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Blown Away by Chicago
Posted by Nicola on 01 May 07
I'm writing this on my way back to Chicago after an exciting weekend exploring the sights of NYC! I can hardly believe that I'm coming towards the end of my American Adventure and in a couple of days I'll be flying back to the UK and will have to go back to driving on the other side of the road, using the Queen's English (no more sidewalks or malls or vacations!) and being a native, rather than feeling very special when people point out I'm not American and call my accent "cute".........
I feel like in my 10 weeks in the Americas I've matured by about 10 years both professionally and personally. I've made some great friends and learnt a lot about Cadbury Schweppes, both the confectionery side and the beverages side. It hasn't been easy working on 3 different audits back to back out here, and when I arrived for the third one in Chicago I was feeling more than a little jaded. However, Group Audit isn't somewhere you come to for rest, and we were straight on to looking at sales - going out with merchandisers and attending the 6am Sales meeting on Good Friday (one of the downsides of America - no long weekend for Easter!)
The market in Chicago is very different to that of Texas- Dr Pepper is out and Vitamin Water is in! The stores are different too, with many new names for me to learn and more focus on "downtown." I spent my first couple of days trying to get to grips with all the differences, and the fantastic Chicago accent, which is only rivalled, in my opinion, by the full of character New York one. Of course, there is also the change in climate to deal with - a good excuse to go shopping (again!) for warmer clothes - but I have to admit the purchase of a thick winter coat and complaints about the cold in April have made me feel a bit soft - real Geordies are supposed to be able to brave minus temperatures in only a football top.
It's going to be tough to leave the US and all the fantastic people I've met out here behind - though I do take consolation in the fact that the week after I fly back, we've got our audit global conference, so I'll get to see the team again in the UK. I've made a promise that we'll go for fish and chips - something I've missed A LOT out here.
After our conference I've got about 2 weeks in the UK to:
Do a quick trip back home to Newcastle to show off my cowgirl boots and matching hat (I know, I am the epitome of cool sophistication), and ridiculously oversized bags and sunglasses (which I'm convinced will open the doors to the first class lounge for me, as people confuse me with some up and coming celeb).
Do a 1 day trip to Dublin to help out with the risk assessment for our upcoming audit there.
Catch up with my family and friends.
Sort out 5 months of expenses - not a fun proposition; I would estimate I have about 200 different receipts :-(
Then it's off to Belgium for a couple of weeks to try and share what I've learnt from the US with my EMEA counterparts...............
Bottling it up - Texan style!
Posted by Nicola on 04 Apr 07
Well, I've arrived in Texas for the next stage of my American Adventure......
The beverages team is even more pushed for resources, in fact there is only me and one other working with the Regional Director to try and complete a unit audit of a very large bottling plant! This area is completely new to me too (confectionery girl through and through up until now) and it's always a challenge to try and come in half-way through an audit and understand everything that the others have seen!
The people we're working with here have been incredibly friendly, although they do usually struggle with my accent, so I'm finding myself being forced to go against my (very proud Geordie) nature and use THE MOST stereotypical British accent. I'm beginning to get to grips with the Americanisms too, it's amazing how difficult it can sometimes be to understand people speaking the same language as you!!! But I've started to adopt a few sayings, though I haven't quite got as far as using "y'all" yet.
It's different working hours in Texas - most of the plant do 7.30am to around 5pm so that's the time we keep too, meaning lunch here is about 2 hours earlier than in Mexico - an important audit skill is learning to adjust your body clock to fit the working hours of those around you as quickly as possible, at least if you want to eat that is.......
Being my first audit incorporating supply chain and a review of the plant, the work is very hands on. Last Friday I got to do a ride along with a bulk delivery driver, and despite the 3.30am start, meaning by midday I was acting more than a little ditzy due to lack of sleep, was really good fun and taught me a lot about what it takes to get our products onto the shelves. We've also been in the factory so many times that we've been given a special present - our own pair of very fetching safety glasses. Even better though, is that in a very male dominated environment, our willingness to "get our hands dirty" and actually experience the process, rather than just look at the books, is winning us a lot of respect.
So, we've got another 2 weeks here in Texas, and then it's on to the slightly colder city of Chicago, and another bottling plant, another market with different tastes and preferences, and probably a whole new set of procedures........Just enough time to get my cowgirl boots and hat and get to a rodeo before I leave!
A Warm Welcome to Mexico
Posted by Nicola on 21 Feb 07
"Do you remember when we asked for volunteers to be seconded to the Americas and you put your name down? Well how would you like to go?" asked Vanessa, the EMEA Regional Audit Manager one cold Wednesday morning towards the end of January. "Brilliant, of course I'll go," I replied, "when are we looking at?" fully expecting the answer to be Summer 2007. "Well, we don't have much going on Feb to April in EMEA, so how about then?" she answered.
After that my memory is little hazy, though I do remember various phone calls and text messages to family and friends telling them that in a couple of weeks I would in the US!!! As it happened, I had about 3 weeks to get everything ready, but amazingly I didn't feel panicked - I think my Mum did more than enough worrying for the both of us.......
So now, here I am at the end of my first week on audit in Mexico City and despite a massive 23 hour trip to get here and some "misplaced luggage" (in the words of the airline) I'm really, really enjoying myself. I was slightly apprehensive about how I would fit in, but the team out here have been very welcoming and the Mexicans are every bit as friendly as I'd imagined..........Oh and of course, the sunshine and warm temperatures really do give you an instant lift!
It's very different to working in EMEA - for a start the team is much smaller, and resources are strained but it's a good challenge and is really pushing me to look for more efficient ways to do things. There are also different risks and factors to take into account in a country such as Mexico, which aren't really applicable in the UK or Europe.
I've got 2 more weeks here to understand the way things work here (and brush up my Spanish too!), then it's on to Irving, Dallas and a beverages audit - a completely new area for me......just as well I love a challenge!!!!
Enjoying the Craic
Posted by Hannah on 29 Jan 07
I am now a third of the way through my 2nd placement and things are finally settling down. It seems a lot more than 4 months since I handed over my last role, said goodbye to everyone in Bournville and was ready to move to Ireland to start my 2nd placement.
Feeling excited (and slightly nauseous after my leaving party the night before), I made my way through Wales and across the Irish sea, looking forward to the challenges of a new role, office and city.
Despite the proximity of the UK and Ireland, there are still some notable difference in working practice, language (hard to believe but it's true!) and attitude. Most of these however (such as the 11 o'clock scone break) have been easy to adjust to! Generally I feel I have settled in well, I have found my feet with my job and colleagues, got to know the city and made new friends.
It's also surprising how little free time you have after moving somewhere further away than Birmingham, and since moving to Dublin, I have only had one weekend here which hasn't been filled with visits from friends or family!
In addition to this, like all other Finance Grads there have been exams. With nine out of ten Saturdays spent in college, and all the remaining evenings and weekends chained to your desk at home attempting to revise, it's not fun! I find myself repeating the mantra ..."short term pain, long term gain..." over and over in an attempt to self-motivate, and it's the one time of the year that you wish you'd chosen HR, S&T or Marketing as your function.....
Living out of a Suitcase
Posted by Hannah on 19 Dec 06
Nearly time to head home for Christmas and New Year to celebrate in true Geordie style and no doubt tell one or two stories about the two audits I've just been on.
First up, we had the Central Europe adventure which took in the sights of Budapest, Belgrade, Prague and Bratislava, or the airports, offices and hotels at least. It was a tough but very interesting 2 & 1/2 weeks, with 7 flights in 6 days!!! We were taken on market visits in each country, which gave us a useful insight into shopping habits in former communist countries. We were treated to traditional Hungarian food - lots of fish- and drink, Unicum and Palika shots which, of course, we had to drink to be polite! I stayed in Budapest for the weekend, and so went to the magical Moulin Rouge club in the city centre, which boasts fire-eaters, a magician and dancers. The team in the Czech Republic gave us "meat with meat" and artery clogging fat on bread all washed down with Schlivovich - again they made us try it! In Belgrade we were chauffeured in a traditional yugo car - certainly an experience to remember, and later we wandered through the city centre and saw beautiful buildings destroyed by conflicts in the past. Finally in Bratislava we ate "Soup in Bread" which is literally bread with soup inside of it!!
Then after a couple of weeks back in the UK, it was off to Istanbul to do the first 3 week unit audit - a comprehensive audit of the full business, and not just the financial controls as we used to do. There was a lot to take in - we were looking at about 20 different topics, ranging from accuracy of revenue, to domestic route to market, to how the transition from a family owned company to a multinational had been handled. In the first week we had back to back meetings with the country leadership team to try and get an understanding how everything worked. In the second week we did two site visits - 1 of which was to the holiday resort of Izmir. Whilst there, in a restaurant having dinner, our host quickly whispered to us that a famous couple had just entered one of whom had dreamt of going out with the other when younger. No, unfortunately it was not Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, but the most famous actress in Turkey and her younger boyfriend, sadly both unknown to us foreigners!
In the final week, we worked hard to complete our testing and pull together our recommendations for the end of audit meeting while somehow still finding time to perfect our Turkish (I found no end of eager teachers at the hotel - it's always worthwhile being nice and polite to the hotel staff, especially when you are there for a couple of weeks), and decide which mezze was our absolute favourite - Turkish food is without a doubt the best I've had so far.
After 2 audits, I can now tell you though that audit is not quite as glamorous as people think - it's impossible to glide through airports as effortlessly as Victoria Beckham does with 3 weeks of clothes (in a distinctly non-designer suitcase) AND hand luggage AND a laptop but WITHOUT her entourage to help. It's also very difficult to look chic and be cheery for your pickup at 7am when you only arrived at the hotel 5 hours earlier. And although packing is quite fun when going on holiday, it's not fun to be unpacking for the 4th time in 1 week! That said, audit does provide some brilliant experiences and give you some great skills and interesting stamps in your passport!
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