Alumni panel and Networking event 7th of November

Last Thursday there was an Alumni event on Metropolia Business School. The amazing Keynote speaker, Harini Chari, held a very informative presentation about personal branding. After Harini received her well-deserved applauses our double-degree alumni took over. The five alumni available for the event were: Mihail Donchev (EBA, graduated 2012) Henna Heiskanen (EM, graduated 2013) Sampsa Raitamäki (EBA, graduated 2012) Sylvia Markert (EBA, graduated 2013) Robert Lindström (EM, Graduated 2005). They talked about life after Metropolia and gave us useful tips.

Harini Chari - Personal Branding Strategist. Photo: Ruby Nguyen — Harini Chari – Personal Branding Strategist. Photo: Ruby Nguyen

Keynote speaker Harini Chari, Brand and networks strategist, American Chamber of Commerce.

Harini Chari, the keynote speaker of the event, talked about personal branding. She is Brand and Networks strategist in American Chamber of Commerce. She started with an example of how people evaluate other people. When someone mentions President Obama our brain associates him with certain qualities. Personal branding is something we are involved in our professional lives.

The brand called you

Harini Chari explained how we should consider the way we appear to other people. What we say or don’t say, our behavior in whole, both in real life and on the web. She used an example from social media. Often our LinkedIn and Facebook profiles are very different. Our LinkedIn profiles look very professional and Facebook is full of pictures from the previous night from the bar. We should build our personal brand in all of the social media, not just LinkedIn. She reminded us that our reputation is our brand. We build a product, which is the sum of our skills, experiences, and values.

One point to remember is that you can alter the way people see you. You can change the way people see you. Give a real value to others, after that you can expect to get something from them. Show them something real of you and your skills then they will remember you. And create a story of you that is memorable. A very simplified guideline for your story: Reflect, Reveal, Radiate.

Harini Chari showed a very simple task that helps you to see your strengths. “I use my ___________________________ & ________________________ for ________________________.” This is a seemingly simple task, but can be surprisingly difficult and it can teach you something about yourself.

Power of words: it’s a beautiful day and I can’t see it.

Alumni Panel

There were five alumni in the event. They all have double-degrees since this was sort of a kick-off for 20^thyear of our double-degree program. The alumni gave great advice from a point of view that is easy to relate to.

Most of the alumni felt like they made the right choice to start working after graduation rather than go for master degree right away. But some of them could consider doing their masters later on. That is something you need to decide yourself and do what feels right for you. Other career choices fall into the same category, do something you that you’re interested in. Be yourself and make others to believe what you can really achieve.