Tell me about yourself and your experience at Nortel?
As a team member of the MSS software sustaining team, my role is to fix software bugs, enhance software features as required, and deliver MSS software with quality, at low cost and on time. As an MSS IP multicast team leader and SME (subject matter expert), my role is to check and prove code inspection request in IP multicast area, facilitate the internal and external communications, and support GNPS team with technical knowledge.

One reason I particularly enjoy working in this position is the fact that I'm continuously challenged by new emerging problems, concepts, technologies, and opportunities. The beauty of meeting these challenges is that winning them will convince me in having superior intelligence, which in turn, maximizes the sense of achievement I can acquire from work.

How did you end up working at Nortel? Why did you choose Nortel?
When I was at University of Ottawa for my MBA degree, there was a close link between the University and Nortel's Ottawa locations. Nortel supported many students by providing internships, co-op opportunities, and consulting projects.

When I graduated, Nortel had impressed me with its superior product quality, strong culture, and its consistent effort to pursue excellence. In particular, I valued Nortel's culture the most, as I was convinced that an open-minded, innovative, respectful culture was a key to sustain the company's long term survivability and, in turn, my long term career development.

How do you describe Nortel as an employer?
Nortel is among those companies who value people the most. People at Nortel are considered an asset to strengthen rather than a cost to reduce. Nortel is also well known best for balancing the power between the diversity and effectiveness of its culture. This is great because we are a global company; the extent to which a company can effectively organize its resource across the world to achieve its goal will largely mean the difference between success and failure.

Describe your relationship with management.
At Nortel, the management is not simply controlling everything over the employee. Rather, it directs the employee's behavior by goal setting and continuous feedback. From Canada to China, I have worked with a number of managers who vary in race, gender, and cultural background. Regardless of the diversity, they all impressed me by their reasonableness, rational working style, supportive manner, mutual trust based cooperation, and effective communication efforts. One reason I enjoy working with Nortel is that I don't have to suffer the power distance with my manager. This is in significant contrast with my former employers.

What values are important to succeed at Nortel?
Nortel values are customers, people, quality, innovation, accountability and integrity. For me, in particular, what values the most is quality. Our team is sitting behind our colleagues who face the customer and commit to the delivery of quality. My mission is to sustain our products so that our colleagues are able to maximize customer satisfaction.

Are there any flexible work solutions available to you?
Yes. The flex hours are good examples. Given the flex hours, I don't have to be stuck in the horrible traffic in rush hours for each day.

What would you say to someone who is considering joining Nortel?
Joining Nortel would give you the opportunity to be exposed to the top R&D institute, the best sales force, or the best business and management team in the world. We are growing everyday. You will enjoy the fact that you are growing with your team, with your organization, and with the company. You will agree with me in that a corporate culture that is both effective and humanistic is so powerful in improving the productivity, and even the quality of your life. In general, you will find out more than you expected.

I believe you would be able to obtain a decent salary somewhere else. I also believe some of our competitors are imitating our staffing policies and human resource development strategies. They can copy our models and strategies but they can never copy our people and our culture.

Back to Our People