Box Checked!

Literally posting this 32 minutes after I delivered my final presentation to senior management and with one week to go, it's really impossible for me to realize how time has flown by. I guess just by looking at my presentation, I can see the time I've spent on strategies and executions from day 1 till this morning. And it ended with a lot of drama as the presentation has been rescheduled 5 times (3 times today).

Since it's time for me to wrap up my internship and start thinking about vacation before returning for my final year, I feel blessed for the experience I've had business-wise. Developing a promotional strategy for two top products, leading subsets of programs that are actually being executed, and gaining exposure to business planning processes as a marketing intern is more than I'd ever expect. Of course it all came with a lot of hard work and long working hours but the feeling at the end is that I did my best.

Something I really wanted to stress and there's not enough to say about its importance especially for international students coming is the MAP project. As I mentioned in my early posts, because of that I got a shot at interviewing with Hill's Pet Nutrition and ended up working for and impressing them. If it wasn't for that I would still have a job but not something that I would like or get paid for. Yes it would be a free internship! Times are hard and coming from a different country to start a new career requires sacrifices and strong will. Everyone was telling me that it was impossible to get consumer goods internship because I didn't have the proper experience. And yes people got jobs on campus while I was struggling to even get an interview. But in my opinion, that doesn't mean anything. Work hard and go after your dreams, and you will succeed. MAP was my shot at succeeding and I made sure I took full advantage of it. If you think about it, I ended up having a 5 month internship... 2 months working on the MAP project and 3 months working as an intern.

So for all you incoming MBA's out there consider my point of view and see how you can leverage it because time flies and before you know it you will be at the end of your first year still trying to figure out what's going on.

Take care everyone! Enjoy the summer and see you in September.

Almost there...

It's Nikos again from Hill's Pet Nutrition in the extremely hot state of Kansas, which I was told is the place where basketball was born. Having played pro basketball that sounds very cool!

Anyway, even though I have 4 weeks to go, I present to senior management next Friday. Logistically, it was easier to get all the marketing directors, VP, brand managers etc. in the same room for a 2 hour time when I and the other MBA intern will spend talking about our recommendations and overall experience. Frightened, terrified, and stressed are only some of the words that can describe my feelings. Not so much for presenting, but putting together a big deck while dealing with all the projects that I am part of. To make a long story short, my workdays have become dangerously long!

The good part is the experience. No matter what I say, words are not enough to describe it. Yes, I am tired! Yes, I am working till 9pm! Yes, I can't wait for vacation! But, I'm confident it will pay off. Being involved in several projects provides great exposure in the company and the opportunity to work extensively with cross-functional teams which, in my opinion, is the hardest thing to do no matter how much experienced you are in it. Actually, if I had to distinguish the single most important aspect of my internship it would be the cross-functional experience and the ability to coordinate with different people, different priorities, different perspectives.

Well, as another day of the week ends, I'm looking at this weekend as an opportunity to wrap up my presentation and get ready to rock it. The expectations are high and I'm looking forward to meeting them. Once that is done, I will spend time exploring the area, networking within the company, finish up my projects, and get ready to go back to Greece before school starts.

Fun times in Kansas!

In my last two posts I mainly described all the hard work I've been through to understand the business and ensure my projects add value to the company. Having been with Hill's Pet Nutrition for 5 weeks now, the only thing that haven't changed is the amount of work. What have changed though is the amount of fun!

When I first started I didn't know too many people in the state of Kansas (actually I knew only one from work) so fun wasn't part of my everyday life. It got even worse when I had to deal with flooded roads and storms (picture was taken at 3pm). If you add to that tornado warnings every other day, there you have a whole bad situation in terms of lifestyle.

However, things started to turn around as the HR department had organized some activities for all the interns. Since we are only two MBA interns, it was great to get a chance and meet others from packaging, engineering, procurement etc. After a picnic at Lake Shawnee, which was extremely fun, we all started to hang out and arrange different kind of activities with the best of it being the get-together in my apartment to watch USA against Ghana for the World Cup. If only USA had won our afternoon would have been even better but you can't have it all! To fight the pain from the devastating loss my American counterparts suggested we go for a beer which took me some time to drink. Look at the glass size in the picture...

Overall, the World Cup has dominated, not only discussions but also our time. Being part of a truly global company gave me the opportunity to watch the Greece-Nigeria game with a couple of Nigerians that work for Hill's. Also, based on my initiative, there are several brackets flowing around but so far mine is the most accurate. I guess soccer is not an American sport yet. Good times... Hopefully it will be even better during the second half of my stay...

First Quarter Done!

Hey everybody from the full-of-tornado-warnings Kansas!

I am officially done with my first 3 weeks at Hill's Pet Nutrition and I must admit they went by pretty fast. Several meetings, cross-functional teamwork, research, insight analysis, and number-crunching is the story of my first quarter. My project list keeps getting longer and the day-to-day tasks make things more hectic but no complaints. By the way, keep in mind that all the unpredictable and urgent tasks always end up on the intern's desk!

Basically, the last couple of weeks I spend the majority of my time working in Excel, pulling up shipment and consumption data from different retailers and trying to identify the implications moving forward. This is called the Colgate Business Planning which essentially is a tool to keep track of where the company stands on a monthly basis and figuring out ways to counter possible drawbacks or unexpected downfalls. It may sound like a heavy process but I was glad to be part of it because one of my goals for the summer was to gain exposure to this type of data in order to enhance my analytical and decision-making skills.

Apart from the planning process, I also spent time on the core of my project which is to develop promotional strategies for different lines of products including online, in-store and misc. The fact that it needs to be customized by retail environment and product makes the need for insights greater which is why I've been going over several studies. Currently, I am leading the development of in-store signage and displays based on some ideas I had working with people from supply chain, sales, and packaging engineering which is a great experience.

Overall, my colleagues are more than willing to help me and answer all the "stupid" questions a newbie has. The HR dept has arranged several activities like teleconferencing with parent company Colgate and lunch with all the VPs but the most fun will be this Friday at the picnic all the interns have with the managers and coworkers at Shawnee Lake. It is another advantage of the summer hours at Colgate (Friday is a half workday)...

Take care!

First couple of weeks at Hill's Pet Nutrition!

Hello everybody from Kansas! Certainly not the greatest place on earth but this is where I'm spending my summer so I'll have to find a way to like it...

Since my last post, the main difference is that I have moved to Lawrence, KS and been here for two weeks. Lawrence is a college town, very similar to Ann Arbor, but it's a half-hour drive to Topeka to get to work. I would love to give you more info on the location but unfortunately things have been pretty hectic at work and haven't had the chance to move around as much as I wanted.

I got my project(s) description and was given a cubicle (which as you can see I have decorated accordingly) the very first day. I was assigned to the Science Diet cat nutrition team for the summer. Basically, I will develop a promotional strategy for the special needs line, design the brand action plan for the life-stage line, and lead the monthly volume tracking to understand our sales activity, make recommendations on corrective actions, and comply with Colgate Business Planning.

In addition to my project, there are several daily "mini-projects" coming my way which reminds me what the real world looks like. However, I am fortunate enough to report to a Michigan alum who, along with other recent MBA grads from other schools, has been very helpful. Most of the people here are more than willing to help me get a better understanding of the business and daily tasks.

Yeah I know it sounds like a busy summer! Just by looking at my deliverables I feel some pressure but every day has been a learning experience, even during lunch with directors and VPs. This is the kind of company Hill's is-everyone is accesible.

If I had to point out my major difficulty so far, that would be the acronyms! They use more acronyms than full words which makes my communication a little bit harder. Until my next post, hopefully I will have figured most of them out...

Enjoy summertime!

Impossible is Nothing!

MBA Intern @ Hill's Pet Nutrition in Kansas

Hello everyone! My name is Nikos Apostolidis and I come from Greece. I just completed my first year in the MBA program at the Ross School of Business, which I must admit was very challenging but looking back, I can see how beneficial it has been. Starting May 24, I will be interning with Hill's Pet Nutrition, a consumer goods company owned by Colgate-Palmolive. However, the path to securing this internship has been all but straight.

Prior to my MBA, my career evolved around sports. I played pro basketball in Greece for 3 years but a career-ending injury forced me to re-evaluate my plans. Leveraging my experience in the industry, I pursued a sports management career during which I led the basketball and business operations of two pro basketball organizations.

Moving to Ann Arbor, my goal was to go back to sports but quickly realized other exciting opportunities out there. Consulting, marketing, general management were all interesting options and the school is really strong in almost every area. Eventually, I sticked to marketing but not in sports; I decided to pursue a brand management career in the consumer goods industry (CPG).

As an international student, entering the CPG industry is more than a challenge but NOT impossible. After a couple of unsuccessful interviews, I figured I could use MAP as a way to get an offer. Thus, the majority of the projects I bid on was with companies I was interested in and knew they still had open positions. Finally, the project I was assigned to was with Hill's Pet Nutrition.

After a long two-month period of hard work with my team, we delivered exceptional results which helped me distinguish myself from other candidates and eventually get the offer. The Global Marketing Development Program at Hill's is the pipeline for full-time hires which makes it even more important. Even though I still don't know what I will be working on (got the offer a couple days ago), I'm very excited because I already know the company and the people which I think will be very helpful since there won't be any adjustment period. On the other hand, I can't say I'm nervous about it but I definitely think of the fact it is a new industry for me and have to be quick on my feet. Overall, this is what I wanted to do when I joined Ross and the fact that I accomplished it gives me great satisfaction and strength to continue working hard during the summer.

The next post will be early June and hopefully I will have more details on my project. Till then take care everybody.