”The highlight for me in my journey has been all the different responsibilities I have been able to have and skill sets I’ve honed. I have felt so grateful for getting permanent employment and fascinating career opportunities during my studies.”
I started at Framery in 2016 as a Supply Chain trainee doing a variety of tasks during other employees’ summer holidays. I got to learn how the factory, even though much smaller at that time, operated with all the production cells and inbound and outbound processes. During my first few weeks on the job, the nature of my work became quite clear. I was given tasks, sometimes bigger and other times smaller. I learned that whatever the size of the task might be, I could trust myself to execute them using critical thinking.
In the beginning, I had a lot to learn. I remember sending my first spare-part shipment to a customer in a normal envelope, eight stamps on it, and dropping the envelope into some random postal box. With the customer being on the other side of the world, the shipment was never received and was returned to us damaged. Later on, I learned that there are global postal services and cardboard boxes for that purpose. I was given responsibilities in a variety of departments, such as order management, sourcing, and shipment arrangements, and I enjoyed the freedom in every single one of them. By running around the factory, investigating, and learning new things, I felt like a totally new and very capable person after the summer.
”I remember sending my first spare-part shipment to a customer in a normal envelope, eight stamps on it, and dropping the envelope into some random postal box. With the customer being on the other side of the world, the shipment was never received and was returned to us damaged.”
When the autumn came, I asked to stay as a part-time employee while pursuing my studies in Public Financial Management and was so happy to continue my life as a Framerian. Learning more about the world of invoicing and accounts receivable and creating/sending invoices to customers. The number of our outgoing invoices increased and we needed a full-time person dedicated to processing them. We recruited a specialist and in just six months, I jumped to an accounts payable position. I got to investigate, learn, and thus develop the knowledge for the processes and grow my own skills. Half a year later we were recruiting again, this time, for accounts payable. Once again, we found the perfect person to join Framery and I jumped in to help the company as a Business Analyst where I became involved in the due diligence process, which also gave me the chance to study and learn even more.
After Vaaka and their top-notch professionals joined our team and our success rate further increased, it became really clear that we would need to follow our critical projects even closer. We used to run around doing a lot of tasks, but now we needed to clarify our focus and guide our everyday actions to work on the most important projects while increasing time management and overall efficiency. As we continuously grew bigger, we couldn’t keep everyone up-to-date just by having weekly recap sessions on Fridays or discussing the hot topics over lunch. That’s why we decided to implement a new follow-up logic for our strategic projects. Based on the vision and excellent guidance from Vaaka, we started drafting our first-ever PMO (Project Management Office) report. I remember laughing at the first version, a rusty-looking Excel page with baby blue colored text. Our CEO Samu asked me to make the report title in 3D to match the 1990s PowerPoint reporting style and we laughed even harder. However, little by little, we got the hang of the visual aspects and the visual format became a little stronger and easier to read.
”The fact that every day I get to have discussions with interesting, brilliant-minded Framerians and then publish the project’s progress report and share it with our whole organization further boosting transparency was, and still is, a dream come true! At the beginning, I didn’t even know that kind of job existed.”
On a biweekly basis, my goal is to brainstorm with project owners and collect their latest status information, check that their actual progress still matches up with our strategy, and then publish a summarized report for the whole organization. The fact that every day I get to have discussions with interesting, brilliant-minded Framerians and then publish the project’s progress report and share it with our whole organization further boosting transparency was, and still is, a dream come true! At the beginning, I didn’t even know that kind of job existed.
During the last year, we also ramped up our contract management processes. Due to my meticulous mindset, reviewing the contracts was a pleasant break into new ground. Even though we have grown a bit bigger since I started (300 Framerians bigger, to be exact), I still feel that we are driven by the same passion to get things done our way. The highlight for me in my journey has been all the different responsibilities I have been able to have and skill sets I’ve honed. I have felt so grateful for getting permanent employment and fascinating career opportunities during my studies.
”There isn’t a better feeling than having an ambitious goal in front of you and knowing that you are allowed to do the very best you can, and it still won’t be overkill.”
For me, the freedom from prejudice is one of the most important things at Framery. Just because someone else hasn’t yet done it that way, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be possible or reasonable to try it. With us, it also goes the other way around. Even though someone else has done it this way, it doesn’t mean that it would be the best way for us. Our people are excellent problem solvers – even if you were to fail at something, the team will always trust you and urge you to try again. They might laugh with you or talk it through with you – whichever supports your personality and work ethic the best. I don’t think that there is a better place for experimenting and learning than at Framery.
From a personal development perspective, Framery has been – surprise – the best place for me. There isn’t a better feeling than having an ambitious goal in front of you and knowing that you are allowed to do the very best you can, and it still won’t be overkill. With our pace of growth, we have a lot of tight schedules and deadlines, but it isn’t actually those that challenge me – it’s the content of the work itself. Often our targets and aims relate to something that we have never done before, and there is nothing I love more than trying to utilize our existing know-how in creating something new and impactful. In the middle of each challenge, I have also learned a lot about myself. I have learned to love the small trials that make you think clearer and discover new ideas, but I have also learned to recognize when I am stressed and need to go to the gym or take a piano break.
Overall, working for Framery is about much more than just having a “job” – it is truly about working for a company that increases my happiness. Our work is about constantly exploring new possibilities and opportunities, new ways to trigger my mind, and challenges that let me excel.
Oona Vilermo, Business Analyst