Can you tell us a bit more about your background?
I studied at Aarhus University where I received my BSc. and Msc. in Economics and Business Administration, the latter with a focus on business intelligence. Currently, I am finishing the second rotation of my two-year graduate program at Centrica. When I started, I did not know much about the energy trading industry which I now do. It was very important to me that I would not be standing still. But energy trading is an industry with very rapid changes, and you have to deliver value and make decisions fast.
Just from a professional point of view, I have obtained a lot of great skills and knowledge from the program which I can further use in my career. At Centrica, there is a lot of freedom for the graduates to create the future and the profile they would like to have for themselves.
How has your time at Centrica impacted you?
Centrica wants to be the best player within the industry – so it needs people who are dedicated to being the best. When you start as a new employee in a company, you can feel a little overwhelmed. People know you are new and focus a lot on you acquiring knowledge. Graduates are always put a little under pressure – it is expected that you are the one trying to obtain a more holistic picture of the business. I think it is important that people don’t get overwhelmed by the steep learning curve. I knew these two years would have a lot of speed in them – but I am always up for a challenge.
Over time, you also become more and more significant within the company. They know you already have knowledge from another department – so maybe you can make a parallel to something they do at this department. As a graduate, you can connect the dots and put information into perspective, and then use it on a higher level and create value across the business. Experiencing this was a very exciting feeling.
But I am not just here to do my job and work in a big corporation; HR has also focused a lot on my personal development which was a surprise for me. I expected I knew who I was and who I would be for the next 30 years. But in a year and a half, I already changed and matured so much as a person. I moved to a new city where I hadn’t been before. I got my first full-time job after university where I am not only learning – which is what we do at the university, just obtain a lot of knowledge – but I am also using the knowledge in practice. You find yourself in different circumstances, you work with different people – so there is no other choice for you other than to adjust and learn.
You should have the eagerness to learn and be open to a very steep learning curve – after all, that is what you will be doing in the next two years. You should have a lot of drive – no job is too big, and no task is too small, so take any opportunity or challenge that comes your way.
How does it feel like to be a part of Centrica?
I am used to the work culture in Denmark. I like the way we work, the work-life balance, I like the fact that we have a very flat company hierarchy. I knew this was something Centrica was offering. There was also the option of me going to see their London headquarters and experience that atmosphere and way of working. I enjoyed the fact that we could combine the Danish work culture and the possibility of going international if that’s what I wanted.
At Centrica, they value their graduates a lot. We are not just seen as second-grade student employees, but we are on the same level as everybody else. Many people like to interact with the graduates – they are always interested in hearing about what department I am in now, or what would I like to do in the long run.
Is there a graduate network?
Some previous graduates who used to be a part of the program five or six years ago are now full-time employees. If it weren’t for Covid, we would have lunch once a month. Centrica also has a buddy program – one graduate from the older generation is paired with a graduate from the younger generation.
It should not be a mentor-mentee relationship but a means to help and facilitate more friendship at work. With this system, you always have someone to rely on or discuss the challenges and benefits of being a graduate with that fixed employees might not experience. The system is here for us to support and strengthen each other, to try and facilitate knowledge-sharing sessions.
What has been the biggest challenge of your experience?
I have always been the type to follow a very fixed schedule. The biggest challenge was that I had to understand that because we have such dynamic days, no two days will be the same. Currently, I sit on the trading floor of Centrica, and any trader will tell you that the market doesn’t look the same two days in a row. What we did yesterday might not be the strategy we will follow today. You must always be flexible and ready to take upon new challenges if they come in your direction.
What do you see as the biggest value of a graduate program?
There are many points of value in becoming a graduate – just maturing within the labor force is very valuable. When I graduated from university, there were quite a few different routes I could take, and I didn’t know exactly what would be the most fulfilling and make the most sense for me as a person.
A graduate program is perfect for people who don’t know what they want to do, and who want to have a holistic overview of what is going on in a business. Some people may look at graduate programs as wasting time but for me, it is not. It is a matter of you figuring out where your strengths are, and you are doing it within the industry.
I think it is important that people don’t get overwhelmed by the steep learning curve. I knew these two years would have a lot of speed in them – but I am always up for a challenge.
Do you have any advice for future graduates?
You should have the eagerness to learn and be open to a very steep learning curve – after all, that is what you will be doing in the next two years. You should have a lot of drive – no job is too big, and no task is too small, so take any opportunity or challenge that comes your way.
I would advise future graduates to reach out to us, other graduates. A graduate program feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – if you don’t get to do it after finishing university, you might not get to do it at all. You will get a completely different network and different understanding of the industry. I would not have switched it for a fixed position.
