The student council assists in the development of the School of Business External Relations activities

Since 2009, the School of Business External Relations team has been assisted by an annually changing student council. All students at the School of Business can apply for the student council at the beginning of the academic year. The student council plays an important role in sparring the team’s services and is also a valuable part of cooperation within the Premium Partner program.

During the academic year 2021–22, the students (Siru Inkinen, Jenna Konttila, Pinja Laine, Sanni Lappalainen, Teemu Pakarinen, Katri Savolainen and KY's Corporate Relations Officer Tuomas Takanen / Miko Mariapori) have focused on alumni activities, career and recruitment services, corporate relations and partnerships. The season culminated on 20 May, when our student panel presented the results of the student satisfaction survey to the representatives of the partner companies.

The student survey shows that the importance of social media and networks as the channels of employment has grown even more, although they have not yet replaced job portals. Discussion on Aalto JobTeaser was as vivid as expected - after all, the channel is our main communication channel for students. The survey found that students are well employed, so the need to use JobTeaser may not be at its highest at the moment. On the other hand, some students have not yet found the channel. In the autumn, we will invest in marketing for both students and employers.

Students want both on-campus and virtual events

Next autumn, the student activities of Aalto University and employers will be able to move to the so-called post-corona-time or the new normal. Our survey shows that students very much hope that this means adopting new forms of action. Virtual events are still wanted also due to their flexibility and ease. You can take part in these, even if you are doing an exchange or internship away from campus. However, the networking aspect of live events is important and cannot be replaced - so both are needed.

The survey also asked students to name employer organizations that they felt had a positive impact on student life. Positive ways of being present were e.g. participation in teaching (case, guest lectures), sponsored lecture halls, advertising open positions for our students and recommendations of fellow students. The organizations with the most mentions are all very familiar: EY, Deloitte, BCG, Kesko, KPMG, OP, McKinsey, Accenture, PwC and Neste (and 51 other organizations). An apposite (and most laugh-striking) comment from a student in the survey was, "If you get to do lecturing, it's a pretty good way to get attention, especially if you have something sensible to say."

The event ended with a workshop by the student council and business representatives, where they got to work on four hot topics:

• Responsibility and values ​​- how should they show in the day-to-day running of the company and in communication with students?

• Recruitment trends from the recruiter’s perspective, e.g. some / videos / anonymous recruitment, etc.

• Student's expectations about recruitment: salary transparency, process lightness vs. rigor, values, etc.

• How can companies better support the employment of international students (other than by recruiting)

Almost all of our Premium Partners (Alma Media, Deloitte, EY, Finavia, Hilti, Konecranes, KPMG, OP, Posti, PwC) were present at the event, some with more than one person.

Our expert Milja Koski from Career Services was responsible for the event.