignments to the incoming intern, I will be extending my internship at P&G by two weeks. The 12-month placement at P&G has been rewarding in terms of experience gained, technical and soft skills learnt, as well as practical application of theories learnt at university. Having this work experience on my resume will prove advantageous while applying for graduate schemes since I have been through the entire assessment process. Working at P&G has also helped me recognise my affinity towards IT Project Management especially in a consumer-driven area, and I am looking forward to building on my coding skills learnt during my year at P&G.
References
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Lansing, J. (2015). Women in tech: don’t even try to fit in a man’s world. [online] Fortune. Available at: http://fortune.com/2015/08/08/jane-lansing-women-in-tech/ [Accessed 23 May. 2018].
Little, B. and Harvey, L. (2007). Learning through Work Placements and Beyond. Education + Training, [online] 49(1). Available at: https://www.hecsu.ac.uk/assets/assets/documents/Learning_through_work_placements_and_beyond.pdf [Accessed 21 May. 2018].
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PwC (2017). Women in Tech Time to close the gender gap. [online] PwC. Available at: https://www.pwc.co.uk/who-we-are/women-in-technology/time-to-close-the-gender-gap.html [Accessed 22 May. 2018].
Serrat, O. (2009). The Five Whys Technique. Knowledge Solutions. [online] Manila: Asian Development Bank. Available at: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/27641/five-whys-technique.pdf [Accessed 23 May. 2018].