Practical training (PT) can be a really great experience for any student who is interested in getting to know the working environment and get more familiar with it before graduating and starting to work in a job related to his/her major of study and also It can strongly affect the students’ future careers. In my case, it worked exactly as planned and totally changed my view of my future plans.
How it began
I am a third-year student, studying International Tourism Development in Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK). As I proceeded in my studies during the second year, as a part of my studies I needed to work and start doing a practical training for approximately 5 months or 750 hours of work which is usually during the summer and partly in spring. So, I started to look for a training place so that I can find a job which I am interested in and is related to my studies.
In early spring 2021 I got to know Alberto Lanzanova and Minna M. Keinänen-Toivola from the CBSmallPorts project thanks to Heini Korvenkangas for her help. I contacted Alberto, we had a meeting with SAMK team who are working in the project, and we made an agreement. This was the beginning of a really good experience of traineeship. I worked in CBSmallPorts project as my PT, and it was a totally new experience to me which helped me gaining new skills and helped me in planning my future career.
Working in CBSmallPorts project
CBSmallPorts project focuses on energy efficient investments in the small ports of the Central Baltic area and overall, 10 partners work in this project including SAMK as the project leader and the partners are from different Baltic countries.
The project plans and makes environmentally friendly and energy efficient investments in the small ports as well as marketing those places by participating in different fairs, events and workshops. Also, CBSmallPorts introduces the small ports and the offered services using their social media and by publishing different informative reports and blog posts.
As a trainee I worked in the marketing team of the project for a few months and my tasks were in general, marketing and communication. I wrote a few blog posts which are published in this blog, managed CBSmallPorts social media, designed the layouts of project’s reports, designed and made a basic online platform, etc.
During my working period, all our SAMK internal meetings and all the partner meeting were held online due to the pandemic except a few internal face-to-face meetings which were held in Pori campus. Even though, the meetings were held online, the project proceeded perfectly and except a few inevitable challenges, everything went as planned.
What I learned
Before doing my traineeship, I had no idea what my interest is and what I am going to do after graduation or even what type of job and in what categories I need to look for! But working in the CBSmallPorts team in SAMK and doing marketing and communication related tasks helped me to enter the world of marketing work. I noticed how interested I am in marketing after doing this PT and working in the great environment of SAMK and CBSmallPorts project.
During my training I learned using new software such as Adobe InDesign. I wrote blog posts which are a really good way of marketing and helps the project to be known by more people who are interested. In addition, working on social media pages has the purpose with even more influence. All in all, this experience made my future and my plans clearer to me which would certainly help me to get closer to success and what I am looking to achieve. This experience is a proof of the importance of practical training for students and their future careers.
Text: Sina Khabbazi, Alberto Lanzanova, Minna M. Keinänen-Toivola
Photo: Bogdan Enacica, Jussi Sutela