Mars lands at University of Exeter tomorrow

Mars, Incorporated has specifically chosen the University of Exeter as one of its three target universities for a pilot initiative to recruit graduates from UK universities into positions in China.

Alongside advertising through the annual International Virtual Careers Fair, Mars, Incorporated will be on campus for the first time to carry out presentations and run drop-in sessions about the graduate positions. The graduate opportunities are in General Management and Technical roles in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The University of Exeter was chosen alongside University College London and the University of Nottingham as exclusive institutions to employ Chinese graduates from the UK to work at Mars, Incorporated in China. All three Universities have Russell Group status and are in the top one per cent of institutions globally.

Mars, Incorporated is one of the world’s  largest privately owned enterprises and employs more than 70,000 people across   more than 400 sites worldwide. Mars and Wrigley have a long-standing position in China’s economy and its products are one of the widest distributed consumer goods in the country. For 2013, the General Management trainees will be based at Mars Food in Beijing and Wrigley in Guangzhou. Placements in Beijing will be within the Chocolate and Petcare segments.

Mars, Incorporated has chosen the University of Exeter on the basis of its world-class reputation as Mandy Wishart, Global Talent Team Coordinator – Mars, Incorporated, explained: “We have selected three universities to work with taking into consideration several factors including reputation, ranking, quality of courses on offer and the number of Chinese students enrolled. We have three graduate schemes, one of these being our General Management Trainee Programme and the fact that around 75 per cent of Exeter’s Chinese students are within the Business School made this a good match. UK educated students have the right combination of language and cultural skills. We have seen that UK educated students perform well at our assessment centres in China so see them as an attractive proposition.”

Mandy went on to detail how she hopes the initiative will develop: “In the short term we hope to raise awareness of our graduate training schemes in China but longer term we would like build a relationship with Exeter and through this pilot we’ll gain a better understanding of the market which may lead to other opportunities”

Dominic Prosser, Global Employability Consultant at the University of Exeter confirmed the opportunity for University of Exeter students at Mars is fantastic news, “The University of Exeter and Mars are a great match with a world-class institution and a world-class manufacturer coming together. By helping Mars source its graduate recruits from our highly talented pool of students, I’m confident this will become a long lasting and successful relationship.”

The International Virtual Careers Fair run by the Global Employability team can be visited here between 10 - 26th October 2012. To find out more about the Global Employability Team’s services and to book onto the Mars, Incorporated campus presentation on 10th October 2012 please register here.