Meet Your Community event brought together first-year students and alumni to discuss the choice of major subject

Every spring, the first-year students of the School of Business, or mursus, are faced with a choice of major subjects that can be challenging. To support the selection, the School of Business organized the Meet Your Community career event for the fifth time on Thursday, May 6, online on the Zoom platform. In the event, there were alumni from each major subject sharing their experiences on their choice of major, career and working life. There were also more than 250 business student participants in the event.

The event was sparked by AaltoDJ Vola, who played mood-inspiring ‘remixes’ of familiar hits. After that, Tanja Makkonen, Senior Manager of Career Services at the School of Business, gave a presentation on ‘Business graduates in the job market’, in which she elaborated on where graduates of the School of Business have placed themselves in working life after their studies and in what roles they work. ‘According to the experiences of School of Business graduates, verbalizing your own know-how is an important skill that helps in employment, so it is worth practicing it already during your studies, when you apply for summer jobs and internships,’ Makkonen recommends.

Alumni gave useful advice in panel and group discussions

The event provided an opportunity to hear alumni’s experiences and tips in an alumni panel, which involved an alumnus/a from each of the seven majors. In addition to the panel discussion, the event included group discussions of major subjects, where two alumni representatives of each major subject answered students’ questions on the topic.

‘While the choice of major subject may seem like a big decision right now, and of course it’s worth considering carefully, however, it’s not something that couldn’t be changed in the future. There are always different opportunities,’ says our accounting alumna Kaisu Hienonen.

‘I recommend to do things that interest you, even if you don’t yet know exactly what you want to do in your future career. Often, the first steps for your own career path can be found from your personal interests. For example, I myself have always been interested in business development and brand matters, and these have guided my career,’ says Julianna Alanne, our marketing alumna.

When alumni were asked what skills are particularly needed in working life, Jaki Taalas, our alumnus of corporate law, commented: ‘Of course, the substance knowledge in my own field in tax law is extremely important, and so is the case in other fields, too. But in addition to that, the general skills such as problem-solving skills are essential. For example, case exercises in studies help to develop these skills.’

‘Structuring a large amount of information and presenting and summarizing it in a way that is understandable to others, for example in presentations, are very important skills. I would also recommend attending courses that develop your argumentation skills, such as negotiation or debate courses. I recommend using your study time to develop these skills.’ mentions our economics alumna Aurora Aranko.

However, the social life of the student days should not be forgotten, and related to this, the alumni shared their most memorable experiences of student life. ‘It’s not worth pushing through studies and leaving all the social life aside, it’s worth spending time on that too. Memories of student activities are often the most memorable ones of the study time, even after years,’ says Harri Ikonen, our management alumnus.

The students who attended the event gave good feedback, especially on the alumni activity and tips. ‘The best thing about the event was the alumni's stories about their career path and the significance of their major subject and studies to it,’ said one student. ‘The brief info on business graduates’ placement in working life was also good,’ commented another student.

Career events and sustainable career design

The School of Business organizes many career events and, for example, group mentoring events every year. The Welcome Evening event for new master’s students is coming up in September, with registration opening in August. All career events can be found in the Events section of JobTeaser (only with aalto login). In addition, the new Aalto University Career Design Lab helps both students and alumni to design a meaningful and sustainable career based on the values ​​of equality, sustainability and well-being. Workshops for alumni can be found at Aalto Alumni Circle (requires logging in).

School of Business alumni who participated in the Meet Your Community event:

Management & International Business

Harri Ikonen, MuleSoft
Marika Määttä, Combient

Marketing

Julianna Alanne, Smartly.io
Markus Helaniemi, TBWA

Information & Service Management

Miikka Kataja, Combient Foundry
Heini Hyttinen, Nordic Healthcare Group

Economics

Aurora Aranko, Paulig
Teemu Riipi, Nordic Healthcare Group

Finance

Karoliina Kajova, Kuntarahoitus Oyj
Ari Piik, Wolt

Accounting

Kaisu Hienonen, Advania Finland
Eerik Klemetti, Korkia

Business Law

Jaki Taalas, PwC Finland
Laura Lahdenperä, EY

More information:

Tanja Makkonen
Senior Manager, Career Services
[email protected]

Fiona Jokivuolle
Coordinator, Alumni Relations
[email protected]