Arla Foods Commercial Graduate Scheme - Leeds

Location: Leeds, GB

Are you a recent graduate that is looking to kickstart your career in the food industry in a commercial, customer-facing sales role? Do you want to work for the 3rd largest Food & Drink Company in the UK and have a genuine interest and a passion for sustainability? Then join Arla Foods on our Commercial Graduate Scheme!

How will you make an impact?

As a Commercial graduate you will join us at our head office in Leeds and will get the opportunity to experience a range of different roles across our commercial function. You’ll work with our key brands such as Lurpak, Anchor, Castello and the Arla brand. Furthermore you’ll also be working in partnership with major retailers including Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s etc. as well as some of our largest customers in Foodservice such as McDonalds, Costa and Pizza Express to name but a few!

• This is a 2-year program with diverse rotations for comprehensive exposure in the commercial function.
• Primary rotations involve collaborating with and assisting customer-facing national accounts teams in retail and food service units.
• Additional rotations may encompass roles in category management, shopper marketing, and demand planning.

You will be part of a network of graduates within Arla and, in addition to the rotations, you will also take part in a number of training events throughout the programme in order to develop your leadership, professional and commercial acumen skills as well as being assigned a mentor.

After completing the programme you will have gained fantastic experience working for one of the largest FMCG businesses in the UK, you will have a full overview of the commercial function in Arla and will be ready to move into a permanent role within the team, ideally placed as a National Account Executive.

What will make you successful?

The successful candidate will be educated to degree level having achieved at least a 2:1 in any discipline. You’ll also be ambitious and motivated with a strong desire to build a career within sales and the food industry. With excellent communication skills you will be comfortable interacting with a range of stakeholders at different levels and will build relationships quickly. You will also have strong organisational and project management skills as well as a keen eye for detail. Finally you will be highly computer-literate and will be able to use these skills to analyse data and build presentations.

What we offer

• 26 days holiday & Bank Holidays
• Hybrid home and office working
• Benefits package including 6% pension matched contributions
• 4x life assurance (if enrolled in pension, if not 2x life assurance)
• Major retailer discounts through company benefits portal (My Benefits)
• People agenda commitment to training and development (internal & external)
• Most importantly - cheese hamper at Christmas

At Arla Foods, our "Lead, Sense, Create" values thrive on diversity and inclusion. We are a farmer owned co-operative and are all about being open minded, curious and learning from each other. We know that diverse perspectives fuel innovation, which is why we actively seek individuals from all backgrounds to join our team to help us lead the dairy industry into a more inclusive and sustainable future.

We're committed to providing equal opportunities to all qualified candidates, irrespective of unique characteristics. Our ambition is to create a working environment where everyone is valued and feels that they belong. Join us at Arla Foods, where your diverse perspectives will be valued and can make a meaningful impact.

Recruitment Process:

• Application Deadline: The closing date for applications is midnight on the 20th of October 2024.
• Initial Screening: On the 25th of October, if your application is successful, you will receive an email containing a link to complete a HireVue online recorded interview and two Predictive Index Assessments (One Behavioural and one Cognitive). The deadline for completion of these assessments will be the 1st of December 2024 at midnight.
• Assessment Centre: if your screening is successful, we will be holding our assessment centre on the 8th of January 2025 at our Leeds office (Arla House).
• We will aim to make a decision within 24 hours of the assessment centre.

Please note that successful graduates will commence their employment in September 2025.

We have a purpose for Good

At Arla, we strive to unlock the highest potential in each other while working together to create a sustainable future of dairy. We call it Stronger People Stronger Planet and it is deeply anchored in our organisation and founded on our commitment to respecting human rights, increasing access to healthy dairy nutrition, inspiring good food habits, and improving the environment for future generations. In order to succeed we need to hire people with a sustainable mindset. Could this be you?

BEWARE! RECRUITMENT FRAUD
It has come to our attention that there are a number of fraudulent emails and fake recruitment campaigns on the internet from people purporting to work for Arla Foods. Learn more via this link.