Stockholm School of Economics in Riga Students' Magazine

Jevgenia, an SSE Riga graduate, has been working in Nokia for 2 years. She shared her experience of surviving in a big corporation and also gave some pieces of advice to our students.

Nokia

Already during Year 1 (in 2005-2006) I’ve heard about working in Nokia Siemens Networks (later NSN) from some SSE Riga graduates who were employed by Nokia NET before the two giants merged in Telecom industry. It seemed to be a dream job because those guys were bouncing around the world in never ending business trips, and, not surprisingly, it really appealed to a young and curious person like me. Kristian, the head of Global CFO BE Deployment & Support team, has had a very special relationship with SSE Riga for many years: on the initiative of Kristian, Nokia continuously was a golden sponsor of PeakTime... During Peak Time 2008 an e-mail came from SSE Riga almost-graduate who was already employed by NSN. He wrote about an opportunity to have an interview and work for it. It was the day of Peak Time party, so at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. I had a word with this guy and asked to add my name to the applicants list. Right after that - I can’t remember very well how, though - I managed to get home and proofread and send my CV (which I’m sure nobody ever opened), set an alarm clock (!), and at noon I had my interview with Kristian. Yes, certainly I was curious about this job, but it was so unexpected that I remained very calm and relaxed. It was more a conversation with a potential employer when he tried to give a short introduction into the cryptic job lying ahead, and as a matter of fact I was asking more questions than talking about my ‘qualities and strengths’. We agreed that we will meet again in 1-1.5 months when he’d be back to Riga again, and that was it. Next, we met in the middle of June (meanwhile I’ve asked about life in NSN), and I made up my mind. I was to start in September 2008 after a long and lazy summer break.   

The beginning

It was interesting and exciting to start working in NSN but at the same time quite difficult, I should admit. I had a long vacation right before the start and was in a very good and unstressed mood. Well, the unstressed mood has changed very fast. You would understand this when you start working in a multinational company for the first time.

Corporate slang

First of all, they speak a different language - the corporate language of acronyms and abbreviations, and the only way to learn it is by working with it every day. The beginning is painful - you need to ask every second word from your colleagues to get the meaning of the sentence. And of course the job specifics add to this complexity - my department is dealing with Finance & Control Deployment & Support. This area is extremely technical, e.g. my position official name is: ERP F&C RPDM, Global CFO BE Deployment & Support. Also, internally we are referred to as RPMs, RCMs, RCOs, PDSs, Tier2, and so on... Maybe there are some other names to remember. Actually this is very normal for corporate language, but when it is your first experience of such kind, it is quite amusing & confusing to deep-dive.  

Weight your words

The corporate world is very political. And it also depends on the region, I believe. From my experience, you have to weight every word, and what you say always depends on whom you are talking to. You really need to be careful in understanding where you are, spotting your colleagues ‘limits’. With some it is fine to say “sh*t” when you are emotional, but with some it is unacceptable. In a corporation you might work with a very diverse group of people, and it is fine to be open and informal, but what may seem to you ‘normal and relaxed’, may be ridiculous and insulting to others. Believe me, there is no need to tell your line manager how much you’ve been partying during your first business trip and how many shots you had last night. People have very different views on these things, and even if your work is perfect, for some this may not always be enough. “Big brother” is watching you, even after office hours, especially if you are on a business trip and company invests into your enabling. They prefer to be sure that they are not wasting money, and you are taking it seriously.  

Promises they will never fulfill

During a job interview most probably you will be brainwashed about endless opportunities and bonuses that you will get - growth, benefits packages, etc. In reality, you will get only what is formalized and is quantitative in your job agreement. It will take you a long and exhausting fight to implement the paragraphs with abstract definitions. It also depends on who you talk to during your interview, if it is the head of some global department, he or she might be just not familiar with your local legislation. Your local HR (which in many cases is dealing with anything else but people management), however, will find a way and justification to avoid materializing your promised paradise. This is not because they are evil, but because companies are saving money (especially nowadays), and in multinationals you have ‘guidelines and concepts’ that are implemented locally. Every concept has a limitation and a room for interpretation; and one should have guts to take a risk and interpret it in a way that will result in a higher expenditure for the company. It does not mean, though, that you should not give it a try - just keep your expectations realistic. And, of course, keep in mind that there are armies of fresh new graduates like you, and before getting a candy you need to prove that you are worth it. So this all makes your start much more complicated.  

A big big girl in a big big world

You are 21-23 when you graduate. And this is young for a corporation, really young. Of course, a lot of depends on a position you start with. Mine could be described as “an expert in internal processes”. Technically, one part of the job is to go to different countries and people (most of them are at least 10 years older than me) and train them how to do things correctly in the system of corporation. There is a sort of psychological barrier for some to be taught by someone as young as I am. And I really recommend you not to disclose your age to everyone.

It is also normal that people make mistakes; and there might be cases when colleagues you are working with in a project are making mistakes which affect you. And there’s nobody else around but you to tell this. It may be sometimes painful to receive such feedback for a person who is more experienced than you. In my first project I had a case of such misunderstanding; it took me a lot of patience to mitigate the conflict and “swallow” comments about my age and experience, which other person made. And I am not the only one who has faced such a situation.  

More about responsibilities

So, as I already said, I work in F&C Deployment and Support team. Since Nokia NET & Siemens COM merged in telecom industry, we align the two former companies to one Mode of Operation. There is a huge internal project ongoing, it is quite exciting to realize that you are directly participating in one of the greatest current Change Management projects in the world. One part of this Change Management process is ERP Deployment: primitively speaking, it takes money to maintain all those systems, and you minimize your IT costs significantly having only one type of software for ERP. This is not only about creating a correct tool modification, but also about training people, identifying local specifics and deviations from our prescribed global Mode of Operation; finding ways to satisfy local legal requirements, but at the same time also stay within our standards. This is what my team deals with. ERP team is like aliens coming and setting new standards, the local businesses follow the new way. That’s what makes me travel quite a lot. It is not always so easy, though, of course we try to cut travel costs and every cent that we spend is closely monitored, but it is unreasonable to do some tasks remotely so we try to find a way to spend the least but get the best outcome. I can tell you that I am still not so tired of traveling after 1.5 years, but it is annoying to pack-and-repack too often, and searching for a new apartment every half year may be “slightly” stressful. But I am not complaining at all. I generally enjoy new places, I like meeting new people, I left a big piece of my heart in Budapest with new-found friends. And I should say that the work itself is quite interesting; my brain is always active and searching for solutions. I think I have also learned to be much more patient than I used to be.

Jevgenija Lakisova