A summer job at the City of Espoo has surprised positively
Riikka Peitsara works in Espoo’s customer service for the third summer, advising and helping municipal residents, and Vanessa Tillonen works in the city events unit participating, for example, in the communication of the Espoo a city for 50 years events. The City of Espoo employs approximately 830 youths in the summer.
During her first summer, Riikka Peitsara worked at different Espoo customer service points and advised Espoo residents in filling out forms for Kela, for example. For the past two summers, she has answered customer enquiries and feedback at the contact centre.
Customer service and problem-solving
“I like customer service. We work the phone and reply to e-mail feedback on alternate weeks. The job requires problem-solving skills: the topics of phone calls and e-mail messages vary widely. Local residents may enquire about things like boat berths, the location of Espoo’s largest dog park, or the opening hours of the Leppävaara Library,” says Riikka.
A summer employee does not have to come up with answers to the varied questions alone.
“You can always get help from nice co-workers and supervisors. We also received comprehensive orientation over several weeks. For example, we went through the organisation of the city, how and with what tone of voice we should answer customer calls and e-mails, and how transportation requests are booked.”
“The work in customer service has been much more than I could have expected. Every day is different. The city is also a safe workplace where contractual matters are taken care of appropriately,” Riikka says.
Learning responsibility and new things
Vanessa Tillonen does communications for the Espoo city for 50 years events.
“We have a really good team. It is great that also a summer worker’s skills are trusted, and they are given responsibility. The summer work in the city has positively surprised me: the organisation is flexible. I have been given the freedom to come up with new ideas and, at the same time, I have also learned a lot,” says Vanessa.
“For example, I created a dedicated TikTok channel for City Events, for which we plan to make more content during the summer from festivals organised in Espoo and so on. I researched the TikTok accounts of different organisations in my thesis, and it is rewarding to be able to apply my skills in the summer job.”
Vanessa also works on the Espoo celebrates! website and as part of a team responsible for the coordination and marketing of the Espoo celebrates! week’s events.
Riikka and Vanessa can work flexibly at the office or remotely. In longer summer jobs, you can also enjoy the city’s personnel benefits, such as free swimming in Espoo’s outdoor and indoor swimming pools, lunch vouchers and commuting benefits.
In the autumn, Riikka and Vanessa will return to studying communication and media.
Summer jobs for 830 youths
Most summer employees work in Espoo’s property management and maintenance. This summer, we also hired young people for green area maintenance, assisting tasks in home and long-term care and disability services, assisting tasks in early childhood education and tasks in sports and youth services, such as outdoor recreation area caretakers and lifeguards. Summer jobs are also provided in urban design and financial administration and at the Environment and Building Control Department. Applicants were most interested in green area work, i.e. park and playground maintenance, as well as various care-related assistance tasks.
The average summer job duration is one month.
We also distributed a total of 1,500 summer vouchers. The city pays 300 euros to an employer who hires a young Espoo person born between 2003 and 2007 to work with the employment voucher between 1 May and 30 September.
We are a partner of the Responsible Summer Jobs campaign(external link, opens in a new window).
- Work for Espoo