Mentor's Bar opens up career opportunities for doctors outside academia

The Mentors' Bar takes place twice during the academic year at the University of Vaasa. The event will feature keynote speakers who have interesting positions and career paths outside academia. The aim of the Mentors' Bar is to provide information, perspectives and inspiration on the relevance of a PhD beyond academia.

Experience and encouragement

The Kurtén Auditorium on campus has an expectant atmosphere. The first Mentor's bar will feature Petri Kärki, a University of Vaasa alumni who has made a career in a large global company. He is currently responsible for sales of energy systems and storage facilities for Hitachi Energy in Europe.

Kärki received his PhD from the University of Vaasa in 2012. The aim of his doctoral thesis, in the field of production economics, was to verify the impact of delivery times and related delivery time elasticities on profitability and customer satisfaction. Kärki created an analysis method to compare the impact of delivery time flexibility decisions on profitability and customer satisfaction.

He remembers his doctoral studies fondly, even though they coincided with marriage, having a family and building a house. Still, the time spent studying was unique.

– My advice to doctoral students is to enjoy your studies and write a dissertation on a subject you like," Kärki said, encouraging early-career researchers.

Agile online meetings

In addition to the Mentor's bar live meetings, the group mentoring concept includes Mentor's Corners, held online several times during the academic year in Teams. The online event allows low-threshold participation from anywhere in the world.

The next Mentor's Corner will take place on 4 June, where Nina Nässlin, a career services expert from the University of Vaasa, will speak on the topic " Overview of important working life skills".