Elin Ringqvist - Traineeship at a distance

Elin studied media and communication science specializing in digital analysis and graduated in January 2021. The plan, from the beginning, was to go to the US in August 2020 and undertake a traineeship, but travel restrictions and lock-down made it impossible.

- I then postponed it in the hope of being able to go during the spring semester 2021, but it did not work then either, says Elin Ringqvist. The idea was from the beginning to do an traineeship on site, but then the opportunity arose to do a traineeship at a distance, and so it was.

Elin worked in the US as an au pair in 2015 and then discovered the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce. Her programme in media and communication science included a free semester so Elin applied for a traineeship at the Chamber in Atlanta and got it.

- Doing a traineeship at a distance has worked surprisingly well. Of course, I would have preferred to go to the US, but I have probably met more people now than I would have done if I had been there, says Elin Ringqvist. Now everyone is a call away and it has worked well with zoom and teams. Of course, the time difference has an impact, but I can still plan my days the way I want, if I want to work in the morning, I can. At 14:00 my day really starts, then it's 08:00 in Atlanta.

The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote trade and investment between Sweden and the United States.

- I like working with large companies and some of the companies that are part of the Chamber of Commerce are Ikea, Electa, Altas Copco and Thomas Betong, which are also located in Karlstad, says Elin Ringqvist. We connect companies so that they can benefit from each other and be able to do business.

The traineeship has been varied and Elin has had to do most things:

- I take care of marketing and events. I also take care of the contact with our members, our website and our social media where I publish all content. I have organized events with, among others, the Swedish Embassy in the USA, Volvo Cars, Gothenburg & Co and Amtrak

The end of the traineeship is rapidly approaching. Elin has prepared and applied for various jobs and also a master's program.

- I want to work with customers and with marketing, I am creative by myself and want to express it, says Elin Ringqvist. Just working with different companies is interesting because you meet so many different people. Of course, I can also imagine working abroad, but right now it is so uncertain with the pandemic, we will see what happens.