The two-year-long Schibsted Management Trainee Program assigns the trainees four different placements, with different roles, in different Schibsted brands. In each placement, the trainee has a manager in place at the department in question, and in 2022 Schibsted employee Mattias Hersby was one of them. Please meet Mattias, Director of Business Development & Operations at Schibsted Marketing Services AB.
Firstly, can you share the background of your decision to welcome a trainee into your team?
When I joined SMS three years ago, I learned about the program through our HR Business Partner as a part of my onboarding process. This year, 2022, was the first year I was able to offer an interesting position that would both solve a challenge for our team as well as present a great opportunity for the right candidate.
In what way has your trainee added value to your organisation?
Well, our trainee – Love Regefalk – came in with a fresh and new perspective on our challenges and possessed strong digital skills being from a generation where digital and mobile-first is just a way of life. He has also surprised me and the team with very good project management and analytical skills, which have helped us across various projects.
Do you have any tips on how to integrate the trainee into your culture and your team?
I think one of the key things has been to treat Love as “just another team member.” This means including him in all our team meetings, having 121 chats, and inviting him to team events and dinners. I’d also like to think that I have also encouraged him to not be afraid to ask questions and speak his mind on all topics that we have discussed and worked on. Finally, I would like to add that offering your trainees trust by giving them their own projects or project streams to manage is another key point to make them feel like they’re adding value to the team and also that they’re gaining professional development.
Mattias and the team.
How does the onboarding of an employee differ from the onboarding of a trainee?
In this case, our trainee was on his last and final assignment of two years, so in that sense, it was easier to onboard him given that he already knew a lot about our brands and overall culture. However, he was new to SMS, so we explained our organisational structure and strategy to every newly hired employee. We have a very thorough onboarding process, where the new employee/trainee meets with people from all departments to get a better sense of how we are connected and what everyone’s area of responsibility is.
From a corporate point of view, can you give us some advantages for companies to have a trainee program?
1. It increases the chance of hiring the right people.
2. It is a great initiative to include in any employer branding program to attract talents.
3. It allows the company to keep up with, or better yet, stay ahead of the competition both from an external and internal perspective.
Are you interested in knowing more about the Schibsted Management Trainee Program? Go to our trainee page for more information.
