Customer work attracted Juho Hakola to WaveCrest as Project Manager

Juho Hakola, who has been working in communications for the last few years, joined the WaveCrest team in May 2022. Juho has worked a lot with customers and feels it is an important part of his job. It was this calling to work with clients that led Juho back from his communications role to more client-focused work at WaveCrest. Juho works on projects at WaveCrest, and strengthens our team with his knowledgeable approach and efficient management of projects.

Juho, who comes from Central Finland and moved to Helsinki for work, has a family of two with his wife Laura. In his spare time, Juho has played ice hockey for a long time, and, more recently, taken up frisbee golf. Juho says he is sometimes almost too enthusiastic about the new sport, but fortunately WaveCrest has several friends who play with him on the frisbee golf course. Another important part of Juho's free time is spending time with friends. 

Juho was interviewed in the summer of 2022. In December 2023, he was appointed Client Manager.

What is your educational and professional background?

I studied Communication at the University of Jyväskylä and graduated with a Master's degree in Philosophy. During my studies I worked in the retail sector as a clothes salesman at a Prisma hypermarket and a Sokos department store, after which I did social media work for the ice hockey team KeuPa HT. After moving to Helsinki, I started as a project manager in a marketing agency and worked with marketing automation and HubSpot. After three years in marketing, I switched to communications and then returned to marketing when I joined WaveCrest at the beginning of May.

Why did you originally apply to study and work in these places?

I applied to study communications because it was interesting and seemed like a good fit. During my studies, when I was looking for my first job, I applied very widely for different positions and ended up as a salesperson. Since then, jobs have been selected according to my interests and skills. I applied to a marketing agency because I found marketing a very interesting field. I applied to WaveCrest because I wanted to get back into customer work. There also seemed to be a really good working atmosphere here, which of course also attracted me to join WaveCrest.

What are your duties and responsibilities at WaveCrest?

At WaveCrest, I work as a project manager and am responsible for the implementation of our own marketing projects as well as our client projects. It's hard to say at this stage what my role will entail in the long term, but thanks to my communications skills, I will certainly be involved in content production.

What are your professional ambitions?

For me, the most important thing in my professional life is to enjoy my job, have interesting tasks and nice colleagues. I don't have specific career goals, but I do try to develop and keep my work goal-oriented. So my goals for my working life are very value-based.

What do you value most in your job?

Following on from the previous answer, I value most the fact that I am surrounded by nice people. Apart from that, I also value clarity, open communication and good processes. However, the most important thing is definitely that it is good to be at work.

How do you see the future of our industry?

I can see that a lot will change, for example with the development of technology. On the other hand, I think that people will become more important. I think that in our industry it will become more important to focus on customers and customer service. As these cannot be automated, I think they will become even more important in the future. In other words, technology and automation of various kinds will make many things easier and will allow us to focus even more on human interaction and excellent customer service.

If you could organise a Midsummer's Eve party just like yours, what would it be like?

The guest list at that Midsummer party would consist of many good friends. The programme would start with some sort of competitive element, perhaps a sports competition or quiz. There would be good food, of course, and the evening would culminate in swimming and a sauna.