The consumer products industry has thousands of products under its umbrella, and several companies manufacturing them. These companies need people in various roles, and this includes manufacturing, production, quality, supply, marketing and customer support. There are some millions of people working in this industry already all over the world. The consumer products industry products are soaps, soups, edibles, canned food, and home appliances like televisions and stereos.

In spite of having such a huge workforce in general for the industry, there is still a dearth of people in some areas. The shortage is faced in the IT sector of the industry, where there is a lack of people who have the expertise in software and databases, and the industry as well. For example, a business development manager should be good with using supply chain management software and utilizing it to achieve their goals.

A production executive should be able use the customer support networks and should have relative experience in working with computer networks and the Internet. A customer support executive should be able to understand the support related software being used by the specific company. So computer knowledge is vital to the survival of a person in this industry.

Education

The education required to perform the job role in this industry is very specific to the job type a person would be handling. For example, a person who is aiming to get into the marketing field of the industry should have marketing knowledge and experience in the FMCG field. A person who wants to get into production should have production based knowledge and an MBA degree as well.

A person who wants to handle networks should have the appropriate computer network education. Similarly, each of these job roles has their own demands in terms of education. However, nothing in this industry requires a channeled form of education like some industries like aerospace technology or the medical sector needs. A person who has a master’s degree in business administration or finance, or a bachelor’s degree in commerce or computer science in general can find jobs, and eventually they can specialize by gaining the experience.

A beginner can end up with a management role in this kind of industry without having to gain further education, which is an extremely positive trait of this industry. Not everyone can become a doctor or an engineer, and in this industry, even if you don’t have to get complicated education, you can still earn an equivalent salary.

Education required

MBA finance or marketing
Business administration course
Bachelor of commerce or arts with specialization
Public relations or equivalent management courses

Skills

Most of the jobs in the consumer products industry involve a lot of communication internally and externally. Every job role in this industry requires good communication skills to prosper. People with a master’s degree in business administration can grow fast in the company into middle management and upper management roles.

Many of the consumer product companies are global, and have branches in other countries. A person who has a responsible position in the company would be expected to travel throughout the world wherever the company’s branches are located. Keeping these responsibilities in view, it is good to know a popular foreign language and have some formal education to get further advancements in the job. A stagnated job in this industry is not good, as it is a fast moving industry and one has to be at par with the competition and should find their growth fast.

Expected Salary

Beginner $2500- $3000
Mid level: $4000 and above
Expert: $5000 and above