Hello all,
As a recent college graduate, I’ve had a number of conversations with my peers about how their new jobs are treating them. When I would eventually ask about if they enjoyed their jobs, I would commonly hear “yeah, the people are great,” and nothing else. As someone who highly valued a company with a great culture during my job search (after all, I need to enjoy being at work if I’m in the office at least 40 hours a week!) I would think to myself during these conversations, “OK, but how so?” Thankfully, as a new Product Specialist, I’ve been able to see firsthand why the culture at Indium Corporation is so great.
Beginning with a little bit about me: I was born and raised in Central New York, Rome specifically, and I carried my pride for my upbringing throughout my college career (like listening to the radio broadcast of the 2016 Final Four NCAA Basketball Tournament match up between Syracuse and North Carolina with my Wind Ensemble director [who does not follow basketball] on the drive back from a concert and reminding my college friends that putting ranch dressing on chicken wings is morally wrong). Naturally, once I discovered a materials science company in the region where I grew up, I seriously considered that company during my job search.
My first exposure to Indium Corporation came from my freshman advisor and Indium Corporation Senior Technologist, Dr. Ron Lasky as I studied Material Science and Engineering and later Engineering Management at Dartmouth College. Being a local materials manufacturer with positions available in both process development as well as marketing, the company seemed like a good fit for my skill set. On top of that, I remember Dr. Lasky saying “you’ll never find a better company to work for.”
During my final year at Dartmouth, I interviewed at a few other companies in addition to Indium Corporation. I was ready to move forward with the interview process when COVID-19 hit immediately after I finished classes. I was fortunate enough to have a steady source of income throughout the spring before I eventually interviewed a second time. During that time, I would tell people that I was interviewing with Indium Corporation, and the response would always be something along the lines of “oh that’ll be a great place to work for you,” (responses coming from people such as my neighbor, my family’s tax guy, and a high school friend that I found out had interned with the company a few years ago). My view of the company was further shaped by the fact that they became established as an essential business; the company was obviously doing well for themselves during the pandemic when so many of my friends had opportunities canceled from companies not doing so well. The fact that Indium Corporation kept itself so highly in the minds of the community during changing times stuck with me.
Once I accepted my offer, I learned I would be working in the Semiconductor and Advanced Assembly Materials (SAAM) division under Global Product Manager and all-around superwoman Sze Pei Lim. She is based in Malaysia, so I would be communicating with her over the internet until we’d be able to see each other in person (online Zoom meetings prepared me well for this!). Again, Sze Pei mentioned during my onboarding “welcome to the Indium family!” I thought to myself that something must be different here that makes employees think so highly of the company.
After arriving at headquarters for my first day and throughout the first week, it became abundantly clear why people like Dr. Ron, Sze Pei, and the members of the community thought the way they did. I remember hearing a story from someone else in my orientation session about how she was furloughed from her job because of the virus and heard about how well Indium Corporation had treated her son during the pandemic, highlighting the company’s commitment to its employees. I also regularly meet and have conversations with people I don’t directly work with (although a Product Specialist is supposed to interact with multiple departments, people still introduced themselves to me outside of those circles). I was also lucky enough to attend a yearly corporate outing for team building purposes during my first week. During this outing, the members of the Marketing team each had taken a personality assessment and shared what their top traits were. This further enforced the idea of the company being a family, since I not only learned what other employees valued when they worked, I got to know more about them as individuals.
Having witnessed firsthand how lucky I am that the comments I heard about Indium Corporation were validating, it’s equally encouraging that the work I’m doing so far has been interesting as well! I’m excited to continue learning here and to document my journey in to the world of semiconductor assembly materials, and I’m especially happy that when people will ask me if I’m enjoying my work, I can give more than a one-sentence answer.
Many thanks,
Evan