Veronica Tagebrand works as a Business Analyst at DXC Technology. At just 25 years old, she reports to one of Sweden's leading IT managers, Vahid Zohali. You've had a fantastic start to your career, what has attracted you in your choice of employers? What strategic decisions have you made along the way?
For me, it is important to work for a company that I believe in and where I see long-term strategy. My first choice of employer was based on the fact that I wanted to work in the IT industry. Despite my background in economics, I felt that IT is the industry that is growing the fastest and will have the greatest influence in the future, both for the individual and for society as a whole. Working for an IT company means a daily routine of change, which is a sign of well-being and means great opportunities for development. The company I work for must be able to adapt to changes in the world around us, and the fact that my employer DXC follows a business model based on the fact that we are moving from people performing the operational work to technology working for us instead feels completely right for the times.
In addition to strategy, development opportunities and the right leadership are what attract me the most. I want to be sure that my employer believes in me as an individual as much as I believe in the company I work for. Having a supportive leader who allows a high degree of self-determination and challenges me by gradually taking me out into deeper waters with even greater responsibility is fantastic. I have learned that if I am interested in making a career, I should always be where it is burning the most, and that has been my guiding principle in the decisions I have made so far.

What advice would you give to us slightly more "senior" leaders who need to "think new" when it comes to creating the conditions for your generation to develop and thrive in a workplace?
Millennials are a generation with a completely different view of working life and leadership compared to previous generations. We have grown up in circumstances where technology has influenced our way of life, which means that we have different expectations of how a workplace should operate in order to be attractive. Effective means of communication, high activity on social media that provides an insight into the corporate culture, and a social responsibility that gives employees an opportunity to contribute to society are three examples of activities that every company can work with to attract millennials.
To create the right conditions, my first tip to you as a leader is to read up on how different generations behave. Of course, the characteristics of the generations are generalizing and cannot be applied to all individuals, but it gives an indication of how a group behaves and how you should think in your leadership.
For example, we millennials are attracted to a workplace where there is work-life balance. For us, it is not the colleague who stays the longest in the office when others have gone home who is considered the most ambitious, but the one who has developed an effective way of working and gets a lot of work done in a short time with high quality. We prefer employers and leaders who encourage flexibility and freedom under their own responsibility, where we are high-performing at work while having a social life on the side.
A noticeable difference between my generation and the older one that is of significant importance for leaders is the average length of employment with an employer. Being a job hopper is today something that is more common than unusual among millennials, which means that it is more important than ever for you as a leader to work on how to retain talent. Millennials come from an upbringing where our parents have coddled us and we have received large doses of confirmation, not least from "likes" on social media. To get loyal employees and succeed in retaining talent, my last tip to you is to work actively with confirmation and feedback. Millennials expect an open dialogue with their leader and require more confirmation than previous generations to feel satisfied with their employer. I therefore believe that recognition and the feeling of being seen are significant factors that affect how long a millennial stays with an employer, and it is something that all leaders should work with.

What will you be doing in 5 years?
If I get to wish, I will be working to simplify and improve processes for companies with the help of technology in a role where I also get to practice leadership that motivates and inspires my colleagues.