Education: Graduate: Treats for those with a taste for food

For many, there is nothing to beat the excitement of working with fast-moving consumer goods. The food industry provides many opportunities to experience it, and a wide range of other careers, says Meg Carter.

The food manufacturing industry is perceived by many graduates as the softer side of British industry, a career destination likely to offer both structured career development and a whiff of glamour - for those in marketing, at least, by association with familiar high street brand names. However, few graduates of subjects other than food science fully appreciate the range of career opportunities on offer.

Food manufacturing is all too often perceived as an option best suited for food technologists, according to Sue Dirmikis, head of the careers service at King's College London.

"It's not very well understood by other graduates who generally have a low awareness of the number of vacancies in a variety of other food- related fields or for, that matter, opportunities for those without specialist skills," she says. "In fact, while marketing and FMCG brand management are the two most obvious areas for graduate applicants, many more jobs are available in production, quality assurance and distribution."

Most of the major names in UK food manufacturing operate an annual graduate intake programme with training schemes lasting between 18 months and three years. Starting salaries average pounds l6,000, rising to around pounds 25,000 on completion, when trainees are fast-tracked into middle management.

Graduate recruits are filtered into disciplines ranging from marketing and finance to sales (retail liaison and distribution channels), operations (manufacturing, and process systems), technical development and personnel. New product development tends to be the domain of food technologists; larger companies operate graduate intake schemes while smaller businesses recruit specialists from rivals.

Recruitment strategies, however, vary significantly.

Nestle, for example, was ranked in the top five most desirable employers by final-year students in a recent survey. - It has 22 factories in the UK, producing products ranging from coffee to confectionery with brands including Nescafe, Kit-Kat, Findus, Buitoni's and Crosse & Blackwell.

The company employs 13,000 people in this country and claims to place an emphasis on retaining and developing staff over the long term. More than 4,000 applicants compete for 40 vacancies on its graduate training scheme each year.

Recruits come from a range of disciplines and take part in a structured training scheme balancing general training in a range departments, with individual tailoring for particular graduates' requirements, Nestle's spokeswoman, Marion Irving, explains. The scheme runs from 18 to 24 months (three years for finance recruits).

Training and development programmes are run at Nestle's York site where a wide range of confectionery is made and in Hayes where Nestle UK's grocery division is based, she adds. A management development programme is run from the Hayes site comprising 11 modules ranging from financial awareness and personnel procedures to safety, project and time management and presentation skills.

In contrast, Cadbury-Schweppes takes only 10 graduates a year. "We recruit into various functions - marketing graduates into marketing, accountants into finance and so on," says the personnel manager, Anthea Marris. However, the company's three-year training programme takes successful applicants through a wide range of functions within the company. "Really, it's a fast-track scheme for tomorrow's senior managers."

Academic discipline is less important than ability in key management skills, such as planning, team work, influencing and organisational skills. Ms Marris adds: "Our retention rates are quite high. Some graduates move overseas to other parts of Cadbury-Schweppes or are seconded to different parts of the business."

Meanwhile HJ Heinz & Co, one of Britain's best known food manufacturers, is not recruiting many graduates at the moment.

"It simply doesn't fit current business requirements, although that's not to say this won't change," a spokesman says. "Instead, we are looking to recruit people across a range of disciplines with a number of year's experience in the food business."

However, a spokesman for the Food and Drinks Federation, the food manufacturers' trade association and industry training body, says: "Every sector is recruiting this year. Our advice is, don't overlook smaller and medium-sized companies. The food and drinks industry is always on the lookout for good quality graduates with business awareness and a variety of work experience and academic backgrounds."

The Food and Drinks Federation publishes a guide to careers in the industry. For a copy, call Charlotte Crocker on 0171 836 2460.