Biology student Aliisa Wahlsten

Aliisa Wahlsten is finishing her studies in biology and her duties as a research assistant at the University of Turku. She has just started working as a biodiversity expert at Sitowise. She is also a regional councillor and chair of the Green Party of Southwest Finland.

Aliisa is already familiar with mentoring programmes. The values-based leadership course (VBL) she has attended and other mentoring programmes through her positions of responsibility, according to her, focused more on her role as a policymaker. However, Aliisa, who has been active in student organisations and the student union of Turku, needed an exchange of ideas on how to grow as an expert in her field and discussing the possibility of writing her doctoral thesis. She was also curious to better understand the job opportunities outside the university and in the private sector.

After discovering the mentoring programme, Aliisa began to wonder: does this mentoring have something new to offer me? Will it focus more or less on general recruitment issues and skills that I am already familiar with? However, she was excited by the idea of the opportunity to deepen her own thoughts on working life, career plans and development. At the same time, she wondered whether she would be able to commit to being mentored in her hectic schedule. However, she said that if you want it enough, you can prioritize it and commit to the programme fully. The result was an excellent mentor with whom Aliisa felt she had achieved genuine interaction and connection with.

Expectations were greatly exceeded. According to Aliisa, the best thing about the mentoring programme was its individuality and the good discussions, where she could freely and safely share her ideas about her future with the mentor. She found herself looking forward to her mentor's Friday meetings with great anticipation, and the discussions delved into self and psychology, and through them into career development through concrete tasks. She learned to better articulate her own strengths, received support for the job search process during the programme and was able to explore the interface between her field and society, which is her area of interest.

Aliisa stresses that mentoring is suitable for anyone who wants to develop themselves. Maybe you feel stuck in your studies or work life, want to deepen your skills or just want to better understand your dreams. There is something for everyone. According to Aliisa, exploring the self and self-awareness as a future employee can easily be left to the mentee in a hectic study schedule, which is why it's great that the university has such a diverse mentoring programme to meet different wants and needs. Aliisa recommends the mentoring programme to everyone.