Practical Training at saunalautta.fi by Valtteri Rytkönen

My practical training begun in May for Sauna Consulting Osk which is a sauna boat business operating one boat. The business offers sauna cruises on the water for people wishing to experience something unique. My experience working in the business was also quite unique, both in terms of the unstable situation for businesses due to COVID-19 during the summer and also because of working in a rather small business where the variety of tasks in the job can be extremely wide.

In the beginning there were big questions about whether running the business during the summer was going to be a realistic option or not. Governmental restrictions meant that only 10 people could gather at once while the boat’s capacity for commercial cruises is 12.  Fear of further restrictions and the situation worsening were creating doubts. Luckily the situation got better as the summer progressed, meaning a much better atmosphere for running the business. Towards the end of my practical training, there were already very good results in the number of cruises for the summer season.

The experience of working in a small business made the practical training period interesting, teachable, and diverse. My task selection ended up being even broader than I had expected and there was no shortage of things to do, which was great for me as I was able to learn from multiple different parts of running a business. The best part was especially being able to choose the order and timetable of completing tasks as I was able to work in a rather independent manner. That meant planning and timing my own tasks while prioritizing the most important work to be completed first. It also required learning some more self-leading skills.

Overall it was definitely a very teachable and unique practical training period and I enjoyed my time working in the sauna boat business for a summer.

Author: Valtteri Rytkönen