Jobs at Sveaskog

The felling manager plans and ensures that the right areas are logged at the right time. The felling manager visits the machine teams a couple of times each week to see how work is progressing. There are also meetings with the sawmills a few times each year. A large part of a felling manager's duties involve ensuring that customers are satisfied and being able to help out if anything unexpected occurs.

According to one felling manager:

"What's most fun with my job is that so many different things happen every day. And I like having responsibility for personnel and seeing the big picture in planning."

A felling planner determines which trees will be felled and which will be thinned. This entails demarcation of areas and staking off historic features. Based on field planning, the felling planner submits proposals for measures. Information about which trees will be felled is entered in a GPS-equipped, handheld computer. The information is subsequently transferred to Sveaskog's computer network. Felling managers can then go into the network and extract maps of the areas that are to be logged.

According to one felling planner:

"One of the benefits of my job is the freedom. I decided to retrain as a forestry worker to be able to stay in my home district. Moreover, experiencing the outdoors is fantastic. I've pretty much seen it all – foxes, moose, wood grouses, as well as wolf and bear tracks."

Machine operators fell forests. The job is technically advanced. Inside the operator's cab, there is a PC screen where the machine operator reads off all necessary information and makes an assessment of the status of the trees. The machine operator thereafter makes decisions on whether the trees should be handled in a way other than what the computer suggests. It's been said that a logger makes as many decisions per second as a fighter pilot.

According to one machine operator:

"What's best about my job is that I get to be out in nature. Picture a sunny winter day when it's ten degrees below freezing. Being out there in the silence ... not many people have that privilege."

A real estate manager is primarily responsible for property sales to owners of farmland and forests. Lots of about 100 hectares are chosen, prepared for sale and offered via a broker. The real estate manager also handles contacts with businesses, municipalities and private individuals who want to buy smaller lots, from just a few hundred square metres to several hectares.

According to one real estate manager:

"What's most fun with my job is doing business with people who have a positive outlook on owning land. It's often a matter of them realising a dream. I also enjoy working operatively and business oriented."

A timber administrator updates Sveaskog's timber accounting system with data from the forestry industry's IT company, SDC. This involves going through the contracts between private forest owners and our timber buyers. The contracts contain information about volume, assortment and origin of the timber we have bought and this is subsequently matched with the measurement reports from SDC. The administrator also creates pricelists for invoicing and settlements. The timber value is compiled based on the pricelist. Once the timber is entered, the timber administrator prepares a final account of settlement for the property owner.

According to one timber administrator:

"I enjoy the variation of my duties and the recognition I receive from colleagues, customers and suppliers. And I appreciate the freedom. Even though I work in an office, my job gives me a lot of freedom."

A timber buyer must be knowledgeable of forests, understand the business and have the ability to establish bonds between farmers and people from large urban areas. The job includes regular meetings with forest owners and machine teams, and follow-up that forest owners are paid on time. It also concerns keeping up-to-date on the timber market by monitoring domestic and international news, reading Sveaskog's intranet and receiving internal training.

According to one timber buyer:

"I like the variation in my job. There aren't many jobs that require knowledge in everything from economy, biology and technology to business and psychology. Moreover, I can spend time both out in the forest and at the office."