In conversation with Juuso Liukkonen

Juuso Liukkonen is Senior Treasury Specialist at our head office in Finland. Learn more about Juuso and his career journey with Lindström.

To kick things off, could you tell us a little about yourself, Juuso?  

Sure, I’m 29 years old and I currently work in our group treasury team as a senior treasury specialist in the group head office. We are a small team of only three members, including me, but what we lack in size, we compensate for with our skills and attitude. When I am not working, I enjoy weightlifting, kickboxing and spending time with my girlfriend, family, and friends.

How would you describe your path to Lindström and the journey so far?  

I started at Lindström back in 2015 as a summer intern. A friend of mine was working as an intern at Lindström in the finance department, and he recommended me for the open summer intern position of financial assistant.

After finishing my summer internship, I continued working part-time as I was still finishing my bachelor’s studies. Eventually, I got promoted to assistant controller. I had different responsibilities in our group finance team, mainly focusing on supporting financial accounting-related tasks. In 2018, I began my master’s studies but, still, I continued working at Lindström while occasionally taking study leaves to focus on my studies for a few months. Since August 2020, I have been working as a senior treasury specialist full time while finishing my master’s studies.

Lindström has been a great employer. I have had amazing superiors who are willing to give me new responsibilities. I’m also highly grateful to be allowed to focus on my studies while still working at Lindström.

An amazing learning opportunity for me was to travel abroad to visit our subsidiary in the Czech Republic as part of my thesis research. That’s something that you can’t expect from many employers.

What is your favourite part of the job? 

I feel the best thing about my job is that it combines accounting and finance, both being subjects I am very much interested in. There’s also a lot of problem-solving involved. The fact that there are constantly unfamiliar problems to solve allows me to challenge and develop myself, which I enjoy. The more complex and challenging the problem is to solve, the better it feels in the end when I figure the problem out.

I feel that I can contribute to our WeCare culture by supporting other functions and by always being there to help my colleagues the best way I can. It surely helps that people here are highly respectful, friendly, and professional. Everyone is always ready to help, and you can ask anything of anyone at any time.

Tell us about a recent challenging experience or a learning challenge? 

There have been a lot of new things to learn in the last year. One of the challenging experiences is the ongoing implementation of a cash management system for one of our subsidiaries. This project opened a lot of new learning opportunities for me. I have also had a chance to analyse financial items at both the group and company levels for the first time. This activity also gave me visibility into how my daily activities in treasury weigh in the actual reported figures. It helps to have a supportive supervisor like mine who makes sure that I am briefed well and who walks me through all relevant expectations in advance.

What advice would you like to give to anyone looking for a similar job?   

Having an open mind and a positive attitude towards problem-solving helps a lot. You have to be flexible as you must have knowledge or at least be willing to learn about various topics like accounting, finance, IT systems, taxation, etc. It may be stressful to often face situations where you don’t have any previous knowledge of how to handle the issue in question. But that’s the bit that makes the job exciting and makes each day different from all the others. Additionally, there’s a lot to gain in terms of developing your understanding of various topics as long as you’re willing to learn.

What would be the one thing you would like to share about Lindström with people who might not know the company so well?  

Lindström has integrated circular economy into their business model, which I admire. As an organisation, we try to think of new and more sustainable ways to live and focus on using existing resources efficiently. Although the sustainability and environmental aspects were not the main reasons, I initially accepted the job and have since grown to appreciate these values. This experience has added to the other positive characteristics that Lindström has as an employer.

This conversation with Juuso Liukkonen is part of a series career stories built on conversations, ideas and the Lindström community. With a mission to celebrate our colleagues and draw inspiration, this series is dedicated to shedding light on the stories of Lindströmers around the world, in various positions, teams and countries, celebrating the diversity of our people. At Lindström, we value and support everyone in their aspiration to become the best they can be.