Google Page 1 - Food Jobs Board

Jobmax has been making steady progress up the rankings over the last few months making in-roads on search terms and visitor numbers - and now Jobmax is position 2 and 3 on page one of Google  for Food Jobs Board - Not bad for free job board!! Traffic numbers also come from our aggregator partners (thank you all) who between them get your food job posting in front of some 60 Million Job seekers!So we have traffic (applicants) and visibility (in fact Jobmax lists in the top 20 search engine places over 690 times for food, fmcg and manufacturing search terms) we just need you to post your jobs and we all will be winners - so get posting

Food For thought - Working in NPD



Hundreds of Food Jobs Listed at http://www.jobmax.co.uk/



New Product Development (NPD) is the powerhouse of the food industry driving innovation of new products and leveraging value from the upgrading or repositioning of existing brands. In 2006 almost 105 new food and drink products were launched globally (Rowan 2007) - that equates to 300 for every day of the year - of those launched it is estimated that some 30 - 50,000 will succeed. (Brody and Lord 2000)

Developing a product normally happens in three phases:

• Product Definition - Defining the strategic plan and market opportunity
• Product Implementation - Developing the prototype, consumer testing, modification and factory trials
• Product Introduction - Product Launch

Basically it involves taking a concept (which could be developed from a client brief or from market analysis finding a gap in the market) from idea to reality. You could be working with new and exciting ingredients to invent new recipes, or reworking old recipes, for example, to reduce fats and sugars without losing taste and texture to appeal to changing consumer demand, or extend a product life by changing a flavour combination, for example putting toffee in jammy dodgers.

Typically there will be a large multi skilled team involved right from the development kitchens with development chefs, specification technologists, through sensory evaluation, microbiology, nutritional analysis and microbiology, process engineering, design and development of packaging all under the watchful eye of food safety and compliance.  Factory trials involve operations, logistics, procurement and planning, supply chain and quality control.  Marketing and sales develop marketing strategies and get the product in front of consumers, whilst the legal team look after compliance, regulations and copyright.

So an exciting, diverse job in a fast moving consumer driven business which demands creativity, customer facing skills, great written and spoken communication skills and the ability to work in teams across a range of departments in the business.  Other key skills needed to succeed include attention to detail, the ability to manage your time and meet deadlines, and to be able to solve problems.

Getting in to NPD could happen through moving from being a trained and experienced chef in hospitality into a development kitchen, but more likely following higher education (BSc Food Science, HNC / HND in Food Technology or similar) and 1 - 2 years experience in a food processing environment. 

Salaries for an NPD Technologist range from £17,000 - £25,000 depending on the role, the company and location.

Senior Technologists could expect £25000 - 33000k, NPD Managers £30,000 - £45,000k again depending on the scope of the role and size and location of the company.

Thinking of a career in food?

The food and drink industry is the largest of the manufacturing sectors accounting for 15% of total manufacturing overall, and has a total turnover of £70bn. The industry employs around 500,000 people, which is about to 13% of the UK manufacturing workforce. Food and drink remains the biggest spending category. In 2005, consumer spending on food and drink was nearly £153.8bn, or 20% of total UK consumer expenditure

We are a nation of busy people and have a population going through changing trends including marrying later, higher divorce rates contributing to the increased number of  smaller families and single occupancy homes. Traditional mealtimes are largely a thing of the past with more women in the workforce impacting the way we eat.  The UK is by far the biggest consumer of ready meals compared to our European neighbours which keeps the manufacturing companies busy, with both manufacturers and supermarkets competing for our interest through constantly re-inventing and modifying prepared food to meet our changing food habits and taste. Through the recent recession food manufacturing, whilst affected of course by closures, restructuring and cost cutting, fared much better than other sectors because, after all, we all have to eat, and although our habits changed whilst reducing spending, (favouring the budget supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl and led to the introduction of budget lines - even in Waitrose!) demand changed surprisingly little overall.

So - Food is a massive part of the economy, a dynamic but mature sector that demands a wide range of skills, innovation and creative thought as well as business acumen in order to continue to lead the way. Food is a diverse sector, spawning a huge vertical market that is needed to support the transformation of an idea into a product, through manufacture, packaging, warehousing and distribution to supermarkets and wholesalers and consumers across the globe - driven by the commercial activities of Sales, Marketing, Finance, Business analysts, purchasing and procurement, not forgetting HR and the Talent managers who may well be looking for you!

Welcome to Jobmax Food Careers

Jobmax Food Careers blog is the place for news views and career opportunities within FMCG food.  That includes Food Science & Innovation, Food Technical (including Quality, NPD, process and hygiene)  Operations, Engineering, Purchasing & Procurement, Planning and Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing & Brand, Finance, HR and Customer Service. Jobmax carries hundreds of food related jobs weekly so please visit http://www.jobmax.co.uk/ and register - register for jobs by email and let the jobs come to you!