Thank you from ARENA 2016

‘What will I be when I grow up?’ asked the poster for the ARENA Career Fair in 2005. On this anniversary, spirits at ARENA were high again as numerous employment options were available to business students.

A total of 51 exhibitors had a stand at the ARENA Career Fair organised at the School of Business on Wednesday, 9 November. Many of them were familiar from previous years, but there were also many companies representing new industries. About 2,500 students attended the fair, so the fair area was busy all day.  

The ARENA Career Fair, now organised for the 25th time, continues to be the largest recruitment and contact event aimed at business students in the country.

‘As it is the anniversary this year, I am especially delighted to see that, over the time, we have seen a wider range of employers and industries participating in ARENA,’ says Annemari Rautio, who is responsible for organising the fair at the School of Business.

‘Of the first-time participants, I would like to mention, for example, Specsavers, VR Group and Smarp, which is a start-up company with a background at Aalto University. Accenture, on the other hand, is an example of our more experienced exhibitors and, according to our records, the company has always participated in our career fair,’ says Rautio. 

Students praised for their active participation and attitude

For many of the participating companies, students of the School of Business are an important target group from the recruitment point of view either now or in future. Dream Broker, a fast-growing company that attended the fair for the third time, had both points of view in mind.

‘We participate to increase general awareness about our company and to recruit in the long term, starting from first-year students,’ said Team Leader Jarkko Kilpeläinen.

For Danske Bank, the most recent partner company of the School of Business, this was already the 12th time.
‘It has been a very positive experience, said Kari Jauhiainen at Danske’s stand.
‘A lot of students have visited us today – all of them smart and genuinely interested in the banking sector, and they all had a good attitude. In other words, they are potential employees,’ added Jauhiainen.

Lidl, the only company representing the field of retail business this year, also participated in the fair for the third time and the impression students have of the company has gradually been developing in the desired direction.

‘There are fairly diverse career possibilities in our different business operations. We offer, for example, one of the most comprehensive graduate and trainee programmes in the country for recent graduates who have a degree in Economics and Business Administration. Our two-year programme also includes a 6-month period abroad, said Recruitment Manager Jonna Jansson.

On behalf of the whole ARENA team, thank you to all who participated!

Career Services at Aalto University School of Business
[email protected]

The ARENA Career Fair is the largest recruitment and contact event aimed at students of business in Finland. At the fair, students familiarise themselves with employers and different industries on both the actual day of the fair and on ARENA-On-Line on Facebook throughout the autumn. During the day of the fair, some companies provided guidance on completing CVs and LinkedIn profiles and gave employer presentations.

Further information about the ARENA Career Fair: http://fairs.aalto.fi/arena