Back in Sthlm


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Phew, a short post.

Back from the road. Don’t get me wrong, I love to travel, but just like ice cream there is a limit where it starts to wear on you:

Stockholm-Amsterdam-Brussels-Stockholm-Umeå-Örnsköldsvik-Kittelfjäll-Stockholm-Ringhals-Trollhättan-Stockholm-Lindvallen-Stockholm-Umeå-Stockholm, with a maximum of 3 nights in one place.

Highs: energy politics in Brussels with visits to the parliament and the commission, climbing a 110m wind plant, passing through to the reactive side at a nuclear plant, vaca in the Swedish mountains, working at a sunny ski-event in Lindvallen.

Lows: repacking, shortage of sleep, my car breaking down on the way to the car dealership (two words you don’t want to hear from your mechanic: “motor salad”), speeding ticket (the expensive kind).

Now I’m back at the office in Stockholm trying to play catch up with my regular duties; not the most pleasant feeling I must conclude. As mentioned, a short post this time. Now when I’m back in Sthlm my blog frequency will hopefully increase. If not, then I’m officially a terrible blogger.

Some pics from the last few weeks:

Parlaiment and dinner in Brussels

Stroll in Brussels and vacation in Swedish mountains (Kittelfjäll)

Vacation

Plague or cholera? (wind plant)

Have a great weekend!

/Marcus

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Back and forth


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Friday!

Another week has passed, and it’s been a hectic one. I spent the whole week at the Stockholm office, working on getting my Product & Pricing projects off the ground. I have a lot to take care of since I’ll be out of the Stockholm office for about 3 weeks starting next week. However, I don’t mind one bit, just love working with pricing and product development.

As mentioned earlier, my upcoming weeks will be out of the Stockholm office, and I’m really looking forward to it. My upcoming schedule:

Monday morning: seriously early flight to Amsterdam where I’ll meet up with my trainee colleagues for four days of seminars, training and study visits to different parts of the Vattenfall value chain. Friday we’re all going to Brussels to stopover at our Belgian office and visit the European Parliament. Hopping on the 6.45 flight back to Stockholm, re-pack my bags and get a few hours of sleep. Saturday an even earlier wake-up call awaits and I’ll, hesitantly, get in my car to drive up to Umeå in the north of Sweden (where I’m originally from). I’ll work at the Umeå office on Monday and then, in the evening, I’ll take my car and drive up to Kittelfjäll for a few well deserved days of vacation. Well deserved according to me at least. And yes, I’ll be the judge of that.

Next Monday I’ll meet up with my Swedish trainee colleagues in the Gothenburg (Kittelfjäll-Stockholm-Gothenburg) area to visit Ringhals nuclear plant, a wind farm and a wave power plant. Tuesday evening it’s back to Stockholm to re-pack my bags again and get ready for an early drive to Sälen Wednesday morning. In Sälen I’ll work with a Vattenfall sponsored event, Ski Funtastic, for a few days. If you happened to be in Sälen at the time, please stop by our tent to say hello!

Puh. That’s a lot of travelling come to think of it. Pretty sure the Stockholm office will feel like a blessing the week after that.

Playtime is over, time to get some work done so I don’t have to spend the next three weeks on my cell.

Ah, just remembered, subsequent to writing this, that a promised a description of the recruitment process. Next time, promise. See it as a cliff-hanger.

I’ll get back to you guys soon, take care till then!

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The past week


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I thought I would try to describe a week of non-trainee related work.

So, what has happened since last Friday? Not that I managed to blog last Friday or anything, but for the sake of the argument, imagine I did.

Last Saturday the alpine branch of the ever so appreciated sports club at Vattenfall, Vattenfalls IF, organized a trip to Romme Alpine in Dalarna, Sweden. Me and a few fellow colleagues accepted the offer and endured the 5.30 am wake-up call while praying to the weather gods. And boy did that pay off, clear skies and -1 celcius. Turned out to be a perfect day in the slopes. Sign me up for next year!

The normal work-week then started off Monday by an even earlier wake-up call to catch the early flight to Helsinki. Spent the day at the Helsinki office, unfortunately without any opportunity to see what the city had to offer. Me and me colleague Sven had a very productive day of meetings. So inspiring to see a different market, with its’ pros and cons. Back in Sweden just in time for dinner.

Another notable activity I have undertaken this week is the highly prestigious Power Grid challenge. I would be the first guy to admit to its geekyness, but yes, it’s a board game about building power plants. Like Monopoly meets Risk meets the electricity industry. Like I said it is a very prestigious battle at the office, unfortunately 3-time champion Håkan snagged the victory right in front of my nose. Cried myself to sleep that night.

Other than that I have spent the week working on my projects, late nights and early mornings. Just like I like it. I guess that phase will pass 🙂

I have gotten requests to explain the trainee requirement process, which I will do. So keep your eyes open people.

Till then, have a great weekend!

/Marcus

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Vattenfall International Trainee Program


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Greetings,

If you accidently have stumbled across this blog, welcome! If you actually intended to visit this blog, even more welcome! If you are a bot attempting to spam the comment field, not so welcome.

Since this is my blog-debut I will, in coherence with decent manners, introduce myself. As the header above may reveal, my name is Marcus Hedman. I am originally from Umeå in the north of Sweden. Not as north as they come, but still pretty cold. I began my bachelor studies at BI Norwegian School of Management (Handelsøyskolen BI) in Oslo where I studied international marketing for 3 years including one full year at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. I then fulfilled a M.Sc. in what now is called International Management. This included one year in Oslo and one year with more economical and financial studies at ESCP-Europe in Paris, France.

This little cocktail led my to this – Vattenfall’s international trainee program, which I now am half way of completing. Actually feels a bit sad to say. The latter part, that is.

My first six month has been rather hectic, full of information and so much fun. My colleague Johanna Häägg has already described our first seminar weeks, so I will spare you the details and give you the short version:

1st week: Stockholm, Älvkarleby and Forsmark with visits to hydro- and nuclear plants.
2nd week: Berlin, Lübbenau and Cottbus with visits to a CCS plant (carbon capture and storage) and a lignite mine.
3rd week: Warsaw with a visit to a CHP plant (combined heat and power).

Besides the producing part of the value chain, we have also undergone management training and teambuilding, visited other offices, visited external companies, etcetera etcetera. On top of this I have had the opportunity to get to know my fellow trainee colleagues from Finalnd, Poland, Germany, Holland and Ireland.

Aside from the trainee program I am hired as a business analyst at “product and pricing” within sales. Me and my colleagues here are involved in product development, product management and pricing. Right up my alley.

I have also done an “assignment” connected to the trainee program where I spent two months in Asset Optimisation and Trading, a great opportunity to get to know the organization.

I could go on for hours, but I will spare you guys and stop here for a while. But please let me know what you would like to know about Vattenfall, the trainee program, or just life in general.

I once heard that a blog is as good as its update frequency. Not really, just made that up. But nevertheless, I will try to keep a good flow of information coming your way.

Stay tuned.
/Marcus

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