Looking within Accommodating growth
Growing our own future leaders
At Dyson, they do things differently, which is why they have always hired graduates directly from university, says Stacey Turner, Graduate Development Manager. A fresh mind is an unsullied mind that is not restricted by learned behaviours and previously taught pre-conceptions.
We have recruited based on
leadership potential and will look for those who exhibit Dyson behaviours…
H
istorically, graduates at Dyson have never had a structured development programme;
they learn by being given a proper job, reporting into strong line managers, with the best gaining promotion within a couple of years. This approach has worked with graduates moving into senior roles – in the UK and internationally. However, we have grown exponentially, launching 17 new products in five categories and selling ten million machines globally in 2015 with no intention of slowing down. Our 2020 growth ambition to double our headcount necessitates a rapid increment in mobile, high potential leaders who have the skills and experience to be successful in the fast paced world of Dyson. To grow our own talent pool of future leaders, we decided to shake up our graduate strategy in marketing by adding structure, challenge and focus, which enables us to mould fresh innovators into the perfect Dyson fit.
We have recruited based on leadership potential and will look for those who exhibit Dyson behaviours; this as well as showing entrepreneurial flair, a global outlook and being able to handle the all- important commercials.
Each year, we aim to recruit a cohort of International Commercial Executives, whose roles will be mission focused, involve real responsibility, and project accountability from the off - enabling them to add significant value and bring new ways of thinking wherever they go.
We welcomed our first cohort in September 2015 and the intention was for all to spend their first 6-12 months at Dyson’s global HQ, Malmesbury, getting immersed into the company and culture. As well as getting to grips with the day job, their first three months were spent exploring the different areas of Dyson and our Commercial (Marketing) function through experiential on-the-job challenges that gave them the knowledge they needed, as well as developing their professional skills. If meeting James Dyson on their second day was not enough to drop them in at the deep end, they shared their first impressions on Dyson with our CEO within their first three months and pitched to our Chief Commercial Officer and HR Director at their three month probationary review.
Our marketing scheme is not a traditional structured rotational scheme; that would not work for us. It is fluid, fast paced and agile. We want our graduates
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to gain broad commercial experience in a short space of time; to enable this, and fast movement around the company, we created a variety of missions in our retail and digital teams as well as our categories. Missions must give graduates the opportunity to learn the day job as well as be stretched with projects. They must be time bound (6-9 months), have accountability, a vision of success and a clear business impact. Not everyone will move into their second missions at the same time. As projects come to an end and new opportunities come up, graduates are encouraged to drive their own careers and make things happen for themselves. The first went off on international assignment to Hong Kong in March within six months of joining and five more will head off soon to USA, Asia and Europe much quicker than expected. This is the result of a successful programme and the recognition of business impact that can be achieved by hiring those with high potential, and adding innovative development strategies, all coupled with energy and engagement from senior leaders and the exec.
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