Swedish terms of employment - based wherever you want. Annie Blomgren is combining the best of two worlds and is literally living her dream working for 84codes in Queenstown, New Zealand.
Now 31, Annie Blomgren was born and raised in Värnamo in the south of Sweden. Ever since she went on an exchange semester to New Zealand while studying Business and IT-management at Jönköping university, she had one goal in mind. “I absolutely fell in love with this country, and I thought to myself ‘I’m gonna live here someday.’ And so after I graduated I tried to find a job in New Zealand, but it turned out to be impossible since I didn’t have any work experience.”
Every move she made from that point, career-wise, was with NZ in mind. “When I was searching for a job in Sweden, to get some experience, I actively searched for companies that had a presence in NZ.”
One thing led to another, and five years later Annie found herself stationed in NZ. Happy with her new location, but not quite as happy with her employment. “It was very strict, very hierarchical, and Swedes are not used to that. We weren’t trusted at all and I wasn’t very happy there.”
When the opportunity came up and Annie was offered a technical support job at 84codes, she wasn’t hesitant. “But I remember asking Carl (CEO of 84codes) why he wanted to hire me even though I didn’t have the technical experience! And he said, ‘Well, you have the mindset that you want to learn, and if you’re a good person you will fit in the team and you will learn the things you need to know.’ I was blown away. You are allowed to put time on learning stuff, and it will benefit everyone - in time.”
The 84codes sales and support team operates around the clock, and thanks to their presence in different time zones (the US, Sweden and NZ) it’s a seamless cooperative organisation. “When we are done for the day in NZ, we hand it over to our Swedish colleagues who just woke up. And Sweden hands over to the US. That means we always have someone on call around the clock, always being there for our customers.”
So now Annie found herself fulfilling not only the dream of living in NZ but also having the perks of an employment with Swedish terms.
“You can’t compete with 84codes, they are the best in the world; how you are treated, the salary, the trust. I have to pinch myself sometimes to appreciate this opportunity I have been given to be able to work with awesome people in the way we work remotely. I get to live wherever I want, and I’m exactly where I wanna be!”
/Sofie & the 84codes team
Interested in joining our team? Visit our Career site for more information .
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