Career Outlooks
Although my age suggests I am approaching the end of my work career in a few years, I refuse to plan to withdraw from an exciting work life. And I say this even though I am currently between jobs – which is a way of telling I am looking for a job. Throughout my career, I have never thought about retirement; instead, I have looked forward to taking on exciting new roles.
I started my career in summer jobs such as weeding in sugar beet fields, helping out in a family home for people with developmental disabilities, implementing a new invoice system at a small wholesaler, and making ‘karjalanpiirakka’ and bread in an industrial bakery. Alongside my studies, I worked as a sales clerk at Alko, in a clothing store and at a tennis court. These jobs helped me understand different perspectives, learn about sales and customer service, and motivated me in my studies.
My biggest dream was to live abroad. I got my first opportunity when I attended a language course in southern Germany, followed by an exchange year at the University of Kiel. It was a wild and crazy year, but I learned a lot. After returning home, I continued my studies for a couple of years. I was nearly finished with my master’s degree when I moved abroad again. This time as an AIESEC trainee working in a Swiss insurance company. Traveling with a suitcase, backpack and a dog (!), I moved to Switzerland. It turned out that I was the first ever trainee in the AIESEC program to arrive with a dog. Despite the initial shock of the lodging organizers, my dog and I found a place to stay, and I began my traineeship in Basel. My four-month traineeship in the life insurance company evolved into a four-year career in a Swiss bank. I was the first female portfolio manager in the team, which led to many amusing and challenging situations.
Returning to Finland was harsh. The country was just recovering from the deep recession of the early 1990’s, and international experience from a respected Swiss bank was neither considered a merit nor valued. It didn’t make much sense to me at the time, but I made my first career change then. Back in the late 1980’s at Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration, we were prepared for the constant change, which I now see as very forward-looking in retrospect.
The internet was emerging and so were the mobile phones. First, I joined the internet bubble, working as a marketing manager and a consultant. Which led me to work as a consultant on a project for Nokia. In 1998, I joined Nokia, where I essentially completed my second ‘university’ – the university of international, multicultural, fast-changing, high-end business how to change jobs every 6-18 months, how to jump into new things quickly, and how to let go of the old, how to work with people worldwide, and adapt to rapid change. All of which were life-changing lessons. I led projects and programs, worked as a partner manager, explored new opportunities in mobile phone apps, headed the business excellence team, and managed transformation programs.
I left Nokia Siemens Networks (N-world) after experiencing one of the biggest mergers at the time. I took a sabbatical to explore my next steps, studying various topics and dreaming of starting my own company, doing something different from corporate life. But being a curious person and loving to jump into new, unknown things, I ended up at KONE, working on a HR project as a temporary worker. Next thing I found myself doing was to apply for an HR director position, which I held for the following four years. Despite having no prior HR experience, my knowledge of people processes from previous roles and being a quick learner, allowed me to enjoy the new role fully. After HR, I continued my career at KONE working in operations development and managing the development portfolio.
Once again, I became restless and took time off to rethink my career, now determined to switch from a larger corporation to a start-up. I joined ResQ Club as a country lead, responsible for P&L in the Finnish market. My role later expanded to include also Estonian and Swedish markets as Chief Commercial Officer. Although I had no prior experience with P&L responsibility, I found myself being super excited about increasing sales. I was able to apply many approaches and tools from my experience and enjoyed learning new aspects of sales, marketing, and customer support. After almost three and a half years, I decided to leave ResQ Club, at an unfortunate time when the Finnish job market stalled. While actively seeking for my next career opportunity to contribute to sustainable growth, I have also enjoyed exploring new areas such as politics and voluntary work. Curiosity and excitement about new people, ideas, and technologies, along with caring for the planet’s future, are my cornerstones as I look forward to remaining active in the workforce for many more years.
Writer profile:
- Name: Marjo Hinkkala
- Current position: Looking for the next career opportunity
- Degree: Master of Sciences in Economics and Business Administration, Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration.
- Role in Helsingin Ekonomit: Member of Board
- Interests: Green politics, diversity, leadership, meaningful work
- Hobbies: Dog, outdoors, reading, art exhibitions, voluntary work, pilates
