It’s a battle of wits. A contest to follow a strict set of rules to the letter, while simultaneously creating advantages and new approaches from the limited materials you have. It’s not a game of chess; rather it’s a job in a fast-moving consumer-goods company. And, according to insiders, it’s a game you can only get into on the bottom floor.

Working in a fast-moving consumer-goods (FMCG) company — which specializes in producing small, short-lasting consumer goods, like batteries, shaving cream, soap, candy, etc. — may not be everyone’s idea of paradise. Selling candy bars and deodorants isn’t the most glamorous profession in the world, but the industry provides some of the best-paying and most stable jobs around. "The goods that a lot of those companies sell are practically identical, so it’s really a battle of management," said Vyacheslav Volkov of SLAVA Executive Search & Selection/ IIC Partners, a recruitment company.

"Any success that a company like that achieves is due to the promotional and marketing abilities of the people who work there," he added. Professional positions in the FMCG sector can be divided into three major departments: marketing, sales and logistics. According to ANCOR, a recruitment company, the majority of openings are for sales positions, which make up 60 percent of all available openings. The most widely available position is for key-account managers, a sales position, according to Olga Litvinova, a recruiter-consultant for the FMCG sector at Penny Lane Consulting.

Competition for positions is high, and turnover is low, largely due to the high-profile nature of most firms and the benefits they offer their employees. Also, most companies only hire for entry- and mid-level positions, preferring to hire from within for more advanced assignments. Finding a job with such company can be a long and difficult process, but many companies offer internship programs for students looking to get their foot in the door. The good news is that most companies don’t require that their employers have a specific educational background for most positions, with the exception of logistics jobs, according to Litvinova.

What is critical is that employees speak good English, since a majority of the firms in the FMCG market are foreign. The ratio of foreign to Russian firms is about 70:30, according to Litvinova. "Knowing English is essential for nearly every position," she said, "in fact, it may be the most important thing of all." She also said that when applicants apply for the job, they should remember that employers want to know what applicants "can do now, not what they are going to learn."

To attract young and ambitious talent, most companies run internship programs.
Procter & Gamble revived its internship program this year, after having closed it following the ‘98 crisis. "We are very proud of the program and worked very hard to promote it this year," said Vladimir Kimanytch, an organizational development manager at Procter & Gamble. "The work is 100 percent like the work that regular employees do, and it’s paid, too," he added, noting that interns are entitled to some benefits as well.
There were 1,500 applicants for 23 internship positions in Eastern Europe, according to Kimanytch. He said 95 percent of internships were successful, meaning that the students are eventually hired as employees.

The rules regarding pay for employees tend to be strict. While FMCG companies usually provide a good benefits package, including company cars, cellular phones and meals, many also include education and job training; however, pay scales tend to be fixed.
"Gillette paid ‘above average’ and there was nothing you could do about that," said Roman Bezdudny, a former business management assistant at Gillette in Moscow. He said that the firm had rigid guidelines about how much money each employee could earn, and salaries were inflexible.

Yet the difference in pay between Western and Russian FMCG companies is small. The greatest advantage Western firms offer is a corporate culture that tends to value employees and provide them with better benefits, according to Penny Lane’s Litvinova. But she noted that Russian corporate culture is improving. Most employers and employees believe that the high-level of discipline and advanced problem solving skills make FMCG companies a good place for young people to gain experience in the workplace.

"It’s an excellent place to work, especially when you’re young. They demand a high-level of discipline," said SLAVA Executive Search & Selection/ IIC Partners Volkov.
Some employees agree that the need to follow a limited set of rules is challenging, but good for their development. "I think it’s particularly useful to work in an American company," said Bezdudny. "American companies are always in a hurry. It’s all about figures and there’s a lot of pressure. My boss’ boss’ boss’ was in Boston, and you could feel the pressure all the way across the water."

But in spite of the intense nature of the work, he liked his job: "It’s interesting because you have specific guidelines for your product, but you can’t make any changes to it... Working there gives you a lot of tools." But the need for discipline and ability to follow strict guidelines regarding products is frustrating for some. "It’s kind of boring when you do the same thing every day," said a confectionery-packaging scheduler for an international company, speaking on the condition of anonymity. He said that while most international, and even Russian, FMCG companies offer competitive salaries and benefits packages, he felt that the work was too structured and rigid.

"It’s a nice place," he said of his job. But he said he didn’t like the work because it was a "very traditional and restrictive business." "You have a product that you can’t do anything with and production is limited too. You can’t outsource, everything has to be made in the company," he said. He plans to leave the company soon to find a job working with a more "sophisticated product."