We caught up with our very own Campus Champion, Lara, who secured a terrific role with P&G in technology project management. She she shares her top tips on how you can utilise Bright Network events to follow in her footsteps!
What stood out about P&G?
I first met P&G at a competition where I had to present an idea to a panel of judges as part of my degree. The panel was made up of employees from various companies, one of whom was a P&G employee. My team and I won the competition and the P&G judge came to speak to me after the event, gave me his email address and told me he thought I should apply. When I started researching companies to apply to, I reached out and said I was interested but wanted to know a bit more about the company, he immediately replied answering all of my questions and putting me in touch with other P&G employees who could answer further. One of the things that really stood out to me was P&G involvement in external opportunities, such as attending the Bright Network FESTIVAL as well as sponsoring my degree and attending our competitions. One of the main attributes that made me want to apply to P&G was their culture, friendly and flexible is the way I would best describe it. Before I began applying to any companies, I had made a list of my skills that would help me narrow down where I would be most suited and when I looked at the job description it fitted me perfectly.
How did I prepare for the application process?
The application process consists of a short online registration form, online test, two video interviews and a final face-to-face interview. To prepare for the online test I did a few practise numerical and verbal reasoning tests on the Bright Network website. For the interviews, I went through my CV and took notes on the key skills I gained from each piece of work experience and I wrote a list of questions I wanted to ask the interviewer as this shows that you are keen and interested in the company. I also did some background research into the company, so I knew more about the areas they operate in and any recent technological developments as this is the area I was going into.
What was the bit of the application process that surprised me the most?
The video interviews were both video calls, so rather than recording myself like most other interviews, I was speaking to an actual P&G employee. This was a great opportunity to find out more about what different roles they had been in throughout their time there but means you don’t have a minute or two to prepare your answer like you would if you were recording yourself.
What 3 top tips would I give to Bright Network members looking to follow in my footsteps?
- Ask your interviewer lots of questions about themselves, not only does it create a rapport, but you can learn a lot about a company from how their employees speak about them
- Get involved in as many opportunities at university as you can because it gives you more substance to talk about in your interviews, with three interviews there are a lot of different questions, so you need a lot of different examples
- Practise for the online test, although the tasks aren’t too difficult, there are a lot of levels so you have to be quite quick in order to pass
