Like the title suggested, this was possibly the lamest self-introduction line that one could have. Late June 2018, I received a few offers before I had to make my final decision. Looking back at the recruitment interview with Belkin, I would not have thought about interning there: an-hour commute from home to office, no cafeteria or shops in walking proximity to food and so on, and the new killer self-introduction to others – ” I sell cables “.
I have the habit of knowing my potential colleagues or bosses, and checking out the office environment beforehand. During my job interviews, I would always ask for a quick tour around my interviewer’s workplace. Thanks to this, I was able to identify a few synchronized values at Belkin that won me over.
At Belkin, I interned as a web content management intern. I picked up basic html and css skills at the start of the internship because I was a literal dummy. A few months into the job, I became independent at localizing content of the European sites, managing their websites, executing digital content strategies and at some point, supporting the restructuring of global and regional workflows.
I did not expect this wide range of responsibilities – from web content management to ecommerce and digital marketing. During the internship, I had a flexible work schedule and I could even work from home as long as I deliver. So, I did not have a common work schedule due to global meetings: at 7am in the morning with colleagues from Asia or 9pm in the evening with people from California. Nevertheless, my 8-hour daily schedule was well respected. Work-life balance was always in check.
Working at Belkin turned out to be exciting because of the Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn acquisition over the Belkin group (something people were not fond of). As an intern, I was in a relatively comfortable position to observe such changes because job security was none of my worries. It was an invaluable period especially when I played a part in restructuring their global communication workflows – mapping out workflows, aligning communications, connecting colleagues around the world, identifying and optimizing inconsistencies.
“People Inspired Products”
This is the tagline for Belkin. To be honest, it was truly the people at Belkin who made my time there worthwhile. Unlike other large corporations, we knew each other by names and conversations were genuine. While my colleagues were direct and open about discussing work matters, they were also very sincere when it came to personal concerns. To many of us, office was a second home.
For my internship research, I looked at how lifestyle images (pictures that show environment and/or people) influence brand attitude. In the process of localization and restructuring, it was important to know whether lifestyle images were effective in comparison to product-only images (pictures that display products with blank background). A survey was employed and a presentation was done to share the results with the people at my office.
In retrospect of the funny thought of “I sell cables”, I would also think that it is our job as marketeers to make products interesting regardless of what a product could be.