Project management insights from a trainee
Jun 18, 2024
Project Professional Trainee Program 2024 kicked off on the 1st of April. We interviewed Karoliina Parviainen who started in the program while finishing her studies as an Information Systems student in the University of Jyväskylä. Let’s hear how the past months have been for Karoliina!
Karoliina has been working as a Project Professional Trainee in Valmet’s operational development team since April 2024.
You have now worked for a couple of months as a Project Professional Trainee. How are you doing and what have done so far?
“The orientation period gave an opportunity to get to know Valmet thoroughly before starting the actual work and it was easy to integrate to my studies since it was very flexible. I started to work in the operational development team in project delivery, so it has been important but also really interesting for me to have the possibility to learn the big picture of the company. My main responsibility during the summer is development of the project management applications and other operations around them. So far, I have done some little developmental tasks and attended many different development meetings and workshops. I think the best way to learn is to talk to the experienced users in the meetings.”
How have your expectations been met? How would you describe the ability to fulfil your strengths and yourself until now?
“I applied to this program to put what I’ve learned in school into practice, and I couldn’t have hoped for a better experience. In this position I have had the possibility learn how the project management is done in an international company. I also get to implement my knowledge of information systems into the practice in the developmental work. Working with people in various scenarios is also something I enjoy and feel comfortable with, and I’m happy to experience this as a trainee.”
How do your personal values align with Valmet’s values at work? How would you describe the meaningfulness of work?
“I feel that my personal values are always mostly about people, and it has been easy to align them with Valmet’s values. Valmet underlines the opportunities we can create to our customers and those opportunities are created by the professionals that we are and whom we work with. It feels nice to be part of a community that aims to create success together. “
Would you like say or mention something additionally?
“I really want to thank everybody that has been kind and supportive. It has felt easy to be new to everything when people have encouraged to ask questions and reminded that we all have been trainees once and it takes time to learn. I have already learned a lot in these two months and I’m looking forward to being able to contribute even more to the work Valmet is doing!”