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Intel Employees: A Special Tribute to a Special Teammate

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Note from the editor: You hear from me quite a bit, whether it’s through a blog post or as a response to a comment or an introduction to a guest blogger, but you don’t hear from two of my teammates who work tirelessly behind this blog and the Jobs at Intel website to ensure that you have a great experience. My teammates, Teresa and Christine, are the magicians behind the curtain—you don’t see them but they do A LOT of the work to keep the sites running. Today’s guest blogger is Teresa, the Web Product snad Services Manager for Intel’s Talent Enabling Solutions team aka she’s the magic behind our online employer presence. There are lots of different stages to your career: joining a company, getting new managers, transferring to a different group, growing in your role, being promoted, taking a lateral move, and leaving. People leave for different reasons, in this case, it’s one that we’re jealous of—retirement in Florida to pursue a different life adventure. Teresa has written a special post for Christine as she retires from Intel and starts her next life adventure. From all of us bloggers, contributors, viewers, and users—congratulations Christine! All the best with the new endeavor! 

At Intel we have a term—‘Great Place to Work’ (GPTW). It’s also one of our values. Each year we get a new badge calendar and on the flip side are listed the Intel values. GPTW lists bullets like Win and Have Fun and Work as a Team with Respect and Trust. I’ve worked for Intel 20 years now – I’m an ol’timer. I’m also kind of a sap, because when introducing myself in meetings or at conferences I also add “…and I’ve loved every minute!”—and though I created this blog, this is my first time contributing to it. I wanted to write a love letter of sorts but first I need to give a bit of background.

I’ve learned a lot about Intel and its culture over the years. At first I remember feeling like a fish out of water. There are so many brilliant and talented people that at first I was intimated. But it was because of those brilliant and talented people that I was pushed into the deep water. I raised my hand to work on a new project and my management team said, ‘go for it’ and off I went.  My project was that new “internet-web-thingy” and how would our Staffing team get on this “World Wide Web”. We wanted to market Intel jobs to the public in the new and exciting way. We had no idea what we were doing. I had no idea what I was doing. We put together a one pager that was really only a graphic – I pressed the ENTER key and off we went. It was 1994 – eons ago in the Internet age.  I was hooked! Our site grew into our global corporate Jobs at Intel site. We’ve added bells and whistles; tried all the fads and marketing tricks. Some worked – some tanked. I’ve worked on this site for most of my Intel career as developer, architect, and designer. I feel very maternal really. My goal has always been to show the world what it’s like to work at Intel and to grow a rewarding career – just like I’ve been able to do.

Along the way I’ve worked with several talented Content Editors/Managers. These are the people that write all the words that express to our visitors what Intel is really all about. At times I’ve worked with teams of people; at other times just one person. We partner with subject matter experts (SME) all over the globe who provide content. We also work with our college, business, HR and diversity teams assisting in getting their marketing campaigns, content and jobs out to the world.  Social media and mobile are new areas for us and we are learning everyday what works and what doesn’t. Content comes from every country we hire in and it is the job of the Content Editor to make it all come together and to make sure it sounds good. It’s a tough job – challenging, stressful, but extremely rewarding as well.

Now here’s my love letter…

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For the past seven years I’ve worked with Christine. She came to the job with a lot of questions, much stress and a dose of trepidation. She didn’t know if she could do the job and she worried it was too large for just one editor. I showed her around the house – where all the rooms were, where to find the life vest. I promised her that I would have her back and talk her down from the ledge if needed. I loved the job and I needed a strong editor to partner with who loved the work as well. I wanted her to succeed in every way. And succeed she did. Christine held her nose and jumped in the deep end with me. She managed a global stakeholder team, designed a work request process, juggled dozens of content projects and began the task of making the Jobs at Intel website world-class. Every word on our website was written or edited by Christine. I do the pretty pictures but content is king! She takes the messages we want to convey, along with the SMEs content and writes it in the Intel voice so that our visitors can get a feel for what it may be like to work for Intel. Every word.

On Friday, Christine is retiring from Intel. She found a beautiful stretch of beach and she and her husband will be planting their future in the sand. I’m losing my partner. My emotions are so extremely mixed. I’m so happy for her – so excited that she is finding her dreams coming true. But I’m also so sad because she has made my work life so much fun. Bouncing our creative energy around and then watching it come to life on the webpage has been so rewarding. It’s been like a marriage.  We have trust, we communicate, and we voice our opinions – go a bit mad at times but always come up with a solution. And we laugh. Christine is the kind of person that has 20 windows opened at the same time; she’s conversing with two people on IM while talking on the phone. (Her desktop looks like my real hubby’s garage [sorry sweetie, but it’s true]). At first I thought “Geez, how can you get anything done?” But this is how Christine works. Her brain is a file cabinet, and she can easily move from file to file. It’s amazing really.  She can find any file going back years. Amazing.

She is also so creative. What I like the most is she makes me better. She pushes me to find solutions, find a way to express what our customers need in new and exciting ways. She reminds me to breathe when the days are full and the schedule dates are looming. She is the Ying to my Yang, my Opus, my Thelma, my Snoopy – she’s jelly and I’m the peanut butter. I do love her and will remember my years working with her as the best (so far).

 
We don’t always give thanks. We forget to recognize. Even at Intel, thank you is not always stated because the work speaks for us. But I wanted a way to say “Thank you” that would really convey my gratitude.  Oh sure there’s going to be a party, laughs will be had, margaritas will be drunk, and hugs will be exchanged. We will toast and we will laugh. (I’ll cry later.)Her friends will gather and we will send her off well. But this is my way of sharing my gratitude and recognition in a way that would be truly unique—and what better way than to do it through a project that we both worked on together and one that would share her legacy for the world to see!

 
On behalf of Intel, I want to say Thank You Christine! I have had so much fun working with you. Thank you for the respect and the trust. Thanks for thinking of our visitors first and trying always to provide the best possible experience. Thank you for your skill, your partnership and for your passion for the job. It was so appreciated. I wish you and Jeff the greatest happiness as you journey onward. Our “marriage” may be over, but our friendship is lifelong.

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