Ina is passionate about building a better society and works for one of the world's leading project development and construction groups

Hi Ina, what are you working with at the moment?

I´m working at the construction company Skanska where I work with economy as a part of the renovation project of Kulturhuset in Stockholm at Sergels torg.

What can a regular day look like?

My days look very different, no day is the same. In construction, it is very important that everyone works together as a team. Since a construction project includes many different parts such as leading the construction, coordinating the installations, logistics, time management, economics and environmental factors it is important every person working within their area is well connected to each other. Good communication is instrumental for an effective project. As this is the case and there are many moving parts in construction, whatever is happening on the construction site changes my work from day to day depending on the situation. Since my responsibility is within economics, my job is to make sure our client gets as much bang for the buck as possible. Therefore, I try to find ways where the project can save money and be more cost effective. For example, one of the most important parts of my job is to steer the costs of production instead of just following the events that have happened. The difference is that if you only follow up, then you have no possibility to affect the economic result. If you find an area where there is a tendency for an increase in costs and you do something to try to push the costs down again, that´s how you affect the outcome and steer production. To be able to do this the project has to work as a team since every part of the production is connected and every action has consequences. I really enjoy my work because I have a lot of responsibility, I learn and develop every day and I have the best colleagues.

Why did you choose this programme?

I have always been interested in our society and wanted to be part of building a better community. In my job now I’m literality building and constructing a better society. What really made me interested in construction is being a part of something bigger, and physically being a part of building houses where people move in, have children and create memories for life. Another benefit is getting to be a part of building a preschool, creating new work environments and providing places where children meet their first friends. And with this programme at KTH I get to do exactly that.

Are there any insights that have been particularly useful in your career?

I think the best lesson I learned at KTH is how to learn. Learning how to process a lot of information and how to make a decent analysis fast has been extremely useful for my work. The ability to learn and being comfortable not knowing or understanding something completely, but comprehending that you can and will learn it, is probably the best knowledge I have acquired at KTH and is very useful in my career.

What were the best aspects of your studies at KTH?

I made friends for life.

What are your plans for the future?

To inspire more girls to start working in construction and one day to be in charge of my own construction project.

What would you say to a student applying for this programme?

Participate in welcome activities in the beginning. It is a really good way to find new friends. It is also important not to worry about not getting a good job after completing your studies. This is a great programme and KTH is a great school with a good reputation among companies. Last but not least, use old exams when studying for an exam!