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THE GILLETTE COMPANY
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"Excellence through diversity."
– Corporate brochure
• IBM 3090, S/36/38, DEC VAX •
• COBOL, CA-IDMS, AMAPS, FOCUS •
• Manufacturer, consumer products • Large shop •
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The Gillette Company develops, manufactures, and sells a wide range of products for personal care. Products include razors and blades, Braun electric shavers and small appliances, Oral-B oral care products, and toiletries. Gillette was founded in 1901. They have 7,500 employees. Boston, Massachusetts is corporate headquarters. Gillette is publicly-held. Revenue in 1988 was $3.7 billion.
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Technology
Gillette’s hardware ranges from an IBM 3090, running under MVS/XA, to a DEC VAX 11/785, running under VMS, to IBM System 36 and System 38, Wang and Stratus systems. Programming is in COBOL, with CA-IDMS, CICS, CA-ADS/O, and AMAPS on the IBM mainframe and FOCUS on the VAX.
There are 175 computer professionals. Corporate MIS is divided into four major areas, with the majority of hiring in the Systems Development Group. The three other areas of MIS are Systems Planning and Research, Systems International, and Systems Operations. Job titles include Senior Programming Analyst, Staff Programming Analyst, Project Leader and Systems Manager. Within each category of jobs there are various grade levels. There is a dual career path for technical/individual contributor and management.
There is a mix of development, support, and maintenance projects. Everyone works in small groups on a project-by-project basis. Within the Systems Development area, application areas include Manufacturing, Distribution/Order Entry, Finance/Accounting and Human Resources. A recent project was the installation of the Manufacturing Application (AMAPS) in one of the company’s manufacturing facilities.
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Culture
Computer professionals all work in the greater Boston area. Sites include the Prudential Tower Building in downtown Boston, the South Boston Manufacturing Complex in South Boston, the Andover Manufacturing Complex in Andover, and the Braun Distribution Center in Lynnfield. All programmers have their own terminals in their offices. A few have terminals at home as well, based on the projects they are working on. There is on-call responsibility, based on the project assignment and applications involved. There is a smoking policy, but no physical separation of smoking and non-smoking employees. Travel is limited to local sites or for training.
Gillette is proud of offering a "truly good place to work." They feel computer professionals have broad, leading edge technical opportunities at the company with interesting projects and good pay and benefits.
Gillette observes 11 holidays. They offer 2 weeks of vacation to start, 3 weeks after 5 years, and 4 weeks after 10 years. Employee benefits include master health, HMOs and dental plans, a salary continuation plan, long-term disability, retirement, life insurance, and 100-percent tuition reimbursement.
Additional benefits include in-house medical and optical care, fitness centers, a wellness program, an employee recreation program, a company store, and product discounts. The company also has an employee cafeteria and a program in which the company matches employee gifts to charitable institutions. There was a layoff in 1986-87. Affected employees were selected on the basis of seniority; they were offered severance pay and outplacement help.
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Candidates
Gillette prefers candidates with a college degree and a minimum of 2 years of programming experience in a business environment. Experience should include on-line and data base applications, preferably in a CICS and CA-IDMS environment. Gillette does not hire entry-level computer professionals. Computer professionals are found through employment agencies (60 percent), contacts (35 percent) and ads (5 percent). Gillette typically hires between 15 and 20 computer professionals a year.
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Contact
Letters are preferred.
MIS Recruiter
The Gillette Company
Corporate Personnel
Prudential Tower Building
800 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02199
Copyright 1991. Vandamere Press. Covin’s New England Computer Job Guide
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