Giant Leap Blog Series 1: A Leap into the Business World

Now that we have kicked off the yearly Vaisala Giant Leap Internship application period, Marja Happonen, Executive Vice President for Human Resources at Vaisala, wanted to share some Giant Leap history with us. 

"We started the very first Vaisala Giant Leap program in 2008. This means that the upcoming summer 2017 will represent the 10th year of Giant Leap.

The reason we started Giant Leap was that we wanted to try something different – to offer a summer internship program that wouldn't be just another "normal" summer job. The name, Giant Leap, represents the program well, as it provides a possibility for the interns to take a big leap into the real business world.

We have a long history of having thesis workers at Vaisala, and they have always brought interesting new ideas to us, and we believed that summer trainees could contribute in the same way. Our belief was true, and the Giant Leapers have proven to be valuable for us.

The Giant Leapers bring in the latest knowledge as well as new ideas from a fresh perspective, without the burden of old beliefs and habits. They excel in out-of-the-box thinking, and challenge our ways of thinking and doing things. After each summer we hold a presentation session where the Giant Leapers get to share the results from their projects, and it is always a pleasure to hear their insights.

We have received great feedback from our Giant Leapers about their experiences at Vaisala. Out of last summer's interns, all would be interested to work at Vaisala sometime in the future, complementing the atmosphere and culture at Vaisala, as well as the content of the internship. As one Giant Leaper from 2016 said: "This is a super well organized internship with real business-related projects - not just about doing some chores anyone could do."

At Vaisala, we have challenging positions available, and this is a great way for students to learn about them. Fortunately, we have been able to provide the opportunity to stay on after the internship for many of our Giant Leapers. All in all, approximately every third Giant Leaper has stayed on to work at Vaisala for some time after the internship, either with the same project, or with something completely different."

Curious to hear more insights about Vaisala Giant Leap? Stay tuned for two more blog posts in this Giant Leap blog series!