Alumni advised International students: Invest in Relationships and Learn Finnish
ELEC Career Café brought six Aalto University alumni back on campus to meet international students at the School of Electrical Engineering.
Invest in Relationships
All alumni underlined the importance of networks and relationships. You can find a job, your future spouse or a home through your network. CEO and Founder of Callstats.io Varun Singh encouraged students to invest in meeting people and building networks.
"People think that a great business idea makes a start-up successful. In reality, success lies in its people", pondered Singh.
Get Experience in the Industry
Alumni reminded that it is essential to get experience from the industry already during your studies.
"It is recommendable to get work experience in the industry, for example, by completing a summer internship", advised Athul Prasad who works as Head of 5G Business Modelling and Analysis at Nokia Networks.
It is difficult to get your first job after graduation without any work experience.
"You can get experience also through study projects", advised Mert Ocak, who works as IoT Developer with Ericsson.
Learn Finnish
Although English is used more and more in workplaces in Finland, it is recommendable to learn Finnish. Angela Bartel works a as Quality Engineer at ABB and speaks Finnish fluently.
"After moving to Finland, I took intensive Finnish language courses. Learning the language has helped me a lot not only professionally, but also in social life", concluded Bartel.
Finnish Workplace has Low-hierachy Structure
Alumni also talked about the low-hierarchy in Finnish companies. In Finland, it is easy to talk to managers.
"You don’t have to call anyone “Sir” in Finland", advised Osman Yilmaz, who is leading a global 5G research and standardization team at Ericsson.
Jouni Tervaskanto has worked with ABB both in Finland and abroad. He noted that Finland is a good and safe place to work and build a life.
"It is easy to combine family and career in Finland", Tervaskanto underlined.
The event was organized by ELEC Career Services and Alumni Relations.
More information, Kaisa Paasivirta, kaisa.paasivirta@aalto.fi