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Hello,
I'm Jiaqi Wang

Talent Acquisition Division

Schneider Electric

History (University), Ethics and Philosophy (Graduate School)

Fudan University (China), Ochanomizu University Graduate School (Japan)

2022

English, Japanese, Chinese

Hello,
I'm Jiaqi Wang

Talent Acquisition Division

Schneider Electric

History (University), Ethics and Philosophy (Graduate School)

Fudan University (China), Ochanomizu University Graduate School (Japan)

2022

English, Japanese, Chinese

Company

Discover more about this company including job opportunities and company information on JPort Match!

Company

Discover more about this company including job opportunities and company information on JPort Match!

About Jiaqi Wang

Hello, I'm Jiachi Wang (王嘉琪) from China and I am currently working as a new graduate recruiter for Schneider Electric. I majored in History at Fudan University in Shanghai. After graduation, I studied Philosophy and Ethics at Ochanomizu University in Japan, with a deep interest in human existence. My admission to Ochanomizu University was in April 2019, but since it was difficult for international students to directly enter national graduate school, I studied as a research student for the first year and officially entered the master's program in April 2020 after passing the entrance exam.

I got to know Japan through the anime I watched when I was a child. I was fascinated by the bonds between friends and the sensitivity to nature depicted in the anime. I began to think that one day I would like to live in this country.

In my second year of high school, I was selected from nationwide high school students to go on a week-long field trip to Japan, and in my third year of university, I studied abroad at Seijo University for one year as an exchange student. With these experiences, I decided to go to graduate school in Japan for my master's degree, so I spent most of the important years of my life shaping my values in Japan. 

What did you do during college?

Having been raised in a society where secondary students put in a lot of energy to get into a renowned university, it wasn't until I went to university that I was able to explore life on my own and have the experiences I wanted. For this reason, I was determined to experience as many things as possible in university, including study, volunteer work, internships, part-time jobs, and travel, in order to choose the right career path for me.


Activities that he/she put their most effort in his/her most memorable experience

Study

First of all, I did my best to study as a university student. I spent more than half of my university years in the library because I loved going there and my majors required a lot of studying.

Long-term internship

During my university years, I wanted to gain a thorough understanding of business before starting my job-hunting. After consulting with my professor, I extended my university term by one year and did internships at various companies in China, including Shiseido, Accenture, and Ctrip.

Even after entering graduate school in Japan, I continued to work hard at my internship and part-time job. Five months after coming to Japan, I started working part-time for a cosmetic brand in a department store, which I continued for two years and a half. At the same time, I did a 4-month internship at Tencent, where I was in charge of market research for Japanese consumers. I also did a marketing internship in the gaming industry for over 2 months at RASTAR. Unfortunately, I have never participated in any of the 1-day internships that are common in Japan.

Volunteering

For volunteering, I was involved in a two-week volunteer work during winter break. I went to an elementary school in an impoverished area and planned and executed a variety of meaningful activities for children, including classes and home visits. In Japan, I was a volunteer for a wheelchair soccer team. Seeing how everyone worked hard despite the inconvenience of their body and how kind and caring they were to those around them, inspired me to live an encouraging and positive life.

The most memorable or proudest thing during college (Activity, club, competition, etc)

That would be the education volunteer program I participated in. This volunteer project was one of the annual projects conducted by a volunteer circle of Fudan university, and about 15 students were selected for each project through a selective process. I enjoyed participating in this volunteer because everyone was committed to making an impact in the world. The local children were very kind and supported us in many ways as well. I was happy to disclose the possibilities of the world to the children, to watch them grow up, and to become a meaningful part of their lives.

What do you wish you had done during college and why?

If I had networked and exchanged information more efficiently with various people, I might have not had to spend so much time interning and working part-time jobs to gather information which was not as effective.

What career advice would you recommend for job hunters?

  • Decide on a career path and start job hunting as soon as possible

I had job-hunting in Japan when I was in graduate school, but I had not necessarily decided to work in Japan. At that time, my goal was to return to China to live with my family and work for a Chinese game company like Tencent. I had many long-term internships at various Chinese companies during college and graduate school because China often hires directly through long-term internships.

I graduated from Ochanomizu graduate school in March 2022 and returned to my hometown. However, the impact of the Coronavirus was still severe and I felt that Japan was the place where my value would be more recognized. After consultation with Qilian (七联) and other job search media for Chinese students, I once again started my job hunting for Japanese companies online in China. Since I started my job hunting in mid-April, the majority of the large companies had already closed their job openings, and of those that were still recruiting, many were unable to apply due to time constraints or scheduling problems. I met my current company, Schneider Electric, at a Japanese career forum introduced by a Chinese employment support media. I began the selection process in late April and received a job offer.

Despite my late job hunting after graduation, I was lucky enough to receive a job offer, but it was unfortunate that I could not apply to many companies due to timing issues. I think it would have been better if I had been able to clarify my goals earlier and had secured a sufficient amount of time to prepare.

  • Practice Japanese

During the selection process, the most difficult thing for me as a foreigner was to speak my opinions and thoughts logically in Japanese. I think it would be helpful to improve my competitiveness if I had enough practice using honorifics and speaking my thoughts immediately in Japanese.

  • Have your own criteria for choosing a company

If you have a firm grasp of your strengths and passions and decide on your own criteria for job hunting, you are more likely to find a company that is a good fit for you. In my case, when choosing a company, it was important for me to have an atmosphere where I could easily exchange ideas with everyone because I like brainstorming, where I would be able to grow, and where I would have good human relations with my colleagues.

What are the beneficial skills needed for working in Japan?

  • Time Management and Efficiency

It is always important to prioritize what you want to do or what needs to be done. I realize how important it is to decide how to use limited working hours efficiently and in what order to handle tasks.

  • Initiative and Cooperation

No work in the company can be done alone, so it is important to communicate well and cooperate with team members and even people in other departments. In addition, for gray-area work where responsibilities are unclear, it would be great if you take the initiative and proceed by asking for the cooperation of others.

  • Discretion and Responsibility

At Schneider, even new employees are given a lot of discretion, so they must think about how they can successfully carry out their assigned tasks alone. You would need to try to deal with tasks with your own responsibility by consulting with superiors and asking for help from others. It is also important to find out what you feel confident about, and what you can do well, and to demonstrate this to your superiors and colleagues.

What does a Talent Acquisition Division Do?

  • Job Description

At Schneider Electric, Talent Acquisition (TA) is divided into two main divisions: new graduate recruitment and mid-career recruitment, and I’m currently rotated into the new graduate recruitment division. I am responsible for recruiting the full cycle of Schneider's Student Graduate Program,  designing and operating the internship program, and corporate branding for students.

  • Difficulties

I had internships in different companies and departments during my school years, but I had never experienced any work in the HR department. Since everything in the HR department is new to me, there are always some difficulties. It is especially difficult to design and plan an internship program all by myself from scratch. This is because I have to take every factor into consideration such as what kind of program to design, how to allocate time, and whose cooperation is needed, etc.

My supervisor gave me feedback on the importance of time management and efficiency. To improve this, I keep a daily log of my work and how long it took to keep track of how much time I spend on each work. For example, a task that used to take me an hour to complete has now been reduced to 40 minutes. I can visibly see my progress through these records, which makes me happy.

Work Environment Schneider Electric

  • What kind of company is it?

Company Overview: Schneider Electric was founded in France in 1836 and is a manufacturer of industrial equipment with over 180 years of history. We provide digital solutions for efficiency and sustainability in regard to energy and automation. Our goal is to enable everyone to make the best use of energy and resources, and to make the world progressive and sustainable at the same time. As the world's most sustainable company, we strive not only to set an example within our own operations and ecosystem but also to be part of the solution for our customers.

Diversity & Inclusion: Currently, we have more than 30% of international employees in our Japan office. I work in the Osaka office, and the HMI Division has a particularly large number of non-Japanese colleagues from Taiwan, Mongolia, Russia, France, Germany, India, and so on, which allows me to work in a diverse environment every day. There are also many female employees who exemplify great performance.

Furthermore, Schneider values not only the nationality or gender of employees but also the diversity in the way they think and work. Every idea is always respected.

Discretion: Schneider offers a great amount of autonomy and responsibility from the very beginning of your work, regardless of age and experience. For example, I once presented a proposal for an internship program before Schneider Electric's senior management right after joining the company. At the same time, I feel that "discretion" at Schneider is not something I have to fight for on my own, but rather something that I am empowered to do because I am well supported by people around me. I am able to work with confidence thanks to my assignment leader who supports the goals and plans of my work, senior members of the HR team, and my peers who joined this company together.


As I work with huge discretion and responsibility, I have seen changes in myself, such as having a more positive outlook on things and being more self-motivated. I am excited to be able to work with my colleagues to shape the future. There will be challenges, of course, but I want to continue to take on various challenges with self-motivation and ownership.

  • Who is suited for Schneider Electric?

I would like to discuss two types of people here: those who are suited for the Schneider Graduate Program (SGP) and those who are suited for Schneider Electric itself.

I think that people who are suited for Schneider Electric are those who are interested in sustainability, energy management, industrial automation, DX, etc. In addition to this, those who want to receive discretionary power from a young age, who want to develop their career globally, and who value work-life balance will be a good fit as well.

In terms of the SGP, since it is a leadership program,  a desire to grow as a business leader and a spirit of cooperation is required. It is not for training people to become an expert in a field, but for those who can grasp the big picture of a department or company and are willing to become global business leaders in the future. This requires quick action, initiative, a willingness to learn, logical thinking, and curiosity. It is also important to have the ability to improve team performance and build a team with diversity.

Recommended Job-hunting Resource

JPort, of course (laughs). Looking back at my job-hunting journey, I used various platforms for different purposes. For example, I used Openwork a lot to see actual reviews of companies. If you want to gather information on industries you are interested in, I recommend Job Hunting Open Chat on LINE. みんなの就活 (Everyone's Job Hunting) provided by Rakuten made it easy to exchange information about the company’s selection process with other students. Redbook is also recommended if you are a Chinese student.