It may sound intimidating to ask a newcomer to take on a big project, but this is how global consumer goods giant, Procter & Gamble (P&G), has developed its staff for years. With the 'build from within' culture, the company demands early responsibility from their management trainees.
Each new hire joins the company as the owner of the business from day one. They are assigned to a specific project and are expected to be a leader, making decisions, from setting the objectives to budget planning and working with different functional teams. The company equips new hires with continued corporate and functional training through classroom, online web-based training and on-the-job training provided by line managers.
'We want to make sure people are well trained and they can enjoy long-term development at P&G,' said Laura Xiong, managing director of the Hong Kong headquarters. 'We don't wait until you are a brand manager or team leader to lead a project or a team.'
Graduated trainees, assistant brand manager Eric Lin Ming-sing and category demand manager Carol Chan Yuen-han, said the early-responsibility policy allowed them to quickly pick up the knowledge and skills they required.
'We learn from working with different departments,' Mr Lin said. 'The training does not just last for the first one or two years. There is specific training for us every year and the daily on-the-job training provided by the line managers. It's very comprehensive.'
To ensure trainees stay on track in their projects, line managers are there to provide guidance. Another graduated trainee, project manager Maggie Wong Cheong-kuen, said the most challenging part of her training lay in handling the four key customers, ParknShop, Wellcome, Watsons and Mannings, not long after she joined in 2004.'It was stressful and difficult in the beginning,' said the University of Hong Kong economics and finance graduate. 'But the line managers valued people and would be there to support whenever there was a problem. Other colleagues were also very helpful, and we worked together as a team to achieve our goals.'
The 170-year-old company, which realises more than US$1 billion in sales from its more than 20 brands, hires several hundred trainees every year throughout the Greater China region.