Tuesday, October 05, 2021

Hailing from a small town in India, Smita was faced with crucial decisions when it came to balancing her personal and professional aspirations. Having been an academic topper, her success streak continued as she focused on her career in the field of Food science, R&D and Quality Assurance. But when her partner and she decided to have a baby, she decided to take a break from work and focus on a growing family. And getting back in the game after a break of 3 years, wasn’t a smooth ride. Amidst a rigorous job search, she found her dream opportunity in our Scientific & Regulatory Affairs team at Mondelēz International’s Global RDQ Centre, located in Thane, India. Within no time, she has mastered the Food regulatory requirements & soon witnessed a fast-paced career growth. Within 4 years she has moved roles to gather cross-category experience and now also leads key strategic regional projects. 

“Thinking back to the recruitment process in Mondelez, I was quite nervous since I had been out of the industry for a few years. What gave me confidence was that I had completed my graduation in-plant training in Cadbury R&D, so I was aware of Mondelēz International's products. My technical interview was scheduled online, but as luck would have it, I was in the midst of a family function in an area with really poor network connectivity and the call kept getting dropped. I finally managed to attend the interview from my car audio!! I successfully completed that interview. During my HR round, I got the comfort that I was making the right decision when the interviewer was empathetic and open to understanding my background and challenges that come with a life-stage and didn’t question my competency just because I had a career break. When I finally received the offer letter, I was smiling ear-to-ear as I had finally managed to crack my dream company.

During my onboarding, I came across some colleagues from my past Cadbury stint and even college friends which made me realize how small the world really is! I have had the fortune of working with the best of colleagues – who took it upon themselves to train me in on internal ways of working and SARA responsibilities and were accommodative and supportive throughout. With Mondelez, in true sense I restarted my career with lots of aspirations and dreams.”