Career stories
I started working as an Analyst at Compass Lexecon after graduation, in early 2020. In the past few months, I have worked in multiple cases in the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), mostly in antitrust and competition cases such as mergers. I have enjoyed applying economic theories learned at the university to real-world cases and working with talented individuals in a supportive atmosphere.
For economics students, I suggest utilizing the extensive learning opportunities provided by Helsinki GSE and Aalto University. In addition to being active in classes, it is also useful (and fun) to participate in student life and organizations. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to pursue your goals, and do not undervalue yourself.
Krista Kuuttiniemi
Analyst at Compass Lexecon
I started in my current position as Development Manager in Nordea Finance in 2018, after being in various positions within financial industry before this. Development manager is a business role but acts between business and IT, therefore good understanding of not just banking but IT as well is helpful. As an application owner I am responsible for a portfolio of different applications. My areas of responsibilities are quite wide and include stability, security, compliance, access management and change management just to name a few. I use that mandate to make decisions, drive development initiatives and secure sufficient funding in order to improve the overall health of my applications.
In this position, economics degree is not a prerequisite since I don’t use economic theories to do my job. However, I need to understand large and complex systems and causal relations and economic studies really help to understand them. Also, economics teaches you to communicate complex issues in a way that is easy to understand. It is an important skill when you want management to understand why they need to spend large amounts of money in something that doesn’t directly bring more profits.
I recommend to fully use the learning opportunities that Aalto offers and taking part in different activities and organizations. For example, accepting the role of chairman in Aalto Economics back in 2012 was one of the wisest decisions I have made during my time in the university. I hope I can act as an example that studying economics doesn’t really rule out any career paths but enables you to pursue a wide range of careers. You really can do what you want after graduation.