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If you are interested in joining the Schibsted family through our trainee program, both former and current trainees agree: The application process is tough and demanding, but definitely worth it. Read on for information about how to apply and what you can expect through the interview rounds.

Your first step towards becoming a part of the trainee program is to send in your application. The application has to be in English and should include transcripts of grades from high school level and onwards. You need to be a citizen of a country within the Schengen area to be eligible. Because the program includes possible placements in all of Schibsted locations, you should be prepared to relocate for a period of time during your traineeship

– The Schibsted Trainee Program is a unique opportunity to not only learn new skills and meet new people – but some of our trainees also get to live in different countries for part of their traineeship, says Kristina Gribaleva, Talent Program Lead.

Ability and personality tests and assessment center

If your application makes the cut and you get through the first selection round, you will receive an invitation to the further process and a link to ability tests. Based on their score on this test, selected candidates are invited to a video challenge. Should you make it past this step,  you will be invited to complete a personality test and to participate in a one full day assessment center in Oslo.

– The goal of the application process is simply to find the candidates with the most potential to grow through our trainee program – and who will challenge us by seeing things from a new perspective. We are not looking for fully developed workers but instead try to find those candidates with the magical mixture of both talent and passion, says Kristina Gribaleva.

“After the last interview, I thought to myself: “Even if I don’t get the job, I have been given every opportunity to show who I am”. I actually learned quite a lot about myself in the process.”
– Karsten Gutterød Hauklien, former trainee.

The final round

Based on the results from the assessment center, finalists are chosen to participate in the final interview. This last stage takes place in Oslo and will help management narrow the candidates down to the final candidates that are offered a place in the Schibsted Trainee Program. But even if you’re not one of the lucky few you will still get a thorough candidate report so you can learn from the process. Kristina Gribaleva feels it is only fair to give candidates a pointer to what areas they could benefit from working on.

– There are only a few spots available in the program and the selection process is tough, but we know applicants appreciate the opportunity to learn from the experience even if they don’t make the cut.

Application guide – step by step

• The Schibsted Trainee Program is open for registration of applications from mid-September. The application must be in English and include transcripts of grades from high school level and onwards.
• Selected candidates will receive an invitation to the further process and a link to the ability test.
• Based on the score on this  test, selected candidates are invited to a video challenge.
• Successful candidates are exposed to the personality test and are invited to the full day assessment center in Oslo.
• In the last step, the candidates are invited to the final interview with one representative from executive management and the Head of Schibsted Trainee Program in Oslo.
• The new trainees are welcomed to the Schibsted family and prepared for the trainee program.
• Our ambition is that we will complete the recruitment process before the end of February. 
• The program starts in August 

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Timeline

CEO of Schibsted, Kristin Skogen Lund, is convinced the company benefits from people that dare ask questions, aren’t afraid to try a new approach, and can bring a new perspective to the table. She is passionate about the trainee program, and believes it gives Schibsted both an edge and an advantage in the market.

– The trainee program is and has been important to us. We see former trainees filling key roles – either within our organization or at other companies where they become enthusiastic ambassadors for Schibsted, she says.

Skogen Lund highlights curiosity and an open mind as key characteristics the Schibsted trainees should possess, and wants people to dare to raise their hand and voice their opinion. New perspectives and input are highly valued by Schibsted’s chief executive and is the reason that trainees are included in teams from the get go. – In my experience the trainees are highly competent people and they contribute throughout their traineeship. At Schibsted there are no desk exercises, and trainees are given responsibilities and proper tasks on real projects from day one.

Skogen Lund is convinced that this approach is key in giving the trainees a sense of achievement – and perhaps a stronger vision of the career path they want to take. – When you are given the opportunity to test different areas it can give you a better sense of what you enjoy doing, and what direction you would like to take. The trainees are stationed in four different parts of the Schibsted organization through their traineeship, which can be a great way to navigate their own path.

Schibsted seeks diversity and wants to be challenged

The CEO of Schibsted wants to give people room to grow and to voice their opinions – especially if they do not agree with the status quo. She feels this is one of the biggest differentiators Schibsted has to its competitors. – In the Schibsted culture we seek diversity, we seek counter-perceptions, we genuinely want to be sharpened and challenged. This means that there is room for many different personalities and some peculiarities as well.

Key to having a successful traineeship lies in not feeling you must meet a set of expectations, but rather shape those expectations yourself, Skogen Lund says. – I think each and every one of our trainees bring something unique to the table and that they should take ownership of and shape their role. I would rather have someone that breaks the boundaries of what is expected, then someone that is constantly afraid to not meet the expectations they think lies on them.

You would be forgiven for thinking that the CEO of a large company like Schibsted would look at the numbers first and foremost. Kristin Skogen Lund certainly expects everyone to help the company do well. But when it comes to developing new products she believes that there needs to be something more than a calculation involved.

– Much of what we do has an element of, if not art, then a flair. If you want to develop good products, you can’t solely use your calculator – you must have a sense of users and market, and have almost an artistic flair. To do this you must of course attract that kind of people, and then you have to give them free rein. I think Schibsted is good at that.

The value of a good mentor

The Schibsted Trainee Program offers a world class mentorship for its participants. The value of someone to push you forward and help you gain the courage to speak up, is perhaps the most important tool a trainee can have, says Skogen Lund.

– Throughout my career I have had people who have meant a lot to me, and I have been fortunate to have had bosses who gave me the confidence to move forward. It is important to have what I call “yes you can” people surrounding you, who make you try when you may not have the courage to do it yourself. The Schibsted Trainee Program offers that type of support to our trainees, and is in my opinion a reason to apply on its own, she concludes.

Read more about the trainee program here

The latest UN climate report was an eye-opener. We no longer have time to wait and see; we need to act now. In Schibsted, we know that our services and operations have an important societal and environmental impact, and therefore we strive to consider and manage our impact in all our business decisions and, through our services, empower people to make sustainable choices. 

In the front seat of our amazing sustainability team is our Head of Sustainability, Britt Nilsen. We had a chat with her to learn more about how we at Schibsted are working with sustainability and get her best advice on how to become more sustainable in our everyday lives. 

What are we doing to empower our users and our employees to contribute to a sustainable society?

The great thing about Schibsted is that our most significant impact on society and the environment comes through the use of our services. It’s about how we empower users in their daily lives through quality journalism that secures democracy and ensures that we have societies based on truth, trust, and transparency. It’s about how our marketplaces facilitate second-hand trade and make our users environmental heroes, and it’s through our financial services and growth companies that empower our customers and users to make informed choices.

How do we make sure that we grow Schibsted as a business in a sustainable way going forward?

The way we are doing it is by integrating sustainability into our strategy. We don’t have a separate sustainability strategy in Schibsted. We have one strategy, and that needs to be sustainable. We have set out ambitious goals and targets that our Executive Management team is responsible for delivering on, and they are followed up in progress reviews. And of course, you can read all about this in our yearly sustainability report. 

Recently, PwC published that Schibsted is one of four listed companies in Norway (out of 100) that actually is reducing CO2e emissions according to the Paris Agreement. And this is one of the mentioned goals we have. 

What is your best advice to become more sustainable in our everyday life?

One of the biggest problems in the world today is increased consumption. The best way for us all to contribute is to change to a circular way of consuming. We need to stop buying new things and start buying and selling used things instead. And why not use our marketplaces for that?

Over the past 20 years the world has been digitized, a process in which Schibsted has been in the front seat and will continue to be. Now it is time to use this expertise to create sustainable solutions. If you would like to join us and contribute to making a change, take a look at our career page here. 

 

The differences between individuals are what make us all unique, and we know for a fact that we need diversity in order to succeed. We have spoken to some of our Tech and Data leaders to get their reflections on diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

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A new perspective to Diversity- `Creative Friction´

“Life in business is about solving problems and fleshing out strategies in an increasingly complex world. The best solutions are found through what I call “creative friction”; different viewpoints that are lifting awareness and understanding to a new level in a team.

Both educational background, ethnicity, gender and other diversity categories are essential for creating creative friction in a group and a company. Without it we will not be able to solve the most complex tasks.

We need different lenses. We need diversity.”  

Sven Størmer Thaulow, Chief Data & Technology Officer 

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A sense of belonging is the heartbeat of Inclusion and Diversity

“ I truly believe that our work has to be internal first, to impact what we do externally. We can deliver better to our users and customers when we have different backgrounds and experiences, as we also then have different perspectives on a problem and can solve it in new ways.

And not least, to thrive and deliver, Schibsted employees need to feel like they belong in Schibsted. I think we are only able to create the feeling of belonging, if people feel reflected and included at work. In my opinion it is key that we have different people represented at all levels in the organisation.”

Ingvild Næss, Chief Privacy and Data Trends Officer 

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The diversity of mindsets in the teams is crucial for success

“We need diversity to reach a diverse market . Hence we want to have teams which are diverse not only in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, etc but also diverse in terms of their mindsets and areas of interests. And if we can do that we can actually leverage the true power of a diverse workforce.

Belonging can only be truly achieved when the employees feel that their opinions and ideas are equally valued and that they matter to the team in every possible way. Hence, a truly strong team is a team that has the diversity of both people skills and technical skills.”

Ralph Benton, Chief Information Security Officer 

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Diversity is not something we do in addition to our business – diversity is our business.

“How do we know to create a news product that allows easy navigation and text-to-speech for those with imperfect sight, or difficulties reading? Who will remind us to make information on Covid-19 available in multiple languages because not everyone who lives in a country speaks the same language? Having the understanding and experience to truly empower people in their daily lives requires a wide diversity of people in Schibsted teams.

Let’s celebrate our people, and our diversity. Let’s increase our diversity in every dimension, and listen and learn from those that are different from us. Diversity is not something we do in addition to our business – diversity is our business.”

Gareth Eason, Chief Information Officer 

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I still need to do more to think about and promote Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

“I have a rather selfish view of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging. As a leader, I want my organisation (and consequently me) to be as successful as possible. However, overtime, despite what my Mum says, I have come to realise that I’m not perfect. I have multiple gaps. Some that I work on and many that I know I need others to fill in order to be successful.

When I think about those gaps, yes, I think about hard skills, but I’m increasingly thinking about what life experience someone can bring to my team, a project, or simply a discussion. What perspective can they offer that I am missing to make me and the outcomes for Schibsted better? What background do they have that can augment mine? Notice all the me, mine and I there – I said it was selfish.

Of course, I still need to do more to think about and promote Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, however shining the light on my gaps seems like a reasonable starting point – even I say so myself!”

Ben Graham, Chief Product Officer 

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Inclusion and belonging should come without saying

“Inclusion and belonging should come without saying, and it is almost strange for me that we need to have an agenda for it – because to me it is such an obvious and natural thing. NO question marks. If we think about it, it is impossible to create togetherness, team-spirit or drive towards common goals if people don’t feel that they belong or even worse, see themselves as outsiders.

However, the diversity part is more complex, and something I believe all of us need to be reminded to work on. I actually see diversity as a tool to help us solve problems. We want all the best tools in our tool box, and hence we should optimize our possibilities by looking for talent with different backgrounds, mindsets and personalities.”

Karine Mortvedt Mørland, Finance Director Product & Technology 

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Diversity in a company is not only natural, it is also smart

“The world has become smaller. Advances in technology and transportation have led to increased globalisation and truly transformed society – something I took advantage of myself when I went abroad to study Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts ages ago. It is only natural that this also has influenced diversity in the workplace here in the Nordics. Diversity in a company is not only natural, it is also smart. Recent studies show that the most diverse companies are more likely to outperform less diverse peers on profitability. 

Having diversity in the company and succeeding with diversity are two different things. For people to perform at their best, they need to feel included – and that means, among other things, having equal opportunities. For me, diversity and equality starts with an awareness of your unconscious biases. If you haven’t tested yourself already, you should check out “Project Implicit“.

Awareness and knowing what your unconscious biases are, makes it possible to do something about it. For example, when making decisions, I sometimes write down my arguments (pros & cons) to force my brain into a conscious mode, instead of taking actions on autopilot.

So what should we do in Schibsted on Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging? I believe in being data-driven. Luckily, ACT is providing us with data we can use as a foundation for conversations in teams on all levels of the organisation. Here we can identify improvement areas and take small steps towards an even more inclusive workplace. So, please continue to respond to the survey and let the data flow…”

Lars Westvang, Chief Enterprise Architect 

Svenska Dagbladet’s photographer Staffan Löwstedt took the picture of the year in Sweden 2020. Several of his colleagues in SvD and Aftonbladet were also awarded in the prestigious competition ”Årets bild 2021”.

”The picture of the year 2020 is like a scene from a science fiction movie with scenes we never saw before they became every day-experiences. Healthcare personnel covered in suits to protect them from a virus that paralyzed the world.”

That’s the Årets Bild jury motivation. The photographer behind the winning picture is Staffan Löwsted who has worked at Svenska Dagbladet for many years.

The picture was part of a story about how very sick Covid patients get intensive care on their way to the hospital, in the air and on the motor roads. It shows a patient arriving at Södersjukhuset in Stockholm.

”The picture mirrors the pandemic and the dystopia at the same time. I like the distance in it, but also the care the man with the bag containing the patient’s personal belongings is showing. And the fact that in the background there is a whole ”healthcare factory” ready to take over. It says something about the Corona year”, says Staffan Löwstedt.

The Corona pandemic has affected most of the work for Staffan and his colleagues the last year. For almost a month during spring 2020 he was present, day and night, at the Covid intensive care at Södertälje hospital, south of Stockholm. An assignment that was especially important and emotional since he and everyone at SvD lost a dear colleague who died in Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic.

”I have taken pictures and cried while doing so. At times I have slept badly and I have had to work on my experiences, but I have tried just to do my job – to capture what is happening as truthfully as possible, Staffan says in this article in SvD, about the award.

Staffan Löwstedt wasn’t the only Schibsted photographer to be awarded. His SvD-colleague Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman got third prize in the category domestic news story. Andreas Bardell at Aftonbladet won the portrait category for a story showing how the covid-masks put marks on the faces of the health care personell.
Pontus Orre, also from Aftonbladet won the sports category with a picture of a curious spectator trying to get a glimpse of Armand Duplantis jumping.
Three more photographers at Aftonbladet were awarded:
• Portrait, second prize: Magnus Wennman
• International News story, third prize: Peter Wixtröm
• International news photo, third prize: Pontus Höök
You can see all the winners at the Årets bild exhibition at Galleri Kontrast in Stockholm until April 25.

In this story in Schibsted Future Report 2021 you can read more about photographers in the Corna front line, and see more great pictures from Schibsted photographers.

One of Andreas Bardell’s the portraits showing how the covid-masks put marks on the faces of the health care personell.

Pontus Orre’s photo that won the sports category.

Kids Coding Camp is open to all kids between 9 -11 years old. This year our camp is all digital, it consists of two learning sessions during the spring term.

Please note that it is held in Swedish, with some Norwegian translations. It’s free of cost.

The registration is closed for now, but stay tuned; we will update the information regarding the next Kids Coding Camp in the fall.

Here is how it works: During two evening sessions the participants will take their first steps towards learning programming. Via a youtube stream, the children will be coding in Scratch together with experienced teachers from Kodcentrum. The sessions are open for beginners and for children with some knowledge of Scratch. The focus is to learn basic skills in coding. 

Before the training:

• The children need access to a computer connected to the internet
• The children are advised to create an account in Scratch beforehand
• A link to the event is sent out via email a few days before

During the training

• Experienced teachers from Kodcentrum are leading the sessions.
• The classes are divided into different themes – in the first part, we focus on the game we are going to code. In the next part, we do the coding. The kids have direct contact with the leaders through a chat.

When working with Kids Coding Camp we are cooperating with Kodcentrum in Sweden and Lær Kidsa Koding in Norway – non profit- organizations offering free introduction to programming to children.

Learn why our Chief Data & Technology Officer, Sven Størmer Thaulow, believes it is important to learn technology at a young age

It all started in June 2019 when kids aged 8-12 years invaded our offices in Oslo and Stockholm, spending a week with us to learn how to code and use coding to solve challenges. This was just the first step on an exciting journey – where our last initiative was a fully digital camp in February 2021, engaging 500 kids in the Nordics. We are continuing this success in 2022 with two upcoming digital camps – sign up here!

All in all we have now arranged six camps, training some 700 kids.

I couldn’t imagine that this was going to be such a success when we started this initiative. We really believe we can make a difference for the future”, says project lead Sofia Friberg

She is proud to facilitate an important Schibsted’s initiative: Making sure the next generation is even more tech-savvy and able to navigate through and benefit from new technology than their parents.

Rethinking tech through the kids

In Schibsted, tech is an integrated part of all we do – offering unexpected opportunities. We believe that one way for us all to gain from these possibilities, is to teach kids to master the basics of tech, as well as encourage them to dream big.

Through Kids Coding Camp, Schibsted wants to engage and inspire kids and youths to envision that they can affect the future and that technology can be a tool to find solutions we need when they grow older. And not least, we want to give hope and confidence, in a world with lots of challenges and where kids worry about the future. To address this we also dedicate time to discuss how innovation and tech can help out when it comes to environmental issues.

One of the great things about coding is that it gives the same opportunities to all regardless of gender, social background or other prerequisites. By arranging Kids Coding Camp, Schibsted also wants to lift the importance of equalizing differences and giving people the same opportunities to educate themselves, grow and flourish.

”The “secret code” to securing the best tech-heads for our future is to make sure kids are not held back because of circumstances beyond their control. We want to empower these kids and It’s a human right to have equal opportunities”, says Britt Nilsen, Head of Sustainability at Schibsted.

Kids Coding Camp is a cooperation between Schibsted, Kodcentrum in Sweden and Lær Kidsa Koding in Norway.