Alumnus Tomi Nyman: Sales business is consultative and creative problem solving

Who are you and what did you study at the School of Business? 

I am Tomi Nyman and I work at Hilti as a National Manager in Steel and Construction business unit. I studied management as my major and finance as my minor and graduated in 2014. I chose this study combination because I wanted to learn both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills, and it has proven to be a very good decision! Especially at my current role as Head of Service I need management skills with strong financial understanding.  

How did you end up in your current position? 

I have been working at Hilti for 10 years and I started here already before my graduation. I got interested in Hilti when I met their HR manager and some alumni at a stand in Arena Career Fair. I talked with them and got so interested that when I saw their job ad about a finance position in CareerWeb, I was immediately interested and luckily got the job (editors note: today Aalto Talent Expo and JobTeaser job portal). I then moved on from finance to sales quite quickly and have done most of my career in sales.

At Hilti, I especially appreciate the fact that I have been given opportunities to grow and steer my career to the direction I have wanted. We have a culture of growing within the company at Hilti and we want to support our employees’ career goals and I am one of the living examples of this. 

What aspect of studies has been most useful in your career? 

Continuous learning and developing your skills during your career are very important, and here at Hilti we put a lot of effort into giving opportunities for staff to train and develop. During my university studies, I learned to understand what type of a learner I am and how I can best learn new things. Therefore, for me, in addition to substance skills, ‘learning how to learn’ has been one of the single most important skills that I gained from university studies. The knowledge you gain during studies becomes a skill in working life.  

For my employability, the company cases and link to working life through those have been very useful. The company case projects are a valuable opportunity for both the student and the company to demonstrate their strengths and opportunities. It is also an asset in the recruitment process if you already know the company a bit and they know you. I also value the career services: the career fairs, job portal and company cooperation have played a valuable role in my employment. 

What is job like, how does a normal day look like? 

I love my job because it is so diverse. Each day is different and there is variety in tasks. I try to build my weeks so that I would spend 2 days with my team, work on my own cases and customers for 2 days and 1 day for admin. During the team days I spend the day on the field and meet customers with my team members, but also spend a lot of time for coaching and supporting them. At Hilti we put a lot of effort on career development, and this plays a big role in my job as well as a supervisor. 

Nowadays the sales business is very consultative, at least here at Hilti, and it can be described as creative problem solving more than traditional selling. We are the experts of our own services and help our customers solve their problems and be more productive in their own business.