The Helsinki Trainee programme is constantly growing and developing. In the early days of the programme, the trainees worked in HR duties in the City Executive Office. Other departments and divisions later joined in after word spread within the City organisation. Right now, we are offering 12 trainee positions in HR roles, legal services, communications, service network design and immigration services. These positions are available at the different departments of the City Executive Office, in the Education Division and in the Culture and Leisure Division.
Even though it is not possible to promise further job opportunities to all trainees, an average of 50–60% of the trainee programme participants have found work in different duties with the City.
Trainee period allowed deepening competence and experiencing new things
Sonja Takalo and Kreeta Koskijoki started the Helsinki Trainee programme in February 2024 in duties related to the City’s employer brand and communications. At the end of the six-month-programme, they both continued working for the City: Sonja as a special planning officer at the HR department of the City Executive Office, and Kreeta as a communications specialist at the Employment Services.
As part of the programme, Sonja and Kreeta got to meet with other trainees and learn more about the different divisions. They also had the chance to develop their competence in duties of their own field.
“The trainee period was a time of growth and learning, supported by my team. I was given a good amount of responsibility, for example for social media, and I founded the Helsinki Trainee alumni network with the support of my team. I also took part in many development projects across team and department borders. A healthy amount of working time was also devoted to the main thing, learning something new, and I took part in different training events, for example,” Sonja says.
“Working as a trainee in communications was rewarding and fun and offered variety. I worked in the Executive Office’s communications department, in two different teams at the same time: content production and internal communications. I was able to produce content for both the Intranet and the external channels, from Instagram to the Helsinki-lehti magazine,” says Kreeta.
New duties after the trainee period
After the trainee period ended in August, both Sonja and Kreeta were lucky and were able to continue working for the City organisation in new roles.
“The transition into the role of a special planning officer felt quite natural, as I stayed in the same team and the subject matters were familiar. I also felt ready to take on more responsibility for larger work units,” says Sonja.
In her new role, Sonja is responsible for coordinating the Helsinki Trainee programme, the recruitment process of new trainees and the participation in the student and career fairs during the autumn.
“I’m especially excited to see the Trainee programme from a different perspective; as a former trainee, I can identify with our current trainees and I can use my experience to make the programme even better than before!” she says.
Kreeta has been able to utilise the competence she has accrued even more than she expected.
“Starting my work as a specialist has been nice as I was welcomed into the project so warmly. I moved from the Executive Office’s communication department to the Employment Services to work on a future enterprise’s Intranet and website,” says Kreeta.
“So I was able to use a lot of what I had learned during my trainee period, as I am now working with the same topics. It is convenient that I already know how to use the systems and know the people from communications with whom we are working together,” she states.
Working community and interesting career advancement opportunities important to work
Sonja and Kreeta wanted to continue working with the City, as the organisation offers such a variety of opportunities.
“As a recently graduated Master of Social Sciences I want to continue working for the City for several reasons. As I was able to get my foot in the door of the largest employer in Finland at the start of my career, I felt that working for Helsinki was a natural and pleasant way to deepen my competence further. I enjoy the human-centric work in the junction of HR and communications, where I can help others at the grassroots level and meet people. The City organisation offers plenty of interesting roles and career paths, even though trainees cannot be guaranteed continued employment,” Sonja says.
“Working for the City is very interesting and I am always learning more about the City organisation, for example through the expert interviews I have conducted. In my current role, I get to be a part of building a new enterprise, which is a very unique position,” Kreeta says.
I want to work in a community that values diversity and where everyone is accepted as they are.
An encouraging working community and receiving feedback have a major impact. Sonja feels that the working community encourages everyone to advance their career through various training events and opportunities for job rotation and to maintain their well-being by offering a range of employment benefits.
“After a long break of several years, I got back into swimming again this summer, when I took part in a swimming course offered through the staff’s activity club and got an affordable membership to Helsinki Swimming Stadium,” Sonja says.
“Having fun with your coworkers and maintaining a good team spirit is important, and I have enjoyed these in my new role. I like always learning something new, solving problems and working with different people as part of my work. I like it when days are never the same. I also often get positive feedback, which has built up my professional confidence,” Kreeta says.
“I find it important that my employer is responsible and promotes equality. Currently, one of the key duties of my unit is to promote the City’s multilingualism. I also took part in organising Helsinki Pride, where the City was one of the main Pride partners. I want to work in a community that values diversity and where everyone is accepted as they are,” says Sonja.
