Two weeks of summer work at Rusanen Group

This summer we were glad to have Jenni with us at Rusanen Group for two weeks of summer work. During her first experience of working life, Jenni saw our everyday work up close and found out how many different tasks make up the working days of a textile care company.

Two weeks took in hotel inventories, an introduction to laundry production and the labelling of workwear, as well as writing website copy and sitting in on customer and partner meetings. Jenni took on new tasks briskly, carefully and with a curious attitude.

But what did working life and the everyday work at Rusanen Group look like through the eyes of someone on her first summer job? Here is Jenni's account, in her own words.

This summer I spent two weeks working at Rusanen Group. It was my first real summer job, so I was looking forward to finding out what working life is actually like. In two weeks I managed to do a lot of different tasks and see several kinds of working days. I found the experience useful and instructive.

On my first days I did inventories at the Noli hotels. Over two days I visited the Noli hotels in Herttoniemi, Myyrmäki, Malmi, Sörnäinen and Katajanokka. In the inventories we checked various textiles, such as towels and bed linen, and kept a record of what each hotel had. The inventories taught me precision and method above all. Everything had to be done carefully so that the figures would be as accurate as possible. It was also interesting to visit several different hotels and see different working environments.

One of my many tasks was writing articles for the website. I got to plan and produce texts myself that will actually be used on the company website. It was nice to see that even though I am still learning, my work could already be used on the new site. At the same time I learned that writing in working life is a little different from writing at school, for example. The text has to be clear, interesting and easy to understand. You also have to think about who the text is for.

During the two weeks I also sat in on a customer meeting. It was interesting to see what co-operation between a company and a customer can look like. In the meeting I followed the discussion and saw how things are agreed and how professionals work together. It was a new experience for me and gave me a good picture of what different kinds of meetings in working life can be like.

I also went to lunch with an Italian textile manufacturer. That was another interesting experience, because I heard more about the textile industry and about how different companies work with each other. It was good to meet different people and at the same time learn things I would not necessarily have learned at school.

I also got to see different working environments, among them the Kerava laundry and the Helsinki laundry. There I did an inventory on my own and used Excel to record the textiles. Using Excel was useful, because I believe it will come in handy in the future too. Even the small tasks taught me that every task at a workplace has its own purpose and that taking the initiative matters.

I also used modern laundry machinery and saw how textiles move through the different stages of the laundry. The visit to the production side opened my eyes to the fact that laundries are not necessarily what I had imagined. I had thought laundries would always be very hot, noisy and full of steam, but I saw that in a modern laundry the working environment can be much calmer and tidier. It was interesting to see how much technology and how many different machines laundries use, and how those machines make the work easier for the staff.

I also did a number of smaller tasks that companies might not otherwise get around to, such as labelling Valio's workwear, organising an information board and writing new contact details on the company door. Although these tasks were small, they taught me that things like this matter at a workplace too. Even small tasks can make other people's work easier and the working day run better.

One of those tasks was labelling the models and sizes of Valio's workwear on Rusanen Group's warehouse shelves. For that I made paper labels giving the model and size of the garment, and then attached the labels to the right places on the shelves. At first the task felt fairly small and insignificant, but once it was done I understood that clear markings make life easier in future for the staff who look for and sort garments in the warehouse. It was also good to notice that my own work could make something easier for other people.

Another of my smaller tasks was organising an information board. My job was to make sure the information on the board was clearly displayed and in the right order. This task also called for care and for thinking about how to lay things out so that they are easy to find and understand. These tasks taught me that not every job in working life is large or visible, and that each one can still have an important purpose.

What I learned and what I liked

During those two weeks I learned a lot of new things, but perhaps the most important was learning what working life is like. I learned that working days can be very different from one another. One day I might be doing an inventory at a hotel and the next writing articles or taking part in a meeting. In the middle of all that I also learned a lot about working life itself. I learned to take more initiative, to take more responsibility and to ask for help when I did not know how to do something. Starting a new job made me a little nervous at first, but I quickly noticed that you do not have to know everything straight away. You learn new things by doing and by asking.

I particularly liked the fact that the tasks were varied. It was nice that I was not doing the same thing every day, and that I got to do both practical work and work at a computer. It was good that the working days included hotel inventories, writing, using Excel and taking part in different meetings. I also liked being given responsibility and the chance to try new things myself. It was great to see that I was trusted even though I was on my first summer job.

After two weeks I can say that I would gladly come back to Rusanen Group for summer work. I got a good first experience of working life, learned a lot and did varied tasks. It was also interesting to see everything that goes into running the company and how the different tasks connect to each other.

All in all, the two weeks at Rusanen Group were an important and positive experience for me. I picked up new skills, saw different kinds of work and learned a lot about working life. The variety of the tasks in particular made the experience interesting. After two weeks it feels like I have had a good first taste of summer work and at the same time a slightly better idea of the kinds of things I would like to do in the future. I would absolutely be ready to come back to Rusanen Group for summer work again.