(Originally Feb18th 2025/FI)

In the morning newspaper (Helsingin Sanomat, 18.2.2025), Anu Kantola, professor of communications at the University of Helsinki, writes brilliantly in her column about career paths and guiding young people in their study choices. “Real life requires mistakes and wrong choices.”

Is talent needed to succeed in work life or will the skills and insights gained from doing and experimenting make the difference? And does education support the creative combination of things and boundary crossing? How many young people think that there is only one path to the future profession they have in mind and only realize other possible routes in their thirties! There are always those who are talented and receive good support and guidance from their families. And in theory, the more diverse course options in schools support creativity and the differentiation of career paths. In reality, many young people do not benefit from this.

Through my own daughter I have experienced, for example, that vocational high schools are a fragmented, siloed, hasty merger of separate educational institutions, where students are already required to have a high degree of independence and coordination skills in fitting courses into the calendar, due to the lack of communication between educational institutions. Today, young people are expected to have a clear goal and overall control as the educational program and course offerings become more complex. It is no wonder that there are mistakes and young people drift into fields that ultimately do not interest them. Yes, it was clearer in the old days, when there were fewer electives and career options.

I don’t understand much about the course and degree curriculum of today’s studies, because I have been focused purely on work for so long. During that time (at least 21 years), I have worked as a recruiter regularly (occasionally) in three different factories and have had many discussions about recruitment in general. It seems that the focus is still on the applicant’s degree titles, the “right” career path for the position being applied for, and the flawless CV. At the same time, in coffee table discussions, people generally agree that the decisive factors for success are the ability to adapt to the community, the ability and willingness to learn, a good attitude, practical skills, productivity, taking action (self-direction) and open-mindedness. You have to dare to be yourself and even show the rest of the work community a model and new ways of working.

In sports and in connection with career paths, there is a lot of talk about strengthening strengths and it is rightly valued more than fixing weaknesses. The best results are probably achieved when you study what you are genuinely interested in. The freedom to choose courses more freely and build your own degree from unique pieces is a great trend, in my opinion. It would be nice to see an even stronger focus on creativity, a different self-constructed degree path and a new way of connecting things. Respecting the fact that you have studied or done what has motivated you, whether it is a perfect fit for the next job you are applying for or not. The degree title does not yet say much about your abilities. More interesting questions should be: What interests you and inspires you to get ideas? What are you good at and where are you at your best? How and what do you want to learn?