I Work Here for the Money! A Meaningful Career at Schneider

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I work here for the money!

Schneider Electric is a great company. I am young, I have already changed my position a few times, I have grown in my meaningful career and I am paid very well! But wait! This is where I spend most of my day, am I really just here for the money?

I could tell you a lot about why Schneider is a great place to work in many ways, but I guarantee that it will not be just for the money.

Show me the meaning, not the money!

I have been with Schneider for 7 years and I am here because the company has a meaningful purpose and my work has always made sense to me. It may not seem like a long time, but if you think, I am only 28 years old, so that means that Schneider Electric has been a part of my routine for a quarter of my life! I’ll tell you a little bit about what it’s like to work here and why I love coming to work every day.

I started at Schneider as an intern in the Machine Manufacturers team (OEM) in 2013. I barely entered and received a project to study the market, I was like, “Me, the Engineer?!”. I had to study a lot about marketing and received several trainings. It was truly a #LearnEveryDay journey and in the end, we managed to deliver great results! Everything was horizontal and my opinions always mattered and that motivated me- I felt I could make an impact at the company.

The key point during this internship phase was to meet different people, from different areas and always try to learn as much as possible, even if it was not from my area. Just before finishing my intern contract, I received a proposal to become an Application Engineer. At the end of the interview, I asked the manager, who was from another area, “what made you offer the job to me?”. He replied, “You presented to me the geolocalization software with a lot of energy and passion, I would like to see you do this with our products”.

As an application engineer, I moved to another state to work on the field to meet customers and show our technical solutions. I was outside the office almost every day and had a lot of relationship building! It was a big difference in routine and again I had to learn everything about our products.

New Roles, New Opportunities

I really wanted to delight customers, so I made sure to keep the #CustomerFirst. This influenced sales and I did very well. Even though I was doing very well, I felt I could contribute more to the product strategy and after 2 years I returned to São Paulo as Product Manager for buttons and relays. You may not know it but for an engineer, they were very simple items and I had to be a marketer. What do I remember from this phase? If visiting and delighting customers were good, imagine doing the same thing but adding internal customers.

It was a time when I had a lot of fun at work and the mood induced the team to always do more. I remember the Vice President of my area saying, “André always comes to ask me for money” and my luck was that he always did! Was I afraid of something going wrong? Of course, and I did it anyway!

I did the first campaign with payment in cash. I did a campaign with Waze, we did a mega campaign of the whole area and the sales of my simple buttons and relays increased a lot, it was a phase in which Schneider helped me to think differently and supported me with the risks I took. #DaretoDisrupt.

After two years, I changed roles again and now I am taking care of part of Schneider’s eCommerce in Brazil and I am a Key Account Manager for some large customers.

Work and Life Balance

When I think about my work-life balance during the time I’ve worked here, I remember that I was always able to work at my home office. I love that flexibility, in fact, flexible hours to come and go, freedom to propose and create, risks that I could take and many mistakes I had, I was encouraged to learn with them. I was empowered to give internal trainings and courses about storytelling, agile, prototyping, future, and expanded them to customers. It has been a success. I have created a training program for interns, I was the presenter for one of our sales conventions, I am a mentor of 4 people, I participated in happy hours, I made friends at work and with clients and I’ve seen friends get married.

I always remember that I am at Schneider Electric because of the people, our environment, our culture, and constant learning. Overall, I am happy to feel part of the company, I act like an owner, and most importantly, my job has a meaningful purpose; I’m not here for the money.

From intern to a full-time employee for over 7 years, I can truly say I’ve had a meaningful career with Schneider Electric. Start your career with us today! Search for and apply for opportunities at www.se.com/careers.

About the Author

André Duarte is hyperactive, communicative, and playful, loves challenges, and has recently dedicated himself to agile methodology, storytelling, and eCommerce. André is an eCommerce Channel & Key Account Manager at Schneider Electric in Brazil.