Having made her way around the world from Europe to South America and Asia, Yeliz Kokel has used her global experience to propel her career toward success. Now, not even 30 years old, Yeliz, operations development analyst at Jabil’s Suzhou SIP Plastic site, has lived in multiple countries, learned four languages and gained a diverse education. “The global experiences I have amassed have taught me invaluable life lessons and helped me gain opportunities to work with customers and employees around the world,” she said.
Yeliz uses her international experiences to connect with her peers across Jabil and collaborate to improve our processes. “I wouldn’t have grown this much as a person by staying only in one place,” Yeliz said. Opportunities to work in diverse functions at Jabil, such as in purchasing, operations and production, came from her proven ability to communicate well, work cross-functionally and think globally – skills that were taught from each move she made around the world.
After living in Turkey until high school, Yeliz moved to Brazil with her family, where she attended college and pursued a degree in international relations, a perfect degree for her life story. It was at this point she started to learn about the educational differences between countries and realized she had to take advantage of the opportunities presented wherever she was. In Turkey, students can only hold internships for a maximum of three months and work on just one project. In Brazil, however, Yeliz held an internship position for two years, soaking up as much information as possible, learning new competencies, and ingraining them into her work ethic.
After the internship ended, Yeliz and her family moved to Suzhou, China, where she quickly enrolled into the Master of Science of Management program, using this as a chance to acclimate to the new culture and city, learning from fellow students and peers while also continuing her education and building her career. “I didn’t want to take a break after moving to a new country,,” she said. “I wanted to quickly learn the ins and outs of my new home, having just been through that process in Brazil.”
By the time she moved to China, Yeliz had already practiced her ability to adapt to culture changes. “When I left Turkey, I was 15 years old, which was a perfect point in life to learn new cultural practices and start to understand diverse perspectives,” she said. “I remember the process of adapting to Brazilian culture, which in retrospect helped build my confidence, broaden my mind and convert me into a problem-solver.” While Yeliz was in Brazil, she was working for a German company, and the management methodology was not to focus on the problem that occurred but to focus all their energy on finding a variety of solutions. By living in a different country from a company’s headquarters, Yeliz learned strong communication skills quickly while also learning how to adapt solutions to local practices.
These life skills are invaluable, especially when it comes to finding a job and transitioning between different work and social cultures. “My advice to students and people just starting their career is to take every chance to grow your perspectives – it’s a huge world out there, and if you’re going to contribute to a global company, you need to practice being flexible and be open to learning in new ways,” Yeliz said. She’s a proponent for taking every opportunity as a life lesson and maximizing the benefits – because in the end, you can only grow from change.
Last Updated: March 8, 2019 by Jabil Joules Leave a Comment
Jabil Supports International Women’s Day #BalanceForBetter Campaign Through Diverse Efforts
Each year, International Women’s Day celebrates the achievements of women, while calling attention to important topics to connect, educate and mentor one another, much like the Jabil Joules focus areas.
Jabil Joules serves as an opportunity for our employees to create an open dialogue around diversity and inclusion, giving them an avenue for encouraging future generations to be successful in the manufacturing industry. It has since grown into a network of mentorships, education and community involvement activities among all employees, male or female, entry level to leadership.
With a focus on being all inclusive in order to create positive change, this year’s International Women’s Day theme is #BalanceForBetter, which Jabil proudly supports through various initiatives.
Our employees around the world continuously work together to create a diverse and inclusive environment for their peers and those in the community, demonstrating that a balance for better also means supporting a balance of ideas, careers, respect and more.
While supporting a variety of female health initiatives, such as HER Health, breast cancer awareness activities or on-site mammography screenings across the Americas, Asia and Europe, employees come together to create a healthy balance for better.
To ensure an educational balance for better, Jabil sites are helping all students have an equal chance at educational excellence. For example, Jabil Green Point in Singapore funded scholarships and school renovations in Sok Sabay, Cambodia. Similarly, Jabil Belo Horizonte in Brazil has provided mentoring to underserved girls for the last 18 years, with some students graduating from the program and entering the workforce at Jabil: “When I started receiving mentoring (in 2007), I had no idea what my future would be – I didn’t think much about it. The classes and mentors at Jabil helped me to better understand myself and encouraged me to start planning for my future,” said Maria Quieros, purchasing manager at the site.
Other initiatives over the last year have focused on creating a career balance for better by focusing on empowering young girls to pursue a job in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This includes multiple sites across Europe, which participated in International Girls in Information and Communication Technologies Day, encouraging female students by organizing activities for them to test out their interest in the field. Other sites, such as St. Petersburg, are also helping students in the community understand the unique, varied ways to work in the STEM industry.
All of these activities and more being held at Jabil sites everywhere demonstrate the commitment from our employees to create an inclusive world. This is how Jabil is creating a balance for better.
Read how some of our employees are specifically supporting this initiative:
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Last Updated: March 1, 2019 by Jabil Joules Leave a Comment
Twelve Jabil Leaders Nominated for the 2019 Manufacturing Institute’s STEP Ahead Awards
The Manufacturing Institute announced today Jabil’s Ying Guo of Huangpu, China, and Vivian Wang of Chengdu, China, have been named Honoree and Emerging Leader, respectively, in the 2019 STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Ahead Award. The STEP Ahead Awards showcase and celebrate the achievements of outstanding female leadership across the manufacturing industry.
Jabil nominated 12 female leaders this year, and two were selected as honorees, the most a company can have per given year. Jabil’s 2019 nominees have demonstrated a strong commitment to improving manufacturing, contributing to the success of Jabil and empowering the next generation of female employees in a manufacturing environment:
Ying, business unit director in Huangpu, will be lauded as an Honoree Award for female leadership in manufacturing. Vivian, operations development assistant purchasing manager in Chengdu, has been selected as an Emerging Leader, someone 30 years of age or younger who is seen as rising talent in the manufacturing industry.
These two inspiring females will join 128 other female leaders from 100 companies in Washington, DC, this April to celebrate their accomplishments and share their experiences with one another to help advance the manufacturing industry for future female talent.
“This is Jabil’s fifth year participating in the STEP Ahead Initiative, with 10 of our female leaders being recognized over the years for their outstanding impact on their teams, Jabil’s business, our customers and the industry as a whole,” said Beth Walters, senior vice president and 2015 STEP Ahead Award recipient. “I’m incredibly humbled by the talent we have at Jabil, who exemplify our amazing diversity and strong leadership. All 12 of our nominees this year are clearly redefining the manufacturing industry, making a positive impact and empowering the younger generations. They inspire our company and provide great hope for the future of the manufacturing industry!”
Stay tuned for more information on all our 2019 STEP Ahead nominees, which will be posted throughout the next month to showcase their great accomplishments.
Congratulations again to Anita, Bella, Felipa, Gabriella, Grannaz, Irene, Loni, Kelly, Rocio, Supriya, Vivian and Ying!
The Manufacturing Institute (the Institute) is the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the national Association of Manufacturers. As a non-partisan organization, the Institute is committed to delivering leading-edge information and services to the nation’s manufacturers. The Institute is the authority on the attraction, qualification and development of world-class manufacturing talent. For more information, please visit www.themanufacturinginstitute.org.
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Last Updated: February 20, 2019 by Jabil Joules 1 Comment
An Indirect Career Path Leads to Success
While my background may seem disconnected at first glance, the different positions I held all complemented each other here at Jabil. I started my career in computer science and engineering, finding myself in new positions every few years from software development, program management, supply chain, business development and, now, back to design engineering.
This flexible, indirect career path is a special opportunity I’ve been able to have at Jabil, and one that I promote to my team. The cross-functional experience helped me build a broader understanding of the company’s business system and be more equipped to successfully drive complex initiatives involving multiple departments.
I encourage my team to think big – they are all shareholders of this company and need to have the self-confidence to deal with difficult situations. All our employees have an impact on the company and should feel empowered to make decisions, knowing they have the support of their managers and the confidence to do so.
My confidence was built from the variety of positions I worked in, giving me a chance to see how every department impacts the business and affects other departments. In 2002, I joined Jabil in Shanghai as a software development manager and transitioned to a regional leadership role in the project management office in China. These experiences helped build the foundation of my management skills, which greatly influenced the opportunities I gained in managing other departments.
Moving to the United States in 2007, I worked in a technical function and then found myself on a new endeavor in business. This was a time that really exemplifies the ability to change careers at Jabil: I was working as a technical program manager where I worked directly with customers, focusing on design programs. Because of the exposure with business development, I had the chance to lead one customer development project, which landed another. Leadership noticed, and I earned the opportunity to become a Senior Business Unit Manager.
Now, I’m back to my roots of engineering and hold a role overseeing the global design site operations across Asia, Europe and the United States. The key thing throughout my career was the opportunity to work with different departments and have the exposure to try new things. In the end, all of the dots connected, and my diverse experiences best prepared me for succeeding at Jabil.
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Posted: February 6, 2019 by Jabil Joules Leave a Comment
Ignore Assumptions and Persevere
Globally, only 15.6% of engineering students are females (Catalyst, 2018), and just under one-third of those employed in the research and development (R&D) field around the world are women (Catalyst, 2016). However, Núria Gauxachs is defying those odds and encouraging those around her to follow her inspiring lead.
As an R&D Engineer at Jabil’s Blue Sky facility in Tortosa, Spain, Núria demonstrates diversity by being a unique representative of the engineering field. “When I was a child, I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up,” she said. “All I did know is that I loved science. And I knew I was going to make a difference.”
While she was in high school, Núria enrolled in the technology specialty courses and found herself the only girl in class. “I was lucky in that my instructors treated me like just another student in their class, and my peers did the same – there wasn’t attention brought to the fact that I was the only girl,” she remembered. This helped Núria focus on building up her resume and growing her abilities rather than focusing on any gender differences.
As a mother of two, her advice to parents, educators and mentors is to focus on empowering a child’s ability and not focus on gender, saying, “If we think males or females are different, then they will be different. Instead, I teach my children a general rule: don’t pay attention to any type of prejudice or assumption of you, just persevere, and you will be able to accomplish whatever you want in this life.”
Núria’s passion and dedication extends to those around her, from teaching test preparation classes in mathematics and technology in the hopes of inspiring the next generation of engineers to supporting her peers’ goals in the hopes of building an empowered team: “Núria stands out because of her personal qualities and professional standards, and her work helps bring success to Tortosa Blue Sky’s mission. That’s the inspiring example she leads,” said Sergi Moñino, plant lean six sigma manager.
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Last Updated: January 23, 2019 by Jabil Joules Leave a Comment
Making Every Life Change into a Chance to Grow
Having made her way around the world from Europe to South America and Asia, Yeliz Kokel has used her global experience to propel her career toward success. Now, not even 30 years old, Yeliz, operations development analyst at Jabil’s Suzhou SIP Plastic site, has lived in multiple countries, learned four languages and gained a diverse education. “The global experiences I have amassed have taught me invaluable life lessons and helped me gain opportunities to work with customers and employees around the world,” she said.
Yeliz uses her international experiences to connect with her peers across Jabil and collaborate to improve our processes. “I wouldn’t have grown this much as a person by staying only in one place,” Yeliz said. Opportunities to work in diverse functions at Jabil, such as in purchasing, operations and production, came from her proven ability to communicate well, work cross-functionally and think globally – skills that were taught from each move she made around the world.
After living in Turkey until high school, Yeliz moved to Brazil with her family, where she attended college and pursued a degree in international relations, a perfect degree for her life story. It was at this point she started to learn about the educational differences between countries and realized she had to take advantage of the opportunities presented wherever she was. In Turkey, students can only hold internships for a maximum of three months and work on just one project. In Brazil, however, Yeliz held an internship position for two years, soaking up as much information as possible, learning new competencies, and ingraining them into her work ethic.
After the internship ended, Yeliz and her family moved to Suzhou, China, where she quickly enrolled into the Master of Science of Management program, using this as a chance to acclimate to the new culture and city, learning from fellow students and peers while also continuing her education and building her career. “I didn’t want to take a break after moving to a new country,,” she said. “I wanted to quickly learn the ins and outs of my new home, having just been through that process in Brazil.”
By the time she moved to China, Yeliz had already practiced her ability to adapt to culture changes. “When I left Turkey, I was 15 years old, which was a perfect point in life to learn new cultural practices and start to understand diverse perspectives,” she said. “I remember the process of adapting to Brazilian culture, which in retrospect helped build my confidence, broaden my mind and convert me into a problem-solver.” While Yeliz was in Brazil, she was working for a German company, and the management methodology was not to focus on the problem that occurred but to focus all their energy on finding a variety of solutions. By living in a different country from a company’s headquarters, Yeliz learned strong communication skills quickly while also learning how to adapt solutions to local practices.
These life skills are invaluable, especially when it comes to finding a job and transitioning between different work and social cultures. “My advice to students and people just starting their career is to take every chance to grow your perspectives – it’s a huge world out there, and if you’re going to contribute to a global company, you need to practice being flexible and be open to learning in new ways,” Yeliz said. She’s a proponent for taking every opportunity as a life lesson and maximizing the benefits – because in the end, you can only grow from change.
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