10th anniversary of HR students' career day

On 4 February, HR Inspiration Day (HRID) was arranged at the School of Education and Communication (HLK) at Jönköping University for the tenth time. The event is run by students and is mainly aimed at HR students to inspire and motivate. The theme of this year's day was Pursuing a Career in HR.

“The aim of the career day is to inspire and motivate students for both further studies and the future working life. We want to give them an opportunity to make valuable contacts and gain insights that they can use in their careers,” says Agnes Odervall, project manager in the project group.

Already at 8.30am, the HLK entrance was buzzing as the event started with mingling and registration. Companies and organizations exhibited their activities, and HR professionals were invited to inspire and motivate the students, as well as to create a platform for knowledge exchange and networking between students and professionals.

As this year marks the 10th anniversary, the project team had organized an extra feature in the programme. Natalie Fors, who was one of three students who started up HRID ten years ago, was welcomed on stage. Natalie talked about the background of why they started the career day and briefly talked about her own HR career.

During the day, three invited guests gave inspiring presentations on the theme of Pursuing a Career in HR. Albertina Bohlin, HR Director Scandinavia Fläkt Group, Lisa Berg, People & culture generalist at IKEA and Amanda Tellander, HR People Partner & P&O Husqvarna site, all talked about their different paths to their current positions and gave valuable tips to the students.

“We have both been looking forward to this day for a long time”

Fatme Khalil and Sara Abunaseer are two of the approximately 200 students who attended HRID. They are in their first year of the HR programme, specializing in business administration. They think that the programme so far has been educational, exciting and fun. They found HRID to be very good.

“Very inspiring. We have both been looking forward to HRID for a long time. It's great that we HR students get the opportunity to network, listen to and talk to people who work in the profession, but also students from the other cohorts,” says Fatme Khalil.

Sara Abunaseer agrees.

“The lecturers have been great. Hearing what their careers have been like, their experiences, is very rewarding,” she says.

A much-appreciated feature of HRID over the years is the panel discussion with alumni from the HR programme who now work in HR. This year, Jesper Carlek from Norma Group, Lisa Nyström, Jönköping Municipality, Wilma Nilsson, Sesol, and Linnea Broman, Poolia, participated. The panel received questions from the students and discussed both career opportunities and provided tips and lessons learnt.

“We are extremely pleased with how the HR Inspiration Day turned out. The day was absolutely fantastic and turned out just as we had hoped, inspiring, motivating and rewarding. It was an incredible feeling to see so many people gather to take part in incredibly inspiring speakers, interesting conversations and above all to take advantage of the networking opportunities. Being part of the project team has been so much fun! It feels fantastic to see the result of the time and energy we have put in together. We want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been involved and made this day unforgettable,” says Emma Lekbrant, project manager HRID.