1. Careers
   1. Why Work at PepsiCo
   2. Career Path at PepsiCo
   3. Job Opportunities

Career Path at PepsiCo

Our Approach to Careers

A career at PepsiCo is intended to be an accumulation of skills developed and knowledge acquired over the course of many years. Everything you learn and do here contributes to your individual growth and that of the organization. Our objective is to match great talent with important opportunities to build our business.

When thinking about new opportunities and potential moves, we typically consider five factors. These are: proven results, leadership capability, functional excellence, knowing the business well and key experiences. These elements are evaluated against the current set of opportunities and our longer-term commitment to the growth and development of our employees.

Proven Results

Demonstrating consistent and superior results is essential for an individual to be considered for future job opportunities. We take a long-term view of performance.

Consistency is important. We look for a track record of sustained successes rather than unpredictable highs and lows. This does not mean achieving results at any cost. We value trust, respect, fairness, teamwork and results that create a lasting impact. This means that an individual should remain in an assignment long enough to make his or her contributions clear.

Managers must be able to attract, retain and develop the very best talent. ‘People Results’ are a significant part of our expectations. The ‘People Results’ rating in our Performance Management Process (PMP) reflects the importance we attach to people management, team work and self-development. Our 360-degree feedback and Organizational Health processes allow us to determine how well we are progressing.

Leadership Ability

To succeed in the marketplace, we need strong leaders. Hence we have enhanced our Leadership Competencies to reflect the most recent needs of PepsiCo. While we have kept the familiar framework with the three overall imperatives (‘Setting the Agenda’, ‘Taking Others with You’, and ‘Doing It the Right Way’), we have expanded this list of competencies to further drive PepsiCo’s success.

Leadership competencies form the foundation of our 360-degree feedback. They also provide an important reference for measuring ‘People Results’ (along with other indicators such as bench strength, inclusion and retention) on a consistent basis across PepsiCo. Most importantly, they give us a framework to determine an executive’s contribution as a leader over the course of several years.

When we coach an executive on his or her leadership skills, we consider the following questions:

• Does the individual consistently demonstrate a particular leadership competency?
• How has his or her leadership effectiveness grown over several years?
• Has the individual improved his or her impact on the organization?
• Has the individual created an inclusive work environment?
• Which employees has the individual developed?
• What has been the level of turnover in his or her group?
• Does the individual have the skills to take on a more significant leadership position?

Leadership capability increases in importance as individuals move into more senior roles. Entry-level managers, for example, should be more focused on ‘Doing it the Right Way’ than on ‘Setting the Agenda’ or ‘Taking Others with You’. However, in moving to middle manager and senior leadership roles, having strengths in all of these areas becomes increasingly important.

At the more senior levels, we value leaders who can set the agenda and drive innovation. Since innovation often involves taking risks, it’s important that these risks are properly considered and aligned with the business. We recognize that not every risk will pay off. Often we learn a great deal about an individual’s leadership capabilities from the way in which he or she overcomes setbacks and difficult situations.

Functional Excellence

Personal and career growth require deep functional skills. If you’re a sales manager, you should have an intimate understanding of the sales process and how to drive sales growth. If your field is finance, you should have a strong command of the technical elements.

The PepsiCo Chairman’s Award is one way in which we honour and reward individuals and teams who have distinguished themselves as extraordinary and who serve as an inspiration to others. We expect all employees and managers to be committed to building their functional expertise. Functional excellence is ultimately built by gathering experience in different areas and roles over time.

Once an individual reaches a certain level or position in the organization (e.g., Band III), and functional excellence has been fully demonstrated, the basis for getting more significant career opportunities shifts to areas such as leadership capability or key experiences.

Knowing the Business Well

We expect employees to develop expertise in a given functional area; yet, it is also critically important that managers develop a broader knowledge of how we make, sell and deliver our products. We expect all managers to seek out opportunities and experiences that will enhance their understanding of our markets and front line work. Managers who fully understand what drives our businesses will make better business decisions. In order to move into more senior roles, you need to demonstrate a combination of strong functional skills and a broad understanding of the business.

Critical Experience

Discussions about an individual’s potential career move include an assessment of his or her past experiences and the types of new experiences needed for further career development. Certain jobs and roles require a specific set of prior experiences. It is difficult to imagine selecting a Vice President of Sales, for example, who has had little front line experience in his or her career.

In our rapidly changing environment, you may run the risk of limiting your career potential if you devote all efforts in qualifying for one particular job. This job might not exist by the time you’re ready, or the job requirements may have changed. Prepare yourself by experiencing a range of different environments and challenges. In order to take advantage of these opportunities, you’ll need to be flexible. This means seeking out opportunities to demonstrate you can efficiently adapt to change, new situations and challenges.

Task forces, special projects and short-term assignments all contribute to an employee’s depth of experiences in building his or her capabilities. It’s important to seek out these new, challenging experiences to contribute to your overall growth.

Building relationships with others throughout the organization (e.g., functionally, cross-functionally, and cross-divisionally) provides you with fresh insights and exposure to other talent. Learning first-hand about the challenges other employees face will increase your depth of knowledge within the organization.

Long-term Career Growth

If employees accept responsibility for building their skills and experiences, managers must be accountable for aligning the appropriate opportunities for their employees.

While it is difficult to predict the timing of specific opportunities, guidelines to consider include:

• Thinking about experiences that will stretch your career the most.
• Being flexible – the more flexible you are, the wider range of opportunities will be made available to you.
• Being patient – don’t impose unrealistic expectations on titles or timings.
• Remembering that a career is a long-term journey – don’t make rash moves.
• Ensuring that a new opportunity is consistent with your personal goals and provides you with the opportunity to learn or demonstrate something new.
• Building for the long term – in-band moves may be the best investment for your long-term goals.