One Step Further Into Marketing at Performance Intermediates

#C4Youngsters: Shenkai took one step further into marketing at Performance Intermediates

Hello everyone, 

I’m Shenkai, nice to see you again! Last time, I shared my story about how I became part of the #C4Family. This time, I want to talk about my new role as part of #C4Youngsters at Performance Intermediates (PI). However, before I do that, I want to explain to you why I’m having a new role. My whole internship at PI consists of two parts. In the first part, I spent four months in the Pricing and eMarketing department and, during the second part, I will be spending two months in the Market Insights department.

If you remember, during my first internship, I mainly supported our team in preparing online marketing materials and launching online campaigns, for example, #Chemistry4People, #C4Family and #C4Youngsters. Thanks to this unforgettable and transferable experience, and support from my colleagues at PI, I had the chance to deepen my knowledge at Market Insights (MI) as a Market Intelligence intern. 

You might want to ask me now about my new daily tasks at MI and, perhaps more importantly, what the differences are between these two departments. So, let’s begin with the latter. Even though they belong to the same Business Line, MI focuses more on market analysis, research and industrial projects. This means, an internship at MI requires an analytical mind, quick learning ability and, ideally, a chemistry background. Thus, my tasks are also more strongly focused on analysis and research. For example, I collect and summarize market information for our products and work on presentations for our team. 

Let me tell you one thing, no matter where you are or what you do, it is always important to be well prepared. In my internship, this means that I also read scientific articles, come up with ideas, try to get to know other companies in the industry well and, of course, try to learn from them. 

(With my supervisor from MI near our office, surprisingly, background photo taken in Peking)

You think this doesn’t sound like a regular internship? Interns at PI are also invited by their supervisors to join workshops, meetings and group discussions which are good opportunities for #C4youngsters to keep up to date with, e.g., important events or current tasks and projects within various PI functions. Thanks to these workshops and discussions, you also get to know colleagues and their responsibilities faster than you would without them. For example, even if you just started out, you will know who to contact, if you have a question about a specific department or product.

So, every colleague is, in a sense, also a teacher and spending time with them will give you another opportunity to find out who they are. We, e.g., spend our lunch breaks or coffee breaks together or have some chats, either about our jobs or just free time activities. For me, this is also “work-life balance”.

Before I end my blog, I would like to share some tips with applicants and interns: (A) Don’t be afraid to ask your supervisors questions but be well prepared and ask smartly. (B) Always try your best, or even better, come up with different ideas/plans about your tasks and discuss them with your colleagues/supervisors. (C) If you’re an international student, take advantage of your international background and develop ideas others might have not thought of yet.

Last semester, I was just a chemistry major, knowing little to nothing about marketing. However, during this six-month internship, I learned a lot about myself, the business lines of Evonik and how I can approach any challenge from now on. I’m deeply grateful for the support and guidance from my supervisors and colleagues. It’s YOU, who taught me to not only do a job, but to do a good job. 

Hope to see you all again! 
Your Shenkai 

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