Minna-Rosa Kanniainen, a career counsellor at University of Helsinki’s Career Services, ended up at her current job due to her personal interest in the field. Having previously been a career coach, this alumnus of the Faculty of Social Sciences found it interesting to coach students in career planning. Minna-Rosa gets inspired by creating new forms of work-life orientation together with different faculties and departments, and she has also arranged courses where she contributes through sharing her advice and expertise for motivated students.
“My days tend to vary quite a lot, sometimes time flies with ordinary office works, such as replying to enquires and meeting students for career counselling session. In addition to administrative work, I am in charge of planning courses together with teachers at different faculties, where we incorporate career-thinking in variety of courses,” she says.
The Career Services offers career advice for students at any point of their studies and who are currently enrolled at the university. They have open doors on Mondays from 1pm to 3pm, where students or alumni can come and ask for advice on their cvs and job applications. In addition, the Career Services can arrange career counselling appointments for students or alumni even one year after their graduation.
“The most frequently asked questions are those where students ask for advice on where they can work and what kind of jobs are available. A lot of students are also worried about the current unemployment situation in the labour market. Questions such as ‘what kind of work am I able to do with my degree?’ are common thoughts faced by our graduate students searching for jobs,” she recalls.
The most important advice for students searching for a job is to be aware of your own goals and navigate your strengths and attributes to match your dream job or position. Especially when applying for a specific job, it’s important to identify the main criteria for that position and bring it out in your application. Minna-Rosa wants to remind students to actively build networks and contacts already during their studies, for example through courses and associated activities. “Having wide networks is important for your future career development and helps you to uncover the hidden labour market,” she points out. In addition to building networks, students should aim to discover their strengths by exploring self-assessment methods, discussing with people, or through self-reflection and using online tools, such as The Tool Kit for HEI’s.
3 most important channels for job search:
1. Linkedin
2. Twitter
3. Own networks
Minna-Rosa is also involved in organising and teaching courses on career planning. “We also do a lot of planning together with teachers on how to incorporate work-life approaches into their own courses, and through this my team´s work reaches almost 2000 students per year,” she says. The Group Mentoring Programme is also part of Career Services, where groups of mentees and mentors consisting of students and alumni reflect on their future plans together. The Programme takes form in organized meetings from November to April.
When asked how working life has changed through time, Minna-Rosa replies: “It has changed especially through increased competition in the labour market and the unemployment of academic people has also increased significantly in the recent years. Nevertheless, I still encourage everyone to pursue a degree as it will be beneficial”. Students’ expectation about their future career are generally quite realistic, however many students tend to narrow their expectation. Students often believe that they can work only in certain fields with because of their degrees. “In today’s world, people with the same degree can work in a variety of fields and positions, so my advice is that you should avoid narrowing your choices, think outside of your field and discover careers that best suit your skills and interests,” she concludes.
Profile photo copyright of Minna-Rosa Kanniainen