Darshi

Job Title:

Supply Chain Associate - Logistics (Bradenton, FL) - 2 months in Jersey City

Start Date:

01/07

Division:

Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade

Educational Background:

Industrial and Systems Engineering - U of FL Bachelors

Why did you join PepsiCo?

In college I was interested in Food Manufacturing, and went to QTG's (Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade) career booth and spoke with an intern who had a great experience with the company. I knew I wanted to take a position in supply chain, but wanted to work for a product that I am proud of and one that was good for you. During the interview process, I enjoyed all of the employees I met with and also learned of the projects that I would be working on. I found that there would be many opportunities for me at PepsiCo.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

In the Supply Chain Associate program, I will complete 2-3 rotations in Tropicana, and have different responsibilities through various projects. These problems also give me the opportunity to lead teams from start to finish and run meetings. So far, I have done a project in rail productivity, where I needed to figure out how to improve rail productivity by 20%. I assessed how we did everything (process, systems, roles, staffing), how we could improve, what we could eliminate, and what we could make better. The common themes throughout the projects have been improving systems, loss analysis, and efficiency.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

I took the job and continue to enjoy the company because of the people throughout the organization.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

My next steps are to work through my rotations (business, processing, warehouse, planning) to continue learning the different areas in supply chain. I also want to pursue a Masters or Certification and PepsiCo helps sponsor you in those. The company is great in helping me grow through rotations and education.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

You need to work for a company where you believe in the product. PepsiCo is a great company with great opportunities. Take advantage of rotational programs, because you get to know the company very well in a short period of time.

Jennifer

Job Title:

DSL Designate

Start Date:

08/06

Division:

Frito-Lay

Educational Background:

Tuskegee University

Why did you join PepsiCo?

I chose PepsiCo as my organization of choice because of the work atmosphere and company culture.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

Currently I am acting in a full bulk district role effectively leading a district of 20 full-time and part-time employees with 20 accounts. I oversee day to day sales, inventory, scheduling, and customer selling by conducting store level, fact based selling activities.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

The people!! I also thoroughly enjoy working hand in hand with my customers. What's unique is that I pretty much manage my own business with my own employees so it gives me a sense of independence.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

I plan to pursue my Master's degree while continuing with the company. I want to continue to develop the right skills to fulfill my responsibilities for the organization. I want to master the district leadership role and next enter a Key Account Manager role.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

I don't think that there is a better organization out there to work for. We have great benefits, atmosphere, and most of all we have the best people. At PepsiCo, you have a career and not a job.

Zach

Job Title:

Assistant Marketing Manager at Sobe

Start Date:

intern: 06/04-09/04 full time: 06/05

Division:

Pepsi-Cola North America

Educational Background:

University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School

Why did you join PepsiCo?

I began at PepsiCo as a marketing intern, because PepsiCo is known as a first class marketing organization and for their youthful marketing. I knew that I would be able to see what I worked on in the marketplace. In my internship, I was given a tremendous amount of responsibility at such a junior level and saw tangible results of my work in the marketplace. This, along with the people I worked with, helped me accept my full time offer.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

I have a mix of responsibilities. I provide analytical support in terms of presentations, analyzing the business, running the platforms, and bottler and customer focused programs. I also am able to work with innovation and provide brand support for innovations hitting market next year.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

Working on a program, or working on an ad, and seeing the results of your work in the marketplace. I get great satisfaction in seeing a project launch and knowing I was a part of that.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

I hope to continue to move up the ranks at PepsiCo and in marketing. I would enjoy getting cross functional experience in all aspects of marketing and seeing if there are opportunities in sales and finance. PepsiCo is currently working with me to get this cross-functional experience.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

To work at PepsiCo you need to be a hard worker, able to network to understand cross-functional skills, flexible, and willing to change consistently.

Kelly

Job Title:

Human Resources Representative

Start Date:

06/06 - internship 06/07 - full time

Division:

Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade

Educational Background:

Undergraduate in Business and Business Communications and Master of Arts in Human Resources and Industrial Relations

Why did you join PepsiCo?

I joined PepsiCo as an intern because of the people I met during my interviews. I was also interested in working for PepsiCo because it has many recognizable brands, is well known for its diversity and inclusion efforts, and has been recognized as a leader in most of their product categories.

I accepted my full time offer because, during my internship, I was given challenging projects that were significant to the organization; both projects were adopted at the end of the summer. I also knew that since PepsiCo is a growing company, there would be opportunities for me to grow within the organization.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

In my current rotation, I am in the Talent Acquisition team working on University Recruiting projects from a QTG perspective, staffing and doing market research for some Marketing and Sales positions. I also sit on two PepsiCo University Relations committees.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

The best part of my job and working for PepsiCo is the employees I work with and the culture of the organization. PepsiCo is filled with diverse individuals who challenge me every day. I am also given much responsibility and autonomy in my position.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

As a member of the HR Leadership Development Program, I will have 2-3 rotations in HQ and in the field. My first rotation has brought me to a specialist role on the Talent Acquisition team. Following that, I will have a rotation in the field as an HR generalist. Upon completion of the program, I can return to a HQ role or become an HR supervisor in the field. This is all dependent on company need, my experience, and my preferences. Through the program, we were assigned mentors and we have an indirect manager that is ensuring our next rotation is best for us and for the organization.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

Take time to network and build relationships in the organization, especially with those you do not work with on a frequent basis. Gathering a network of contacts and peers will make your role more efficient. Also, PepsiCo is a continually growing company, so I would advise you to be open to new experiences and opportunities. Having an open mind will provide you with great success.

Kelley

Job Title:

Business Planner in PCNA Marketing/Finance

Start Date:

intern: 06/05-09/05 full time: 09/06

Division:

Pepsi-Cola North America

Educational Background:

Undergraduate from Duke in Latin American Studies. MBA from Wharton School of Management.

Why did you join PepsiCo?

I initially joined PepsiCo as an intern, because I was interested in Consumer Packaged Goods and passionate about Food and Beverages. I was excited to work for a company who had tangible products that impacts consumers. PepsiCo is also strong in Marketing, Finance, Sales, HR and all functional areas. While I worked as an intern, the culture was great, and I received meaty, yet fun, projects where parts have actually been used and gone to market.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

I support the Cola (Pepsi brand teams) and multi-cultural team in strategic thinking and analytical and financial analysis. I need to understand where soft drinks are going in the future to help teams forecast volume and evaluate marketing opportunities.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

I enjoy the people that I work with. They are down to earth, fantastic, smart, hard-working, but also value work-life balance, which PepsiCo helps promote.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

My next steps are to work with my manager and identify a role to help round out more of my finance background/skills. I will either move to marketing finance or another area of finance (such as sales finance).

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

You are given a lot of responsibility for your age, and I would recommend to get exposed to senior level people and important decisions early. There are so many functional areas, and PepsiCo gives you the ability to move between the functions. Finally, it is important care about the projects and products that you work for.

Emilia

Job Title:

PCNA National Category Manager

Start Date:

intern: 06/02-09/02 full time: 06/03

Division:

Pepsi-Cola North America

Educational Background:

Undergrad: Bachelor of Science and Chemical Engineering. Grad: MBA: emphasis in Marketing - internship with Pepsi

Why did you join PepsiCo?

I joined PepsiCo because it is a great, global company, with many opportunities to move around, even to different divisions. I also enjoyed my internship and was placed in a role where I did not have a lot of experience. This enabled me to get out of my comfort zone and allowed me to broaden my experiences.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

In my current role as Category Manager, I roll up into National Sales and Strategy within PCNA sales. I mine syndicated data into selling stories for our field employees, which helps them sell to the retailer and bottler. I also maintain the PCNA category management website, which includes scorecards, selling stories, and best practices that I have gathered. I hold monthly conference calls to make sure people in the field are aware of the latest news and updates about what is going on in the National Sales and Strategy team. I consistently receive feedback and input from the field, and if I hear the same issues from field category leaders I will bring it up to National Sales and Strategy leaders. I also work closely with PepsiCo Center of Excellence.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

Every day, I get to work with great talent in the organization. I am also involved in an Employee Resource Group, PAN (PepsiCo Asian network), which allows me to get exposure and network with other PepsiCo employees to learn about what they do in their job. This group allows me to have more involvement, outside of my current job, in PepsiCo.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

I would like to have the opportunity to take on a new, challenging role where I can use skills that I have gathered so far. I want more involvement in the Center of Excellence, and PepsiCo is helping by giving me additional projects in the group right now.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

You are exposed to many opportunities in the organization, but the ability to speak your opinion and work on a team will enable you to be a part of these opportunities. Also, be able to network and get to know people in the other functions, because you never know who you will work with in the future.

Eli

Job Title:

Retail Sales Lead - Florida

Start Date:

01/03

Division:

Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade

Educational Background:

New York - Bernard Baruch College

Why did you join PepsiCo?

Even though I was a finance major, I worked part time as a real estate agent while I was in school and found an interest in sales. Tropicana recruited on campus and the job description and line of work was interesting to me. I started with the company as a DSL (District Sales Leader) in New York where my job consisted of 70% sales and 30% management. After 3 ½ years, I moved to Florida to become an RSL (Retail Sales Lead).

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

I am responsible for the way Gatorade looks and responsible for how it sells in Central Florida. My role involves anything with execution: presence on shelf, handling priorities from my account manager, and executing promotions at the retail level. I also manage a group of 14 sales representatives to ensure all priorities are performed.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

I enjoy the fact that everyone respects you here and recognizes that you are an important part of the organization. Everyone is able to work together and you are always seen as a peer regardless of your level.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

I would like to eventually become an account executive to help develop my repertoire. I am currently working to develop my leadership and management capabilities through exposure on different task forces and projects. My manager works to place me in various groups to work and build my current skill sets.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

PepsiCo is an excellent and respectable company to work at. If you enter the organization with closed eyes and an open mind, you will learn a lot and accomplish great things.

Bharad

Job Title:

Research Engineer

Start Date:

09/06

Division:

Frito-Lay

Educational Background:

Ph.D in Chemical Engineering

Why did you join PepsiCo?

PepsiCo is a global organization with wide variety of operations. I liked the idea of being directly involved with a consumer product. Also, I understood that the prospect of gaining both technical rigor and developing your people/managerial skills is quite high in an organization like PepsiCo.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

My responsibilities include: Product development, process and platform development, optimize product formulation to attain best consumer response.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

Job Satisfaction: I really get to do what I like at PepsiCo. You get to shape your career based on your skills, preferences and where you want your career to take you.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

In my next few years at PepsiCo, I look forward to gain technical depth and also understand the basic business structure. This, I believe would help my personal development and place me firmly to better face the challenges in future. My manager and my superiors understand my goals and are genuinely supportive by giving me enough freedom to pursue them.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

Just get on board!

Anita

Job Title:

Financial Strategic Planning Manager

Start Date:

07/05

Division:

Frito-Lay

Educational Background:

Bachelors in Chemical Engineering and Minor in Environmental Engineering and MBA from Rice University

Why did you join PepsiCo?

I knew I had wanted to work for a CPG company after I finished my MBA; I wanted to see the products on the shelves and understand how consumers interacted with them. I spoke to Frito-Lay during a NSHMBA (National Society of Hispanic MBA's) conference and enjoyed the people I spoke to. There were also many opportunities available in the organization that interested me.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

At Frito-Lay, I started in the innovation group (under supply chain Finance). My first role was working on financials for the new products in the Cheetos and Doritos brands. Then I moved toward long term products that the company would be beginning to launch. I was able to work on a cross functional team and got a chance to understand how the company worked. I worked a lot with capital modeling, return on investment, all profit and loss work, estimating distribution for new products, and how much we were going to sell. I also needed to understand what marketing was doing, who the consumer was, who are we trying to sell to, and what kind of marketing plans would be in place.

I am currently in a role in the financial planning group, where I put together financial plans for Frito-Lay US. This is a very strategic role, which allows me to work with all other divisions, plus PepsiCo.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

I am always learning something new everyday, because I meet a variety of people in many different facets of the organization. Learning and understanding what they do is very exciting. I am always impressed by how passionate employees are about the products we make and they all want it to be the best.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

My next steps would be going to another division of PepsiCo or going to a different region of Frito-Lay and owning financials for that area. Once you begin conversation around what you want to do next and where you want to go, PepsiCo helps put you in touch with people in those current roles to ensure that this is what you want to do. They help you become successful in your new role by giving you the skills you need to be successful.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

If you want a fast paced career where you will always be learning and working with great people, PepsiCo is the company to work for. You will always be learning, and when you get comfortable in a position, you are moved to a new role to continue learning and growing.

Desiree

Job Title:

Financial Accounting and Control

Start Date:

05/06

Division:

Quaker, Tropicana and Gatorade

Educational Background:

Bachelors in Business Administration from Michigan Business School

Why did you join PepsiCo?

I wanted to get into accounting, but wanted to begin my career in a corporate setting. During the interview process, everyone I met with was really nice. PepsiCo was a huge company with different divisions, has much influence in the marketplace, and I enjoyed everything the company was about.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

I primarily work with income statements and on periods, where one week per period is devoted to closing. I also perform reconciliations to make sure there is a balance between different divisions and the rest of the company.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

Working in accounting, you are able to work with many people from all the different divisions. I have gotten to know a variety of people working in my role.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

I will be transitioning soon to a royalties, relocation and severance role. Through showing interest in a move and my CDAP (career development action plan), my manager and I discussed my interests and found the best fit for me.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

Learn as much as you can about the company before you start and during your first few weeks. The more knowledge you have about the entire organization, the more it will help you in your role.

Katy

Job Title:

HR Representative

Start Date:

06/07

Division:

Frito-Lay

Educational Background:

Bachelors in Psychology at University of Illinois and Masters in HR at University of Illinois

Why did you join PepsiCo?

I joined PepsiCo initially as an intern, but accepted a position full time because of the many opportunities that I would be exposed to in the organization. As an HR Representative I will be able to work in different functions (sales, operations, Headquarters, etc?). I also enjoy the company culture and overall think that PepsiCo is a fun place to work.

What are the responsibilities in your current role?

I am an HR generalist at a manufacturing facility in Frankfurt, Indiana where there are 630 employees. I report to the HR manager.

What is the best part of your job and working at PepsiCo?

I enjoy taking a break from my every day role and just walking on the floor and seeing what a large operation PepsiCo is. I am able to see everything being produced at such a large scale. I also enjoy the people, in that they are very friendly, everyone is good at what they do, and everybody is filled with good advice to share.

What are the next steps in your career and how is PepsiCo helping you achieve them?

My ultimate goal is to move up in HR and continue to obtain increased levels of responsibility as a manager. Right now, I want to work as an HR Representative in different functions, such as HR sales or working as a specialist in Headquarters.

What advice would you give someone considering a career at PepsiCo?

As you start your career, be ready and open for anything. Take time to ask questions to learn from other people about your role, about the business, and current happenings in the company.