My first weeks as a Finance Graduate

Hi!

My name is Laura Bisgaard, and I am a Finance Graduate from the 2024 batch. The Finance Graduate program was established in 2024, so the six of us are the first batch to be a part of the program. How lucky are we? I started in Arla two months ago and I am currently on my first rotation at Arla Foods Ingredients (AFI) in my home country, Denmark. The company Arla Foods Ingredients is a 100% owned subsidiary of Arla Foods and has the purpose to discover and deliver documented ingredients and products that can advance lifelong nutrition for the benefit of consumers around the world.

Development Camp: We are Arla

The first week of my journey at Arla was spent at the development camp themed "We are Arla" together with graduates from all programs. The camp took place at the headquarters in Viby, where I met 33 other graduates who were just as excited as I was to embark on our new journey together. The goal of the week was to learn about Arla in general and to prepare us for our new daily life as graduates, where our personal development is a high priority.

Throughout the week, we engaged in a variety of activities to learn about Arla. For example, we were introduced to the Arla culture by our Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Ola. We also tasted Arla products under the sun at Aarhus harbor, visited The Barn, Arla’s internal marketing agency, explored the Arla Innovation Center in Skejby, toured the diary site in Taulov, and many other activities. One of the activities that left the biggest impression on me was the farm visit near Gram Slot. Seeing the cows and observing the hard work the farmers do every day was truly valuable, as they are the reason we are here. Even though we had to get up at 4:45 a.m. to be there, the experience was completely worth it.

For the more program-specific part, we had a session on how the Finance Graduate Program will unfold over the next two years, we also had a coffee talk with our Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Torben, and discussed personal development, including reviewing our Hogan assessment, discussing personal branding, and writing a letter to our future selves.

My First Rotation

After an amazing development camp, I was excited to officially start my first rotation in the finance department at AFI. I had met most of my colleagues a couple of months before during a short introductory meeting and lunch. It was a nice setting to meet the team for the first time, so there were some familiar faces in the offices when I arrived the first day. The start was really great. I was welcomed with open arms by a team prepared for my arrival. A schedule for my first week was presented, meetings were arranged, and I slowly got introduced to some of the tasks and projects I will be working on over the next 12 months. Moreover, I was assigned to AFI introduction days as well. Since AFI is a separate company from Arla Foods, they arrange their own onboarding with three introduction days to understand the company better. This includes an introduction to AFI in general, a site visit with a tour around the production site and the innovation center, and an introduction to the commercial business.

Some of the tasks and projects I am currently working on include creating a new model for calculating insurance for business interruption, establishing a market intelligence Power BI for AFI, analyzing our Net Working Capital (NWC) and how it has developed, and helping with month-end tasks and forecasting.

Being a Finance Graduate

I consider myself very privileged to be part of the Finance Graduate Program. One of the main reasons why I applied for the program was the opportunity to explore different functions within finance and expand my network. I can hopefully narrow down which areas of finance I find most interesting and want to explore further when the program is over. Another reason was the focus on personal development, where we are given a unique opportunity to have access to a buddy, a mentor, a program manager, and a development manager. These resources are available to us for support and guidance on both personal and professional levels. Additionally, there are also networking and development courses once a quarter with other finance graduates from three other companies based in Denmark.

One of the benefits of the program is the close relationship with other like-minded individuals, where we can relate to each other. This results in the six of us finance graduates regularly meeting to catch up on how things are going for each of us. It is a great setting where we can discuss both challenges and successes, while also gaining more insight into the finance organization and various financial processes.

From Student to Full-Time Employee

The change from being a full-time student to becoming a full-time employee can be challenging to be honest. Personally, I went from almost three months of vacation to a fully booked schedule in the first two weeks with a lot of new information, new impressions and meeting new people. I was pretty tired in the evenings during the first couple of weeks. But after a new routine was established, this is no longer an issue. I look forward to coming to work and connecting with my colleagues every day.

There are also some differences in the social aspect. As a student you are used to being around peers at your own age who are often at the same stage in life as you are, but that is different in the workplace. In my team I am the youngest and some of my colleagues are up to 40 years older than me, and naturally, the topics of our conversations are different from those I had in school. However, that does not mean we do not have anything in common or cannot relate to each other. We had a really fun team event where we played shuffleboard and enjoyed some beers, and it just showed me that regardless of age and where you come from in the world, you can always find something that everyone finds fun. That was certainly the case here, and no one at the bar was in doubt about how much fun we were having. On another note, you are also introduced to 33 other graduates, which also creates the environment for establishing social events. There have already been various events arranged, like a Friday beer after work, drinks and dinner, or just lunch in the canteen at Arla.