Networking, seminars, and the quest for sustainability. These are some of the things that I’ve enjoyed and exploited here in Hanken. Of course, Hanken offers far more experiences than these but for this post I’ll stick with these three.
NETWORKING
The Annual Hanken Networking Day always brings in different things for different people. I’ve heard varied reactions to this event from finding some activities useless to finding a job or an internship. For me, it’s about relevance and timing. I’ve found some activities very useful last year that turned out to be irrelevant for me this year. And some activities that I didn’t appreciate last year got me a lot of job-hunting tips as well as an interview with one of the participating companies. Like any typical job fair, we can only find it useful if we have something that the companies need in conjunction with the kind of available opportunities the companies have.
There are also other events like the “Company of the Week Brunch” and some organized company visits that students can take advantage of. These are some of the events in Hanken where we can practice and learn to network (which is not always an easy thing for everyone including me). As a non-native Finnish speaker at the basic level, some of these events have provided me with the information I needed to strategize my job-seeking activities to target companies that could potentially hire me. Of course, it hasn’t always been easy. I learned that I have the work experience that was relevant but there were some skillsets that I needed to work on to get there. I’m grateful for these events and the learning opportunities it has provided me.
SEMINARS
When my schedule permits, I would attend some of the Fulbright seminars hosted by Hanken. I’ve been to a few and found them quite enlightening. For students who are still a bit lost with their thesis topic, some of these sessions might inspire ideas as well as give a brief overview about what’s currently going on in the specific topic discussed in the seminar. Some of the seminars I’ve been to have touched the fields of Accounting, Finance, and Law depending on the speaker’s background and expertise. And in case that doesn’t inspire you enough, the seminar that I last attended offered free breakfast too! Yum!
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability, together with climate change, has been a hot topic recently. And for a good reason. There’s just one planet that produces chocolate and beer… two of my favorite indulgences 🙂
Long before I’ve heard of Hanken, I’ve already been into reusing and recycling. However, these are more of small impacts that we can see and feel in our immediate surroundings. Since last year, I’ve actually expanded my view on sustainability through the courses I’ve taken. Sustainability doesn’t stop with me, or with the things that I repurpose. It’s extends to the community I live in, and the world we live in.
I’ve learned more about sustainable development, corporate/individual responsibility, and responsible investing, among other things, from the various course I’ve taken. And since these are topics that are seeping into the working world, it is imperative that I learn more about it to prepare me for the changes that are possibly happening in the workplace. This is also a good consideration when finding the right employer. A company that is not prepared for future changes towards sustainable practices might find itself in a compromising position when future legislations render their operations irrelevant. And for me, that could mean job insecurity. So I’m evaluating my prospects wisely.
Jennifer Huttunen (Accounting track) for Hanken Nordic Brilliance Blog