Heidi Hannula, Neste: working as a Trainee

Hi all! I am Heidi Hannula, a student and a Neste employee for this summer. I took a ”head start” here in Neste already in January when I started working as a Trainee in our very great Commercial Contracts team in Espoo. We, as a team, are responsible for handling sales and supply contracts at Neste. We are, among other things, managing the contract processes and handling contract related communication with our suppliers and customers. Please note that here I only provide a glimpse of our daily tasks and routines as every day truly is different. The current tragic world situation, the war in Ukraine, has also had an impact on our day-to-day work.  

I am a master student in environmental law. I chose this field because I was interested to see what it has to offer as a growing area of law and also because of my motivation to contribute towards creating a more sustainable future. This is also why I applied for the trainee program in Neste: I believe it provides the best possible preparation for a career in the field of renewable energy business. Also, I am generally interested in the corporate responses to combatting climate change and reducing climate emissions. I have been delighted to see and examine so close Neste´s commitment to the global climate targets. In Neste, I have been able to combine my two interests, law and corporate sustainability. The traineeship is thus a great learning experience.

Here I have once again evidenced how important it is to have co-workers and supervisors who truly appreciate you and your effort. Colleagues who are there to help whenever needed. I could not be happier the way I was welcomed in our team. We are a group of somewhat similar but still different personalities. A perfect mix of different backgrounds. For us young professionals who have just kickstarted our careers during the pandemic it might not have been that easy to find that bond with the fellow team members. Even though most communication happens through the screen, I still feel we’ve found it. Seeing my colleagues finally in person felt actually like I already knew them.