From mining country to HR country – Miciel’s new job is right up her street

From mining country to HR country – Miciel’s new job is right up her street

Miciel Wennström, 23, grew up in the mining community of Gällivare, with Aitik as her backyard. Her mother drove a truck at the mine, and now she is following in her mother’s footsteps, but working in HR.

The start of the trainee program has been rewarding.

“I see it as a great opportunity to really get into the company and learn the whole process," says Miciel.

For Miciel, the mine has always been present in her life, just like for many other people living in the area. Her own journey began as a vacation worker for two summers. Back then, she devoted herself to washing vehicles and mowing lawns. Later during her studies, this developed into a position as a temporary summer worker in the warehouse.

In addition to the mine deposits, Gällivare has also become famous on another front – as a wrestling talent factory, with Miciel as one of its promising athletes.

After wrestling high school in Skåne, she applied to university to study HR.

“I’ve always liked communication and education, so it felt right to focus on HR, and just as natural to apply to Boliden and Aitik when I decided to move back home,” says Miciel.


It was her manager who told her about the trainee program as an opportunity for Miciel to improve herself as a young talent.

“It was still quite new at the time, and the year before me had already started the program. But I got to meet Mats (Karmefjord), who is the program manager, at a meeting where I learned about the purpose and goals of the entire concept – it really felt like something for me. I see it as a great opportunity to really get into the company and learn the whole process,” says Miciel.


What else do you hope the trainee program will give you?

“An extensive network of contacts and greater knowledge of Boliden as a whole. I’ve gained insight into how we mine rock and process it to make metals, but I haven’t been able to do much more outside this little bubble. It’s a really good ‘school’ in that way,” says Miciel.


As an HR Generalist, Miciel has started to gain experience in recruitment, but her vision for the future goes beyond that. She aims to expand her duties to include the rehabilitation of Aitik’s employees, with a desire to create a more comprehensive and supportive work environment in the mine.

“Right now, I’m involved in recruitment most of the time, so I’m in contact with the managers and arrange interviews and support them in that process. As I am relatively new to this field, I feel that it’s important to quickly acquire knowledge and become self-supporting. In the long term, I want to drive discussions about the rehabilitation aspect forward, with the understanding that it is a complex and long-term process. The challenge for me is to be patient and take things step by step,” she says.


The meetings with the other trainee participants are a highlight, according to Miciel.

“First of all, we have a lot of fun together, and just getting to know each other is so rewarding. There are six different nationalities, and we all come from different backgrounds. It’s also nice that we can support one another. They turn to me with different personnel issues, for example, and I can turn to them to ask for slightly different perspectives on issues,” says Miciel.

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