What it does: Consumer-packaged goods, health care, medical devices & diagnostics and pharmaceutical products.
Best known for: The company has been part of the Fortune Global 500 list for 19 years. The Financial Times Global 500 also named Johnson & Johnson among the world’s most valuable companies.
Staff stats: More than 130,000 people at 57 offices in 31 countries.
The good bits: The company offers 11 unique employment benefits such as free breast milk delivery for nursing mothers, pet insurance and even coverage for sex-change surgery. Median salaries may exceed the industry average depending on your location.
The not so good bits: You should expect intense competition for vacant roles at the company. Johnson & Johnson only hires 8,000 people every year from hundreds of thousands of applicants in the U.S. alone. A quarter of the selected individuals consists of entry-level candidates.
Hiring grads with top marks in: Medical, Healthcare, Research and Development; Communications and Public Relations; Marketing and Sales; Design, Engineering and Information Technology; Accounting, Banking and Finance; Human Resources and Law.
The company was founded in 1886 and manufactured its first products in the same year. Today, the company operates more than 250 companies under the Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies.
The core businesses comprise consumer healthcare, medical devices and pharmaceuticals products, which are further divided into subcategories:
Skin Health Products
Self Care Products
Essential Health Products
Orthopedics
Surgery
Interventional Solutions
Vision
Immunology
Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disease
Pulmonary Hypertension
Infectious Diseases & Vaccines
Neuroscience
Oncology
Johnson & Johnson posts all open positions on their website. The website will require you to create a user account, upload your resume and cover letter. You may also need to answer an online questionnaire depending on the role. The company may also invite you to SHINE, which allows you to track your application progress.
You should expect to speak with recruiters, hiring managers and team members during the interview process. They may engage you in an in-person, phone or video conversation. Additional interviews may be necessary based on the position. You can still sign up with their Global Talent Hub if you don’t find a vacancy that matches your profile.
Graduates can choose from several opportunities for career growth such as internships, co-op opportunities, leadership development programmes (LDPs) and full-time roles across 22 job functions.
The company requires a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 for all student applicants, so you must improve their grades as much as possible before applying for a vacancy. Graduates in India may choose to join the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies through their three local subsidiaries for the consumer, medical devices and pharmaceuticals business segments.
Graduates should expect median salaries to vary based on their location, but the slew of innovative benefits could more than make up for below-average base pay. The company provides dental, medical and vision coverage for employees regardless of their location. The Global Parental Leave program also grants eight weeks of paid time off for employees during the first year of a newborn child.
All employees can also take Energy for Performance® Courses for free. They can take part in the two-day course in person or through a webinar at company locations worldwide. Johnson & Johnson also has on-site health and fitness centres at several locations. The company compensates employees who don’t have access to the facilities by reimbursing gym memberships, group exercise classes and personal training sessions.
Financial benefits include pension/retirement savings that employees will own after five years or upon turning 55 years old. The company also reimburses tuition fees for programmes which are relevant to an employee’s career.
Employee discounts are also available for childcare centres at six U.S. locations and six other countries. Nursing mothers worldwide who are on business trips are eligible for a temperature-controlled shipping service, which safely delivers breast milk for free.
The average annual salary for employees in India is INR 1 million, although the median rate is more applicable to management positions. Some interns reportedly earn around INR 18,600 per month. Median salaries for entry-level roles such as financial analysts range from INR 427,000 to INR 879,000 per year.
Work-life balance seems outstanding at Johnson & Johnson with its lucrative compensation package, but graduates should be aware that each office location may still have a different management style. This can be a source of disillusionment for people who have high expectations for the company.
Employees should expect a hierarchical organisation due to the company’s large structure with three subsidiaries in the country. You should be agile and flexible to cope with changes, although some staff members believe that Johnson & Johnson is slow to implement new policies. However, employees generally agree that the company observes work-life balance and provide competitive benefits.
Johnson & Johnson’s biggest rivals include Bayer, Colgate-Palmolive, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and Unilever.
The company claims to have made a 15 per cent reduction in its global carbon footprint in the last 10 years. Johnson & Johnson also participates in the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals to improve public health worldwide. Other corporate social responsibility projects include HIV awareness programmes and preventive measures against tuberculosis.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against the company for allegedly violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The case involved bribes given to Greek, Polish and Romanian doctors in exchange for selling drugs and medical devices. The company paid more than $70 million in 2011 to resolve the case.
Johnson & Johnson has faced more than 10,000 legal complaints filed in 2018, which involve safety concerns over its talc-based baby powder products. The company reportedly knew that its baby powder products contained small amounts of asbestos based on some tests.
The lawsuits came even after the company removed certain chemicals from its baby powder products in the same year. Johnson & Johnson also became a defendant for more than 500 opioid lawsuits and had to pay $572 million for the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, U.S.
Graduates should prepare an impressive resume and cover letter before thinking about the robust benefits at Johnson & Johnson. While the company seems generous with employment perks, the hiring process can be very selective as thousands of applicants fail to make the cut every year. Students and graduates in India must arm themselves with excellent academic records and a competitive work ethic to thrive in a highly structured organisation.