Työn Tai­ta­jat pro­vi­ded wor­king life expe­riences for thousands of stu­dents

During the past aca­de­mic year, over 8,000 children, young people, and adults par­tici­pa­ted in the City of Oulu’s “Työn Tai­ta­jat” pro­gram. The pro­gram offe­red seve­ral inte­res­ting oppor­tu­ni­ties for school-wor­king life coo­pe­ra­tion, from wor­king life les­sons to job sha­dowing, and from the world’s lar­gest vir­tual com­pa­ny visit to teac­her semi­nars.

The goal of the Työn Tai­ta­jat pro­gram is to int­ro­duce wor­king life and job oppor­tu­ni­ties in the Oulu region to young people during basic and upper secon­da­ry educa­tion, toget­her with a wide network of wor­king life actors.

The network alrea­dy inclu­des over 150 com­pa­nies, orga­niza­tions, and experts from various fields. Työn Tai­ta­jat orga­nized various events with expe­riences for young people at the core.

– The best part of the job sha­dowing day was that I got to clo­se­ly fol­low an expert’s day and discuss and exc­han­ge thoughts on topics of inte­rest to me. My preconcep­tions about the pro­fes­sion I sha­dowed chan­ged a lot. My opi­nions were lis­te­ned to and taken into account during the day. The wor­king life les­sons are real­ly ins­pi­ring, and it was great to hear dif­fe­rent dif­fe­rent career sto­ries. My cur­rent dreams about my futu­re pro­fes­sion were strengt­he­ned, says Ali­sa Hei­no­nen from Kau­ko­vai­nio school. Ali­sa did her work prac­tice period at Business­Oulu wit­hin Työn Tai­ta­jat acti­vi­ties.

Pic­tu­re: Juha Mat­ti­la, Poh­de and Kai­sa-Lii­sa Har­ja­pää, Esko Sys­tems.

Youth are the­re to Chal­len­ge Con­ven­tio­nal Thin­king

Työn Tai­ta­jat enables com­pa­nies and orga­niza­tions to influence young people’s choices in various ways and offers a plat­form to talk about their work. Wor­king life les­sons reach a lar­ger group at once, thoughts are exc­han­ged in a small group on job sha­dowing day, and at teac­her events, infor­ma­tion is sha­red with pro­fes­sio­nals who meet young people dai­ly.

– Sha­ring my own career sto­ry was a good expe­rience. It’s use­ful for young people to hear that a career can have dif­fe­rent sta­ges and that it’s rewar­ding with all its ups and downs. Abo­ve all, I hope that young people gain con­fi­dence in their own futu­re choices from the wor­king life les­sons, com­ments Kai­sa-Lii­sa Har­ju­pää from Esko Sys­tems.

Pek­ka Pau­ro­la from 1Bar urges us to lis­ten to the young.

– Young people are very smart. Treat them as poten­tial futu­re emplo­yees. When I told my career and ent­repre­neurs­hip sto­ry and had job sha­dowing in my com­pa­ny, I was surpri­sed at how inte­res­ted young people are in the industry and eve­ryt­hing they have lear­ned during the Työn Tai­ta­jat acti­vi­ties. They have and will have good ques­tions that may even chal­len­ge some of our con­ven­tio­nal thin­king.

Second edi­tion of the World’s Lar­gest Vir­tual Com­pa­ny Visit

Työn Tai­ta­jat orga­nized the world’s lar­gest vir­tual com­pa­ny visit for the second time this May. This time the focus was on the tou­rism and res­tau­rant industry in Oulu.

Five com­pa­nies and two voca­tio­nal ins­ti­tu­tions were invol­ved. During the visit day, the industry was int­ro­duced to children from ear­ly child­hood educa­tion to upper secon­da­ry and voca­tio­nal schools as well as inter­na­tio­nal talent. This year, over 3 600 children, young people and adults from various munici­pa­li­ties from Sodan­ky­lä to Espoo took part in the event.

– The col­la­bo­ra­tion and com­mit­ment of the actors invol­ved was admi­rable and the feed­back we recei­ved from the school world was very posi­ti­ve. The­re is a need for such low-thres­hold acti­vi­ties all over Fin­land, says Tii­na Haa­pa­nie­mi from Business­Oulu.

Accor­ding to Pek­ka Pau­ro­la, par­tici­pa­ting in Työn Tai­ta­jat events is very bene­ficial – if not direct­ly for one’s own com­pa­ny, then for the enti­re industry and its futu­re.

Työn Tai­ta­jat con­ti­nues to grow

One of the strengths of Työn Tai­ta­jat has been its simplici­ty for both schools and com­pa­nies. Dozens of wor­king life les­sons, job sha­dowing days and other events have alrea­dy been agreed upon for the coming aca­de­mic year. The goal for the upco­ming school year is to expand the pro­gram to inclu­de pri­ma­ry schools as well.

– With the help of the Työn Tai­ta­jat pro­gram, we can sup­port the teac­hing staff in gui­ding young people. In some events, we influence the young people direct­ly, and in others indi­rect­ly, by inc­rea­sing the know­led­ge of the teac­hing staff. The wor­king life is deve­lo­ping at a rapid pace, so we need to pro­vi­de the tools for young people to navi­ga­te it, desc­ri­bes Eeme­li Alan­ne, an advi­so­ry teac­her from City of Oulu’s Educa­tio­nal and Cul­tu­ral Ser­vices.