Our partner TAI offers varied vocational qualifications – in this blog, the Head of a Unit at Turku Vocational Institute/Business, Irina Loponen, gives examples of the different options there are to buff your skills in business and management, for navigating your business to the future.

Business competence is the foundation and cornerstone of acting in working life. Staff at all organisation levels should know the company’s operating principles, revenue model and business idea. Of course, business competence also includes other aspects, such as customer relationship management, the mapping of risks and the acquisition and allocation of financing.

In order for business to be managed in accordance with the desired goals, people must be managed as well. Managing people is a complex task that requires professional skills. In well-functioning organisations, the operating principles, goals, values, vision and business idea are transferred to all functions and organisation levels through good management practices and managerial work.

The continuous acquisition of competence and the development of personal competence diversify individuals’ possibilities of expanding their own job descriptions

In the business sector, as in all other sectors, the continuous acquisition of competence and the development of personal competence diversify individuals’ possibilities of expanding their own job descriptions or moving to different tasks. Digitalisation, novel business models, the circular economy and many other changes taking place in the operating environment challenge us to a new kind of thinking and continuous learning of new things.

Vocational Qualification in Business

The Vocational Qualification in Business will be updated one year from now. The new vocational competence requirements for the qualification include taking energy efficiency into account, recycling, acting in accordance with sustainability values and principles, digital information sharing, recognising the possibilities of applying artificial intelligence and identifying the most common cyber and information security threats. Those who have completed a Vocational Qualification in Business have most commonly found employment in operative positions in trade and administration. After the reform of the qualification, further vocational qualifications and specialist vocational qualifications will be updated. New vocational competence requirements will be introduced for these qualifications as well.

Further vocational qualifications and specialist vocational qualifications are vocational further education and training, and their aim is to increase and maintain the competence of those already in working life. Those completing further vocational qualifications and specialist vocational qualifications are required to master a certain set of tasks. Specialist vocational qualifications, and several further vocational qualifications, include a development plan related to the person’s own work tasks or organisation and its implementation.

The Further Vocational Qualification in Business is intended for people working in a very wide range of tasks in companies and other organisations.

The Further Vocational Qualification in Business is intended for people working in a very wide range of tasks in companies and other organisations. The purpose of the qualification is to produce or update existing customer-oriented business competence, communication and interaction competence, IT and digital competence, language skills and financial management competence.

The Further Vocational Qualification in Business has different competence areas, and based on elective studies, a person studying for this qualification can work and develop in various business specialist tasks, such as sales and marketing, financial administration, financial services, estate agency services, international business and forwarding tasks, assistant or secretary tasks or information control, lobby service or document management tasks.

Support for managers

Acting as a manager is part of the tasks of many people working in the business sector. Not all managers may have management or HR training. It may be that the person has become a manager after working in other positions, or that the job descriptions and, through that, managerial responsibilities have been structured in a new way as a result of an organisational reform. As previously stated, high-quality managerial work contributes to achieving business goals. Good managerial work improves the well-being of staff and their commitment to the organisation. A manager plays a key role in their employees’ career planning and the planning and implementation of the maintenance and acquisition of competence.

high-quality managerial work contributes to achieving business goals

It is possible for first-level managers to acquire competence by completing a Further Vocational Qualification in First-level Management alongside their own work. In the Further Vocational Qualification in First-level Management, the focus is on working as a first-level manager. Other modules, or units, included in the qualification are management of customer relationships, profitability of operations, human resources management and a development plan.

Holders of a Further Vocational Qualification in First-level Management may work in shop-floor management positions in various operating environments, for example, as a first-level manager of a working group, team, department, service unit or equivalent or as the leader of their working group. The goal is that holders of a Further Vocational Qualification in First-level Management have the competence to plan and supervise the work of a working group and to give orientation training to employees and students regarding the workplace and work tasks. They have basic knowledge of the work of first-level managers and good communicational skills and are able to develop the operations of their working group.

students particularly satisfied with the development work included in the training and with the possibility for networking with other managers

The business unit of Turku Vocational Institute offers training in both the Further Vocational Qualification in Business and the Further Vocational Qualification in First-level Management. You can apply for training from your own starting points and according to your own goals. Information on the qualifications is available on the Turku Vocational Institute website. First-level manager training is offered particularly to first-level managers in the field of trade and the field of social welfare and health care. According to the feedback we received in spring 2023, students were particularly satisfied with the development work included in the first-level manager training and with the possibility for networking with other managers and gaining new perspectives on their own managerial work.

Check out current possibilities at TAI and apply!

Irina Loponen
Head of a Unit
Turku Vocational Institute, Business