Since 2017, Aalto Finance and AFA have been successfully combining finance students and professionals by forming carefully selected mentoring pairs to offer both mentees and mentors the opportunity to learn from each other and to develop themselves as current and future finance professionals. In fiver years the programme has established itself as one of the core offerings of both AFA and Aalto Finance. This year 50 mentor-mentee pairs were formed and based on the feedback the programme once again achieved excellent results.

In today's article, we will share the experiences of one mentor-mentee pair: mentor Toni Melisma from Salesforce and mentee Jori Siitonen, recent graduate and currently a consultant at McKinsey, will share their experiences from the mentoring programme.

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you ended up applying to the Mentoring Programme?

Toni: I live in Punavuori with my wife, daughter and dog. I work in the tech industry for a company called Salesforce where I help big European companies improve their customer experience. In my free time I play lots of musical instruments and lately I've been trying beach volleyball.

I've been interested in mentoring for several years now, and I love the buzz that AFA has been able to generate. Considering how recently our alumni program has started, we've had a lot of catching up to do and AFA has done a great job this far. I almost missed the mentoring program this year, but then I got a pestering email saying there aren't enough mentors, encouraging people to apply, which finally got me going.

Jori: I am a recent Finance graduate from Aalto University. I am originally from a small municipality called Tammela, but now living in Pohjois-Tapiola. During my studies I did a couple of internships in private equity, asset management, and management consulting. After graduation, I ended up working as a Consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Last spring, I was still unsure where I would like to start my career. I thought that it would be beneficial to get tips and advices for the early-stage of my career and having a discussion about longer term career development with someone who has more experience. That’s why I decided to apply for the program one year ago.

How often did you meet each other and in what circumstances? How did you find the role as a mentor and what was the best thing you gained from the mentorship?

Toni: We met once a month for coffee, lunch or remotely. Jori had some good ideas about what he wanted to get out of the mentorship which helped shape things. We both came with agendas each time on what we wanted to discuss.

Mentoring, as all personal relations, boils down to chemistry a lot as well. I felt like Jori was a grounded person and it was easy to get along.

For me, it was interesting to see what finance students are like. During the last decade, there's been big changes in culture and people's values. There's lots of different career journeys people take nowadays. It was fascinating to talk to someone in those pivotal moments of their life as they're beginning their career and figuring out where they want to go.

What was the biggest help of the Mentoring Programme for you as a mentee and in what kind of questions did you receive support from your mentor?

Jori: I got two main learnings from my mentor. Firstly, I received concrete tips how to follow and understand my own career development by writing down own thoughts on paper. That has been a very useful habit for me to track my development and feelings regarding work, which I have also continued after the official Mentoring Program.

Secondly, I got a lot of information about different project types in management consulting that fascinated me as a career path. The information I received has directed me to find my first projects in management consulting, which I see highly beneficial in order to find my own career expertise and interest in longer term. All in all, I can truly recommend the Mentoring Program for all Finance students!

Henrik Liimatainen is a former Editor-in-Chief of AFA Quarterly.

Mentoring programme by AFA and Aalto Finance

Interview with Mikko Leskelä