Unit Manager Mikael Rissanen is making his career plan a reality at Elcoline’s unit for Eastern Finland in Kuopio. Having worked summers and prepared a thesis for Elcoline, he managed to secure permanent employment in 2019.

Responsibility for his own unit motivates Mikael Rissanen in his own work. As a unit manager, he ensures the well-being of others and the profitability of the unit in addition to contributing to the safety of electrical work.

Rissanen has already been involved in many projects as a work supervisor and project manager. His current work as a unit manager includes a diverse range of tasks.

“At our unit, I bear the financial responsibility for maintenance targets and projects. I make sure that things move forward across the board. I’m involved in offer calculation, invoicing and budgeting, for example. As the head of the unit, you need to tackle a surprising number of HR matters,” Rissanen describes.

In addition to this, he is in charge of certain customer accounts, such as Terrafame and St1. The diverse job description is a perfect fit for the man who moved from Turku to Kuopio to develop his skills in business management. He is an electrical engineer by education.

“When I got the job at Elcoline, we prepared a career plan with Jaakko Juvonen. That’s the path I’m on now,” Rissanen says.

The S1 electrical qualification means responsibility and credibility

Rissanen also recently obtained an S1 electrical qualification alongside his work tasks.

“The S1 electrical qualification means unlimited rights to perform electrical work from household appliances to high-voltage machinery,” he explains.

Companies that perform electrical work always have an appointed electrical work supervisor to ensure that the electrical work is always conducted safely and according to standards. The qualification of the electrical work supervisor determines the voltage level of the work that the company is permitted to conduct. “Our operational managers having S1 qualifications lends us credibility in the eyes of our customers. In sales activities and efforts to build cooperation, it is important that many of our various subsidiaries have people with an S1 qualification. This means that there are multiple people making sure that the electrical work is carried out safely and in compliance with the appropriate regulations,” Rissanen says.

You can see the results of your work in the unit’s operations

The responsible work tasks have taught Rissanen not to worry about every little thing. Stress tolerance is required, but he knows that things will work out in the end and that it may not be possible to affect everything.

“Anticipation is important. When something blows up in your face, it’s already too late. The best lesson so far is that, if you’re feeling too good, something has most likely slipped your mind,” he says with a laugh.

Even though Rissanen always has a lot on his plate, the end results are enough of a reward.

“The best part is that I get to develop our unit’s operations together with our staff and organization. Each work day is also very different,” he muses.

Rissanen also knows that a good team of colleagues can get you through even the toughest situations.

“The cooperation is smooth within our unit in Eastern Finland and with the Western Finland unit, which is helpful in many ways. It’s great to bounce ideas off of a colleague and look for the most suitable solutions for varying situations. Where necessary and possible, our units can also support each other in terms of human resources,” he says.