Different paths to work life

TEXT: SUMAYA SAID

I’m Jenni Ratamo, and I studied at the University of Vaasa majoring in Human Resource Management. After enjoying student life to the fullest I graduated in the summer of 2022. Today I live in Espoo and work as a consultant in EY’s Workforce Advisory team, where I get to help companies with various HR-related projects.

What kind of career path have you had?

First couple of years at university I had a summer job as an Accounts Receivable Specialist at Lowell. When I started to realize HR is the way I want to go, I applied to UPM’s HR service center in Krakow to work as an HR Specialist. Living abroad and my first job in ”my own” field were really valuable experiences. When I returned to Finland I noticed that Abloy was looking for someone to research external employer image’s effect on IT recruitment. Since I already had some experience in recruitment and the project sounded like an interesting challenge, I decided to apply for the thesis worker position and got it.

After finishing the master’s thesis project, I continued to work with recruitment as a recruiter at Valmet. But soon I realized I would like to work in a position where I could get wider experience in the field of HR. I decided to apply for a consulting trainee position in EY’s Workforce Advisory team. I had applied to this team before, but the second time my consistency paid off and I got the job. The trainee program was everything that I had expected and I enjoyed working with different kinds of HR projects. After the trainee period, I got to continue as a permanent consultant in the team. In addition to my work experience, I think that the skills that I learned while working on Warrantti’s board in 2019 as the responsible person for educational affairs, gave me the courage to apply to different kinds of positions.

We all have expectations about work life. Can you tell us about your expectations and how your work life has been related to them?

I think that after moving to work life, one important lesson I have learned is that you cannot manage your career every day towards one specific goal. It is completely ok to try different things, change your mind and enjoy the journey. There are also many great things about work life. After graduation, I have enjoyed not worrying about upcoming deadlines after closing my work laptop. It is a great feeling I encourage you to work for!

What advice would you give to students entering the workforce?

It’s ok not to know everything! Most of the jobs you can only learn by doing and through trial and error. It will take time, so have mercy on yourselves.

Vappu is a huge event among students in Finland. Could you tell us some best memories from your time in Vaasa related to Vappu?

When I think about the Vappus I have spent in Vaasa I cannot help but smile, because those were the days! I encourage you to participate in all the events you possibly can and enjoy that time, it will be over before you know it! My best Vappu memories must be from Warrantti’s Vappuralli, NESU’s Vappurundi, Hoviska and Fontana’s three-floor parties. I’m glad that still after graduation I can share Vappu with the friends I got during my student years! <3

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