Ida-Maja found her dream job in Science Park Skövde

Science Park Skövde is a playground for innovation that houses a variety of companies, many of which are focused on IT, tech, games, and smart industry. The transition from the university to Science Park Skövde is not far, and many former students work for companies in the park. One of them is Ida-Maja Dernestam.

Piktiv has around thirty employees in Skövde, and there is a feverish activity at the computer screens. Upstairs, with a large balcony overlooking the city, is the break room. Here, you can find Fatboy chairs and a ping pong table alongside offices and meeting rooms.

- Every workday starts with the company providing breakfast. It's a great way to start the day, and everyone truly socializes with each other here.

Ida-Maja acknowledges that she has a long job title: Talent Acquisition Specialist and Office Manager.

- A friend sent me a job advertisement for a marketing position, but it was at the company's office in Örebro, and I preferred to stay in Skövde. After a while, the same friend sent me another advertisement, this time for a position here in my hometown.

She applied for the job, and after the interview, it became clear that Ida-Maja had gotten the position with the long title.

- There are many young people working here, and I already knew some of them before I started. Piktiv is an IT consulting company that takes on project-based assignments and provides various IT solutions for other companies. Here, they employ system developers, programmers, and game developers who work in teams.

With her background in economics, Ida-Maja has different tasks.

- I'm really the spider in the web here. I "hunt" people, schedule interviews, work on event planning, and support my colleague in Örebro with social media. But above all, it's about recruitment because the company is growing rapidly, and this year, the plan is to hire around twenty more employees. It's also about retaining those who work here, ensuring that everyone feels comfortable, fits into the community and company culture. We do things together, and last winter, we went skiing in Trysil.

However, it wasn't always obvious that Ida-Maja would work for a company. She grew up in Hova, in northern Västergötland, and attended high school in Mariestad, where she studied healthcare and caregiving. Ida-Maja worked as a nursing assistant for a few years before deciding to make a complete change. From healthcare to economics.

- I became interested in the stock market, and that sparked my interest in learning more about business economics, not just accounting and financial reporting, but specifically marketing. Among other things, I became fascinated with how economics can influence people's behavior.

She had moved to Mariestad, a few miles from Skövde, and had many friends who were already studying at the University of Skövde, so the choice of institution was easy. Ida-Maja began studying Business Administration.

- I really enjoyed my time at the university; it's cozy and familiar. I was a student hero for my program and had various assignments during the introduction for new students. I spent a lot of time at the Student Union, and I was a student representative on the university's board for two years. I was also involved in the Career Fair, Framtid.

During her studies, Ida-Maja initially thought she would primarily work in marketing after graduation.

- Even though I work a lot with recruitment, I find my education valuable, especially the courses in management, marketing, and organizational theory. It's exciting to see how the models I've studied actually work in reality. I'm an extroverted person who enjoys meeting people, building networks, and likes when things happen - and that is also beneficial in this job.