What made you apply and choose Swedbank's trainee program?

I was interested in the range that a trainee program provided, as well as the opportunity to attend a more tailored program compared to a regular junior position.

What did you do during the trainee program?

During the program I got to work, partly by myself and partly together with a trainee colleague, at four different parts of the bank. We worked on exciting projects in the Steering, Treasury, Risk, and CAD departments, where the focus was on SAS and SQL programming, as well as some Excel work, to solve various tasks.

At Steering, I was directly responsible for updating and automating a company portfolio report that was sent up to one of the management teams in connection with the end of the quarter. The time at Treasury was spent going through the bank's various regulations for handling deposits and, at the end of the rotation, presenting this to Treasury's management. At CAD, we wrote SAS code to implement parts of a new capital adequacy framework, and at Risk, SQL coding to calculate risks in the bank's portfolio.

During the program, we also got to follow a client advisor in a branch office for a day, and traveled to Swedbank's head office in Riga on a study trip.

What was the most memorable or fun thing you experienced during the program? And was there anything that surprised you?

I felt very welcome in every part of the bank that I visited. What surprised me the most was how the positive culture was present throughout the entire bank. It was also great fun getting to know the other trainees from my year – we still see each other regularly outside of work. The program gave me a range of experiences that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise, and I often benefit from understanding how different parts of the bank work.

Do you have any advice for future trainees that you would like to share?

Don't be afraid to ask for help! We bring in trainees to give them the chance to grow and learn, and you are not expected to know everything right away. As a new hire right after graduating, I thought you were expected to know most things yourself – but now, after six years at the bank, I understand that you learn and solve problems by asking and helping each other. It's complex work we do, and there's a lot to learn.