High employment rate among the University of Vaasa graduates

The career monitoring survey provides information about those who graduated five years ago regarding employment and how well their studies have met the needs of working life. The survey also maps what skills are important in working life and the graduates’ assess how well their university educations meets these needs. This survey was conducted in the autumn 2022 and master’s degree graduates from 2017 responded.

One third have found employment in Ostrobothnia and nearby regions

80 % of the respondents have a permanent full-time job and 48 % report a continuous career since their graduation.

– One third of the graduates are employed in Ostrobothnia, South Ostrobothnia or Central Ostrobothnia. It is great that so many people have stayed in our nearby areas to work, says Sunna Vainiomaa, Specialist in Career Services.

43 % work in a large company (over 250 employees) and 29 % in the public sector. 43 % work in various planning, development or administrative positions, more than half of them as specialists or experts. A quarter of the respondents work in management or supervisory positions.

Skills needed in working life

The respondents agree that the most relevant working life skills includes ability to cooperate, ability to learn new things, to show initiative the ability to make your own decisions and organise your own work. Other important skills are the ability to organise and coordinate. 

Even though we live in a global world, 76 % consider communication skills in Finnish to be very important to succeed at work. Just under half of the respondents highlight working in a multicultural environment as an important skill.

The responses show that in terms of getting a job, it is more important to know how to talk about your own skills and competence than to be visible on social media.

Alumni – help us by answering the survey

The career monitoring survey is done annually and this autumn the survey will be sent out to the graduates from 2018 as well as PhD graduates from 2020. They will receive information about the survey by either by email, text message or by traditional mail.

Graduates are asked to rate their satisfaction with their degree and their career to date, and to describe the factors that have influenced their employment. The survey maps the skills needed in working life and the graduate’s assessments of to what extent their university educations has included these skills.

– Hopefully as many as possible will respond to the survey. The higher the response rate, the better we can use the results to develop each study programme. We also use the results in curriculum planning and in student guidance, says Vainiomaa.