My growth at Neste: My diverse career path at Neste started as a summer trainee

Summer trainee job at Neste helped Markus Hovi to find his own path to work life after chemical engineering studies. After the summer job, he has had a chance to see various positions and develop his skills at Neste. In April 2021, Markus started in his dream position in Renewable Polymers and Chemicals’ Strategy Execution & Marketing team that combines his interests in strategy, sustainability and chemistry and also offers new interesting challenges. 

“When I started my studies in chemical engineering at Aalto University I was sure that I would become a pharmaceutical researcher. Soon I realized that I am more interested in looking at bigger pictures than following the more common path into the engineering field,” Markus Hovi explains.

Markus started as a summer trainee at Neste in 2015. At first, he worked in the Process Safety team focusing on mapping risks and developing a risk management system. 

“It was interesting because I had the opportunity to work with something that was completely new to me. Risk management did not come up a lot during my studies. Luckily, I got a lot of support and guidance from my manager and team. In the end, the subject was not my biggest passion, although it gave a vantage point to the whole organization as I worked with all of the business units. Already then I grew more interested in sustainability issues which I wanted to be a big part of my job in the future,” Markus smiles.

"I wanted to find a good place to start my career"

When applying for summer jobs, Markus wanted to make plans further into the future as the following year would be the last of his studies.

“I wanted to find a good place to start my career. Before accepting a summer job offer from Neste, I asked my potential team lead about Master's thesis and future job possibilities. Because Neste was already growing and filled with opportunities he said that he would personally do his best to find opportunities for me after the summer job even though he could not make any promises,” says Markus.

“The decision was pretty easy after that,” Markus explains. “I was lucky because my Master’s thesis eventually focused on the same project I worked on during my summer job.”

Career development opportunities within Neste

At Neste, Markus has been able to adjust his work tasks according to his interests.

I think that describes the culture and atmosphere at Neste - people are always happy to help

“In the Operational Excellence team after my graduation, I wanted to develop my understanding about sustainability which is why I got the responsibility of climate and environmental topics in the sustainability reporting. All colleagues have always been happy to provide additional training and answer my questions when I wanted to educate myself. I think that describes the culture and atmosphere at Neste - people are always happy to help,” Markus explains.

“Including the experienced professionals who have always helped and supported me, I have also made life-long friends within Neste,” he continues.

Active self-development in sustainability helped Markus find his way into the Renewable Products Supply Chain Compliance team, which supported his interest to focus even more on the business side and sustainability.

“At Neste, I have found several career development possibilities. I have been proactive in that sense that I have always expressed my interest early on by talking with colleagues that work with fascinating subjects. When a position has opened, I have a general idea of what is expected and I have been able to gather some experience related to the tasks that I have been interested in,” Markus explains.

Now Markus works as a Strategy Development and Implementation Manager in the Renewable Polymers and Chemicals business. This combines his passion looking at the bigger picture strategy-wise and sustainability and his studies in chemistry have been an advantage. 

Even though the change of a new job will always bring uncertainty and new challenges, Markus wants to remind everyone: 

“You learn by doing.”