I moved to Koblenz, Germany, in the end of April 2016 for my third trainee placement, which I spent at the department “Strategy, Communication & Marketing” at Scania Deutschland GmbH.

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Germany is my home country, but I have never worked in Germany before. Thus, I was very excited to see what working for Scania would be like in Germany. Scania has an extremely Swedish organizational culture (for more information see my second blog entry: How to choose the right company) and although the organizational culture at Scania Germany is “Scania-like”, the differences between the two business cultures is still noticeable. My trainee placement in Germany was very structured and organized. Everything – from chair to computer – was ready to use upon my arrival. Furthermore, Scania Germany has very clear hierarchies and the language in meetings is more direct than in Sweden. The work tasks were quite varied reaching from administrative tasks to demanding projects, hence, I always had something to work on.

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I spent a lot of time on proof-reading all kinds of marketing material, such as brochures and press releases and even got to write the press release for the International ADAC Truck-Grand-Prix – a huge trucker festival taking place at famous Nürburgring – on my own. I also assisted the team “Business Intelligence & Sales Processes” with evaluating and summarizing the results of a questionnaire filled in by the Scania dealers in Germany.

However, the most interesting and valuable experience for me was being involved in the IAA project. The IAA is the world’s largest exhibition for commercial vehicles in Hanover, Germany, and takes place every second year. I assisted the project manager in planning the set-up of the marketing material as well as proof reading it. In addition, I coordinated a video shoot for a customer testimonial for the IAA. Being involved in the IAA project was a great preparation for my role as a stand manager at the IAA this year. Besides, the department “Strategy, Communication & Marketing” closely cooperates with my home department, “Marketing Communications” in Sweden. Hence, it was very interesting for me to work with my home department from a distributor perspective.

My third trainee placement also involved some travelling: I attended an IAA meeting in Sweden and visited the IFAT in Munich, which is the world’s leading trade fair for water, sewage, waste and raw materials management.

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I travelled to Frankfurt, to take part in the VDA International Press Workshop, where I met the top managers of the automotive industry, among others Andreas Renschler (Volkswagen AG, Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH) and Henrik Henriksson, the CEO of Scania. Moreover, I attended an award ceremony in Stuttgart, which was held by ETM, a publisher house, where Scania won a prize in the tipper category.

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A very interesting event to attend was the International ADAC Truck-Grand-Prix, which takes place at the Nürburgring in Germany every year.

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All in all, my trainee placement in Germany has been very valuable and I have learned a lot at Scania Germany in general and at the department “Strategy, Communication & Marketing” in particular. From day one, I felt like being part of the team and I can definitely imagine myself going back to Scania Germany for some time in the future.