Commercial Graduate AB Agri Ltd

Job description

At AB Agri you will be on a 18 months to 2 year Commercial Graduate Programme. This is made up of three, 6-9 month placements, based at various locations. Placements are designed to give you a broad flavour of our commercial activities and you will be assigned business critical projects which will help you build your commercial acumen and key business competencies. Placements span a number of our market-leading brands and will cover:

Sales
A business-critical area right across the AB Agri portfolio. Placements in Sales environments deliver a first-hand insight into the following:

• Field-based sales activity
• Sales to retail and merchant customers
• Account management
• Campaign management
• Strategy planning and alignment with customers’ business needs
• Purchasing, Trading & Product Management

Procurement
Procurement placements offer a thorough introduction to both the principles and practices of a discipline that lies at the heart of every successful business. Hands on training and experience cover areas including:

• Understand the Raw Materials market
• Visit suppliers
• Working with the sales & customer support team
• Suppliers and the raw materials markets
• Executing feed costing and quotations
• Deliver purchasing strategy including feed costing & quotations
• Produce central pricing update and report on purchase performance
• Working on Pig, poultry units and feed mills
• Working with nutritionists and feed formulations

Working alongside a wide range of product managers and traders, manufacturers, hauliers and suppliers, these placements provide a detailed understanding of the procurement and product management processes on which our business depends.

Learning and Development
At AB Agri we welcome new talent, the fresh ideas they bring and their ability to challenge the way we do things. Our training scheme is not the end of the training experience, but the first part of a career-long development process.

Our programme begins with a comprehensive induction to the business, our manufacturing process, market nature and structures and the business issues that confront us. This induction is followed by core training modules spread throughout your scheme, providing an insight into general business topics and management skills.

Our programme offers an intensive yet flexible development framework with clearly defined goals. You’ll be tackling live business issues, taking on a high level of responsibility from the outset and gaining significant on-the-job experience, which will be complemented by ongoing training. You can of course expect plenty of support, including a personally assigned mentor and graduate buddy. On farm placements available to gain essential knowledge and understanding of agriculture. However the responsibility will be on you to drive your own development. This means you must be able to manoeuvre independently and that you will have some say in what you do. You will of course also have the chance to make a real impact.

Recruitment process
Applications will be shortlisted, and those shortlisted will be invited to undertake a competency based face to face interview. The final stage involves an Assessment Centre involving a range of exercises including presentations, group exercises, interviews, case studies, and an opportunity to take our online numerical and verbal reasoning tests.

If you get short-listed during the selection process we will get in touch with you through email.

Person requirements

AB Agri are searching for highly motivated, commercially minded graduates that wish to build a sales career in the agriculture industry, whilst driving their own professional development.

Successful applicants must be conscientious, organised and ambitious with the ability to think innovatively to challenge established methods. It is crucial that graduates can effectively work in a team by having a good level of self-confidence and great interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships with both customers and colleagues.

Graduates on this scheme would ideally thrive in a dynamic and fast paced environment, be very personable and able to build rapport within, and outside of, the company. The potential candidate should be focused and driven as well as being an effective communicator. The potential graduate must also be time efficient, function well within a team environment and able to adapt to change.

You’ll need a minimum 2.1 degree in any discipline and a minimum of 300 UCAS points or equivalent. You’ll also need to be geographically/internationally mobile to take up opportunities that the programme presents and have a full clean driving licence.

The benefits
The benefits of a career with AB Agri are an appealing mix:

• Moving assistance
• Formal and informal mentoring schemes
• Opportunities for cross-functional moves
• Contributory pension scheme
• 25 days holiday plus 8 days’ statutory public holidays

Full clean driving licence required

Company information

AB Agri, the agricultural division of Associated British Foods plc., operates at the heart of the agri food and drink industry with activities that stretch from ‘plough to plate’.

It supplies technology-based products and services to farmers, feed and food manufacturers, processors and retailers. It also buys grain from farmers and supplies crop inputs through its joint venture arable operation; Frontier.

Through a number of business divisions operating right across the supply chain, AB Agri manufactures high performance compound feeds, provides world leading analytical capability, nutritional advice, sustainable business solutions and poultry marketing services for customers. It helps food, drink and bioethanol companies internationally to reduce their environmental footprint by marketing their co-products as animal feed and also supplies premix, enzymes and other technical products to the livestock and pet industries. AB Agri’s proposition can influence profitability at every stage of the food supply chain.

The business directly employs over 2,000 people in the UK and overseas, and markets products and services through circa 20 businesses in 60 countries worldwide. Sustained investment, customer focus, the recruitment of talented people and innovation in nutrition have all been major factors in establishing AB Agri as a market leader in the sectors within which it operates.

ABF is an international agriculture, food, ingredients and retail business with 102,000 employees in 46 countries. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, ABF is a FTSE 100 company and the fifth largest food business in Europe.

As a highly commercial and respected business, AB Agri is looking for graduates with the skills, initiative and personality to play an integral part in our continuing growth and success. Positions with us suit graduates hungry for accountability and career development. From day one you’ll be treated as part of the team and rewarded with real responsibility.

Qualification and experience requirements

You’ll need a minimum 2.1 degree in any discipline and a minimum of 300 UCAS points or equivalent.

Accepted degree subjects

Any