Four months ago, Pooja Khare, 29, an MBA from the KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies, took up a job in the market research department of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL).
She"s not the only management graduate to have joined up with the Mumbai-headquartered fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major all 120 managers currently working with GCPL hold a management degree. Khare, however, is special because she was juggling two offers after leaving IMRB, a market research agency in Mumbai, both in the FMCG space the other option was to work with FMCG bellwether Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL
That Khare chose GCPL over the multinational consumer goods giant can be taken as just one indicator of the rapid strides the 78-year-old soap maker has taken in the past seven years since going public. "Coming from the agency side of the business, I knew exactly what type of work culture existed at GCPL vis-a-vis the FMCG multinationals. That was the deciding factor for me. GCPL gives me the freedom to work independently with little interference from my superiors. Also, it"s a myth that Indian FMCG companies don"t pay. In fact, GCPL pays me more than what I was offered at HUL," says Khare.
If you think Khare is an exception, look no further than Sarika Srivastava, 29, who chose GCPL over a certain Infosys Technologies. Picked up from the campus of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar (XIMB) two years back by the sales department, Srivastava isn"t regretting the decision. She is now set to join the company"s overseas subsidiary, Keyline, in the UK (acquired in October 2005).
"My husband works in the UK and the HR department went out of its way to offer me a transfer to the UK," says Srivastava. In the past two years, she"s learned plenty.
"I couldn"t have got a better brand than GCPL to make a career in the FMCG sector. From day one, I was vested with responsibility of handling a sales territory," she adds. Of course, Srivastava has another reason for her loyalty to GCPL. As she puts it: "The luxury of having accommodation minutes away from the workplace in a place like Mumbai would not have been possible in any other organisation."
Whatever the attraction, they all add up to making GCPL one of India"s best employers. Hoshedar Press, Executive Director and President, GCPL, attempts to sum up that appeal. "People management, early authority and responsibility, the pride of being swadeshi, the challenge of taking on a multinational Goliath and, most important, quick decisionmaking unlike a multinational are some of the differentiating factors that result in people joining GCPL." More About