Pros
Work life balance, flexible hours, ability to move around, benefits, FDP program provides a great network.
Cons
Before accepting an offer make sure you know what you want in a company and job. For new graduates going into the FDP program, make sure working at a large company and working in corporate finance is what you want. The program will sell you on development opportunities, but doesn’t provide development that actually helps associates grow. Also, the jobs are not challenging. Most jobs consist of copying and pasting data for managers and directors to review and interpret, ie no intellectual skills are required. Managers are often times too busy to spend quality time with associates to ensure they are learning and developing necessary skills to be successful in the job. Culturally, it is a very in your seat and show face company. They do have flexible hours, but the unspoken rule is that you should be in your chair working from 8-5, especially for those who are young and don’t have kids. Also, people are not as friendly and helpful as employees in the interview process talk about. Overall if you are looking for a job where you can plan to have an 8-5 job and alright with mundane work that is the same month to month, you would be fine working at Ecolab. You may get lucky and get a manager/team that is interested in helping you develop your career, but it’s hard to come by.
