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Last Wednesday during the orientation week, in the traditional Welcome Evening the new Master's students of the School of Business got to make contact with working life through alumni. The External Relations team brought a comprehensive group of the School's alumni to the lobby of Ekonominaukio 1 for the students to meet. At the beginning of the event, Annemari Rautio, who is responsible for the partner program, spoke briefly about various services that Master's students should use as early as possible. There were e.g. Aalto JobTeaser, our various events, mentoring program and personal career counseling services mentioned.

In the evening's panel discussion, the Chairman of Aalto University Business Students (KY) Rasmus Räsänen asked the alumni working in the School's partner companies, e.g. what skills they have noticed especially needed in working life, what should be especially taken into account when being a student in terms of their own employment, or how AI is already visible at work and will affect it in the future. Liyuan Dou, who works with AI and data as an analyst at Deloitte, particularly emphasized that it is worth participating in Aalto University's mentoring program. She had received valuable advice on job hunting, working in Finland and her studies from her mentor. Villeveikka Koivumaa (Compliance Officer, OP group) advised that "it's worth trying to do group work with new people. This way you get to know new fellow students and learn to work with different people. This is what it is like in working life." Student activities were promoted by Kalle Kaisko (Sustainability Specialist, KPMG), who told how participating in student activities (KY, AYY and clubs) also increases working life skills in addition to networking.

A good half of the two-hour event was reserved for students to talk freely with alumni about studies, student life and work. All degree programs were represented among alumni, if not otherwise, then at least as minor subjects. The alumni said afterwards that the students had even managed to surprise with their strict and probing questions. The space was filled with a nice crowd, and when the organizer left, some remained to discuss closely.

The participating students were very satisfied with the event and the tips they received from the alumni, summed up Tanja Makkonen from the School of Business’ Career Services. The feedback from the event revealed that the students gained new valuable insights from the panelists and alumni after the panel, which can be used when planning studies, maybe even taking courses and participating in activities that had not been thought of in the beginning. In addition, the international students pointed out how important it was to get tips also on what factors influence the fact that it is easier to find a job in Finland. Many thanks to all the alumni and students who participated!

Career events and other career and recruitment services

The Welcome Evening was organized in cooperation with the School's Career Services, Corporate Relations and Alumni Relations. The event has been organized since 2017 and is part of the orientation week. The Meet Your Community (MYC) event continues as another community-building event, which brings together first-year Bachelor students, i.e. walruses and alumni, every spring. During the school year, we also organize other career events where students get to meet alumni who have graduated from Aalto University. All career events for students can be found in (only with aalto login). 

More information:

Tanja Makkonen, Senior Manager, Career Services
tanja.makkonen@aalto.fi

Emilia Nevalainen, Manager, Alumni Relations
emilia.m.nevalainen@aalto.fi

These alumni participated and discussed with the students:

Accounting
Julia Hakulinen, Business Controller at Pontos Group
Jaakko Jurvanen, Business Controller at Bassadone Automotive Nordic Oy

Creative Sustainability
Kalle Kaisko, Sustainability Specialist, KPMG
Beda Rasinen, Environment Manager, Fiskars Group

Economics
Henrik Kekarainen, Strategy consultant, Monitor Deloitte
Katriina Alaspää, Business Development Manager, VR Passenger Services

Finance
Alexander Wirtz, Senior Consultant, EY Parthenon
Markus Weckman, VP, Corporate Business at The Upright Project
Villeveikka Koivumaa, Compliance Officer, OP Financial Group

Global Management
Paula Marjamaa, Senior Consultant, Climate Change and Sustainability Services at 
Georg Namuth, Senior Associate Consultant at Bain & Company

Information and Service Management & Business Analytics
Anastasia Chumakova, Senior Consultant at EY Technology Consulting
Olli Copeland, Senior Consultant, Digital Strategy & Design at Deloitte Digital & Alumni Ambassador
Maria Aalto, Analyst, NHG
Liyuan Dou, Analyst, AI & data, Deloitte consulting

International Design Business Management
Van Chu, Lead Product Manager @ Next Games - a Netflix Game Studio
Laura Ainamo, Junior Brand Manager - at The Coca-Cola Company

People Management and Organizational Development & Strategic Management in a Changing World (former programs: Management and International Business & Strategy)
Matias Joensuu, Senior Manager, Strategy & Transformations, Sanoma Media Finland
Rosa Hellgrén, Strategy and Culture Consultant, Futurice
Kun Cao, Senior manager at Reddal
Mercedes Fernandez, Sourcing Manager at Neste

Marketing
Henrik Lähdesniemi, Strategist, Bob the robot / NoA
Maria Hassinen, Brand Manager at Essity