'I felt welcomed even though I’m not in Aalto physically' – new School of Business Master’s students got to network remotely with alumni

The School of Business Career Services and Alumni Relations organized an annual Welcome Evening event during the orientation week with over 150 new Master’s students as participants. The purpose of the event was to offer new Master’s students a chance to get to know different career paths already in the beginning of their Master’s studies and to welcome them to the School of Business community. 22 School of Business alumni were invited to the event to share their own experiences on studies, work life and career paths. 

Remote networking went on well

The orientation week of Aalto University was mostly organized remotely, and neither the Welcome Evening event made an exception to this. The event was organized in the Zoom platform, and in the beginning of the event, the Head of External Relations Jonna Söderholm presented the School’s Career Services offerings, customized student business projects, and the School’s alumni activities. 

After this, the alumni and students were divided into Zoom breakout rooms according to their major subjects, in which the students got to discuss with alumni from their own major. The functionality and automatic division of the breakout rooms received praise from both students and alumni.

Students received useful advice from our alumni

The most important part of the event were indeed the conversations with the alumni. 'It was inspirational and motivational to hear career stories relevant to us,' a student commented. Also, the international students were encouraged for job hunting in Finland; 'As a foreigner it was particular interesting to have alumni who came to Finland as foreigners as well. With the given input I feel way more confident and guided in a job market that I'm completely new to.'

Management & International Business alumna Laura Palosaari, who works as a Senior Human Capital Consultant at Deloitte, tells that the students were also interested in trainee programs offered by companies and tips for finding the first job from one’s own field. Palosaari also advised students to utilize the chances to develop one’s own presentation, facilitation and project management skills.

Both Palosaari and Economics alumnus Samuele Machì also suggested for the students to be active in hobbies and extra-curricular activities as they can teach valuable skills for work life and can help stand out in the eyes of a potential employer. Machì works as a Commercial Manager for Enterprise business at Nokia. In addition, Machì recommended the students to take advantage of the current virtual way of working, as working in virtual teams is a norm in many global companies.

Further information:

We organize various career events annually at the School of Business between our students and alumni. Check the upcoming trainings and events in Aalto JobTeaser (requires Aalto login)!

Questions? Please contact [email protected], [email protected].