End of the Trainee Program…


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Time is flying and the end of the trainee program is coming to an end.

I have been in the US for approx 3 months now and it’s been a great experience with hard work, laughter, and a lot of travelling. I have been in charge for the business development for the Southern US market so you can imagine the traveling I have done during 11 weeks now.  The great memories that I’ll take with me involve for example morning surf in La Jolla, San Diego, saying grace with a customer in the desert :-), and having a nice coffee break among the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

Both Johan and I have been working very hard and it’s been paying off so we can leave US with our heads held high! We are about to finalise our project and looking forward to a nice Christmas party with not only our American colleagues but also people from HQ and their families.

Our Company Owner flew over to US in the beginning of November to discuss our future at Handheld. The positions are not official so I won’t be able to mention the outlook yet but what I can say is that it is a great program and hard work really pays off.

Happy thanksgiving!

Christian

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USA


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Handhelds IMTP involves both national as well as international presence.  So far I have been exposed to numerous European countries while also being Country Manager for an Asian country.

It’s been approximately 9 months since I started at Handheld, and 9 incredibly interesting months.

I’m currently in USA where we finalize our program. I’m still working on a few projects that were established earlier this year but the main focus here in the US is to boost our presence on the US market. Our US subsidiary has been in business for almost 3 years now and it is extremely interesting, challenging and fun to be a part of something rather new and successful.

My main task while I’m in the US is to segment, evaluate and establish business partnerships with the most potential business partners for Handheld. So right now I’m in San Francisco where I had a few meetings + Trade Shows and now on my way to catch up with a few mates from Australia and go and watch the San Francisco Giants play baseball. Next week I will be in San Diego…

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Theoretical training provided by ITM, Exportstiftelsen


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ITM, Exportstiftelsen

It hit me that you might wonder how the theoretical training is provided and by whom. Handheld decided to let ITM Exportstiftelsen provide the theoretical training during the 12 months trainee period. This decision was made due to the fact that the trainees receive an outside perspective where we apply Handheld as a real-time case during the 12 diverse seminars.

The seminars that ITM offer include e.g. International Trade Management, International Payment & Financing, and International Law. You might think that “oh I have already done those” but so have I and I can assure you that these seminars are highly valuable since the professors are incredibly talented, reputable and have extensive work experience. These seminars are held by industry professionals and reputable professors from all across the world.

The idea behind ITMs concept is to offer SMEs a full trainee program similar to the trainee programs offered by large corporations. ITM offer 4 different concepts where we are enrolled in the “International Management Trainee” program. So, ITM assist Handheld with most of the recruitment process along with theoretical training during the trainee period. We just finished our last seminars and received a diploma from ITM which is also a part of the Executive MBA program that ITM will offer in a short period of time.  Below I have attached the link to ITMs webpage. http://www.itmworldwide.org/Default.aspx?objectID=80

Ps just arrived in the US, will talk more about that in the next post…

Christian

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ISO Certified and the US trip is coming up…


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Update

I recently got back from a wonderful vacation and thrown straight back into all the exciting projects and vital milestones that Q3 & Q4 entails.

First, I can gladly announce that Johan & I finished a rather large project, the ISO Certification Project. The ISO certification process was a great learning curve since we were exposed to the entire organisations internal and external processes. It’s also been a key milestone for a growing company like ours! The project took roughly 6 months and I managed the qualitative parts while Johan managed the environmental parts simultaneously. In Sweden we certified 3 companies, Handheld Group, Handheld Europe, and Handheld Scandinavia. Please let me know if you want thorough explanations on the actual organisational structure. While we can put “check” on the ISO project we have more projects under development and even more coming up. These projects involve new revolutionising products, organisational structure and lots more. This is going to be an interesting year 🙂

The next milestone is a move to the US in September. In roughly two weeks, Johan and I will catch the flight to Corvallis, Oregon to start a new journey at the Handheld US subsidiary.  More on this is coming up…

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Overseas


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I just got back from The Netherlands…

Handheld Benelux is one of our subsidiaries and located in The Netherlands. The idea behind my trip to The Netherlands was to acknowledge how the Benelux colleagues are conducting business and implement the advantages to the relevant subsidiaries across the world.  Another reason of visiting the actual Benelux office was also to be part of an exceptional project with the idea of bringing that knowledge across several countries and states. I am truly amazed by the Dutch hospitality and the English skills. And of course World Cup started when I was there and the entire nation turned orange. Hup Holland:-)

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Practicalities


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There has been a lot of focus on the actual trainee program so I figured that some of you would be interest in the practicalities around our International Management Trainee Program.

HQ

Handheld headquarter is situated in Lidköping, Sweden which is roughly 1 ½ hour drive from Gothenburg and 4 hours from Stockholm. The apartments in Lidköping are rather cheap but there are also a lot of rentals if you prefer that.  When it comes to exercising and sports we play floorball (innebandy) weekly and all the Handheld employees has got free memberships at the local gym. There are also several local sport activities that anyone can join.

Overseas

Handheld stand for all the costs as accommodation, car, flights etc so you don’t have to worry about these kinds of practicalities. We always stay at nice hotels with access to gym & sauna etc. We also host an annual ski trip to the Alps where we catch up with all our international colleagues for a nice off-piste and one or two après-skis.

Something I forgot???    If so, please post a comment!

All the best

Christian

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Responsibility, responsibility, and responsibility


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        Welcome to the Handheld Trainee Blog

      

 

First 3 months

It’s been 3 rather hectic months with lots of responsibility and fun. I must say that the trainee program is more than I expected. I am already responsible for several major projects, i.e. Market Research/Entry Project, ISO certification Project, Product Development/Launch etc. It’s quite rare to be running several major and vital projects during the first months but being an SME means responsibility, multitasking, and pace. If you are a goal oriented person with an entrepreneurial mind who wants a rewarding and developing workplace; apply!

Me, Myself, and I

Before starting at Handheld I finished my Master’s degree in International Business from the University of Queensland, Australia. I lived in Australia for 5 years and when I approached Scandinavian soil in 2009 I realised that I needed a job with an international company. Handheld has subsidiaries and distributors across the world and the opportunities ends when you want them to end. I have already been in Austria, Germany and countries as US, Netherlands, and Asia is on the agenda.

Theory vs Practice

ITM Worldwide Foundation provides us with the theoretical part of the trainee program. The ITM lectures are held continuously throughout the program with approximately 12 sessions. These lectures are held by international industry professionals who teach for example Trade Finance, International Trade Strategies, and International Market Research.

Hope this gave you all a clear view of the first part of the program.

Kind regards

Christian

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