The Jakobstad region, Alholmen Industrial Park and the companies Baltic Yachts, Walki and Billerud organised a reverse excursion together with Vaasan yliopisto and the subject association Tutti ry in the university’s new Arcade premises.
Students in the technical fields of the University of Vaasa and student guests from LUT in Lappeenranta and the University of Tampere were very happy to participate in the “käänteisekskursio”, says Tutti ry’s representative Joonas Nurmi, administrative assistant.
At the event, students had the opportunity to network with company representatives while spending a relaxed game night in the unique environment of Arcade.
“Käänteisekskursio” is a new concept, and organized for the second time.
– We have found that the availability of skilled labour has become a challenge in many sectors, and this challenge will only increase in the future. For many companies, traditional recruitment events are no longer an effective way to reach Finnish-speaking students, so we want to offer an alternative alongside them,” says Teemu Närvä, Sales Manager of University Services at Vaasan Yliopisto.
The event served as an arena for companies in the Jakobstad region to meet future engineers from all over Finland.
– It was like winning the lottery for us to be able to tell 145 engineering students about the businesses in the Jakobstad region and all the opportunities we have to offer, says Project Manager Pia Holkkola-Löf, Jakobstad Region development company Concordia.
The students appreciated that the companies that presented their operations were not the ones that are usually seen and heard at events in Vaasa.
All company representatives were engaged and talked about the companies, their own tasks and how engineering expertise is reflected in the practical work. From Walki, Hanna Lind, who is writing her degree project for Walki, also participated. By showing concrete career paths, companies inspire students.
– It was also great that AIP was represented by major players from both the paper industry and the boat industry, says Åsa Björkman, project manager at ACEP.
It was a fun coincidence that AM Manager Jani Kahari (Baltic Yachts) has studied to become a Master of Science in Engineering at the University of Tampere and Quality and Environment Manager Ella Viitiö (Billerud) herself is from Lappeenranta. The students gave them spontaneous applause! The evening also included a game tournament in SEGA RALLY, where Jani reached the podium.
The Arcade space offers a unique, relaxed atmosphere and is a fully functional space for events. We laughed at the engineering jokes and the students were active and curious with a great interest in the region and the companies.
We would love to participate in similar events in the future as well, but we noted that companies’ opportunities to find the experts of the future are even greater when summer jobs are still available for application.
We are proud that the event was successful and that the cooperation with Tutti ry and Vaasan yliopisto went smoothly. The participants jointly stated that new fresh approaches are needed to bring Finnish-speaking students and companies together.
The event was sponsored by the project Alholmen Circular Economy Platform.
