Becom­ing a Mag­net to Employ­ers: Learn­ing from Luku­manu Iddrisu

The Mega­Match­mak­ing event in Oulu, one of Fin­land’s largest recruit­ment fairs, is set to inspire job seek­ers and employ­ers alike on Wednes­day, Sep­tem­ber 25, 2024. Among the dis­tin­guished speak­ers is Luku­manu Iddrisu, who will present on “Becom­ing a Mag­net to Employ­ers” at the event.

Luku­manu’s speech will explore how job seek­ers and pro­fes­sion­als can enhance their capa­bil­i­ties and brand to attract employ­ers. We had the priv­i­lege to inter­view Luku­manu ahead of his talk, where he shared his jour­ney, insights, and advice for job seek­ers.

Back­ground of Luku­manu Iddrisu

Lukumanu’s jour­ney to Fin­land began in 2014 when he made a deci­sion to study for his bachelor’s degree in Inter­na­tion­al Busi­ness at Vaasa Uni­ver­si­ty of Applied Sci­ences. He lat­er advanced his stud­ies by com­plet­ing a master’s degree in Strate­gic Busi­ness Devel­op­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vaasa.

After com­plet­ing his stud­ies, Lukumanu’s ded­i­ca­tion and hard work led him to secure a posi­tion as a Project Man­ag­er at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Vaasa. In this role, he excels at man­ag­ing projects, and ensur­ing suc­cess­ful out­comes. His exper­tise in strate­gic devel­op­ment and project man­age­ment has made him a valu­able asset in his pro­fes­sion­al field.

How­ev­er, the mak­ing of his way to today’s posi­tion was not an easy one and we want­ed to explore in detail about the inspir­ing jour­ney. We want­ed to know in par­tic­u­lar about a spe­cif­ic turn­ing point in his career.

Reflect­ing on the Jour­ney

Lukumanu’s career jour­ney has been marked by sig­nif­i­cant mile­stones and learn­ing experiences. When asked, he attrib­uted a key moment in his career to his first intern­ship in Fin­land. He explained how after com­plet­ing his degree in inter­na­tion­al busi­ness, he faced chal­lenges in secur­ing an intern­ship.

How­ev­er, dur­ing his inte­gra­tion pro­gram which includ­ed a Finnish lan­guage course, he man­aged to secure his first intern­ship at his for­mer school’s mar­ket­ing depart­ment which worked as a game-chang­er, open­ing doors to sub­se­quent roles and sig­nif­i­cant­ly shap­ing his career tra­jec­to­ry.

Reflect­ing on this peri­od, Luku­manu empha­sized the impor­tance of seiz­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and cre­at­ing val­ue through prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence. His proac­tive approach lat­er led him to anoth­er sig­nif­i­cant role at the Cham­ber of Com­merce, fur­ther solid­i­fy­ing his career path.

Har­ness­ing Aca­d­e­m­ic Knowl­edge

Tran­si­tion­ing from acad­e­mia to a pro­fes­sion­al envi­ron­ment can be daunt­ing, but Luku­manu suc­cess­ful­ly lever­aged his aca­d­e­m­ic back­ground. His stud­ies in strate­gic busi­ness devel­op­ment have been par­tic­u­lar­ly valu­able in his role as a project man­ag­er. He high­light­ed the impor­tance of strate­gic plan­ning, crit­i­cal think­ing, and ana­lyt­i­cal skills, which have been instru­men­tal in his pro­fes­sion­al suc­cess.

Many immi­grants strug­gle to apply their aca­d­e­m­ic knowl­edge in the job mar­ket. Luku­manu con­sid­ers him­self for­tu­nate to have found oppor­tu­ni­ties that align with his aca­d­e­m­ic train­ing, allow­ing him to uti­lize and build upon his skills effec­tive­ly.

Proud Achieve­ments

Among his numer­ous pro­fes­sion­al achieve­ments, Luku­manu is par­tic­u­lar­ly proud of two projects. First, he devel­oped a career club con­cept for a spouse pro­gram, which sig­nif­i­cant­ly improved par­tic­i­pants’ job search skills and oppor­tu­ni­ties. The pos­i­tive feed­back and tan­gi­ble out­comes, such as par­tic­i­pants secur­ing inter­views and intern­ships, under­scored the pro­jec­t’s impact.

Sec­ond­ly, dur­ing his tenure at Wärt­silä, he spear­head­ed the cre­ation of the company’s first online the­sis library. This ini­tia­tive cen­tral­ized valu­able stu­dent research, mak­ing it acces­si­ble and use­ful for future projects and devel­op­ments with­in the com­pa­ny.

Build­ing Pro­fes­sion­al Rela­tion­ships

Luku­manu empha­sizes the impor­tance of net­work­ing and build­ing mean­ing­ful pro­fes­sion­al rela­tion­ships in a new cul­tur­al envi­ron­ment. His key advice is to avoid mak­ing net­work­ing trans­ac­tion­al. Instead, focus on cre­at­ing gen­uine con­nec­tions by under­stand­ing the oth­er per­son­’s pro­fes­sion­al back­ground and align­ing your inter­ac­tions with their exper­tise.

To build these rela­tion­ships, Luku­manu sug­gests engag­ing in pro­fes­sion­al con­ver­sa­tions, offer­ing val­ue, and show­ing gen­uine inter­est in oth­ers’ work. For instance, research­ing a per­son­’s inter­ests and fol­low­ing up with rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion can cre­ate a pos­i­tive impres­sion and fos­ter a deep­er con­nec­tion.

Advice for Inter­na­tion­al Stu­dents

For inter­na­tion­al stu­dents aspir­ing to build a career in Fin­land, Luku­manu offers sev­er­al pieces of advice:

1. Go Beyond the Aver­age Job Search: Tra­di­tion­al CV and cov­er let­ter approach­es might not be enough. Look for unique ways to approach the job mar­ket, such as net­work­ing and attend­ing indus­try events.
2. Lever­age Online Pres­ence: Build a strong LinkedIn pro­file and active­ly engage with rel­e­vant pro­fes­sion­als.
3. Cre­ate Val­ue-Val­i­dat­ed Projects: Research com­pa­nies of inter­est, iden­ti­fy their chal­lenges, and pro­pose solu­tions. This proac­tive approach can make you stand out.

Luku­manu Iddrisu’s insights and experiences offer valu­able lessons for job seek­ers and pro­fes­sion­als aim­ing to attract employ­ers. His upcom­ing speech at Mega­Match­mak­ing promis­es to be an inspir­ing ses­sion, pro­vid­ing prac­ti­cal advice on build­ing capa­bil­i­ties, cre­at­ing a strong per­son­al brand, and nav­i­gat­ing the job mar­ket effec­tive­ly.

Luku­manu Iddrisu: Becom­ing a Mag­net to the employ­ers
Pre­sen­ta­tion Time: 10.45–11.15 AM

Inter­na­tion­al Tal­ent in Oulu – Your Oppor­tu­ni­ty Awaits at Mega­Match­mak­ing 2024!

Look­ing to advance your career in Oulu? Join us at Mega­Match­mak­ing 2024, one of Finland’s largest recruit­ment events, where glob­al tal­ents meet local oppor­tu­ni­ties. It is a free event for every­one. No reg­is­tra­tion need­ed.

• Date: Wednes­day, 25 Sep­tem­ber
• Loca­tion: Tullisali, Oulu (Tyrnävän­tie 16)
• Time: 9 AM – 3 PM
• Free Bus Ser­vice: Non-stop from Oulu’s city cen­ter (Tor­in­ran­ta) start­ing at 8:45 AM.

Read more:

Trans­form­ing Recruit­ment: Anna-Mai­ja Västilä on the Future of Job Hunt­ing at Mega­Match­mak­ing 2024

Text: Far­i­ha Khan