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Aalto University School of Business Career Services follows the labour market situation and career development of our master's degree graduates five years after graduation.  Career monitoring is conducted as a part of a national survey on academic graduates with the Aarresaari Career Services network representing 13 Finnish universities. 

‘I really appreciate the fact that so many of our graduates have responded to our career monitoring survey and thus help us to develop our teaching. It is important for us to have certainty that our teaching and degrees meet the changing competence requirements of the working life. It is also valuable for our students currently in the process of planning their studies and careers to receive information on graduates’ career paths. Responses to career monitoring surveys also have an impact on the funding received by the university from the Ministry of Education and Culture, so each answer is important in many ways,’ says Timo Korkeamäki, Dean of the School of Business.

This autumn, the career monitoring survey will be sent to the 2018 master’s graduates, from whom we hope to receive a large number of responses.

Business graduates are employed in the private sector in a variety of specialist and management positions

In autumn 2022, the master’s graduates of 2017 were asked to respond to the career monitoring survey. At that time, 40% of those master’s graduates from Aalto University School of Business responded to the survey. 

Of the respondents, 57% were women and 43% were men. 16% of the respondents were of non-Finnish nationality. Almost all respondents were employed (98%). 87% of the employed were in permanent full-time job, 5% in temporary full-time job, 3% were self-employed, 3% were on family leave from work and 1% worked with a grant. At the time of the survey, 1% of the respondents were studying and 1% were unemployed.

The private sector employed the majority (81%) of respondents who were employed at the time (large companies 58%, small and medium companies 24%). The remaining respondents were employed by the state, universities, municipalities, organisations, universities of applied sciences, or they were self-employed. 91% of respondents worked in Finland and 9% abroad.

Respondents worked in a wide variety of jobs. The most common natures of duties were planning, development or administration, consultancy or training, management and supervision, finance and financial management. Five years after graduation, 58% worked as specialists/experts, 16% in a superior position, 13% as officers, 7% in senior management and the rest were self-employed or in other positions. The average salary of full-time employed respondents was €6504/month and the median salary was €5500/month.

The business degree prepares students well for working life

92% of the master's graduates who responded to the survey were satisfied with their career so far and 93% were overall satisfied with the degree in terms of their career. 88% felt that their studies prepared them well for working life. Up to 97% of respondents were willing to recommend their degree to others and 96% of respondents felt that employers valued their degree.

As the most important factors in finding employment, the respondents with a master's degree from the Aalto University School of Business highlighted the ability to communicate their skills to others, previous work experience, the subject combination of the degree and internships. The five most important skills that respondents needed at work and developed during their studies at the university were the ability to learn and adopt new skills, problem-solving skills, self-direction/self-initiative, analytical and systematic thinking skills and cooperation skills.

The respondents encourage current students at the School of Business to acquire a wide range of skills for the working life. Among the skills highlighted in the responses are managing and understanding the big picture, communication, IT, presentation, and networking skills, critical thinking and analytical skills, creative thinking and problem-solving skills, stress tolerance and organisational skills. The respondents also urged students to learn how to take care of their own stress levels, to acknowledge their own limits, and also to maintain a good work-life balance.

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A career monitoring survey of our master’s graduates from 2018 is ongoing from 2 October until 11 December 2023. You can receive the survey by e-mail, mail or text message.

We are again hoping to receive many responses to the survey. Thank you in advance!