By Jiaqi Li, Guest Writer
This summer I interned for the Corporate Compliance and Ethics Program (CCEP) at ON Semiconductor headquarters in Phoenix.
Jiaqi Li, courtesy of the author.
I chose to study at Thunderbird because I wanted to work for a global company that has world-class products and services, that values innovation, and where I could help to promote multicultural understanding. ON Semiconductor is a Fortune 500 semiconductors supplier company that is driving energy-efficient innovations and empowering customers to reduce global energy use. The CCEP program is designed to serve as a global framework to promote an organizational culture built on ethical conduct, commitment to our core values, and compliance with the law. The CCEP intern position at ON Semiconductor was a perfect fit for my background, skills and career goals.
I must admit that I didn’t know a lot about compliance before joining the team. I was familiar with the concept but had no work experience in the field. I supplemented my first couple of weeks of the internship with online webinars and trainings to gain more knowledge of compliance. My team also introduced me to the projects and policies they were working on, such as updating the gift policy, conflicts of interest, and non-retaliation policy. I worked hard and learned so much from my intern projects, one of which was supporting the Phoenix office’s preparations for the Global CCEP and CSR conference in Seoul, South Korea, this past June. I also used my communication, data analysis and training experience and skills on some research projects to see how we could promote certain policies in a multicultural environment (especially for China and the Asia-Pacific region, due to my background).
On Semiconductor Summer Intern Fair. Courtesy of Jiaqi Li.
Besides the fascinating projects, I truly loved the global atmosphere in our team and company. I made my first international business phone call with Singapore and Shanghai for the Global CCEP and CSR conference. And we worked on cases with co-workers from all around the world.
As a summer intern, I had the chance to attend several intern training sessions, such as presentation skills, as well as intern networking events like axe throwing, a robotic challenge (a team of interns built a robot from scratch to move, pick up and dump ping-pong balls into a basket), and the intern fair to showcase my summer projects. I met so many talented and hardworking interns from other departments and learned a lot from them.
I want to give a big thank you to my awesome CCEP team. I couldn’t finish my summer internship so successfully without their help. They were always so patient in answering my questions, and they taught me how to deal with complex situations and cases in the compliance world. As Thunderbirds, we pride ourselves on being comfortable in uncomfortable situations, especially on a global stage, so working in the compliance and ethics area for a global company was a great fit.
Robotics Challenge. Courtesy of Jiaqi Li.
I also want to thank Thunderbird for equipping me with a knowledge of global management this past year, and the Career Management Center (CMC) for the internship information. I would recommend our incoming Thunderbirds keep working hard and network. Don’t give up no matter how hard it is or how busy you are. Last, but not least, a big thanks to ON Semiconductor for being a great global company that provides students like me with unforgettable and amazing intern experiences.
Jiaqi is a second-year student in the MAGAM program.