An International Career – Mr. Charles Nelson

Hello Dear Readers,

Recently I started my Erasmus Programme in WU – Vienna University of Economics and Business. Since day one, I wanted to write an article here in Vienna, related to pursuing an international career and broaden our own horizons.

For that reason, it is with a great pleasure that I present to you the article of today – the International Career of Mr. Charles Nelson, who worked in Mondelēz!

Brief Description

Mr. Charles Nelson grew up in the United States of America and studied Finance for a very concrete reason: it seemed to him the best way to pay back the large student loans, as he needed to finance his own University Education (unfortunately, a very common situation in the USA). He did a home stay program in Spain at the age of 17 and that was the moment when he got really motivated and decided to see the world.

Furthermore, as Mr. Charles also pointed out, he thought that having international experience as well as speaking foreign languages would be an extra competitive advantage so he focused his concentration in this, in addition to his business studies.

Japan and Germany, the first experiences, disappointments and achievements

The effort that Mr. Charles made in learning foreign languages payed off: he was actually first hired because of his Japanese skills and was scheduled to be sent to Japan after a few years training in the corporate HQ. However, due to a large merger and after a few years, nobody was around in the company who remembered anything about Japan. Mr. Charles was initially disappointed but then another job in Munich appeared and he seized the opportunity! As Mr. Charles said “Get over your disappointments quickly and take opportunities as they arise!”

A truly International Career in Mondelēz – New York, Munich, Menorca, Madrid, Tokyo, Manila and Vienna

After starting his career in New York (where he worked for 2 years) he moved, as aforementioned, to Munich, to the European HQ. After 2 years, the company where Mr. Charles worked acquired a Spanish processed cheese company based on the Island of Menorca so he went there to do the FP&A - Financial Planning and Analysis. Then, the company merged the Menorcan cheese company and he moved to Madrid as a Controller of the combined Cheese business.

12 months later, a friend from Tokyo called him up and asked if he wanted to come to work for him in Japan. He immediately agreed since Japan was his original objective since day one at the company.

Nonetheless, the job in Tokyo disappointed him: it wasn’t as challenging as he was used to in Europe, where he was making many acquisitions as well as integrating businesses. “So when the  of the Spanish company called me up and told me they were doing some additional mergers and if I would be interested in coming back to do the FP&A for the combined business I also agreed” said Mr. Charles Nelson. He stayed in Madrid until 2000, the year he left to Manila, where he became the Chief Financial Officer for the Southeast Asia Region. It was a challenging job for him, however, his family didn’t enjoy Manila very much so when after three years he was offered a job in Vienna, to run Controlling and Treasury for the Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa Region he took it.

At this part, I asked Mr. Charles Nelson what was, until today, his best and worst experience in his long and outstanding career. “The Japanese disappointment was bad and I also had some bad experiences negotiating my contract on a few occasions, but all of that comes with experience and you can’t take it personally. I think working in Developing Markets is fun – it’s always more interesting to manage growth in a small but growing market than to work to contain costs in a large mature market.” Undoubtedly, a remarkable and very interesting opinion!

Family, future and how to manage these dimensions while having an International Career

As Mr. Charles explained, having a family and an International Career at the same time is quite a demanding task. Being an expatriate is difficult, because “Uprooting the children, losing friends, new schools: it can be traumatic. New languages and cultures can be hard on the spouse, especially if he/she can’t work in the host country.” Furthermore, as Mr. Charles Nelson referred, typically an expatriate need to work more hours in the first months as he/she becomes familiar with the business. For all these reasons, Mr. Charles Nelson highlight that his family was the main reason why he moved from Manilla to Vienna.

Skills and personality to pursue an International Career – Is it more important to do master language skills or technical ones?

When I asked Mr. Charles about the personality one should have in order to have a successful career, he was peremptory: “You need to be open and flexible being a foreigner and you need to be comfortable outside your comfort zone.” As a curiosity, he referred that, although language skills are obviously necessary, the technical skills inside one’s area of specialization (in his case, Finance) are usually more important to the success of an International Career than any other aspect.

The reality of today comparing to the reality in the 90’s

Being myself a student with an international mindset, I asked Mr. Charles if, in today’s society, it was more or less difficult to follow a career like his own. “I think it’s easier to move around today because people are more prepared for international experiences than when I was starting out.”, said Mr. Charles. He added that the compensation package has become less generous because more people are willing and able to take foreign assignments. “When I started you needed to pay extra for someone to live abroad. Today, because of globalization I guess, people are willing to do that for the experience alone, without extra compensation.” It is amazing to see how a reality changed so much in 3 decades!

With this in mind, Mr. Charles added that, despite of all the difficulties and less positive aspects, he never imagined living his whole life in the town he was born. “I realize that attracts some people and fair enough, but it’s just not for me”. For myself, coming from a small village of 3000 habitants roughly, these words felt like they were taken back from my own mouth. Phenomenal insights!

 Last Lessons

To finalize, I questioned Mr. Charles If he could give some piece of advice to my readers. He said:

“- Life will give you a few opportunities but it’s up to you to capitalize on them. Take risks, but intelligent ones.”

“- Sometime, somewhere, you’re going to feel that you have been unfairly treated by your company. Unless it’s so bad that you have to leave the company, get over it and move on - normally it’s not personal.”

“- No one, on their death bed, ever said “I wish I had spent more time with my boss.” Keep your work/life balance in balance and keep your family happy.”

I couldn’t think in a better way to end this amazing life lesson. In light of the above, I would like to thank Mr. Charles for all the insights provided!

Dear Readers,

I hope that this article was useful for you! See you next time!