Stora Enso

From Paris to Shanghai and back. The tale of two cities.

(by Erran Yang)

After another month of working in Stora Enso, I am in the last month of my internship and I start to feel a little bit gloomy. On the other side, I feel excited that I will soon be back to Paris. It is really different to live and work in Paris and Shanghai.

Paris and Shanghai are both international cities, with branches of first-class enterprises in fancy buildings, top fashion, women elegantly dressed up and fast-speed daily life. They are hosts to different cultures and people from different countries.

Balanced Paris

Paris is a beautiful city with a lot of classical buildings and beautiful small gardens. Life in Paris can be a perfect combination of stress and relaxation. In the morning, there are plenty of commuters walking in a rush through subways and on the streets. They are efficient when working, but rest in time to have a cup of coffee and chat with colleagues and friends. They clearly separate working and daily life. When it's sunny, they always invite friends for a drink or to chat the whole day in a beautiful park.

Exciting Shanghai

Shanghai is more of a “junior” city compared to Paris, partly because there are more new buildings and modern skyscrapers recently established. All the megacities share the same characteristic: crowded transportations. It is the same in Shanghai! I feel it is more crowded here, or it just depends on the line I choose.

Shanghai-es are dedicated to work. There are less chats in the office and everyone volunteers to overtime if they haven’t finished their work. Some even bring their laptops home when they are on vacation. 

If you ask me which city I love better, unfortunately, it is hard for me to answer. I have been living in Shanghai since I was born so I definitely love my hometown. However, Paris has many elements that I am interested in; for example historical buildings and fashion design. Shanghai can be a warm harbor always calling me back and Paris can be extremely attractive with its charm.

Which city would you prefer to live in?

Overcoming challenge and loving what you do

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(by Erran Yang)

It has been one month since I joined Stora Enso and everything is going perfectly. I am able to deal with the sales orders independently and participate in team brainstorm sessions as well.

As one of my jobs is to prepare paper sample for our customers, it is really a good opportunity for me to get to know better about the grade and specifications of our products, as well as the user function of them. Speaking of this, one of our product lines is used for brochure designing and it is really amazing. Once again, I feel proud of working in Stora Enso.

One of the challenges I encountered was the first time I had to make a phone call to a customer. I felt a little bit nervous and prepared for several minutes before I picked up the phone. But now, I am quite used to it.

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Challenge is the thing you might be afraid about, before conquering it. Like the first step when you climb a huge mountain. But when you really keep on climbing it, you will forget the fear and finally enjoy the beautiful scenery at the top.

As it is a job, definitely, you may find it boring sometimes. But you still need to take responsibility of it, because it is not only yourself but also the company’s image and interests you are representing. Responsibility is necessary in study and life, too. We should be responsible for our team, for our family and for the people who love us. The most important, be responsible for ourselves.

I am really glad to introduce Stora Enso to those who would like to work here. The working atmosphere here is really nice and everyone respects each other no matter what their title is. Everyone wears a smile every day and working diligently. After work, we chat like good friends. You can feel really stable and happy working here.

I really love my job and I will continue working hard on it in the following two months.

Erran

A lot to learn and discover

(by Erran Yang)

My first weeks at Stora Enso have been great! I had a warm welcome and took part in the first orientation meetings. During the orientation, I got to know more about Stora Enso, the company’s culture and the products, which I found really impressive.

Stora Enso is a Nordic company which endeavors in a great effort to protect the environment and preserve the bio-diversity. There have been initiatives to plant eucalyptus in woodlands and take care of local residents’ living conditions, to ensure that every place our business covers is left a better place. It was also mentioned that the polluted water is purified to the standards of drinking water before it is flown back into the rivers and there is a lot of effort going on to develop paper packaging products that are 100% degradable. Additionally, I learned a lot about paper making and packaging techniques from other new onboarding colleagues and senior staff at Stora Enso.

As for me, I work in Stora Enso as a sales coordinator. My main responsibilities is to make orders and ensure they are running smoothly from producing to delivering. Keeping the customers informed at every step and supporting the sales team to follow up the order is also part my work. Fenix and Coptimi are two pieces of softwares I need to use during my work. They were a little bit complicated at the beginning, but with the help of my colleague Emma, I can handle them a bit better now. Hope I can have a good command of them very soon.

I feel proud of working in Stora Enso. Every decision made in this company is based on eco-friendliness and sustainability. We try our best to fulfill the purpose of ”Doing good for the people and the planet”. I hope I can learn more about Stora Enso and the paper packaging industry in the near future, as well as the specific duties a sales coordinator needs to do.

Greetings from Shanghai,

Erran

Meet Erran, the Blind Applying champion of Stora Enso

“Teamwork is about respect not only to your team members, but also to yourself”. Erran will soon be traveling to Shanghai to do her internship in Sales.

What is, in your opinion, the most exciting aspect about working at Stora Enso?

Working in a team to achieve a common target and to succeed in a project has always appealed to me. Plus, since there’s a growing interest in a company’s sustainability efforts and Stora Enso puts a lot of emphasis on that, I would like to see how it works from an employee’s point of view.

Coming from China, you’ve been studying in Paris for 2 years. What have you learned from your experience?

For me, it has been more about an attitude towards life than what I have learned in school during the over-board time. When facing difficulties，instead of being pessimistic which will take you nowhere, it is more helpful to encourage yourself to do something to change the situation step by step. Another important lesson is a new understanding of teamwork. I used to believe that teamwork is just about cooperating. In fact, it’s about showing respect not only to your team members but also to yourself. Every good idea should be taken into consideration if a project is to succeed. Always being cooperative and compromising can sometimes be fatal to a team.

Which book/movie will you take with you?

Game of Thrones!

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