How to work your way up from intern to project implementation manager at P&G
Alesya Osipova, 2021 MSc in Material Science | Project Implementation Manager in Procter & Gamble
Meet Alesya Osipova, Skoltech MSc graduate and Project Implementation Manager in Procter & Gamble. During Skoltech entrepreneurship and start-up courses, she learned more about FMCG sector and found her passion in it. Now she applies patent techniques and optimizes the different costs at P&G manufacturing. Enjoy her story!
why I chose Skoltech
After graduation from the nanomaterials track in the Moscow State University, I was faced with a choice of what to do next. I decided to continue my academic way in the Materials Science program. In Skoltech, the high-level professors and new modern equipment for different measurements and experiments were joined together and gave me confidence that this would be the right choice and I wouldn't regret it.

my career journey

During Skoltech entrepreneurship and start-up courses, I learned more about FMCG sector. We were often given examples of industrial solutions implemented in such companies. So, I found FMCG sector very attractive for me and realized that I would like to continue my career in this area.

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Firstly, I searched for various positions in different companies through the internet, then I participated in hackathons organized by Skoltech and third-party organizations such as Challenger. After that, I posted my CV on job search sites (e.g., hh.ru) and on the company's websites. As a next step recruiters contacted me, and the onboarding process took place – tests, interviews, internal hackathons. After each step, the recruiter contacted me and gave positive or negative feedback. Thus, I was hired by P&G.

First, P&G takes you on an internship to understand whether you are right for them and, what's also important, if the company fits you. I was given a task to complete 4 projects:
– Start-up of auto pallet labelling system;
– Project for optimization services provided by contractors, which are ordered by P&G;
– Creation of e-system for daily monitoring of product quality
– Case printer dye consumption optimization.

Throughout the whole time, you are supervised by a manager and one-up manager who guides you and says what else you should study (different P&G methodologic, like WPI) and work through. In case of more delicate issues, you can always contact a peer-buddy (it's a person, who helps with advice since he has recently been in your shoes). And at the final stage, you present your projects in front of the leaders of different departments who were interested in you, such as distribution center, quality assurance, IT, research & development, HR, and others.

After that, you discuss your further career path with a one-up manager based on your strongest skills and open positions in the company. So as a result, I was placed into the Quality department, where my responsibility area is the distribution center (DC) and all products supplied from abroad (quality of packaging materials, internal composition of goods and their defects).

Now I work as a Project Implementation Manager at Procter & Gamble. I apply various patent technics and try to optimize the different costs that P&G incurs for various reasons (mechanical/ human/ automatization/ etc.).
practical application of what I learned at Skoltech
My scientific advisor was Prof. Albert Nasibulin (Center of Photonic Science and Engineering) and my studies were related to chemoresistive sensors based on the CNT template. From this experience, I gained skills in electronics, collecting and processing statistical data, and I also realized that you should never give up because the obtained result can be applied in manufacturing and help people.

Moreover, Skoltech is great in developing communication skills and interaction with people of different cultural and personal backgrounds. By interacting with people from different tracks with other experiences and skills, you learn to listen to other person's opinions and find problem solutions in the most unusual way. Thus, IW and ISP courses helped me to find ideas and interact with people, Developing Products through Design Thinking course by A. Chekanov helped to present my projects from the best side of view. Also, the Biomedical Engineering Innovation course by Professor Dmitry Kulish helped me to understand how to work with the legal requirements and IoT Sensors, and embedded systems improved my hard skills. In my work, these skills help me a lot.
my typical day
My typical day is not just working on the computer all day long. In the morning we have daily meetings to reveal problems that have occurred over the last 24h. After that, I go to one more meeting with my manager where the problems of the whole department are revealed and prioritized. Usually, we eliminate such problems by inviting different contractors and, in failed cases, the solution protocol is compiled and checked until the cause is clarified and fixed.

I work not only in my department, but I also have different projects with quality alerts, camera assembling, working with internal programs and forecasts and so on, as it was for the Case printer dye consumption optimization project. In this case, I had to study how to "draw" new template by programming in the internal system and further assembling the camera through the tests on the stopped line and moving line with products. Every day I develop and learn something new because usually there is no standard solution to the problem, everything needs a special approach.

my advice to current students and applicants
Always be true to yourself and your vision, it will certainly lead you to the desired result. And Skoltech becomes a catalyst on your way to success. Just join it.)
The Skoltech Career Center thanks P&G colleagues Nadezhda Galkina and Zarina Khairullina for their support.
and now about Skoltech
We are Skoltech. A new type of university in Russia, established in 2011 in collaboration with MIT with the vision of being a world-leading institute of science and technology. From the zero stage, Skoltech has rapidly advanced along the way towards a top-100 young university recognized globally by Nature Index.
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