Alexander Fornell

The best part of being a trainee at Husqvarna Group is the large variety of tasks that you get to work with in the program. When I was finishing my degree at Industrial Engineering and Management at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, I had no specific job in mind and I wanted to get the opportunity to work in a variety of different roles to get a better understanding of what they entail. This made the Husqvarna Group Global Trainee Program attractive to me; I will get to work within different departments during my two years as a trainee.

I’m from Kungsbacka, a city located on the west coast of Sweden and my first assignment as a trainee was at the Husqvarna Group site in Huskvarna, Sweden. There I worked at the Product Management and Development department together with Product Managers and Product Specialist for the Petrol Handheld category, which includes for example chainsaws, brush cutters and hedge trimmers. It was a great experience to get to know what it means to be a Product Manager or Specialist and I got to learn more about the Group’s products. I have also cooperated with colleagues at other departments, such as sales at our dealer conference on Rhodes, Greece, where I met dealers and took part in our product presentations.

Product presentation on Rhodes for Husqvarna dealers

Another perk of working at Husqvarna Group is that we are encouraged to learn about how to use the products. One example is when I spent three days in the forest to get a “driver’s license” for working with brush cutters. Before joining the Group I had more or less zero experience of using chainsaws and brush cutters, but in my opinion it is more important that you are willing to learn about the products than having previous experience of using them. Additionally, it is not only about using the product, we get to take them apart and put them back together (the first part is the easy one) to learn more about the pure mechanical aspects of the products. I had no previous experience of this, but as long as you are eager to learn it is no problem learning about the basics of carburetors and two-stroke engines.

Petronas Twin Towers are located close to the Husqvarna Group KL office

I am currently working at our regional office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I have been focused on getting to know what our customers in Asia expect from our products. I will stay in Kuala Lumpur until the end of the summer after which I will move to Charlotte, USA. There I will get the opportunity to work within sales, which is a new experience to me. This is what makes working at Husqvarna Group as a global trainee so great, you get to experience a lot in a short period of time while seeing interesting parts of the world. So if you want to try different roles to see where you can excel, apply for the Husqvarna Group Global Trainee Program!

Alexander Fornell
Global Trainee
Product Management & Development