Published January 2018 by Anna Telfser
The procedure of becoming a Production Management Graduate should not be underestimated. Last year, there were over 600 candidates applying and we had to go through a few months long application process. It consisted of a pre-recorded interview, a logic test, a Skype interview, a personality test and an assessment day whit another interview and a case study which was elaborated in a group work with other candidates. If you are thinking about applying to the Production Management Graduate Programme, you will take part in an application process for which I will try to give you some tips:
My first and most important tip for you:
- Be your authentic self!
Make sure that you are not playing a role or say something just because you think that people might want to hear it. If you are chosen, you are chosen because the Talent Acquisition team in Arla Foods believes that you, with exactly your personality and competencies, will help create the future of dairy. So make sure to be yourself and don’t pretend to be someone who you think others want you to be.
My second tip is:
- Make sure that you know why you want to be a part of Arla Foods!
There are many reasons why I personally think that Arla Foods is a great company and I can say that I am proud to work for Arla. Make sure you know why YOU want to become part of Arla! I am not going to tell you all my reasons for choosing Arla, because, first of all, it would take too much time and, secondly, I encourage you to reflect upon this yourself.
The next tip is somehow related to the previous ones:
- Take it seriously!
Don’t make this application be one of so many others. Just because you have your CV ready, it doesn’t mean that you should send it to every open application. Have a further look into the Arla webpage so that you know what our character is, what our vision and mission each are about, what kind of products we produce, what our core markets are and what our strategy is. In this way, you will see that it is worth it to put an effort into your application and that Arla is a great cooperation to work for, where you will be happy to help bringing us further towards our goals.
My next tip is:
- Be flexible!
This tip does not only count for the application process, where you will have to jump from one topic to another one in the interviews, or you have to provide one example after the other for different situations you went through during your studies or your previous work life. You also have to be flexible in life for this trainee programme. First of all, you don’t know where you will be sent to. Secondly, you will be sent to the countryside close to nowhere, as the dairies are located close to the farms to minimize the transportation distance of the milk. You might be far apart from family and friends and you might be far away from big cities where life is happening. If you are aware of that and you don’t mind, then this is the right programme for you, with which you will learn a lot and you will enjoy new challenges and experiences to the fullest.
My last tip:
- Enjoy it!
Enjoy the application process - even if it should not work out for you, you will definitely learn from it as with every interview you get more routine, become more confident and less nervous the next time. And if you are chosen, you can be proud of yourself and take the chance to show what you can!
To conclude this tip session, I would like to wish you all the best for the application process, I hope that I was able to give you a little insight on what you have to prepare for and hope that you can use at least some of my tips.
