Excellerate is a great way to work towards a position in senior management, but Ludvig Landgren advises potential applicants not to expect a "free ride."
Ludvig, who works as account manager for SingTel fixed networks in Singapore, learnt of the Ericsson program while looking for work in an international environment in 1999. Previous to this, he had worked for TetraPak in Singapore and Switzerland.
He had not thought specifically of Ericsson, but was quickly impressed when told of the Excellerate program by a recruitment agency.
"It looked like an interesting approach to international management and far more advanced than other programs I'd looked into," he says. "It looked like Ericsson was making a serious effort to have an international-standard management program."
His initial positive impressions were only reinforced after he started. "It was a great start in Ericsson, the program was very professional. The program director had significant experience and there was a lot of senior management attention, which was very useful."
He started with a business unit rotation in Sweden, moved on to a market unit rotation in Mexico, then a customer rotation in the UK with Vodafone. "The travel was a great component of the course."
Having already attained a Master of International Business Administration degree and bachelor-level qualifications in business computer science, Ludvig says he really appreciated the way the course coupled academic skills with his work.
He advises anyone taking the program to really grasp the opportunity. "This is no free ticket to senior management, although it certainly supports you in doing it. You have to be prepared to face challenges and break ground. It's really all up to you."
