Miikka Wakkola, who has a degree in business, thought that the recruitment training programme would benefit his career development and so he applied for the Digital Excellence Academy training. Through recruitment training, Miikka obtained a permanent job at the marketing agency WDS.
Familiar concept behind the training programme
In early 2022, Miikka was temporarily unemployed. He had been working at a company from where he wanted to move on, and unemployment made it possible for him to choose a new direction for his career.
Miikka was already familiar with recruitment-oriented training programmes, as a friend of his had found a new job through one. So when Miikka found the Digital Excellence Academy while looking for a new job, he did not hesitate to apply for it. The Digital Excellence Academy is a marketing-related recruitment training programme that aims to foster new talents for the marketing industry.
“The application process was smooth and progressed quickly. I discussed a possible training position with two different companies. WDS had a very clear vision of the type of professional they wanted to have in their staff, and soon after the interview I signed a training agreement with them,” Miikka describes the stages of the application process.
Work at WDS went well from the start thanks to mentor
From the start, WDS had clearly defined tasks that Miikka would perform during his training. In addition to all types of content production, Miikka has also performed tasks related to paid advertising.
In Miikka’s opinion, the work has started well, and he praises his workplace mentor Linda Viljanen.
“Linda is an excellent mentor because throughout this experience she has been an active listener and good trainer. As a result, I now have great tools for completing my training. I felt that Linda had been allocated the resources to support me, and Linda has been one of my best supervisors. In addition to Linda, I also received support from Pinja at Saranen, who called me actively and ensured that everything was going well.”
One big advantage that recruitment training programmes have over ordinary recruitment processes is the mentor provided for the student by the company. The purpose of a mentor is to help a starting expert grow into their new role. With the right kind of mentoring, a new talent can grow into their job faster than usual. What does a workplace mentor think about the training programme and what are the methods with which to train a new colleague? We called Linda to ask her about this.
Mentoring is valuable for both parties
Linda Viljanen had been at WDS for about a year when she was offered the opportunity to become a mentor for Miikka who would be joining the company through a training programme. The mentorship was based on the proposed expansion of Linda’s job description so that it would include the role of a team coordinator. Thanks to this title, Linda became responsible for the resource allocation of the digital team. When Miikka started at WDS, it was only natural for Linda to become his mentor.
“Here, at WDS, we have our own onboarding plan, which I updated for Miikka. I examined the training plan of the recruitment training programme and planned my own onboarding content so that it would support Miikka’s other training,” Linda describes the early stages of the onboarding process.
Linda has seen from the sidelines how recruitment training works and in her opinion, the concept seems to function well.
“Saranen’s training programme has been excellent and it has supported on-the-job learning. In addition to the training, Miikka has studied independently. Without the training, his learning and development in the industry would have been slower. Miikka has been an easy student, we found a good match!” says Linda.
Recruitment training programme is suitable for many types of professionals
In Miikka’s opinion, the recruitment training was a useful step in his career. Although Miikka has a degree in business, many things have changed since 2018.
“It was eye-opening for me to realise, for example, how big an impact different tools have and how many different things can be achieved with them. Before the training, I hadn’t even thought about how big the world of marketing is. I recommend recruitment training to anyone who wants to change careers or develop themselves,” Miikka says of his experience.
Did you find Miikka’s story inspiring? Would you also like to make the leap to a new career? Look for our recruitment training programs here!
📸 The photographs for this article were taken by JP Kankkunen at the marketing agency WDS.
