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Aarresaari, a career services network of Finnish universities, has conducted a survey on how 2016 master's graduates and 2018 doctoral graduates were employed. 40 percent of master’s graduates and doctoral graduates participated in the survey during Fall of 2021.

Master’s graduates felt respected in work life and were happy with their careers

Master’s graduates have employed well after graduations as 90 percent had a full-time job and only two percent were seeking for a job. 79 percent worked in a large or small company. Six percent were employed by a university and five percent worked as entrepreneurs. 95 percent of the respondents felt that their degrees were valued by employers.

90 percent of the respondents were satisfied with their career at that point and 92 percent were satisfied with their degree. 82 percent felt that their studies prepared them well for work life. 93 percent were ready to recommend their degree to others.

"The employment of Aalto graduates describes our effectiveness and the quality of education significantly. Therefore, it is crucial for us to have up-dated information on it." says Petri Suomala, Vice President of Education.

Master’s graduates of Aalto University emphasized the ability to communicate own skills, previous work experience and the subject combination of the degree as the most important factors in finding employment. The respondents identified the ability to learn and absorb new things, problem-solving, thinking analytically and systematically and self-direction as the most important skills needed at work that developed during university studies.

Doctoral graduates advanced to more challenging and meaningful work duties

Compared to master’s graduates, doctoral graduates were employed more outside of private companies. 50 percent of the respondents worked in a large or small company, 34 percent worked in a university, seven percent worked for state and three percent were entrepreneurs. As much as 70 percent of the doctoral graduates worked as experts. 56 percent worked in research, 23 percent in development and planning duties. 82 percent of the respondents felt that their work duties had turned to more challenging with their doctoral degree and 77 percent felt that their degree had given them more meaningful work.

The respondents felt that they could utilize the skills they learned during their doctoral studies in their work and that the difficulty of their work matched their doctoral degree. They listed the ability to learn and adopt new information, problem-solving skills, self-management and taking initiative as the most important abilities in their current job position. The most important skills for work that developed during the doctoral studies were knowledge and skills related to the research area, analytical and systematic thinking skills, and knowledge and skills related to methodology and research methods.

Career monitoring survey is conducted at all universities

The career monitoring survey is a research model that is developed by the Aarresaari network, a career services network of Finnish universities, and used for nationwide career monitoring of people with a higher education (master's or doctoral degree) after graduation. Integration into working life is assessed from the perspective of the employment situation and the quality of employment, as well as the equivalence of work and degrees.

The next career monitoring survey will start on the 3rd of October 2022. All 2017 master's graduates and 2019 doctoral graduates will be invited to participate in the survey. The invitation to the survey will be sent by email, mail or sms. Thank you to all respondents!