Nestlé Purina – A ‘Best Place to Work’

Known nationally as a ‘Best Place to Work’, Nestlé Purina is packed with passionate, industry experts from across the globe who are revolutionizing the science and innovation behind pet nutrition and enriching the lives or pets and people everywhere.

The Purina family is continuously growing and recruiting year-round in all areas of their business and at all career levels. Each August, they begin their College Recruitment Program to attract high-performing undergrads, first-year MBA students and recent college graduates. Specifically, they recruit for the following functional areas: Supply Chain, Finance, Accounting, Audit, Human Resources, Production, Engineering, Quality Assurance, Information Systems and Branded Marketing.

Undergraduate Internships

Nestlé Purina’s internships span 10-12 weeks during the summer months at their Headquarters in St. Louis, MO. These internships fall within the areas of Finance/Accounting, Audit and Supply Chain – each opportunity offers students the chance to truly ‘unleash’ their potential in roles that require hands-on work for real-world projects. Throughout the year, internship opportunities become available in other areas of the business as well, such as Human Resources, Market Research, Sustainability and their Creative Communications Agency, known as CheckMark.

MBA and Other Graduate Internships

The Branded Marketing team offers a robust internship opportunity, also in St. Louis, for students between their first and second year of an accredited full-time MBA program. Over 12 summer weeks, these interns are faced with challenging projects across Purina’s portfolio of brands and, in return, they receive 360-feedback and professional experience that no classroom could provide. Purina also offers a unique financial reporting internship for those pursuing a master’s degree in the areas of finance or accounting. This internship is highly cross-functional, exposing students to industry experts from various internal departments.

Management Trainee Program

Nestlé Purina believes its Trainees are the future leaders of the manufacturing business. They invest into this program, unique to Purina, which recruits college seniors and recent graduates into entry-level, salaried roles within various functional areas at four of their North American factory locations. These areas include: Accounting, Engineering, Human Resources, Information Systems, Production, Quality Assurance, and Supply Chain. While recruitment for these roles begins each August, each position actually begins the following summer.

“Nestle Purina’s long term success is driven by the quality of college students we select for our internship and trainee programs,” Mel Kohr, Director, Talent Sourcing, said. “These individuals form our pipeline of future leaders. A key attribute to our success will be the diverse backgrounds of the students that join the Purina Family. Diversity in the form of experiences, race, gender, school, thought, etc. is critical to our long term success and it has proven to drive creativity and productive changes, which has enhanced our overall business performance.”

Connecting with Purina

Aside from a prominent presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+, Purina runs an annual College Sweepstakes for students to enter for chances to win $1,500 cash and to be among the first who learn when their internships and entry-level positions are posted online later in the summer.

If you’re interested in a career with Purina, but unsure as to where you’ll be a strong fit, their Career Connexion App allows the ability to enter in your area of study/interest, which then helps connect you to a department or functional area that may be best, given your background experience.

Click here to learn more about career opportunities at Nestlé Purina – truly a Best Place to Work.