In Schisbsted we have thousands of employees all over the world, doing so many different things. Find out what some of them are working with right now.

“I like it when things are a bit hard”

In March 2018, a new personal finance service was launched from Schibsted growth; Hypoteket. Hypoteket offers digital housing loans – without involving any bank, and using Bank-ID for signing. “Many customers in Sweden are a bit unhappy with their banks, who have been making a lot money from them for a long time. We are a transparent and competitive alternative”, explains co-founder and CEO Carl Johan Nordquist. The transparency includes the same interest rate to everyone, and clarity in terms on who can get a loan. Pension funds and insurance companies are financing the loans.

And for them Schibsted has been an important partner behind the startup. “We need access to large amounts of capital so having a stable and trustworthy partner has been crucial.” The team worked on the project for two years before launch and Schibsted was involved from the start. The founders had already worked with another personal finance idea – Bolånegruppen – that didn’t take off. “I’m an engineer, but also a typical entrepreneur. I like it when things are a bit hard. And I guess it takes a bit of naivety to do things like this, otherwise you wouldn’t dare taking the risk”, he says. The challenge now is that the personal finance market is exploding, and others are starting to offer the same kind of services. “But we have a good head start, and it has gone really well so far.”

Name: Carl Johan Nordquist. Position: CEO at Hypoteket.
Years in Schibsted: 2. I look forward to: That The Killers haven’t given up, and are recording another album.

“We call our people advocates”

Roberto La Rosa has turned customer relations and customer insights around at Subito. Now decisions and development are based on their input. When Roberto joined Subito, customer care was outsourced. He brought it back in-house. “We call our people advocates – because they’re representing the customers’ voices”. The team talking to customers are challenged to read between the lines and really understand what lies behind a question. Then the journey to improve processes or the product begins. Every two weeks the customer team meets with the product team to give input. “When I started to speak to customers in 1999 I had the feeling that I knew things the management didn’t. So part of my mission is to close this gap, and to speak about how the customer center creates value.”

Name: Roberto La Rosa. Position: Head of Customer Care, Subito.
Years in Schibsted: 3. I look forward to: Automating and innovating the customer experience even more.

Simple rules to giving feedback

Dana Lin is an Employee Engagement Manager at Schibsted Marketplaces, where she looks after the employee feedback cycle and helps the team to build its culture – and she’s really into feedback. “I’d like to help people get into the habit of seeking and providing feedback on a continuous basis, and to feel comfortable doing so.” She is starting off with a semiannual feedback cycle in Schibsted Marketplaces, to provide the leadership with insights to build a better workplace. But she believes that what really makes a difference is feedback on a daily basis. “There are some simple rules to follow: ask if the person to whom you want to give feedback wants it, focus on the behavior instead of the person, and assume best intent.”

Name: Dana Lin. Position: Engagement Manager, Communications Marketplaces.
Years in Schibsted: 1/2. I look forward to: Touring around Italy and France with my mother!

Hiring talent gets tougher

There’s a big change going on in recruitment. Now the candidates are in power. The best candidates are getting multiple interviews and finding work quickly – they are picking and choosing employer. “This changes the whole recruitment process, and how we present ourselves. We need to meet new demands from the future workforce”, says Lena Berlin Stålhammar, Head of Talent Acquisition in Schibsted Media. How a candidate is experiencing a meeting is crucial, not only when it comes to getting the job or not, but to the brand itself. So Lena and her team are now implementing a tool that is measuring talents’ experience, giving them input on how to improve. And they are offering a training program to leaders on how to handle recruitments.

Name: Lena Berlin Stålhammar. Position: ead of Talent Acquisition, Media Division..
Years in Schibsted: 6. I look forward to: Being a part of future proofing recruitment in Schibsted by working more data driven.