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

When I saw the advertisement for Swedbank's trainee program, I thought it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get to know a bank from different perspectives, especially as a recent graduate with no previous practical experience in banking.

A fantastic opportunity to be fast-tracked through several of the bank's analytical functions and work with interesting and challenging problems.

What did you get to do during the program?

During the trainee program, we rotated between five different teams.

The subject areas varied greatly depending on which team I worked with. However, all tasks had in common that data processing and analysis were the main focus.

In retrospect, I would describe the teams as perfect for creating a broad understanding of banking operations. We had the opportunity to work in key areas such as financial management, capital adequacy, pricing, and risk, to name a few.

Additionally, we participated in training sessions on SAS and SQL, and a lot of other social activities. 

How was the program structured?

The program setup followed a rotation scheme where we rotated between a total of five teams within Swedbank, spending about 2 months in each team. Within each team, we were assigned a supervisor to work on analytical problems.

At the end of the program, we rotated back to the team where we had started. In my case, I rotated back to Group Steering, a group that mainly (but among many other things!) works with capital allocation and profitability management.

Was there anything that surprised you during the program? What did you think was the most fun?

In a large organisation, it's easy to imagine that you become one in the crowd as soon as you step through the door. What surprised me the most was how untrue this assumption was.

It quickly became clear how much time and energy had been put into creating an engaging and educational program, not least through how engaged and inclusive everyone from organisers to supervisors and managers were throughout the program.

The most fun was, without a doubt, getting to know many amazing people who have become colleagues and friends, and how keen managers and supervisors were to create as fun and educational a period as possible for the participants.

What are you looking forward to during your upcoming time at the bank?

What I look forward to the most is to continue to develop within my team, and deepen and broaden the knowledge that I started to build during the program.