| Two men and a new career | | Print | |
| Terhi Kouvo (EH) ja Anne Nisula (JJ) | 19.04.2010 | National Affairs - Articles [en] | ||||||
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FINLAND. A cellist resigns his position in an orchestra and studies to become an entrepreneur in the wellness industry. A professional boxer goes back to school and now helps former prison inmates. Adult education can lead you to a new career – two Finnish men from very different backgrounds are evidence of this.
CREATIVE BREAK AS A ROAD TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP Living in Joensuu in Eastern Finland, 51-year-old Erkki Hirvikangas’ working week these days is filled with floatation therapy, massage baths and other wellness services – including music. “Creative, unpredictable combinations can result in new skills and specialisations,” he affirms. Hirvikangas’ own story is a good example of this. With a university degree in cello performance from the Sibelius Academy and three decades of experience behind him as a professional cellist, ideas about a creative break started to simmer at the back of his mind. Hirvikangas resigned from his main job in the Joensuu City Orchestra and embarked on studies in Entrepreneurship and Business Administration at the North Karelia Adult Education Centre based in his hometown. Erkki’s education in entrepreneurship also came in handy for his wife Anitta, who was concurrently working on developing a model for expanding her own business. It had been three decades since his last stint at school but Erkki easily picked up the rhythm of studying again. Within half a year he had a vocational qualification as an entrepreneur under his belt and a year later a specialist vocational degree in Business Management. These qualifications enabled him to take up a managerial role in the growing family business, Animotion. "Education helped me to understand finance in a completely different way from how I understood it before,” Hirvikangas remarks. Erkki is happy that his employer granted him temporary leave for work and study. He encourages others to also try new fields: “Adult education certainly does not mean you have to pursue a new profession. It is personally enriching to improve your skills and develop yourself as an individual,” he says. Erkki Hirvikangas continues to work as a cellist, as there is room in the same person to be both a business director and a musician. Rather than a hindrance, his musical background is a real benefit to the business: customers appreciate and thank the staff for the excellent choices in music used in the spa. BOXER LENDS A HELPING HAND Having made his living for 25 years as a boxer, Jukka Järvinen, 44, from Helsinki, has taken some rough punches in his time. When his professional career came to an end, he found himself staring into a black hole: “Again and again, I asked myself, ‘can an old guy like me go back to school?’” Järvinen relates, as he describes how he felt a few years ago. His first day at Helsinki Diakonia College showed him that he could. He was not even the oldest in his group and realised that it is never too late to make a new start. Having always done most of his learning as a pupil in the school of Life, as it were, Jukka Järvinen’s formal education up to that point had consisted only of primary school. In boxing circles he had been known as the “Käpylä Executioner”. Järvinen brought his own experience and practical thinking to the study group. He noticed that he learnt best by doing. “I’ve been faced with many obstacles in my life, but I have overcome them. I started to figure things out my own way,” he says. His friends also needed some convincing: “Once things got going for me, others started to think, ‘hey, maybe I can do that too’. Now others have gone and done the same thing.” Jukka Järvinen gained his qualifications as a substance abuse counsellor and went on to study substance abuse social work at a University of Applied Sciences. His work now involves offering support to homeless people and former prison inmates. “I have seen people I know simply go off the rails: friends of mine have ended up in jail or six feet under. When I was young, no-one was bothered about me, now I want to help others,” Jukka explains. Jukka's background in boxing has proven to be anything but a liability in his chosen field; steady steps, firm grip, maintained eye contact and a strong voice are all assets in his daily work. Studying opened new avenues of influence for Jukka Järvinen in local politics. Working with the social-democratic council group and on the board of city social services, he is helping to build an even better city for those living in Helsinki. Finland’s annual Adult Learners’ Week named Jukka Järvinen Adult Learner of the Year in 2008. Erkki Hirvikangas received the same distinction in 2009. The title has been awarded since 1998 in Finland. Recent statistics show that approximately 46 per cent of adult learners are men. |
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