Logistics Academy: Class of ’22
From having no job to becoming a PostNord pro in six weeks may sound too good to be true. But that’s what Finland’s Logistics Academy is all about.
In mid-June, just as school kids all over Scandinavia began their well-earned summer holidays, a group of recent graduates of PostNord Finland’s Logistiikka-akatemia – “Logistics Academy” – were looking forward to getting to work.
The academy, created with two partners from adult education and the employment service, offers fifteen currently unemployed people the chance to receive logistics training and an internship at PostNord Finland. The training period and the internship last three weeks each.
“Participants are all unemployed people who have applied for the program. Around thirty candidates took part in an interview with a manager, and fifteen of them were chosen for the internship,” says Jari Siniaalto, Head of Operations South, TPL.
The Finnish academy is similar to PostNord’s initiatives in Sweden, where PostNord has partnered with Jobbsprånget, which facilitates the introduction of newly arrived immigrants into the Swedish labor market.
While Logistiikka-akatemia hasn’t been specifically aimed at immigrants or designed to add diversity, according to Siniaalto, the program has attracted interest from a diverse range of candidates.
“The candidates’ background or gender is not important as long as we speak a common language,” he says. “What is important is that they’re highly motivated and quick to learn new things.”
Once the fifteen interns hit the Post-Nord floor, they’ll be doing real work from the get-go.
“Basically, they’ll go to work. They’ll be doing regular packing and collection tasks, even if they’ll probably not be behind the wheel of the biggest forklifts right away,” Siniaalto says with a smile.
“We want to see how they behave in real-life work situations and how quickly
they learn new things,” he adds.
The purpose of the academy is to create a win-win situation. The candidates gain the experience they need to get a job in a growing business, while PostNord acquires motivated candidates they can train in a proper and cost-effective way.
Once the three-week internship is over, many of the candidates get jobs in PostNord warehouses.
“In theory, we could offer all of them work, thanks to our flexibility. We’ll look at each candidate on a case-by-case basis regarding if and when they can start, but sometimes it could be right away,” Siniaalto says.
Logistiikka-akatemia
- A partnership with Hyria Business Institute and Kehityspiikki
- 15 unemployed participants
- Theoretical logistics training at Hyria, practical training at PostNord
- First program finished in June 2022, and if successful it may be recurring
About Jari
Name: Jari Siniaalto
Age: 42
Position: Head of Operations South, TPL, Vantaa, Finland.
Closest colleagues: Jussi Broberg, Kristian Leppä, Jan Zweygbergk, Riku Vuontisjärvi, Oskari Kauranne, Toni Mäkelä, Janne Toivanen, Pasi Johansson, Ninni Tanttu and Jarno Asarieff.
At PostNord since: 2021
