From Finland to Norwegian fjords

TEXT: JONNI KUORTTI

Tell us a bit of your time in university and career path till today?

Laura Sipilä is an alumna of University of Vaasa and nowadays works in Norway. We got a chance to discuss with her about her career path and experiences of living abroad.

I chose accounting as my major in university, since I have always been interested in numbers and how to tell stories with them. During my studies I also became interested in sustainability and wanted to combine these themes in my future career. Thus, in my thesis I researched how the environmental performance of companies can affect their bottom lines, and learned it pays to run a responsible business.

While I enjoyed my studies, I also wanted some practical experiences. I started working at ABB during my second year and applied for exchange studies. I really enjoyed my time studying in the UK, and I wanted to see if working abroad could be something I liked. I started googling internship possibilities in Europe, and the options were many.

I discovered Equinor on a visit to a career fair in Helsinki. I applied and got a summer internship there, and in the summer 2019 I moved to Stavanger. Afterwards, I did another exchange at the University of Stavanger and graduated in 2020. I moved to Oslo to work as a sustainability advisor in Elvia, focusing on reporting and engagement. After that I moved back to Stavanger to work for Equinor. Currently, I am part of their graduate program, and I have so far worked in two different teams with varied tasks within financial and operational reporting, EU Taxonomy and internal controls.

Cool! Have you noticed some differences in Norwegian working culture or daily life compared to Finland?

In Norway, the biggest difference has been the language. It makes it easier to make friends and integrate to your new home country, when you can speak the local language. I have also fallen in love with Norwegian nature, and I took up hiking as a new hobby! Another difference for me is related to food: warm lunch is not as usual as in Finland, and the selection in grocery stores is much smaller.

In my experience, Norwegians prefer meetings over e-mails, they have less hierarchy at workplaces and the salaries are typically higher here. The differences between Finnish and Norwegian workplaces are not huge, but the Finnish directness and orderliness can be perceived as unfriendliness here.

What’s the best part of living abroad and do you have some tips for students?

In my case, living abroad has enabled me to build a career, where I get to work with my passion and have meaningful tasks in a company that wants to be a leading company in the energy transition. It has also given me a chance to broaden my perspective, meet new people and integrate to another culture. This has in turn made me a proud ambassador of Finland. I never miss a chance to remind people where Dumle and Moomins come from.

For someone that is thinking about moving abroad to study or work: Just do it. An exchange semester or an internship are excellent places to start because of the great support systems. Don’t be afraid of reaching out to people. If you have questions, exchange and internship coordinators are there for exactly that purpose, and always ready to help!