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In our digital age, cybersecurity plays an important role in ensuring the safety of the essential systems that support our daily lives. At Schneider Electric, we are always on the lookout for people who can transform their bold ideas into reality through digital innovation and help keep our world safe and online. Let’s meet with Flavie Albert, Business Continuity & Crisis Management Sr. Analyst at Schneider Electric to understand how her career journey led her to her current digital role.
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Can you introduce yourself and give us your background before joining Schneider Electric?
My name is Flavie Albert, and I am 24 years old. I first started with an Arts and Political Sciences Bachelor at the university of Poitiers. After that, I did a master’s degree in Global Risk and Crisis Management at the university Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. During my last year of master, I was an apprentice at Renault as a Business Continuity and Crisis Management Officer.
Why did you join Schneider Electric and what was your role?
After my studies I wanted to go abroad so I started to search for a contract that allows young graduate to work in other countries. I discovered the V.I.E (Volontariat International en Entreprise) and found an opportunity to be Cyber Crisis Simulation Project Manager at Schneider Electric. I have not studied the technical side of cybersecurity during my academic cursus but if cybersecurity crisis is a typology of crisis and it was mainly “project management skills” that were required, it was still fitting with my studies. Moreover, I was really motivated to learn more about cybersecurity and to progress.
I was under the EMEA Regional CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) but my role was Global. The simulations we are organizing at Schneider Electric are created from scratch and made 100% from us without any external support. We define the cyber risk we want to tackle, create a scenario based on this risk and then identify the stakeholders we want to involve.
After the designing part comes the preparation and logistical step. Agendas need to be booked, creating, and animating the workshops, building all the kickoff, rehearsal and warmup meetings, and finally animating the exercise on the D-Day. The last step is related to the debrief. One week after the exercise we have what we called the “cold debrief”, we present the conclusions of the simulation based on the feedbacks of the players and on the observations of the observers. We highlight what worked, what
needs to be improved and an action plan.
What was the most challenging part about joining a cybersecurity related team?
Project management is project management no matter the field you are working in. However, the particularity of cybersecurity is that it is way more technical than another field. So, to be able to lead your project and have a good alignment between all the stakeholders (who can come from all the department of the company) a good understanding of the scenario and being able to explain globally the technical aspects even if I am not the one working on that. It was a bit challenging at the beginning but with curiosity and the help and time of the #SEGreatPeople teams it comes naturally.
What is the best part of working at Schneider and more precisely in the cybersecurity team?
I like the fact that Schneider is a global company. Working in cybersecurity, I had the opportunity to meet and learn from people coming from all over the world with different visions. I also strongly appreciate my colleagues; they are always ready to help me when I have some technical questions or need a clarification. Also, it is always interesting to get other point of views when it comes to scenario creation.
As I started to work in Barcelona with the VIE contract, I had the chance to meet a lot of other young people working in multiple departments. Thus, I discovered a lot of areas or project of Schneider Electric.
My experience in the cybersecurity team was very precious and took me out of my comfort zone. It helped me realized that I was able to do drive projects or animate meetings I was not thinking I could have done. My manager helped me with the trust he had in my work and ability to overcome blocking points. Animating simulations with high-level people can be impressive at the beginning, but with time I gained confidence and now I appreciate these moments.
You are now moving into the Global Security team; did you imagine this when you
started?
No, it did not come to my mind that I could have such an opportunity after just one year. During my year in cybersecurity, I had the opportunity to work with the Global Security team during the preparation or animation of simulations. At the end of the day, cybersecurity team and global security team are like brother and sister so that is why when a new position has been opened, they asked me if I could be interested by the role. The missions were super interesting, and it was exactly what I studied so that’s why I am moving.
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At Schneider Electric, we are always daring to disrupt – innovation is our middle name. Good is never good enough, and that’s why we are constantly experimenting, taking risks and disrupting the status quo. We are always looking for people who are curious and constantly in beta mode. If this sounds like you, check out our careers page today!
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