‘Croda is a world leader in naturally based specialty chemicals, and with employees in 34 countries worldwide we are a truly international business. In 2014, Croda were voted Britain’s Most Admired Company for Innovation, showing how innovation runs through every part of our business in order to generate new ideas for our customers and bring them to market successfully.’
Rated the best smaller intake firm in Science and R&D, Croda recruits around 10-13 new graduates each year into technical development, engineering development and general graduate development programs. As a leader in their category, it is not surprising that Croda have an excellent average rating of 4.2/5, however they really excel in their ratings for ethics (4.7), colleagues (4.5) and support (4.5), with just a little room for improvement in their ratings for salary (3.7).
The average working hours for graduates at Croda come in at 8am – 5pm, with one graduate trainee explaining that ‘working hours vary depending on which site you are placed on and some sites offer flexible working hours’, whilst a graduate process engineer added that ‘You may be required to carry out paid overtime’. When it came to the average graduate salary, an application scientist explained that ‘Graduates get yearly salary increases for the first 3 years’, whilst the average yearly amount came in at £23,000 – £25,000. One graduate trainee working in marketing added ‘The salary might not be great in comparison to other professions however when you look at the total package offered by the company you start realising that perhaps its not about what’s in the bank that matters but the total benefits available to you. For example I have had two placements in a foreign location (France), learning the language and experiencing the culture outside of work and this experience is not one you can put a monetary value on.’
The best and worst things about working for Croda include;
‘You’re taken seriously and given exciting and mind stimulating projects. Manufacturing sites can feel slightly detached from main head quarters.’
Graduate Process Engineer, Technical Engineering – Hull at CRODA
‘Given a lot of responsibility and allowed to be independent. Friendly colleagues and people further on in their career tend to have an open door policy and are willing to help you out. Site locations can be out of the way, salary is a bit lower than other similar companies.’
Applications Scientist, Industrial Chemicals at CRODA
‘Great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding about the company and the businesses in which it operates. You are given real projects from day one, and this work can give you the opportunity to help shape future business. Everyone is very friendly and welcoming which helped the transition into the working world. A large amount of the research time is spent working alone.’
Graduate Trainee, Market Research at CRODA
Application Advice: Read about the company and find out what it stands for, this will help you greatly in appreciating some of the questions in the application.
Interview Advice: Don’t treat the interview as a verbal test, use to find out about the company just as much as the company wants to find out about you.
Graduate Process Engineer, Technical Engineering – Hull at CRODA
Application Advice: Having work experience in the chemical industry can be helpful. For example a year in industry or a summer placement.
Interview Advice: The interview is over 3 days. Although there are a lot of assessments the interviewers make sure it is relaxed and not too intense.
Graduate Marketing Assistant, at CRODA
Application Advice: Just be yourself, if you are friendly and can talk easily with people, then that is a lot of what the company is looking for.
Interview Advice: Many of the usual questions such as ‘Tell me about a time when you showed leadership qualities’ and strengths and weaknesses. Read up about some of the products and areas that the company is involved with.
Graduate Trainee, Procurement at CRODA
Interested in finding out more about Croda? Click here to view the full range of
job reviews by their very own graduates.
