What it does: Produces home appliances across the world, with 65 manufacturing and research centres.
Best known for: Helping NASA develop the American ‘space kitchen’, waste management and personal hygiene systems on spacecraft.
Financials: Net sales recently reached US $21 billion with an operating profit of $279 million. Yet, the company suffered a net loss of $183 million. Shareholders endured a -34% ROI. Management attribute ‘external challenges’ and ‘significant cost inflation’ to this result.
The good: Comfortable pace of work. Flexible hours.
The not so good: Limited graduate opportunities.
Hiring grads with degrees in: accounting and finance; business and management; software engineering; computer science
In 1908, a man named Lou Upton lost his savings on a bad investment. While unfortunate, he was offered the patent for a washing machine as recompense, which he took, leading to the start of Upton Machine Company.
When an order for 100 washing machines contained a particular defective part, Upton replaced them himself, impressing the client into ordering 200 washing machines instead. And so began a legacy that would endure for decades.
The advent of World War II saw his factory commissioned for war purposes, but soon before the war’s end, he decided to resume production of washing machines, predicting demand for them would increase drastically. He was right.
By 1949, the company had become the ‘Whirlpool Corporation’, meeting both domestic and international demand through partnerships, beginning with an expansion into Brazil in the 60s. Their portfolio of products grew with them into a global, community-focussed manufacturer of household appliances.
Whirlpool has limited opportunities for Indian university graduates beyond internships. Granted, the internships are diverse and span several subject areas, like the Young Leaders program, but a bespoke graduate program isn’t their strength. So the best thing you can do is take an internship and leverage it into a junior position, be it as a business analyst, software engineer, accountant or other high-demand position.
A consequence of graduates needing to somewhat ‘build their own’ graduate program is the limited training opportunities, but there’s ample opportunity for growth in other respects. For instance, management cares more for results than the hours you choose to work. This is both a blessing and curse, in that high achiever's rise to the top and hours are flexible, but they can sometimes lose sight of employee needs.
If you’re able to travel elsewhere for work, particularly the United States, your opportunities at Whirlpool, both early and late-career, become more extensive. The ‘WERLD Engineer’ program is one such example, which is a proper graduate program focussed on engineering and management training. But these aren’t for everyone, requiring a substantial history of high academic achievement.
Overall, Whirlpool is definitely worth considering if you’ve got the resources to travel and love the industry, but if you want to stay in India, there are plenty of other employers that understand the needs of freshers better. It’s worth exploring those other options. If you simply love the company and want to apply anyway, it’s not bad. You could find yourself in a stable, comfortable first job.
Your best bet is likely applying through your university. If you’re not seeing any open positions, go to the Whirlpool careers page and check their availability for internships like the Young Leaders Program using the job search functionality on their site.
If you get through, starting positions like these will often just feature an interview with HR, where you’ll be asked questions about your character, ambitions and why you’ve chosen Whirlpool. Pick a favourite appliance for good measure, as you may be asked if you have one! The best way to get through this is, to be honest, and do plenty of research into the company beforehand.
If you’ve entered the WERLD Engineer program or junior position where there is assumed knowledge, you’ll need to show a GPA of at least 3.0/4.0, with a demonstrated history of project-based classwork. If they’re satisfied, you could be in!
Whirlpool Corporation believes in ‘creating demand and earning trust every day’. They aim to achieve these through five values.