Aishwarya Pandey is a Schneider Electric Global Marketing Intern in the North America Marketing Operations Team. Born and raised in India, she holds an Engineering degree in Information Technology and is an MBA graduate from Bentley University, Massachusetts. She has worked in Information Technology and Marketing domains prior to her MBA and is a YouTuber who curates travel and daily vlogs on her YouTube channel.
Schneider Electric intern Aishwarya shares her story and advice.
Embracing different during the pandemic
Aishwarya moved to the US to attend graduate school, and two months later the pandemic hit.
"We all had to adapt to a new normal gradually. Along with moving to online learning trends, we also had to adapt to stay at home, more precisely, not stepping out of the house. It was not easy for all of us, I know. That was the time when I planned to start something new, something I was passionate about. I checked up some online video editing lessons and started editing my pre-recorded vlogs on my hard drive for months. I embraced different," she explains.
Understanding the importance of networking
After completing her first semester of grad school online, Aishwarya began to search for an internship. Because she was an international student, she began looking for internships almost six months earlier.
Aishwarya was searching for a digital marketing role that involved building marketing strategies, understanding customers, and enhancing brand awareness. An opening at Schneider Electric piqued her interest, so she connected with alumni from her university who worked there to learn more about the company.
"I feel that among college students, networking, building connections are very underrated. I have seen people not wanting to try and build professional relationships. It is essential to understand that it is not just for the job but for your intellectual, hardworking, professional family. My advice for everyone is to always be networking and building connections," she adds.
Aishwarya met a current Schneider Electric employee via LinkedIn who had been with the company for 15 years and scheduled a call with him before her interview. She wanted to understand the company culture and values. They spoke about Aishwarya's interest and expertise, his role at Schneider Electric, and his days at Bentley University.
"It was a wonderful conversation. He sent a note to one of his connections, whom he knew in the Marketing Teams and that I think helped me get my foot in the door for an internship at this Fortune 500 firm," she adds.
Receiving support from the very beginning
Aishwarya still remembers the day she spoke to Jamie, Schneider Electric's internship manager for an interview. She describes it as a "cordial interview experience" where they talked about Aishwarya's area of expertise and interests. Jamie spoke to her about various roles in the Global Marketing, as well as company culture and values.
"A huge thank you to Jamie, who has been so supportive from the beginning. Whether it is handling generic queries, reviewing presentations, or sharing her expertise, she has been my go-to person during this entire experience," says Aishwarya.
And this support continued Aishwarya onboarding experience at Schneider Electric, where she began with training, becoming well equipped with tools and technologies to excel at her role.
"Trust me, I have 3.5 years of full-time experience before starting my MBA, and I did not expect my role to be much more than just an internship. I had assumed that I would have to follow an already set course of work. But to my surprise, I got an opportunity to learn and become accountable for my projects. I was exposed to a variety of projects and given full authority to prove my excellence. I was allowed to embrace different," she adds.
Developing marketing skills at Schneider Electric
This was Aishwarya's first internship experience in the States and "a wonderful one".
"It is essential for an intern that the organization and its people help the intern to grow and develop skills; that is what internships are for! My core mission was planning and execution of social media strategies for North America, and I can’t be thankful enough to my manager Jeanne for bringing out the best in me," she says.
"One of the projects I have worked on was aligning the audience targeting to enhance the engagement rate on social media platforms. I was given a debrief of the project, and I could research, use various tools, and run a pilot with a budget a couple of times to improvise the audience targeting. This helped me work on a project from start to end and lead it to execution with a 2x-5x improvement in engagement rate."
"I believe that the organization stands true to its core values of being meaningful, inclusive, and empowered," she adds.
Networking with colleagues across the globe
For Aishwarya, there are many "enlightening parts" of Schneider Electric, and one of them is the community leadership calls. These are monthly or bi-monthly calls in the global and North America community that bring all employees together, which Aishwarya sees as more of a transparency culture.
"The leadership team discusses opportunities, celebrates incoming employees, appreciates all the people retiring, and gives its employees a clear picture of their contribution to its goals!" she explains.
"Another fascinating part of Schneider’s culture was a Buddy Meetup where you are assigned a buddy from a different country every month, and you can schedule coffee chats with them, know what projects they are working on, and connect with interns across the globe," she adds.
Aishwarya had so many virtual opportunities to meet others while working from home. "In my experience, Schneider has nailed the work-from-home culture," she says. "Although most of my internship has been work from home, recently, all the North America Marketing Interns met at our Andover office in Massachusetts, and it was so much fun meeting everyone for the first time. We went for lunch together and then had a facility tour of Andover Research and Development Centre, followed by a Team Meeting."
"If I have to summarize my internship experience, I would say that it was ecstatic, enlightening, and an enriching experience."
Sharing what she learned during her internship
Aishwarya is continuing her career with Schneider Electric as a full-time employee. She is taking on a Marketing Launch Leader position in the Industrial Automation team and she is excited to begin this new professional journey. "I encourage you to check out our careers site and see if there’s a role that is a good fit for you!" she adds.
Finally, Aishwarya shares the five most important things that she learned from her internship:
- Keep an open mind and have a positive attitude
- Take measured risks. Embrace Different.
- When in doubt, ask! Don’t be afraid to ask questions
- It’s important to connect with people from different teams, network, and build professional relationships.
- Ask for feedback and work on it!
Start your career via a Schneider Electric internship
Start an amazing career with a bright future. Schneider Electric provides a solid start to your career by placing you in a high-performance environment that cultivates learning, collaboration, and well-being.
Search for internship opportunities today and apply.
Find out more
Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.