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Turning Challenge into Opportunity – How IKEA use Internship for Competence Development

While implementing a program like Jobbsprånget within an organisation may seem like a challenge, IKEA has turned it into an opportunity for leadership training and competence development. Their Range and Product Development Talent Leader, Tony Carlsson, shares how IKEA has systemised the program within their organisation.

Why did IKEA decide to join Jobbsprånget? 

We have always been interested in diversity and Jobbsprånget is one way to attract even more diversity.

If we are developing products for the whole world, we need people from the whole world. This is one way of reaching even more diversity; people that may have a different background than people that we are normally attracting.

How did you start the programme within the organisation?

There is a lot of initaitives that wants to work with us, and we often say no. But with this programme being extra interesting the challenge was to open the door for the first time, but once it was open and we had good experiences, then it is easier to spread within the organisation.

We thought the best thing for IKEA was to do a small pilot. So we decided to do that, and found some people who were really interested in the programme. Then we just threw ourselves in and went all the way.

How has Jobbsprånget been implemented within IKEA so far?

We really try to make the most out of Jobbsprånget. The way we do it is we utilise the supervisors from IKEA. We see Jobbsprånget as a really good way of practising leadership. Our supervisors have been more or less into a leadership training, they have been with us all the way from writing the internship ads, screen the candidates, book and perform the interviews, plan the onboarding and coach and mentor the candidates along the way. We have seen such a great development in leadership with these supervisors.

What has been the best thing about Jobbsprånget?

I think the energy and the passion of the people we have met through Jobbsprånget has been fantastic. I can’t really see any difference in competence between Jobbsprånget candidates compared to the people we normally recruit.

Learn more about the programme and how to participate here.

What is Jobbsprånget?

Jobbsprånget is a national programme that matches foreign-born academics with the competence needs of employers all over Sweden. 

By participating, employers have the opportunity to easily harness the expertise of relevant candidates who are currently outside the labor market.

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