What's your job about?
Diageo is a global drinks company that has a range of instantly recognizable brands such as Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Gordons and Guinness. Diageo’s ambition is to be one of the best-performing, most trusted and most respected consumer product companies in the world. I am a commercial graduate which involves doing 4 6-month rotations across the commercial business functions. I currently work in the team that manages the endeavor account (BWS, Dan Murphy’s, Jimmy Brings).
This entails helping the team with a range of tasks, including sales, forecasting, shopper marketing, pricing strategy, and promotional strategy. The account is split between Ready to Drink (Cans, premix etc) and Spirits (700ml bottles etc.), I mostly help with spirits, however, I help across both when needed. My day-to-day tasks aim to make the team's life easier and allow me to gain an understanding of the world of Diageo and Endeavour. This may include things such as loading promotions, analyzing sales, building Excel spreadsheets, attending meetings on new product development, and looking at in-store promotional plans with the shopper marketing team.
What's your background?
I grew up in Sydney and attended school in Sydney. For university, I moved to Canberra to study at ANU, as ANU offered the ability to do two degrees concurrently. At ANU I studied for a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in marketing and a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Alongside this, I was lucky enough to study international marketing in Budapest at the University of ESSCA and go on exchange to the University of East Anglia in the UK. While at university, I aimed to gain as much exposure to a range of industries to help me better understand what I wanted to do. I worked as a sales and marketing coordinator, a student ambassador, and directed ANU 2021 O-Week. I also worked at 3 consulting firms doing internships in Customer Brand and Marketing Advisory (CBMA), People Advisory Services (PAS) and government grant assessment. I also volunteered with the ANU hockey club as the social and fundraising officer in order to gain further experience in event and people management. Gaining as much exposure to a range of areas allowed me to better understand what I want to do after university and diversified my skill set. It also helped me gain hard skills such as Excel and soft skills such as time management and teamwork.
I finished my degree in June 2022 and around the same time applied for the Diageo graduate program. I applied for Diageo as it offered the ability to work for amazing powerhouse brands and loved the idea of doing rotations to gain the most experience possible across a range of business areas. Before starting the graduate program, I spent 4 months travelling Europe, I ended up interviewing at 1 AM for Diageo in a hostel bar in Bordeaux which was a very tiring but rewarding experience. I was lucky enough to be offered a spot at Diageo and have not looked back since.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes! 100%. My background had primarily been in consulting, which is very different from what I do now. At first, I was worried that I would be completely lost; however, Diageo has been incredible in supporting my growth, and I have been supported by a range of people to assist me in transitioning into working at Diageo. I think if you have curiosity, drive, and a willingness to learn, you would be able to contribute at Diageo. I have found that Diageo offers great opportunities to learn, develop, and grow, which allows for people to join with different backgrounds and to assimilate quickly into the world of Diageo. I would encourage anyone to apply, as you never know what you will enjoy and what the job position will be like until you try it.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I think the best thing about Diageo is the people. Everyone I have worked with has been incredibly nice and amazing in supporting my growth and development. Working with great people makes coming to work every day fun and rewarding. Working with great people has elevated my everyday experience as well as allowed me to enjoy the great parts of Diageo, such as attending the bar at the office or going away as a team for customer visits.
What are the limitations of your job?
Diageo is a spirits powerhouse that has massive, well-known brands. This is amazing as it allows for exposure to large brands; however, having a massive range of products and brands also means a lot to wrap your head around. This makes it a very steep learning curve when joining, as you not only need to get your head around a range of categories such as vodka, tequila, scotch, premix, and rum but also the individual brands and products. Although it was a challenge to learn all the different brands and products at first, it is also super rewarding to see how quickly you learn, and it is amazing to work with such well-known brands. It is also super exciting to learn about all the amazing brands and to be exposed to a range of products.
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