Identifying Key Factors for a Successful Trainee Program Anchored in the Perception of Former Trainees Masters Thesis in Learning and Leadership JOEL NILSSON & MADELENE TÖRNKVIST DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND LEARNING IN SCIENCE CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Gothenburg, Sweden 2025 www.chalmers.se www.chalmers.se Masters Thesis 2025 Identifying Key Factors for a Successful Trainee Program Anchored in the Perception of Former Trainees JOEL NILSSON & MADELENE TÖRNKVIST Department of Communication and Learning in Science Chalmers University of Technology Gothenburg, Sweden 2025 Identifying Key Factors for a Successful Trainee Program Anchored in the Perception of Former Trainees JOEL NILSSON & MADELENE TÖRNKVIST © JOEL NILSSON & MADELENE TÖRNKVIST, 2025. Supervisors: Maria Cervin-Ellqvist, Department of Communication and Learning in Science & Jan Johansson, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB Examiner: Philip Gerlee, Department of Mathematical Sciences Master Thesis 2025 Department of Communication and Learning in Science Chalmers University of Technology SE-412 96 Gothenburg Sweden Telephone +46 31 772 1000 Cover: A simplified chart of the results. Typeset in LATEX, template by Kyriaki Antoniadou-Plytaria Gothenburg, Sweden 2025 iv Identifying Key Factors for a Successful Trainee Program Anchored in the Perception of Former Trainees JOEL NILSSON & MADELENE TÖRNKVIST Department of Communication and Learning in Science Chalmers University of Technology Abstract One common way to introduce newly graduated students into workplaces is through trainee programs. Although there is a wide variety of trainee programs, there is a lack of research on the factors influencing their effectiveness. The aim of this thesis has been to identify key factors for a successful trainee program from the trainees perspective. The aim has been evaluated and in relations to the trainees’ learning experience, motivation and how they experienced the transition from trainee pro- gram to regular employment. The result is anchored in the perception of former trainees, and to ensure a broad perspective, 13 former trainees from 6 different large organizations in Sweden were interviewed. The interviews were semi-structured and analyzed using a thematic analysis. The analysis yielded the following insights: the former trainees valued being given space to explore and learn within the organiza- tions, in addition to having a supportive structure provided by the trainee programs. The former trainees believed that the trainee programs facilitated skill development and helped them establish a network that gave them an advantage in their work after the programs. Furthermore, they appreciated the strong cohesion with the other trainees at their organization. Along with how the trainee programs accom- modated for the trainees’ needs, a successful trainee program was also linked to the trainees’ perceived ability to contribute to the organization. Thus, this thesis high- lights essential factors for a positive trainee experience and offers useful guidance for organizations developing their own trainee programs. Keywords: TRAINEE, TRAINEE PROGRAM, LEARNING, MOTIVATION, TAL- ENT RETENTION, STEM, SKILL GAP v Acknowledgements This thesis is conducted in collaboration with RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB, and we would like to thank everyone at RISE for their warm welcome, their ping-pong table and their curiosity for trainee programs. The time they have taken to listen to us, and to share their own thoughts has been incredible. We would also like to thank the 13 former trainees that were interviewed, and the 6 organizations that took part in the thesis for their participation and their interest. Especially, we would like to thank our two supervisors Maria Cervin-Ellqvist at Chalmers and Jan Johansson at RISE. Thanks to Jan, we together shaped this project and gave us the opportunity to do this thesis work. For the project, he provided valuable connections with incredible people that has not only increased the value of the project, but enriched our own experience. He truly made our time with this thesis work unforgettable, and despite being Frölunda/Brynäs supporter (depends on who wins), has brought us amazing support. Maria has done an in- credible work in guiding and helping us during all phases in this project and has given us a tremendous support for the report writing. Maria and Jan, you have not only made us feel safe and cared for in this project, you have inspired us in many ways, both professionally and personally by being the kind and driven people you are. This thesis would not have been possible without you! Lastly, we would like to show gratitude for our family and friends for their sup- port during the period of this thesis work. Altogether, the support and interest you have shown has helped us conduct this work with great motivation and enthusiasm, thank you all! Joel Nilsson & Madelene Törnkvist, Gothenburg, May 2025 vii List of Acronyms Below is the list of acronyms that have been used throughout this thesis listed in alphabetical order: AI Artificial intelligence RISE RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB RQ Research question ORQ Overarching research question SDT Self-Determination Theory STEM Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ix List of Figures 2.1 Illustration of overlapping of the three dimensions in this study. . . . 5 3.1 An illustration of the differences between inductive and deductive approaches for data collection and analysis. The Example of ques- tion are taken from the actual interview guide, while the Example of trainee answer and Example of defined theme are fictional and included for illustrative purposes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.2 An illustration of the thematic analysis process, including the differ- entiation of themes based on the specific research questions and the overarching research question, using color coding. . . . . . . . . . . . 21 4.1 The overall structure of the results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 4.2 The structure of the results for 4.1 RQ1 - Learning experience. The research question is divided into three themes 4.1.1 Learning Areas, 4.1.2 Work Conditions and Task Design and 4.1.3 Professional Sup- port, each of which is further broken down into several subcategories. 24 4.3 Overview of the theme 4.1.1 Learning Areas, with the subcategories 4.1.1.1 Organization och Industry Knowledge, 4.1.1.2 Soft Skills, 4.1.1.3 Practical Skills and 4.1.1.4 Technical Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 4.4 Overview of the theme 4.1.2 Work Conditions and Task Design, with the subcategories 4.1.2.1 Purposeful Projects and Assignments, 4.1.2.2 Self-Initiative in Rotations Placement, 4.1.2.3 Self-Initiative in Work and Task Decisions and 4.1.2.4 Balance in Workload Intensity. . . . . 30 4.5 Overview of the theme 4.1.3 Support, with the subcategories 4.1.3.1 Supervisor, 4.1.3.2 Immediate Manager, 4.1.3.3 Regular Employees and 4.1.3.4 Trainee Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 4.6 The structure of the results for 4.2 RQ2 - Motivation. The research question is divided into three themes 4.2.1 Autonomy, 4.2.2 Compe- tence and 4.2.3 Relatedness, each of which is further broken down into several subcategories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 4.7 Overview of the theme 4.2.1 Autonomy, with the subcategories 4.2.1.1 Influence and Ownership Over Program Segments, 4.2.1.2 Freedom to Take Initiative and 4.2.1.3 Need for Framework. . . . . . . . . . . 43 4.8 Overview of the theme 4.2.2 Competence, with the subcategories 4.2.2.1 Desire to Contribute and 4.2.2.2 Use of Previous Competencies. 46 xi List of Figures 4.9 Overview of the theme 4.2.3 Relatedness, with the subcategories 4.2.3.1 Trainee Culture, 4.2.3.2 Working with Regular Employees and 4.2.3.3 Emotional support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 4.10 The structure of the results for 4.3 RQ3 - Transition to Employ- ment. The research question is divided into three themes 4.3.1 Role Change Process, 4.3.2 Connection to Organization and 4.3.3 Contin- uous Progression, each of which is further broken down into several subcategories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 4.11 Overview of the theme 4.3.1 Role Change Process, with the subcate- gories 4.3.1.1 Shaping the Role, 4.3.1.2 Clarity or Autonomy in Role Placement and 4.3.1.3 Soften the Transition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 4.12 Overview of the theme 4.3.2 Connection to Organization, with the subcategories 4.3.2.1 Connection to Other Trainees, 4.3.2.2 Organi- zational Network and 4.3.2.3 Knowledge of Organization . . . . . . . 54 4.13 Overview of the theme 4.3.1 Connection to Organization, with the subcategories 4.3.3.1 Need for Development and 4.3.3.2 Offering Func- tional Employment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 4.14 The structure of the results for 4.4 ORQ - Overarching Research Ques- tion. The result is divided into four themes; 4.4.1 Space to Explore and Learn, 4.4.2 Work Advantages 4.4.3 Support and Structure, and 4.4.4 Cohesion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 4.15 One of four themes for the overarching key factors: 4.4.1 Space to Explore and Learn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 4.16 One of four themes for the overarching key factors: 4.4.2 Work Ad- vantages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 4.17 One of four themes for the overarching key factors: 4.4.3 Support and Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 4.18 One of four themes for the overarching key factors: 4.4.4 Cohesion. . 62 4.19 An illustration of connection between the overarching key factors for a successful trainee program and subcategories from results within the dimensions of the three research questions RQ1, RQ2, and RQ3. . 64 xii List of Tables 3.1 An outline of the seven questions sequences in the interview guide. The Theory Framework highlights the components of SDT that are reflected in the interview questions. The whole interview guide is found i Appendix A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.2 A summary of the former trainees’ descriptions of their engineering programs and the quantity of former trainees that attended such pro- gram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3.3 A profile of the former trainees participating in this study. This includes: the former trainees’ pseudonym, duration of their trainee programs, and their organizational affiliation A-F. . . . . . . . . . . . 17 4.1 A summary of the 13 former trainees’ answers to the question ”What is the most important component for a successful trainee experience?”. In the responses: 2 mentioned 1 component, 5 mentioned 2 compo- nents, 2 mentioned 3, 3 mentioned 4, and 1 mentioned 5. . . . . . . . 63 xiii Contents List of Acronyms ix List of Figures xi List of Tables xiii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 Aim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.3 Specification of the Issue Being Investigated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.4 Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.4.1 Perspective of the Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.4.2 Profile of Examined Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.4.3 Definition of Trainee Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.4.4 Structure and Reading Guide of This Thesis . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 Theoretical Framework and Previous Research 5 2.1 Learning in STEM Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.1.1 Learning Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.1.2 Mentorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.1.3 Experiential Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.2 Motivation and Self-Determination Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.3 Transition to Regular Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.3.1 Contrasting Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.3.2 Unfulfilled Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3 Methodology 12 3.1 Choice of Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.3 Semi-Structured Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.3.1 Interview Questions and Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.3.2 Selection of Former Trainees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.3.3 Selection of and Differences in Trainee Programs . . . . . . . . 17 3.3.4 Conduction of Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.4 Thematic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.4.1 Conduction of Thematic Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 xiv Contents 4 Results 22 4.1 RQ1 - Learning Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 4.1.1 Learning Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 4.1.1.1 Organization and Industry Knowledge . . . . . . . . 25 4.1.1.2 Soft Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 4.1.1.3 Practical Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 4.1.1.4 Technical Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 4.1.2 Work Conditions and Task Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 4.1.2.1 Purposeful Projects and Assignments . . . . . . . . . 30 4.1.2.2 Self-Initiative in Rotations Placement . . . . . . . . 32 4.1.2.3 Self-Initiative in Work and Task Decisions . . . . . . 33 4.1.2.4 Balance in Workload Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 4.1.3 Professional Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 4.1.3.1 Supervisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 4.1.3.2 Immediate Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 4.1.3.3 Regular Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 4.1.3.4 Trainee Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 4.2 RQ2 - Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 4.2.1 Autonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 4.2.1.1 Influence and Ownership Over Program Segments . . 43 4.2.1.2 Freedom to Take Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 4.2.1.3 Need for Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 4.2.2 Competence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 4.2.2.1 Desire to Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 4.2.2.2 Use of Previous Competencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4.2.3 Relatedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4.2.3.1 Trainee Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 4.2.3.2 Working with Regular Employees . . . . . . . . . . . 49 4.2.3.3 Emotional support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 4.3 RQ3 - Transition to Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 4.3.1 Role Change Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 4.3.1.1 Shaping the Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 4.3.1.2 Clarity or Autonomy in Role Placement . . . . . . . 52 4.3.1.3 Soften the Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 4.3.2 Connection to Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 4.3.2.1 Connection to Other Trainees . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 4.3.2.2 Organizational Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 4.3.2.3 Knowledge of Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 4.3.3 Continuous Progression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 4.3.3.1 Need for Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 4.3.3.2 Offering Functional Employment . . . . . . . . . . . 57 4.4 ORQ - Overarching research question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 4.4.1 Space to Explore and Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 4.4.2 Work Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 4.4.3 Support and Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 4.4.4 Cohesion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 xv Contents 4.4.5 Overview of Key Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 5 Discussion 65 5.1 Discussion and Analysis of Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 5.1.1 Learning in STEM Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 5.1.1.1 Skill Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 5.1.1.2 Mentoring and Experiential Learning . . . . . . . . . 67 5.1.2 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 5.1.2.1 Autonomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 5.1.2.2 Competence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 5.1.2.3 Relatedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 5.1.3 Transition to Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 5.2 Implications for Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 5.3 Future Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 5.3.1 Proposals for New Areas of Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 5.3.2 Improvements of Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 6 Conclusion 77 A Interview guide 82 B Use of AI tools 84 C Consent form 85 xvi 1 Introduction This first chapter introduces the background to why this research is being carried out, motivates and presents its aim and research questions by contextualizing and defining the scope. Previous research is also presented here. 1.1 Background Introducing recent graduates into organizations is a strategic way to cultivate tal- ent and maintain a competitive edge (Cesário and Chambel, 2017). In the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields, there is often a gap be- tween the knowledge gained at university and the skills required in the workplace (Gope and Gope, 2022). One approach for bridging the gap and introducing recently graduated STEM students into organizations is trainee programs. The aim of these programs, from the perspective of the organizations, is to introduce promising grad- uates into the organizations to ensure a long-term competitive advantage (Cesário and Chambel, 2017). From the graduates’ perspective, a trainee program can be an introduction to the organization and enable development of relevant organizational skills (Jonsson and Thorgren, 2017). Trainee programs as a method of recruitment exist and have been studied worldwide (Al Ariss et al., 2014). However, cultural contexts and organizational practices lead to variation in both how such programs are designed and how trainees react to them (Latukha, 2011). This indicates that there is no universally applicable structure for trainee programs. In Sweden, there are many organizations that have trainee programs but the struc- ture of the programs differ in terms of activities, duration and design (TraineeGuiden, 2025b). While some programs span several years with rotations in different depart- ments of the organization and provide participants with a broad understanding of the company’s operations, others are more focused on development in a specific role. Due to the large variety of trainee programs, it is interesting to examine the vari- ous components of different trainee programs to gain insight into what makes them successful. 1 1. Introduction 1.2 Aim The aim of this master thesis is to identify key factors for a successful trainee program. The insights gained can enable companies to improve the experience for STEM trainees, making the programs more rewarding for the trainees in both the short and long term. 1.3 Specification of the Issue Being Investigated Building on this aim, the overarching research question (ORQ) in this master’s thesis is: ORQ. What are key factors in a successful trainee program anchored in the perception of trainees? The overarching research question will be evaluated in relation to three dimensions called Learning Experience, Motivation and Transition to Employment. Each of these dimensions is associated with its own specific research question (RQ): RQ1. What aspects of trainee programs facilitate the trainees’ learning to ac- quire the skills necessary to perform tasks within the organization? RQ2. What aspects of trainee programs are important to keep the trainees mo- tivated throughout the programs? RQ3. How do trainee programs affect the trainees’ experiences of transitioning to regular employment? The first research question addresses the dimension Learning Experience. This di- mension is chosen due to trainee programs’ role in bridging the gap between previous knowledge and necessary skills for organizational tasks (Gope and Gope, 2022). In the Swedish context, earlier research on trainees’ learning in trainee programs high- lights the importance of being able to put knowledge into practice, as well as the importance of group affiliation and a sense of community (Ericson and Holmér, 2024; Jansheden and Wiren, 2024). In contrast to this thesis, previous research is either case studies (Ragnås and Säisä, 2011; Ericson and Holmér, 2024; Jansheden and Wiren, 2024) or examine learning from the perspective of the program (Madrigal and Hassel, 2011). Therefore, studying learning across multiple organizations from the perspective of the trainee is a valuable addition to further the research. The second research question addresses the dimension Motivation. This dimension is chosen due to the importance of motivation for work effort and work enjoyment for the trainee (Dysvik et al., 2010; Ryan and Deci, 2000). Therefore, examining trainees’ motivations and how trainee programs facilitate motivation is valuable. Trainee motivation will be analyzed with self-determination theory as described by Ryan and Deci (2000). Previous research has used self-determination to evaluate 2 1. Introduction workplace motivation in general (Howard et al., 2016) but as of our understanding, no previous studies have evaluated trainee programs’ practices through the lens of self-determination theory, thus making this thesis contribution important. The third research question addresses the dimension Transition to Employment. This dimension is of importance because previous research has found that trainees have a tendency to switch employer after the programs are finished (Cesário and Chambel, 2017; Král et al., 2022; Latukha, 2011). Thus, the organizations lose their investment in the trainees (Cesário and Chambel, 2017). Earlier research on transitions found that changes in organizational attention and investment after the shift to regular employment create a stark contrast, leading more trainees to leave (Král et al., 2022). Moreover, after finishing trainee programs, the most common causes of disappointment for trainees was lacking career opportunities and a low salary (Jonsson and Thorgren, 2017). Additionally, studies examining why trainees leave organizations after the programs found that a ”lack of personal development” is a key reason (Latukha, 2011, s.156) which can be improved by continuous workplace training following trainee programs (Cesário and Chambel, 2017). Most of the research is from western Europe but lacks the Swedish perspective. Furthermore, the research does not focus on how the trainee programs influence the trainees’ willingness to stay. Therefore, it is interesting to examine trainee programs to find what factors of the programs themselves affect transition to regular employment. 1.4 Scope To achieve more generalizable results and avoid results that becomes assessment of a particular trainee program, this study examines multiple programs within our definition of organizations. There are mainly three different aspects limiting the scope. The first limiting aspect is the Perspective of The Thesis, the second is the Profile of Examined Organizations and the third is the Definition of Trainee Program, used in this thesis. 1.4.1 Perspective of the Thesis This study focuses on the trainees’ perspectives and experiences. Consequently, the results do not evaluate if the identified key factors should be implemented by orga- nizations with trainee programs, only that the trainees perceive them as important. Moreover, the trainees in this study are former STEM students, and therefore, this thesis holds a STEM trainee perspective. 1.4.2 Profile of Examined Organizations This thesis focuses solely on trainee programs in larger organizations with graduates from STEM fields. In this study, large organizations are defined as organizations with more than 250 full-time employees, which is based on the definition the Eu- ropean Union uses to define large enterprises (Eurostat, 2025). This limitation is based on the presumption that the experience and structure of a trainee program 3 1. Introduction can differ depending on the size of the organization and its orientation. When lim- iting the scope of the organizations examined, this thesis mainly focuses on those that are similar to our collaborative partner RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB (RISE). 1.4.3 Definition of Trainee Program In previous research, there is no undisputed definition of what a trainee program is (Jonsson and Thorgren, 2017; Al Ariss et al., 2014). Every trainee program is different in some way, whether it is in duration, structure, or in specific activities. Because of the unclear nature of trainee programs, it is important to clarify what we consider as trainee programs in our study. In Sweden, there is a trainee pro- gram certificate issued by The Trainee Guide (Swedish: Traineeguiden), owned by the company Mecenat Group (TraineeGuiden, 2025c), which is widely used in Swe- den. They have, together with the unions for economics and engineering graduates (Civilekonomerna and Sveriges ingenjörer) defined requirements for the certificate (TraineeGuiden, 2025a). In this study, we establish certain criteria that all trainee programs must meet to be classified as trainee programs; only programs meeting these criteria are classified as trainee programs within the scope of this research. A trainee program should always lead to a permanent position in the company for the trainee and the trainee should be employed. During the employment the trainee should be fairly paid, which is in line with the certificate requirements (TraineeGuiden, 2025a). Furthermore, a trainee program should have some form of courses designated for learning outside of doing everyday tasks. In this aspect, trainee programs are distinguished from internships or mentorship programs. The trainee program should also be an assigned period of time, with a minimum of 6 months, which is in line with The Trainee Guide definition. 1.4.4 Structure and Reading Guide of This Thesis This thesis presents extensive results, capturing diverse experiences and preferences from former trainees, organized into four categories corresponding to RQ1, RQ2, RQ3 and ORQ. If using this thesis as inspiration for designing a trainee program, readers are encouraged to review the sections corresponding to each category sepa- rately. The sections in this thesis are color coded as seen in section above (1.3). Further recommendations: In the Results chapter, each section begins with a fig- ure providing an overview of the key factors identified for the respective research question. This figure can help readers quickly locate areas of particular interest. Ad- ditionally, readers are encouraged is to consult the Discussion chapter, specifically section 5.2 Implications for Practice. This section presents key insights that may be valuable when reflecting on the design of trainee programs. It further elaborates on how the extensive results, regarding the diverse experiences and preferences of for- mer trainees, can be applied, and emphasizes that the relevance of specific findings may vary depending on the intended characteristics of the trainee program. 4 2 Theoretical Framework and Previous Research This chapter presents the theoretical framework used to examine the research ques- tions within the three dimensions Learning Experience, Motivation and Transition to Employment. The chapter begins with declaring the existing overlap between these dimensions. The rest of the chapters is parted into the sections corresponds to the dimensions: Learning in STEM Fields, Motivation and Self-Determination Theory and Transition to Regular Employment. Figure 2.1: Illustration of overlapping of the three dimensions in this study. As mentioned in section specifying the research questions (??), this thesis examines trainee programs with a focus on three different dimensions as well as overarching key factors. The three dimensions are: Learning Experience, Motivation and Transition to Employment. These dimensions are investigated separately in the three research questions (RQ1, RQ2 and RQ3), but there exist a significant overlap between them. Earlier research to help investigate these dimension are represented under the fol- lowing sections in this chapter: 2.1 Learning in STEM Fields, 2.2 Motivation and 5 2. Theoretical Framework and Previous Research Self-Determination Theory and 2.3 Transition to Regular Employment. To exemplify the overlapping of the dimensions: learning and motivation are linked in relation to both the apprentice’s openness to receive and learn new information, and also on how to design learning activities to keep the apprentice motivated. A second example of this overlap between motivation and learning: conceptual learning, as in understanding of key ideas in a cohesive manner, is improved when students feel autonomy and freedom when they are learning (Grolnick and Ryan, 1987). Another example is the use of feedback in teaching or mentoring: feedback that use extrinsic rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation because it can be seen as a strategy of control and thereby have a negative effect on people’s ability to motivate and regulate their own work efficiency (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). It is more helpful to provide feedback that help people evaluate their own work and encourage self-regulated learning or to provide information that deepens or adds to their current understanding in relation to their work. As a final example, learning within an organization increases the employees’ will- ingness to stay in an organization, suggesting an overlap between the dimensions in this study regarding learning and transition to employment (Cesário and Chambel, 2017). Moreover, all three of the dimensions are related to the employees thriving and having good overall well-being (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Despite the overlap be- tween the dimensions, it is still interesting to evaluate each of these dimensions in trainee programs. 2.1 Learning in STEM Fields When recruiting graduate engineers, industry actors are primarily interested in hir- ing candidates who possess the competencies currently in demand. However, the required skill sets within STEM fields are evolving rapidly, and a gap has been identified between the competencies provided by engineering education and those expected by the industries (Gope and Gope, 2022). This ongoing mismatch be- tween engineering curricula and industry needs raises important questions about how companies support newly recruited engineering graduates in bridging this gap. To further introduce this topic, the following sections, Learning Gap, Mentorship, and Experiential Learning present relevant research on the educational and profes- sional learning conditions of engineers in relation to industries’ expectations. 2.1.1 Learning Gap To reach new goals and learn new things, the process of learning can be supported by identifying the so called learning gap between what is currently understood and what is desired to be understood (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). To efficiently move toward closing the learning gap the apprentice should be aware of the desired state, and be guided towards it. For employment of engineering graduates, there exist a gap between the competence gathered during the education compared to the competence needed in the industries today (Gope and Gope, 2022). For a common understanding 6 2. Theoretical Framework and Previous Research of this so called skill gap, a definition was composed in a study of its concept and of its measuring approaches (Rikala et al., 2024): ”Skill gaps are gaps between training outcomes and industry-specific skill needs and, therefore, gaps between the skills that employees possess and those that industry players consider necessary. Consequently, a skill gap can be understood as a difficulty in providing the right skills to the right people at the right time to enhance employee productivity, improve and advance organizational performance, create value, support digital transformation, and narrow gaps in business realities and labor markets.” (Rikala et al., 2024, pp. 12-13) The definition was created in context of the engineers’ competence and the gap between industries’ demands. The emerging of Industry 5.0 is shifting the industries’ focus from an earlier technology-centric approach to emphasize human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience (Koch et al., 2025). In contrast to Industry 4.0, which primarily emphasized technological skills, Industry 5.0 calls for competencies that integrate technical expertise with human-centric abilities. This more holistic set of competencies includes ”advanced capabilities in human-machine collaboration, ethical decision-making, creativity, sustainability, and social responsibility” (Koch et al., 2025, p. 2220). In a systematic literature review, studies show that there exist a gap, and that this skill gap mainly concerns human-centric abilities (de Campos et al., 2020). These skills were summarized into the following six categories: Problem Solving, Communication, Team Work, Ethical Perspective, Emotional Intelligence, and Creative Thinking. To keep engineering education relevant to industry needs and the rapid develop- ments in the engineering field, and to ensure a smoother transition into the work- force, academia aims to align the engineering curriculum with industry requirements (Gope and Gope, 2022). To compensate for graduates’ lack of certain required skills, industries should adapt the transition into employment to better support graduates in developing the competencies they are missing. Different studies relates to either the industries’ abilities to support and compensate for the engineering graduates lack of requiring skills (Akerele et al., 2019, Santora et al., 2013), while other stud- ies points towards changes in the engineering education curriculum to match the industries changing demands (de Campos et al., 2020, Koch et al., 2025, León et al., 2024). Some organizations use mentoring to bridge the skill gap between the knowledge and skills gathered during academic learning and what is acquired in the industry for engineering graduates (Akerele et al., 2019). However, there is also no consensus among experienced mentors in the study of Akerele et al. (2019) whether the learning of particularly soft skills should be in the study program, part of professional training or come from interaction between mentee and mentor. 2.1.2 Mentorship March (2017, referenced in Akerele et al., 2019) stated that mentoring is the only resolution to the knowledge gap crisis in engineering. The industries are interested 7 2. Theoretical Framework and Previous Research in continuing to create or access a supply of professional engineers that can take on professional responsibilities by having the necessary skills and experience to do so. ”Previous attempts focused on addressing graduate engineers’ lack of experience or practical skills through skills development programs, job shadowing, holiday placements and other initiatives is not always suc- cessful” (Akerele et al., 2019, p. 136). With mentoring, engineering graduates can build their competence and develop both personal as professional abilities (Akerele et al., 2019). Akerele et al. (2019) identify three themes when determining the benefits of mentoring for engineering graduates: Career Development, Skill Development and Experiential Learning. Some of the benefits for career development is that the mentor can see the mentees’ potential and capacity in the industry that mentees themselves are not aware of, and guide them to help them grow and take advantage of their strength through a fitting career path. A mentor can help the mentee to become a part of the organization through incorporating them in real projects for the organization which needs interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork where their competence and strengths are needed. Skill development instead is closely linked to workplace performance where the mentee learns specific skills. Mentors can help the mentees to develop practical skills and also provide and facilitate expansion of their current knowledge base by exposing the mentee with opportunities to apply theoretical knowledge and academic learning in engineering practices. The skill development is related to experiential learning where this means that the mentee is being exposed to relevant experiences and practice for applying theoretical knowledge and to reflect on these applications. Experiential learning rather focuses on the applicability of theoretical knowledge and reflection rather then the learning outcomes in form of skill development. 2.1.3 Experiential Learning Experiential learning can be defined as a way of teaching were the educator purposely engage the apprentice in experience to apply theoretical knowledge and encourage reflection on these experiences ”in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people’s capacity to contribute to their communities” (Tembre- villa et al., 2024, p. 197). The approach goes beyond practical elements of other learning methods as in learning by doing or learning through experience by encour- aging the apprentice to reflect over their application of knowledge in a context of usage for the society. Experiential learning gives the engineering graduate the oppor- tunity to apply and try out their theoretical knowledge in practices and to reflect on these. Mentors for engineering gradate can help the mentee gather ”wisdom” from a senior mentor within the engineering practices (Akerele et al., 2019). Experiential learning can also be defined as the process within a person when learning occurs from reflection of a experience (Tembrevilla et al., 2024). 8 2. Theoretical Framework and Previous Research 2.2 Motivation and Self-Determination Theory To evaluate how trainee programs can facilitate motivation for the trainee, this thesis uses an established model of motivation called self-determination theory (SDT). At the time of this study, no existing research applying SDT to evaluate motivational practices in trainee programs was identified. Although, SDT has been applied in studies on learning and workplace motivation, and is one of the leading theories on motivation (Rigby and Ryan, 2018; Howard et al., 2016). Therefore, studying trainee programs through the lens of SDT is considered appropriate, and the theory will be presented in this section as the chosen theoretical framework. SDT, as presented by Ryan and Deci (2000), defines different types of motivation and explains factors that affects motivation and well-being. Typically, motivation is divided into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. According to SDT, intrinsic mo- tivation is defined as ”doing an activity for the inherent satisfaction of the activity itself” (Ryan and Deci, 2000, p. 71). Extrinsic motivation is defined in contrast to intrinsic motivation, therefore, any motivation that is not intrinsic is considered extrinsic. Although SDT uses this classification of motivation, there are also alter- native classifications within SDT that may be more useful when researching trainee programs. This is because trainee programs constitute a form of employment, where trainees are likely to be extrinsically motivated. According to SDT, extrinsic mo- tivation can take several different forms, each varying in the degree of autonomy, which in turn effects the motivation and well-being of the trainee (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Extrinsic motivation can be divided into controlled and autonomous motivation. Controlled motivation is the least autonomous form of extrinsic motivation and is characterized by external pressure and leads the feeling of alienation (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Controlled motivation is when you perceive that your action is determined by external forces. In contrast, autonomous motivation is when you perceive that your actions are determined by yourself. For example, if a employee put effort into a project because they feel pressure from peers, then their motivation is controlled. On the other hand, if a employee instead put effort into a project because they feel that it is of personal importance, then their motivation is autonomous. In reality, there is a continuous scale between these two forms of motivation and most people experience that their actions are determined by a combination of external and internal factors. Empirical studies about controlled and autonomous motivation have shown that people that are autonomous motivated feel more energized and experience increase well-being (Nix et al., 1999). Thus, it is important to foster autonomous motivation. Autonomous motivation can be achieved by internalizing ones actions. Through the process of internalization, behaviors begin to align with the sense of self, actions stops being perceived to be regulated by external factors and starts being regulated by internal factors (Ryan and Deci, 2000). For the process of internalization to suc- ceed the basic psychological needs need to be satisfied. Ryan and Deci postulates, based on empirical research, that these needs are autonomy, competence and relat- 9 2. Theoretical Framework and Previous Research edness. Fulfilling these needs lead to ”enhanced self-motivation and mental health and when thwarted lead to diminished motivation and well-being” (Ryan and Deci, 2000, p. 68). The first basic psychological need is autonomy and it refers to the need for a person to perceive that their actions are determined by themselves. Autonomy can be de- scribed as a person’s sense of freedom when making decisions and taking action and is essential for internalization to be possible. Consequentially, a controlled environ- ment without autonomy diminishes motivation and has en overall negative impact on well-being. Similar negative effects occur when the second psychological need, competence, is not fulfilled. Therefore, perceived competence in relevant activities facilitates internalization and thus increases motivation. The third psychological need, relatedness, is ”the need to feel belongingess and connectedness with others” (Ryan and Deci, 2000, p. 73). The feeling of relatedness can come from feeling cared for by others, or from performing activities that are valued by others, thereby feeling connectedness. Because of the clear positive effects satisfying the three basic psychological needs yield, it is interesting to analyze ways in which trainee programs satisfy these needs. 2.3 Transition to Regular Employment Trainee programs are an investment by organizations and a method of recruiting newly graduated talent. For the organizations to get their return on investment, it is important to keep the trainees in the organization after the have switched to regular employment (Král et al., 2022). However, despite the investment by the organization, many trainees switch employer after the trainee programs finish (Latukha, 2011; Cesário and Chambel, 2017; Král et al., 2022). The transition from trainee program to regular employment is complex and can make the trainee want to leave the organization. Previous research exploring why trainees want to leave for another organizations after the trainee programs has found a variety of interesting aspects important in explaining this issue (Král et al., 2022; Cesário and Chambel, 2017; Jonsson and Thorgren, 2017). In order to present an overview over previous research, we have divided reasons for why trainees want to leave into two main ones presented below, called Contrasting experiences and Unfulfilled expectations. Contrasting experiences describes how a gap can emerge between what the trainee encounters in a trainee program and what they experience in a regular position. Unfulfilled expectations describes what expectation a trainee can have about their future role and how these expectations are not always met. 2.3.1 Contrasting Experiences A study researched the retention of graduates from the Skoda Auto trainee pro- gram, focusing on the factors that influenced their willingness to remain within the 10 2. Theoretical Framework and Previous Research organization (Král et al., 2022). The study concluded that there is a paradoxical phenomenon were some of the trainee program’s positive aspects may lead to more trainees leaving. This is a consequence of trainees perceiving themselves as exclusive, unique and especially prioritized during the program, which vanishes when entering regular employment. Much of the trainees every day work is centered around their development and seeing different parts of the organization. These aspects are seen as positive by the trainees during the program but leads to a contrast after tran- sitioning to regular employment. Then, these advantages are not as common and the former trainees experience less freedom, fever learning opportunities and less accessible mentors. Another research paper investigated which common human resource (HR) activi- ties that effected turnover intentions of employees with previous trainee background (Cesário and Chambel, 2017). They found that training activities aimed at develop- ing skills relevant to the organization had a significant negative impact on turnover intentions. This indicates that opportunities for continued development increased former trainees’ willingness to remain with the organization after completing the trainee program. Similarly, turnover intentions also lessened if the trainee programs offered extra support during the initial period of integration into the organization after the trainee program. Since both training and integration are key processes in both trainee programs and regular employment, these findings suggest that strength- ening these areas can support a smoother transition and reduce contrasts between the two roles. 2.3.2 Unfulfilled Expectations In previous trainee program research, Jonsson and Thorgren (2017) studied the re- lationship between the trainee and the organization using psychological contract theory, as described by Rousseau (1989). Using this theory, the researchers investi- gated mutual expectations between employer and employee and what those mutual expectations are when the trainee transitions to employment. They found that trainees wanted ”challenging, stimulating work, and more responsi- bility” after the trainee programs ended but this was not always realized, leading to disappointment (Jonsson and Thorgren, 2017, p. 1747). Moreover, they found that after the trainee programs were finished, ”career opportunities and wages were of greatest relevance” for the trainee (Jonsson and Thorgren, 2017, p. 1750), thereby highlighting some usual expectations that trainees have after the trainee programs are finished. 11 3 Methodology This chapter presents and motivates the methods used for data collection and data analysis. This includes both theory and the description of conduction of the inter- views and thematic analysis 3.1 Choice of Methods The methods used for data collection were literature review and semi-structured interviews. The literature review was considered suitable to gather knowledge and investigate previous studies related to trainees’ experience within trainee programs. The acquired knowledge was used to gain further insight into research about trainees’ experiences and to specify this study’s own research scope, identifying areas where additional research was necessary. This knowledge later led to the definitions of the study’s own research dimensions and its research questions. The dimensions being: Learning Experience, Motivation and Transition to Employment. Semi-structured interviews were selected as the method for data collection since this type of interview is considered preferable when collecting qualitative data in fields where interviewees are more knowledgeable than the interviewer (Leech, 2002). In this project, the interviewees were former trainees. It is important to recognize that there are multiple approaches to analyzing qual- itative data, and that researchers make active choices in this process (Braun and Clarke, 2006). This thesis used a thematic analysis, which is particularly appropri- ate when working with qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Thematic analysis enables the identification of factors that may have been unknown to the researcher in advance, but that emerge as sig- nificant within the scope of the investigation. In this project, the use of thematic analysis facilitated the recognition of patterns across the data set, allowing for the identification of key themes that recurred both within individual interviews and across multiple interviews. 12 3. Methodology 3.2 Literature Review The literature review was used to provide an overview of previous studies on trainee programs and to identify areas of further investigation to contribute to the under- standing of successful trainee programs. The literature review was conducted using an iterative process involving the continuous refinement of search parameters and the application of the snowballing method. The iterative approach enabled each search cycle to generate new insights, which informed the revision of search param- eters for subsequent iterations (Randolph, 2009). Snowball sampling, in turn, relies on references from already identified sources to locate additional relevant literature (Esaiasson et al., 2017). In this project, the method was implemented by review- ing the reference lists of initially relevant research papers to identify further studies of interest. Both the iterative search process and the snowball sampling process continued until a point of saturation was reached, when no new, significant sources emerged. The use of these ensured a thorough and focused identification of literature aligned with the project’s research aim. The literature review helped specify the projects dimensions of interest: Learn- ing Experience, Motivation and Transitions to Employment. The dimensions later guided the development of the interview guide for the semi-structured interviews. 3.3 Semi-Structured Interviews The qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews. This type of interview is described as a middle ground between unstructured and structured interviews (Leech, 2002). Structured interviews are interviews which follows a se- quence of predefined questions and where the answers to these specific questions are in interest. An unstructured interview, on the other hand, follows a more open approach with no predefined questions. In a semi-structured interview the interview followed a structured guide while al- lowing space to explore unpredictable topics that may arise when the interviewee elaborates on their answers (Leech, 2002). This format also enabled the interviewer to ask follow-up questions on topics that emerges. The semi-structured interviews conducted in this project were designed to capture both foreknown and previously unknown topics of interest. The distinction between these two types of data, foreknown and unknown, will be referred to throughout this chapter. It is important to acknowledge that both the data collection process and its alignment with the project’s theoretical framework influenced the design of the interview guide and also shaped the approach of data analysis. For the data analysis, the distinction affected whether the analysis was carried out in a more deductive or inductive manner (see section 3.4 Thematic analysis or Figure 3.1). Having predefined questions created a structure to gather information and aspects of interest, regarding so called foreknown topics. An example of evaluating foreknown 13 3. Methodology topics in this project can be seen in the questions’ connection to the SDT as a theoretical framework (see this connection in Table 3.1). This resulted in questions that investigated the three psychological needs within SDT to evaluate how trainee programs accommodated for the interviewees motivation. By also leaving space for the interviewee to elaborate on their answers, this created an opportunity to introduce valuable, previously unknown topics to the interviewer. As this study aimed to identify key factors for trainee program, the combination of predefined structure and open-ended exploration enabled the interviews to gather data that was both, to some extent, foreknown aspects of interest, but also unknown aspects. 3.3.1 Interview Questions and Guide There are different types of questions that are preferably used in different parts of the interviews (Esaiasson et al., 2017). In this thesis, the interviews used the following types of questions: at the beginning of the interview, questions referred to as warm- up questions were asked to gather background information and create a relaxed setting for the interviewee. The main part of the interview consisted primarily of grand tour questions (see Main Questions 2-6 in Table 3.1), which allowed the interviewees to give answers that differ depending on their own experience and opinions. This approach allowed the interviewer to gather information that was not previously known, which was preferably as the interviewee typically had more knowledge about the trainee experience than the interviewer. The interview guide was designed to create a natural flow and keep the conversation focused on subjects that support answering the research questions (Esaiasson et al., 2017). In this thesis, the guide intended to translate and elaborate the research question into questions and prompts that softened the academic tone, creating a conversation with the former trainees that flows naturally in an everyday language, while still providing insights into the subjects under investigation. An important part of this study was to gather the interviewees’ opinions of the trainee programs different parts and how it supported them and not just a description of the pro- gram. Therefore, they were encouraged multiple times to evaluate and asses their experience, rather then just describe the programs. Before creating the final interview guide, a pilot interview was held with a former trainee not included in the study to test and the refine the guide. Slight adjust- ments were done after this pilot interview in changing the question order and adding more prompts. Particularly prompts were added covering the trainee’s evaluation regarding the programs elements, avoiding the former trainee to only describe the program’s elements. The interview guide was divided into seven sequences to ensure that all relevant topics were addressed, as in the trainees’ learning experience, mo- tivation and transition to employment. An outline of the interview guide is found in Table 3.1 where both the questions connection to SDT and the questions purpose is presented under Table 3.1. The whole interview guide is found in Appendix A. 14 3. Methodology Nr Main Question Purpose Theory Framework 1 Could you tell us a little about yourself? Warm up questions to start the conversation and get background information. 2 Could you tell us about the trainee program? To understand the structure, ex- pectations and reflections on dif- ferent parts of the program. Autonomy (SDT) 3 How would you describe the unity and solidarity in the program? Evaluate unity and relatedness between trainees and employees and how the program assisted this and reflections. Relatedness (SDT) 4 Can you describe what you learned during the program? Assess the learning experience, mentoring, knowledge gain and reflections. Relatedness & Com- petence (SDT) 5 Did you feel that you were able to use your skills from education or previous work? Identify knowledge gaps and how the program helped bridge them and reflections. Competence (SDT) 6 How was the transition from trainee to regular employment? Evaluate the transition and the program’s support during the transition to employment and re- flections. 7 What would you say are the most important components for a pos- itive trainee experience? Highlight the trainee’s view on key components for a positive ex- perience. Table 3.1: An outline of the seven questions sequences in the interview guide. The Theory Framework highlights the components of SDT that are reflected in the interview questions. The whole interview guide is found i Appendix A. 3.3.2 Selection of Former Trainees The former trainees were contacted either through the organizations where they participated in the trainee program and now worked, through contact shared from fellow trainees, or directly at job fairs. The different methods of finding former trainees were a consequence of limitations in finding people that met certain criteria for this project, these criteria are described below. The criteria for selection of former trainees were the following: firstly, a criterion that impacted the process of contacting the former trainees was that the they had finished a trainee program. This ensured that each participant was able to reflect on the full scope of their trainee experience, enabling an evaluation across all three research dimensions: Learning Experience, Motivation, and Transition to Employ- ment. Consequently, each interview provided data relevant to all three research questions, including the third, which specifically addressed the transition from the trainee program to regular employment. Secondly, the trainee programs which the trainees attended needed to take place in a large organization working within STEM (defined in section 1.4.2). Lastly, all the trainees who were interviewed needed to have an engineering degree. 15 3. Methodology The start years of the former trainees ranged from 2018 to 2023 (seven out of 13 started in 2023), with the exception of one trainee who began the program in 2013. The inclusion of the 2013 participant in this study was not considered problematic, based on the authors’ assessment of the relevance and quality of the interview data. Trainees who had completed the program some time prior to the interview were often able to reflect on the long-term impacts of the program on their professional development, while those who had recently completed it tended to remember more details about their experiences and feelings during the program. In total, 13 former trainees, eight women and five men, from six different organi- zations were interviewed. Five of the trainees held a Master’s degree in Industrial Economy, four of whom had specializations in areas such as mechanical engineering with a focus on energy and environment, production management, or production de- velopment. The remaining trainees came from a variety of engineering backgrounds, with technical expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence, data science, informa- tion technology, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, energy systems, sustainability, and surveying. See more outlined information of the former trainees’ academic backgrounds in Table 3.2. In Table 3.3 on the next page, the interviewees profiles are anonymized and presented. Program Description Qty Industrial Economy, Masters in Production Management (Mechanics) 2 Industrial Economy, Masters in Production (Mechanics) 1 Industrial Economy (Mechanics), Masters in Energy and Environment 1 Industrial Economy (Masters degree) 1 Electrical Engineering (Bachelor degree) 1 Mechanical Engineering, Masters in Production (Mechanics) 2 Engineering Physics, Masters in Computer Science 2 Science in Computer Systems (Bachelor degree) 1 Energy and Environment (Masters degree) 1 Sustainability and Surveying (Masters degree) 1 Table 3.2: A summary of the former trainees’ descriptions of their engineering programs and the quantity of former trainees that attended such program. 16 3. Methodology Former trainee Program length Organization T1 1 year A T2 1 year A T3 9 months B T4 6 months C T5 1.5 years D T6 2 years D T7 1 year E T8 9 months F T9 1 year E T10 1 year A T11 1 year E T12 1 year A T13 1.5 years F Table 3.3: A profile of the former trainees participating in this study. This in- cludes: the former trainees’ pseudonym, duration of their trainee programs, and their organizational affiliation A-F. 3.3.3 Selection of and Differences in Trainee Programs The overall structure of trainee programs, for example, whether they include ro- tations between different departments or units within the organization is often de- scribed by the organization in their trainee program applications. Most of the time, these descriptions are brief and do not incorporate more specific elements and pro- cesses in the programs. When selecting former trainees for this study, differences in overall structure of trainee programs were not considered for several reasons. Firstly, this project wanted to evaluate the overall experience of a trainee program, therefore the definition of a trainee program was kept broad as described in section 1.4.2 Definition of Trainee Program. This also brought a valuable opportunity to compare different experiences that former trainees had from different program structures. Secondly, since the project focuses on former trainees rather than current ones, the exact structure, components, and processes of the trainee programs could not always be identified. This was due to a lack of documentation regarding annual changes, resulting from restructuring efforts between different program years. There were several differences between the trainee programs in this study, as exem- plified by the different lengths of the programs as seen in Table 3.3. All program 17 3. Methodology had trainee gatherings around 4-5 times during the trainee period which they built the trainee community around. Two of the programs in this study were marketed as trainee program but were called introduction programs internally. These two pro- grams did only have the trainee gathering as a part of the overall trainee program structure and focused on introducing the trainee to a future work role. The other programs beside the introductory programs had a main purpose of let- ting the trainee build a network and explore within the organization. This was done using two main ideas. One program had a trainee-time-portfolio as the main idea to network and explore the organization where 50 percent of their time was dedicated to visits, internships or other trainee activities such as networking. The rest of the programs had rotations as a main idea which meant that the trainees shifted workplace within the organization during the trainee period. The durations of the rotations spanned between the program from one to six months long rotation. There were also differences in whether the programs allowed the trainees to choose freely between all departments in the organization or if they were limited within certain department(s). The trainees’ possibility to consulate in rotation placement varied as well. Three of the programs were international programs. These pro- grams included trainee gatherings and rotations abroad and a trainee group with international trainees. Three other programs included one rotation abroad. 3.3.4 Conduction of Interviews Before the interviews, a consent form was signed by the former trainees outlining their anonymity, the use of the recordings and their right to withdraw from par- ticipation. The consent form can be found in Appendix C. They also received a summary of the main questions before the interview (see Table 3.1). One interview was conducted in person, while the remaining interviews were carried out remotely using the digital communication and collaboration platform Microsoft Teams. All interviews were recorded and subsequently transcribed using Teams’ built-in recording and AI-based transcription functionalities in addition to being checked manually. This facilitated the thematic analysis later. Each interview was estimated to last approximately one hour and each interview made sure to cover all questions in the interview guide (see Table 3.1). The initial interviews were conducted jointly by both authors. As the study pro- gressed and familiarity with the interview context and emerging data grew, the remaining interviews were conducted individually by one of the authors. This ad- justment aimed to maintain flexibility in scheduling of the interviews. 3.4 Thematic Analysis The interviews were recorded to enable further analysis which was done through a thematic analysis in both a deductive and an inductive manner. These approaches 18 3. Methodology differ in whether the analysis is based on a theoretical framework or not (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The use of a theoretical framework in a deductive analysis shapes the parsing of the data, while an inductive analysis method is grounded in the data which then shapes a theory or pattern recognition without any theoretical framework. See Figure 3.1 below, which illustrates the differences in data collection and analysis between deductive and inductive approaches. In the deductive analysis there exist assumptions about ”reality”. In this project for example, SDT involved assumptions that you can evaluate motivation through relatedness, competence and autonomy. The projects scope in relation to its three dimensions as well as SDT as a theoretical frameworks became frameworks that then shaped the analysis. An inductive approach was also employed, as it was considered appropriate and reasonable given that the overarching research question aims to identify key factors. It enables capturing significant factors that extend beyond the project’s initial dimensions, earlier referred to as unknown key factors. Figure 3.1: An illustration of the differences between inductive and deductive approaches for data collection and analysis. The Example of question are taken from the actual interview guide, while the Example of trainee answer and Example of defined theme are fictional and included for illustrative purposes. 19 3. Methodology 3.4.1 Conduction of Thematic Analyses The thematic analysis was conducted in four parts. The first, and most inductive, analysis aimed to identify overarching key factors. It was intentionally carried out first to avoid potential bias that could arise from analyses within the study’s prede- fined research dimensions. Subsequently, three separate analyses were carried out, each corresponding to one of the study’s three research dimensions. The analysis related to the dimension Motivation followed the most deductive approach, using predetermined themes based on the psychological needs defined in SDT: Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness. Each analysis was conducted following a six-step the- matic analysis guide by Braun and Clarke (2006). These steps are illustrated in Figure 3.2. The first step, Familiarize with the data, was done through listening to the recordings, simultaneously taking notes, and also proofread and re-read the transcription. To ensure both authors got familiarized with all data, it was pro- cessed in unison, all interviews were processed by both authors, either by listening, reading or proofreading the data material. The second step, Generating initial codes, was done through continuing to review the data by reading and listening. This step focuses on further finding patterns and breaking down the data into fragments and creating initial codes from the transcrip- tion. Since the study aim to evaluate how trainee programs facilitate a successful experience for the trainees, some of the codes described both what activities they did and their opinions of those activities. Valuable citations were also gathered and linked to the codes as a part of this step. The coding was conducted using Microsoft Excel to assist in categorizing and store codes. The third step, Searching for themes. In this step the codes were gathered into potential themes where all relevant data for each theme were clustered. This step involved writing initial codes on separate post-its to allow for easy movement and clustering which facilitating theme identification more effectively than working on a computer. The fourth step, Reviewing themes, was done to review the themes in two levels for quality-checking. The first level entailed reviewing that the collected data codes for a potential theme formed a coherent pattern. The second level assessed that the potential themes were relevant and representative for the entire data set and that they were also relevant for the research questions. In this step, the themes were thereby distinctly divided between the three research questions and the overarching research question (RQ1, RQ2, RQ3, ORQ). This is illustrated in Figure 3.2 through color coding. The fifth step, Defining and naming themes, was done to ”define and refine” the themes. In this step, the themes were revisited to making sure that the essence of both the individual themes and the themes together works in coherent with projects the research questions. The sixth and last step, Producing the report, is to produce a comprehensive report. Because of the partly deductive analysis approach the themes have already been 20 3. Methodology distinctly divided into the research questions and the overarching research question but are in this step checked again to make sure that the new refined and defined themes matches the these questions. The themes were also related back to the literature. After this, the structure for the presentation of the themes were composed and vivid citations were extracted. To help extract citations, the Excel document that was created in the second step to both generate codes and save valuable citations was used. An Chalmers AI tool in Chalmers AI Portal called Meeting Transcriptions was also used to orientate in the data. This was done through a feature were you ask a question for individual interviews which generates a fast answer on that question. A question could be ”Did the trainee have a explicit supervisor that helped answer the trainee’s question for daily work tasks”. All answers were manually checked in comparison to the transcripts. Figure 3.2: An illustration of the thematic analysis process, including the differ- entiation of themes based on the specific research questions and the overarching research question, using color coding. 21 4 Results This chapter presents the results of the thematic analysis from this study. To make the chapter comprehensive, it begins with a description of common trainee program activities. These descriptions are needed as context for all research questions, and can be complimented with the explained differences in the trainee programs from section 3.3.3. The rest of the chapter is divided based on the research questions, into the following sections: RQ1 - Learning Experience, RQ2 - Motivation, RQ3 - Transition to Employment and ORQ - Overarching Research Question. Under each section the themes from the thematic analysis are presented. Figure 4.1: The overall structure of the results. In the interviews with former trainees, several trainee program activities were found to recur across multiple programs. Since there is no fixed definition of what a trainee program must include, the activities presented are described in the some of the 13 interviews conducted. For the sake of clarity, alternative activities can occur at other trainee programs, but the following paragraphs provides explanations of the 22 4. Results common activities, based on the 13 former trainees’ description. These activities are not included in every trainee program but were present in more than one. Rotations A rotation is a period of time, usually between 1 to 6 months, were the trainee work at one department of the organization before rotating to another department. Trai- nee programs with rotations often have a couple of them in order to experience many parts of the organization. Every day work at the rotations vary, in some rotations the trainee works close to other full-time employees at the department, in others they work in individual projects customized for the trainee. Moreover, it is also common to shadow their supervisors during the rotation. Internships An internship during a trainee program spans a shorter period of time, usually no more then a couple of weeks where the trainee shadows a department of either their own organization, or a related organization. Visits A visit is when the trainees visits either a department of the organization, or of a similar partner within the indus- try and gets a guided tour. Lectures A lecture is a form of presentation of a subject where the trainees listens. Cases Cases is an activity where the trainees get a task they work together on and later present. The cases can be both hypothetical or real. Introduction week The introduction is usually a week or weeks at the begin- ning of the trainee program where all the trainees meet each other. This period often functions as an introduc- tion to the organization and often has a focus on team building. Trainee gathering A trainee gathering usually lasts a week, but could be just a couple of days and is commonly between rotations, where the trainees meet each other. The specific activities during this week vary greatly among the trainee programs but examples are: reflecting on their recent rotations, pre- senting to each other, team building and other forms of lectures, courses or cases. 23 4. Results 4.1 RQ1 - Learning Experience This section presents the results to answer the first research question (RQ1) about the trainees’ learning experience. It contains results related to the former trainees’ learning experiences, with the aim of evaluating how the trainee program facili- tated learning during the program. The themes for Learning Experience and its subcategories as a result of the thematic analysis are seen in the Figure 4.7 below. Figure 4.2: The structure of the results for 4.1 RQ1 - Learning experience. The research question is divided into three themes 4.1.1 Learning Areas, 4.1.2 Work Conditions and Task Design and 4.1.3 Professional Support, each of which is further broken down into several subcategories. The themes identified are Learning Areas, Work Conditions and Task Design, and Professional Support. The first theme describes the different learning areas that were identified in the interviews, showcasing learning activities as well as the trainees’ reflections and experiences within these areas. The second theme describes relevant factors concerning the design and structuring of tasks during the trainee program period. The third theme describes how the trainees experienced support in their learning throughout the program and from what sources. 4.1.1 Learning Areas Learning areas is the first theme under Learning experience and refers to the different areas of learning that were identified in the thematic analysis (see Figure 4.3 below). Each section outlines the content of the learning area, how it was taught and the 24 4. Results former trainees’ reflections on both challenges and positive aspects related to that area. Figure 4.3: Overview of the theme 4.1.1 Learning Areas, with the subcategories 4.1.1.1 Organization och Industry Knowledge, 4.1.1.2 Soft Skills, 4.1.1.3 Practical Skills and 4.1.1.4 Technical Learning. 4.1.1.1 Organization and Industry Knowledge The first learning area, Organization and Industry Knowledge refers to the knowl- edge that the trainee gains about the organization and its industry during the trainee period. All trainee programs incorporated, to varying degrees, opportunities for participants to learn about their own organization as well as its clients. The knowledge acquired through learning experiences included insights into the organizational structure, the roles and functions of different departments, business operations, organizational goals and policies, as well as client identities and their ways of working. This pro- vided the trainees with a comprehensive overview of the organization. In programs where rotations extended across multiple departments and clients, trainees gained a broader understanding of the industry as a whole. While rotations that extended within a certain department gave a more delimited insight within that organization. T5 emphasizes how both the connection within the organization and the under- standing of its operation is the most valuable assets the trainee experience gave: ”The biggest part is the network and the understanding of the organization more than anything else.” All former trainees, with the exception of two, emphasized that the organizational and industry-wide perspective was among the most valuable outcomes of their par- ticipation in the program. In the two cases where this was not highlighted, the respective trainee programs did not include rotational elements. Knowledge about the organization and the industry was acquired through various activities across the different trainee programs. All programs included informative sessions during the introductory week(s), which typically featured lectures and pre- sentations covering topics such as the organizational structure, the core functions of departments, and specific projects carried out by departmental teams. Similar con- 25 4. Results tent was often presented during trainee gatherings throughout the program. These sessions were considered valuable opportunities for trainees to become familiar with the company, gain inspiration from experienced staff, and deepen their understand- ing of the organization’s internal structure. T10 believed that the information of the organizations structure was valuable: ”I think many of us hadn’t realized that we were specifically applying to [certain department], and that there was such a special relationship be- tween [that department] compared to the rest [of the company]. Around day three or so, they drew up the whole corporate structure, and we were kind of all the way out on the far left. . . So that training was really important in understanding, like, yes — there’s a reason for it.”. (T10) A challenge to trainees’ learning during trainee gatherings, including the introduc- tory week(s), was the overwhelming amount of information delivered in a short period of time, which made it difficult to absorb and process (T3, T4, T7, T9, T6). Despite this, trainees still appreciated these gatherings and found them beneficial for their learning. As one trainee expressed: ”I feel that I’ve benefited from it quite a bit afterwards as well (...) you’ve kind of picked something up in the back of your mind, even if you didn’t fully understand it at the time.” (T1) One trainee wished specifically that the introduction would have included more about the organizations goals and visions: ”[During the introduction the trainee program should have presented us with] ’this is how everything works, basically.’ ’This is our vision and our goals.’ It all sounds very abstract — and I think it probably would have felt that way at the time — but I believe it would’ve provided even better context for everything we’ve been doing. And also, how the different business areas are actually quite different. I think it would have been interesting to get that kind of context right from the start. Then I probably would’ve been able to take in even more of what I learned.”. (T1) Rotations or visits and internships were seen as a key activity for acquiring organi- zational knowledge (T1, T2, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10, T11, T13). The opportunity to participate in departmental rotations or to observe different parts of the organi- zation, occasionally including visits at clients, provided the trainees with a broader understanding of both the organization and the industry in which it operates. As one trainee described: ”So I got to spend time in all three of these different depart- ments, and I’d say I learned the basics in all of them. So it’s been really valuable for me as well.” (T6). Another former trainee says: ”I’ve gained a very broad understanding of the company, and that’s something that really helps me a lot in my current role. And I think it’s really fun to feel like, ’I understand what’s happening over here. I understand what’s happening over there.’.”. (T2) 26 4. Results Everyone except two of the former trainees had designated time set aside to shadow other staff, network, or complete an internship in a completely different department. These trainees were encouraged to explore and network as much as possible during the trainee program. One former trainee explained that this helped them gain insight into the daily work and build knowledge about the organization and the industry, by piecing together an understanding from different smaller components, rather than solely learning about the departments’ main goals and functions. ”I didn’t really understand how wind power actually works or anything like that — but now I do, at least partly. And also how the organization is structured, like, ’OK, here’s a team that only works with cement,’ and ’Here’s. . . rotor blades.’ So you end up understanding a lot of those kinds of things too, and how it all fits together.”. (T1) Throughout the program, the trainees acquired knowledge about the organization also helped them developed the ability to navigate the organization effectively, not just understanding the organization. This skill was highly valued. In this report, this organizational navigation is regarded as a soft skill and is presented more in the following section. 4.1.1.2 Soft Skills Soft Skills, the second identified learning area, refers to competencies related to managing interpersonal and human-centered aspects of work. Seven of the trainee mentioned explicit that of the most valuable competency gained was their ability to navigate the organization (T1, T2, T5, T6, T7, T8, T11). To a question of what the trainee program have given T11 they answers: ”Now I know who to contact, how the process works, and who is affected — which departments or business ar- eas are involved.”. This skill was developed through two main types of experiences. The first was acquiring knowledge about the organizational structure and opera- tions through rotation, site visits and presentations from experienced staff. The seconds was that these activities simultaneously gave the trainee opportunities to building a professional network. As a result of the knowledge they acquired about the organization and the professional networks they developed, the former trainees were able to identify appropriate contacts, either by understanding which part of the organization was relevant to a particular issue or by already having established connections through their trainee experience. T13 describes it as ”you learn quickly how to, like, contact the right people to get your work done”. Another trainee stated that: ”I think the most important part is the network and the understanding of the organization, more than anything else. That’s also the part I value the most, and that I feel takes the longest to grasp — especially in a complex organization like [organization]. It’s not always obvious how to navigate the landscape.”. (T5) The trainees also reported gaining experience in how to effectively adapt to being 27 4. Results a ”new employee” (T2, T8, T10, T12, T13). As one trainee expressed: ”you’re practicing what it’s like to be new at a job for 1.5 years” (T13). Another elaborated: ”It gave me that... personal development in terms of getting good at ending up in new situations all the time” (T2). A key part of this development involved cultivating soft skills that facilitated adaptation to new environments. One such skill was the ability to ask questions proactively: ”To just ask questions if you want to learn things quickly. So I’ve gotten really good at that — asking questions” (T12), and ”I’ve also realized that it’s actually a really, really good tactic [to ask questions]” (T12). Another soft skill that was mentioned was the ability to establish social connections quickly: ”You also [learn to] get to know people faster because you’ve practiced getting into new roles quickly” (T13). T13 highlighted and generalized the skill of getting to know colleagues fast to build- ing connections with people in general, not just new colleagues: ”You go to lunches with, like, different people from different departments and so on. And [the manager] said, ’that’s great because you build connections that make it easier to collaborate later on.’. So yeah, I think that’s probably the best [Thing I learned], I think.”. (T13) During the trainee gathering the trainees did different types of courses learning particularly soft skills. A summary of different soft skills areas were: Leadership, Communication, Handling Workplace Issues and Presentation techniques. Ten former trainees (T1, T2, T4, T7, T8, T9, T10 T11, T12, T13) expressed views similar to this quote ”The trainings that were more about personal skills — personal development, really — those were very good and really valuable.” (T2). T9 says: ”I think it’s great that we get to attend leadership training and group development sessions, and that we get to know ourselves better in our professional roles.”. Two of the former trainees (T5, T7) did though expressed a mismatch in their own competences level in especially leadership and the educational level of the trainings, leaving a feeling that ”this was kind of basic.” (T5). T5 feelt like they did not learn any new and that ”It wasn’t all that value-creating, really — apart from the fact that it was fun and we got to build connections. But the educational part wasn’t always the most valuable.”. Three of the former trainees mentioned how the soft skills are difficult to stage in a realistic or optimal way in courses but still appreciated this theoretical educational element (T1, T7, T10). T1 valued the proactive elements in soft skill training: ”It was really valuable, and some parts were clearly well thought out. We did exercises with acting where we role-played conversations. . . I thought that was really, really good.”. Most of the trainees said that both training in soft skills in combination with building trust in the trainee group though this training was highly appreciated by both giving the trainee a chance for personal development as well as building a strong bond in the trainee group. One trainee stated: ”Doing those kinds of trainings within the group 28 4. Results was really valuable, because it led to very honest discussions and conversations. I thought that was really good.”. 4.1.1.3 Practical Skills Practical Skills as the third learning area refers to the learning of practical utilities as different softwares etc.. The practical skills were taught through lectures, courses or at rotations through using a practical utilities (a software for example) in their own work or projects. Four of the trainees mentioned that they learned practical utilities that they now use in their day to day work (T3, T4, T12, T13). ”I work with a certain program, and then, like, I got maybe a one-day training to learn how to handle the program.” (T13). T4 was the only one of these trainees that were taught these practical utilities because they were needed for the role (this trainee wanted this role and did not feel the need to change any work features), while the other trainees choose to work with these utilities because they found them helpful after getting aware of these through courses or rotations. ”[I had] A really good crash course in a system that lots of companies use — I just kind of jumped straight into it and had to learn as I went, because I didn’t really have a choice... now I’m working a lot with this system or software in my daily work — and that’s something my colleagues in my current team don’t really use. It actually helps me a lot; I’m able to understand things much faster because of it. It’s definitely something I probably never would’ve learned if I hadn’t been in that department before.”. (T12) 4.1.1.4 Technical Learning Technical learning as the fourth learning area refers to learning that gives more technical depth or knowledge in the trainee’s own specialization or to broaden their technical knowledge. Technical depth was mainly taught through optional courses where those trainees who were interested in a certain course took that course or were taught through rotations. The trainees developed new competences in different technical areas that they did not gain from university. Examples of these competences are logistics, electrical en- gineering, laws relating to technical fields, electricity grids, energy systems, produc- tion processes and production development. These new competences did sometimes tangent the trainee’s earlier competence field but were still distinctively different where they needed to learn new skills and ways of thinking. Some trainees expressed thankfulness that they were put in departments, courses or visits were they did not have any earlier experience in because it broadened their horizon. ”You’ve learned things — and even gotten a bit nerdy about certain topics, like power grid theory” (T12). 29 4. Results Trainees that were specialized in computer sciences, IT and AI did all experience some kind of difficulties from the trainee program or the work place to stimulate or use their proficiency (T1, T10, T11). They all missed someone to discuss and learn more in their technical domain because their department or colleges did not have the right competence. ”I thought it was difficult — well, I would say that most of the time no one could answer my questions, but referred me to someone else or, like, yeah, I thought that was a bit difficult.” (T11). 4.1.2 Work Conditions and Task Design Work Conditions and Task Design is the second theme under Learning experience and presents subcategories of identified concepts that affected the former trainees’ experience of learning and satisfaction based on the nature of different tasks and work set-ups. Therefore these concepts could be considered when designing task and work conditions. These subcategories are seen in Figure 4.4 and captures the former trainees’ experience of tasks and work conditions in projects, courses and daily work tasks at rotations or at a main department. Figure 4.4: Overview of the theme 4.1.2 Work Conditions and Task Design, with the subcategories 4.1.2.1 Purposeful Projects and Assignments, 4.1.2.2 Self- Initiative in Rotations Placement, 4.1.2.3 Self-Initiative in Work and Task Decisions and 4.1.2.4 Balance in Workload Intensity. The four subcategories, Purposeful Projects and Assignments, Self-Initiative in Rotation- Placement, Self-Initiative in Work and Task Decisions and Balance in Workload Intensity, capture key concepts that contribute to a valuable learning experience throughout trainee activities such as rotations, visits and internship where the trainee program did not have full oversight of these activities. 4.1.2.1 Purposeful Projects and Assignments Purposeful Projects and Assignments, as the first subcategory under Work Condi- tions and Task Design, represents the first concept presented in Work Conditions and Task Design. These sections present different work set-ups and learning activities that created a purposeful feeling for the trainee. 30 4. Results All of the former trainees appreciated work tasks and projects that felt purposeful by creating a value for the organization. Read more about the trainees’ desire to contribute to the organization in section 4.2.2.1 Desire to Contribute. T9 said: ”With digitalization, our company is sometimes a bit behind, and since I enjoy that kind of thing, I feel like I can maybe help out in some areas—using parts of my knowledge from university and applying it through digital tools.”. (T12) Working with a ”real job” alongside the trainee activities could give the trainee the opportunity to learn to manage real work conditions and at the same time contribute. A trainee told: ”You have so much energy, and then having to just sit around waiting for someone to give you tasks — it takes a long time to learn enough to actually deliver something. So it was actually pretty nice to have a real job, not just be a trainee.”. (T6) Four trainees mentioned a challenge in rotation that when gain of momentum in work performance you change department (T2, T6, T10, T12). One trainee describes this: ”I would say it was quite clear that it took about [x] months to gain some momentum and really get into things. It often felt like just when you started to become more independent and able to take initiative, it was already time to wrap things up.”. (T2) Some trainees had presentations at the end of their rotations were they could ”give back” to the organization, by presenting their finding in projects or ”To share our reflections and thoughts — like, how does this department work — and to let the rest of the company also benefit from that.” (T2). Two trainees had as a part of the trainee program for the trainees to give their options about the departments stat in digitization to help them evolve in this matter, wished gave a sort of purpose to the trainee. This sort of presentation can help the trainee in reflecting over their own finding and learning from the department. Sometimes the former trainee experienced a lack of value in formalized training moments coordinated by the trainee program. Perceived value for the former trainee could lie either in personal learning outcomes or in the contribution of the activity to the organization’s goals and interests. T2 said: ”taking an ergonomics course or something more concrete like that — you can do that anytime. It might not really be making the most of the opportunity you have as part of a trainee group.”. Ambiguities in what the purpose of certain elements was contributed to unsatisfying feeling (T1, T5, T6, T7, T9). As two trainee stated: ”Doing the case felt a bit forced — like, we didn’t really see clearly how it contributed to the business, and it was more like, ’Here’s something you’re supposed to do.’ I guess I would’ve wished for a bit more.. I don’t 31 4. Results know, it didn’t really feel like there was much interest in what we were doing. And that’s totally fine if the purpose is just for us to learn”. (T1) ”Sometimes you were given a task that was a bit more defined and clear, and then you might end up with a better result, too. Some tasks were more like, ’Can you explore this area a bit?’ — and then things didn’t turn out quite as clear. It didn’t feel quite as value-creating either, to be honest.”. (T7) 4.1.2.2 Self-Initiative in Rotations Placement Self-Initiative in Rotation-Placement as the second subcategory under Work Con- ditions and Task Design presents the former trainees’ different experiences in being given freedom or having predetermined and dictation elements in shaping their own work placement which affected the trainee’s opportunity to learn. All of the former trainees experienced some sort of self-initiative and responsibility in shaping their own work placement during the trainee period. Even the five former trainees that did not have rotations still had ownership in shaping their own role for later employment (instead of choosing rotation) which was appreciated. One of the trainees had a combination of choosing the last rotations while having the two first rotations predetermined. Three trainees (T1, T8, T13) chose all the rotation placements themselves. They appreciated the process of finding a rotation location because it helped them build their network and learn to navigate the organization when contacting different de- partments. They although found challenges in navigating the organization in the beginning, especially the first rotation, and would appropriate more help and sup- port in how and who to contact departments for rotations. Another challenge the former trainee could face was that the departments were poorly informed about the purpose of the trainee. The rotation placement can affect the learning experience and that guidelines towards ”subtile” departments could therefore more support for the trainees in finding rotations could help the utilize their time: ”But [because] when there’s a lot of self-initiative involved, I think there could be more support — like, it would help if you were, for example, encouraged to go to a place that’s had trainees before and is used to it.”. (T8) One trainee mentioned that the trainees being financed by the trainee program and not the departments themselves facilitated the rotation search, which made the departments more likely to accept a trainee. Five trainees had the rotations placement chosen for them (T2, T5, T6, T12, T10). These former trainees found that not getting to choose your rotation helped them explore departments they themselves would have never chosen, which was appreci- 32 4. Results ated. A trainee explained that; ”I don’t think it’s a good idea to completely assign rotations — it can go wrong and feel irrelevant to some people. But at the same time, I kind of liked it, because it meant you always had to give a department a fair chance. I think it’s more about being open and flexible — that people should feel free to switch if something doesn’t feel right. But there’s still value in trying it first.”. (T2) Either if the former trainees choose or did not choose rotation or if they shaped their future role placement all the former trainees appreciated to have an open communication and support in their choices or wished for more influence and a better dialog in this matter. One trainee that experienced a lack of support stated that: ”The program wasn’t particularly great at supporting us in those kinds of dialogues and discussions [about the future work role placement]. One could debate whether that should be the program’s responsibility or not, but we ended up taking a lot of initiative ourselves to make things happen.”. (T5) 4.1.2.3 Self-Initiative in Work and Task Decisions Self-Initiative in Work and Task Decisions is the third subcategory under Work Conditions and Task Design. This presents the former trainees’ different experiences in being given freedom or having predetermined and dictation elements in shaping their daily work by both managing their own time frames and choosing work tasks. While the section above discussed their freedom in