Pros
Competitive salary and benefits, company peaking growth, respected company to have on cv, growing brand. Good name to start career with.
Cons
The management style is poor and unprofessional. The graduate scheme itself is essentially not a scheme at all, you enter at the same level as a contractor but get given no additional training or benefits. DO NOT APPLY IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO OBTAIN CIPS. This was promised to a number of graduates but has not been delivered as graduates are given no preference. The company has grown very quickly and the processes have not kept up or don't exist which leaves the purchasing department as more of an administration role than a strategic one, where 90% of time is spent dealing with internal discussions. Whilst the company has ridden of the growth of rising economies up until now, it has no standard base for sales and it's growth is unsustainable. The working environment reflects it's rover days and it hasn't caught up with a professional and collaborative culture like most big companies. The business is very hierarchical and there is a culture of requiring to 'earn your stripes', where number of years is put ahead of intellect, ability and skill which has left an uninspiring, autocratic and grossly inefficient management team.