The interview process took 6-7 months and consisted of 3 rounds: 1-on-1 with HR, and 2 conference calls with respectively HR director of Africa, and General manager for the region of Africa you will be based out of. Colgate targets for this position western educated Africans with no more than 3 years of experience and with a Master degree.The whole interview process was shady, confusing, predatory, and disorganized. And after going through it, I felt that Colgate-Palmolive does not value African applicants. I do not know if other applicants' groups get better treatment but it was the general consensus among applicants I talked to.
The first round happened in NY and was supposed to be a 2 day event with a networking event the eve of interview day which was a Saturday. Sadly, the networking event never happened on Friday and no emails were sent out to let us know ahead of time. We traveled from all over the US at our own expenses (tickets, hotel rooms, food, etc). I do not expect them to pay for our expenses or mine but I do expect them to be respectful of our time and money. Some of us took a day off from work. Anyways, on interview day, there were only 2 HRs for an important number of candidates that were called for interview day. Some applicants like me had a schedule time for their interview and others not so much. Needless to say they couldn't interview everybody invited. Mind you that all the applicants present for interview day were invited and were supposed to be interviewed. Applicants came from all over the US. I knew personally two people from Indiana that weren't and were asked to go home after 6 hours of waiting around.
The position itself is an 18-month rotational program that can turn into permanency based on your performance on the job. The program info were very vague. The HRs couldn't tell us exactly what the position entailed and it looked very much like they were putting together the program as they went. An HR admitted that it was their first time rolling out such a program for Africa to recruit applicants from abroad. After going through the whole process, this is mostly a sales/marketing job. If you already work in the US, this job may not be for you and even if you are just a non/international student graduating from Grad school with prospects of going back home, this position may not still be for you. The annual salary offered is less than $10,000. You got that right, it is less than $10,000 per year! What a shame! This is extremely low and as far as I'm concerned very insulting. They will tell you that they can only pay you "local" salaries because they supposedly do not want to cause conflicts within the workplace with local employees. But hey, some will tell you it is capitalism. I have a better word, this is servitude! Why is Colgate recruiting from abroad then if they can't pay you above local salaries? Whoever thought that was a good idea? For the majority of us that came to the US to study or work, we are looking for better opportunities. If you can, just sit this one out. If you are desperate, take it. But just remember that your US education cost you way more than that meager salary and if you are experienced, you can commend way way better salary than this in Africa. In terms of benefits, they do not offer any but medical aid. They won't pay also for your plane ticket if you were to accept their offer. Now, imagine living on less than $10,000 per year. In the country I was to be based out of if I had accepted their offer, a decent accommodation in a decent neighborhood starts at $800/month. My whole experience was disappointing. A company that does not treat well its applicants, you can tell does not value its employees. At least based on my experience and those of others, they do not value African applicants. This process was a complete waste of time!
