Meet alumna Therese Niklasson
BSC & MSC IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Therese Niklasson didn't have a clue what she wanted to study. One day she stumbled upon Information Systems and fast forward to this day she holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in the field. Today, her days are filled with virtual reality, people and learning at IKEA Digital.
The programme gave me great tools and skills to understand the design of information systems that address important organizational and societal challenges. The programme also establishes good preconditions for enjoyable and broad career opportunities.
Therese, tell us about what you do today!
Today, I work at IKEA Digital in Malmö as a Learning Developer. As a learning developer I analyse competence needs and develop learning solutions to meet the needs in our global organization. Now, I am focusing and leading onboarding activities, so I make sure all new people joining IKEA Digital around the world in our digital hubs, have a great experience and start. To be more specific of one activity, we are using for example, VR (virtual reality) in our onboarding and I am a part of developing those learning needs and solutions in order to create a wow onboarding experience. The essence of the role is to make room for learning, to create conditions for us as co-workers to be our best - our most productive, creative, and happy. My role is a great combination of the IT and HR fields. I am supporting and working with people which I love, and I do it in combination with digital innovation.
What is the main reason you work with what you do?
Because I love people, and the reason I work at IKEA is that Ikea truly believes in people. IKEA places a lot of value and focus around entrepreneurship – we say that we are “160,000 entrepreneurs.” One of my biggest interests is also technology and working and supporting our digital department is then the perfect match for me.
My role is a great combination of the IT and HR fields. I am supporting and working with people which I love, and I do it in combination with digital innovation.
How did LUSEM prepare you for working life and a career within your field?
The field I studied - “Information systems”, is broad and studying different subjects and fields really helped me to experienced what is out there. The programme gave me great tools and skills to understand the design of information systems that address important organizational and societal challenges. The programme also establishes good preconditions for enjoyable and broad career opportunities.
What advice would you give yourself if you started your studies now?
I would give the advice not to stress. Students tend to stress each other and to compete against each other and especially in the class where I went. You choose what you want to do and become, what you are curious about and what suits you!
When I graduated and wanted to apply for a job, I finally decided not to apply for a specific role and think to much about my career steps. The most important for me became the company and its values and culture. I am so happy that I decided to join IKEA because now I am in a workplace where I am as passionate as my colleagues, that do everything!
