Charter Program

The NPD Charter Program offers recent college graduates the unique opportunity to utilize their educational and previous work experiences, while learning about NPD’s Retail Business and Market Analysis groups, as well as our overall organization.

This exciting and robust program, which prepares participants for a client-facing analytical career is comprised of four components and will establish rotational assignments and learning activities for over a period of one year. At the end of the program, participants will ideally be placed in client development positions within our Retail Business Group or Commercial Teams.

This highly selective program has a cycle starting in January and another in June.

Program Structure

  • Experiential training while working with actual NPD client data.
  • Classroom setting training sessions in Data Analysis, Tools and NPD Datasets; sessions will be instructed by the existing Market Analysis team members and/or other NPD staff.
  • Learning and Development Activities that include mentoring/peering, Connect To Learn Sessions, RBG Academy, Basic Analysis Training, Basic Retailing, and other NPD Learning & Development classes.
  • Participants will be assigned to an industry, group tier retailer, for the last 3-6 months of the one year period. During this time, objectives will be set and they will work with industry team leads as a productive member of the Market Analysis team. Performance feedback will be given throughout the program.
  • Each participant will be given a final evaluation which will consist of a skills assessment/inventory. Along with the guidance and direction of Human Resources and the Market Analysis management team, they will be encouraged to apply for any open position within the organization suited to their skill level.

“The Charter Program was a gamechanger for starting my career.  It is well developed and thought out to help build the soft and technical skills you need to succeed in the industry.  I worked with different internal teams, clients, and networked with key stakeholders to enhance my professional and personal skills.  I was incredibly well prepared once I completed the program and under 3 years, I have moved up in NPD from a Charter to Account Specialist to Account Manager within an industry I am passionate about. I attribute much of my success to what I learned early on as a Charter.” 

Karla Saltos
(Former 2019 Charter Associate, currently an Account Manager, Client Development – U.S. Sports)