I originally come from Jutland, but I moved to Copenhagen to begin my studies in Business Administration & Psychology at Copenhagen Business School. I was attracted by the combination of business courses and psychology and how they complement each other.
➔ Hiring! Ørsted are hiring graduates right now. Click here for more details on the programme. Deadline 13 January.
I went on to study my MSc in International Marketing and Management at CBS. Students often choose a career within consulting or marketing after graduating, but I wanted something else, which is why I started to look into different graduate programmes.
During my studies I held a part-time role at Dentsu Aegis and I was also Vice Chairman for CBS students, and through these roles I learned the importance and value of getting work experience while studying. Both experiences also played an important role as a foundation for applying to different graduate programmes, why I can highly recommend getting work experience or/and being involved in voluntary work if your studies allow you the time for it.
What attracted you to the company and their graduate programme?
First of all, I was attracted to the Ørsted Graduate programme because of the structure of the programme and the fact that you are continuing your education in some way. You can look at the graduate programme as an extension to your studies as you enter the job market, but through a programme that has a clear plan and structure to it.
I heard about the Ørsted Graduate Programme through a presentation, where they described how they had made some changes to the programme based on learnings and experiences from previous programmes. The fact they had re-build their graduate programme and learned from their experiences to create the best possible programme was very appealing to me.
I also liked the fact that graduates in Ørsted can be placed in HR-roles and not only in specific departments. This makes it a lot easier to work on the projects/departments you want to, because the specific projects and departments don’t have to “find a budget” to take us in.
Finally, I found Ørsted’s transformation into a global green energy leader very exciting. It is inspiring to be a part of a company that is impacting and leading the world with a sustainable agenda.
You can look at the graduate programme as an extension to your studies as you enter the job market, but through a programme that has a clear plan and structure to it.
What does a typical day look like?
It’s difficult to say what a typical day of mine looks like, but I think you can divide it into two kind of days:
1) Beginning to a rotation
In the beginning of a rotation you are obviously new to the team and it takes a bit of time before you are fully onboarded and understand what that division does. I think it’s very important in this phase that you are proactive and spend a lot of time getting to know your teammates and what they are working on. Try to identify the places where you can add value – this might not be leading entire projects but helping out where it is needed.
As with anything new this can be a challenge as you might feel you are not delivering that much value early on, but it’s part of the process of joining a new team.
2) End of a rotation
To me it is a golden turning point when you move from being the new person to suddenly being an integrated and experienced player and being able to add value to the team and projects. Suddenly you feel that you have more structure in your workdays and is more aligned with the projects in terms of stakeholders, deadlines and deliverables.
What has been the most exciting project you have worked on so far?
I’m currently working on a very interesting project regarding a wind park off the coast of Germany. My role is to project manage and own the governance processes making sure that all stakeholders are aligned and that we are moving forward according to the plan. It’s a very complex process as you are managing and communicating with stakeholders from a wide variety of departments.
It has been very exciting to be part of the project from the beginning and leading up to the final investment decision. I have attended a lot of meetings and witnessed how senior managers make decisions and how they deal with adversity.
What has been the biggest challenge as a graduate?
It can be a challenge to settle in the beginning of every new rotation. Normally you have 3 rotations of 9 months, but I had 4 rotations of 6 months each. Time flies very quickly, and before you know it you are on to your next rotation. Sometimes it feels as if you are just getting settled when you have to move again, and it is important that you can share and discuss this with your manager and speak openly about how you feel.
On the other side, I also truly believe that the structure of the programme is the one of the best things about it, as you get to work and experience many different parts of the business and meet a lot of interesting people across the organization.
What has been a thing that has surprised you about the programme?
As a student assistant, I was very used to having simple and clear tasks that I needed to complete – often on my own. As a full-time employee in an organization like Ørsted I have come to understand how dependent you are on the people around you. It’s a very complex business we operate in, and I most often need to reach out to colleagues from other departments in order to complete my tasks and move projects forward.
Did you apply for multiple programmes?
I applied for a few other programmes, but I signed with Ørsted before the process for the other programmes were initiated.
➔ Hiring! Ørsted are hiring graduates right now. Click here for more details on the programme.
