- Kai Koskinen, Partner, August Associates
Our analysts are graduates of leading universities and typically have less than two years of work experience. The main project duties of analysts include gathering information, drawing out analyses and documentation. At August, the analysts take part in client meetings from the very beginning. In addition to project work, the analysts assist in producing tendering and sales materials and contribute to the development of August’s operations. The analysts always work under the supervision of more senior consultants, receiving support from them in their work while benefitting from constantly learning something new.
Consultants work as experts in projects coordinating information gathering, structuring the analyses and presenting conclusions based on them. The consultants are relatively free to organize their work and they also supervise their junior colleagues. In addition to project work, consultants play a key role in the development and marketing of August.
Associate managers have a minimum of four years’ experience in consulting or some other relevant field. Associate managers supervise the work of more junior staff members and are independently responsible for larger entities. Associate managers are responsible for the management of complete projects or sub-projects, depending on the scope of the project.
Olli Lehtonen, Manager
Jaakko Pajunen, Associate Manager
Elina Holkko, Associate Manager
Once an associate manager has demonstrated his or her capacity to independently manage various demanding projects, he or she will be promoted to manager. Managers are responsible for the operative management of projects. Managers have excellent leadership skills and they work closely with the client ensuring that the work is carried out as agreed and the knowledge that has been accumulated during the project will be transferred to the client organization. In addition to operative project management, managers are also responsible for the professional development of his or her team. They also carry responsibility for the development and marketing of August.
The role of director is the first step towards becoming partner. Directors work simultaneously on several projects as senior advisors. In addition to project work, directors are responsible for the development of August and its client relations. Directors also have a key role in supervising junior consultants.
Partners carry the ultimate responsibility of August’s operations and their development as well as its corporate culture and identity. Partners participate in many projects as senior advisors, injecting their broad-ranging business knowledge and strategic insight into them. Partners are also responsible for the development of new business and existing customer relationships. Their most important role, however, is mentoring more junior consultants. The number of August partners has not been limited.
Kai Koskinen, Partner
Pasi Torppa, Partner
Tomi Ere, Partner
The office manager is the head of administration at August and takes care of the practicalities.
The responsibilities of the HR Manager include recruitment, personnel development, induction and training, traineeships and resourcing. In addition, the HR Manager’s role includes various business development duties. .
Minttu Sinisalo, HR-päällikkö
August is constantly looking for consultants who are passionate about their work for positions on all levels of the organization. Read more.
“For me August has meant an opportunity to combine the best parts of working in consulting and for a line organization. Consulting offers the opportunity to work on a variety of assignments and see different fields. This is why every day is truly unique and gives me the opportunity to constantly learn more. Where August differs from other consulting firms is in the length and depth of customer relationships. We engage in long-term partnerships with our clients and in turn they treat us as trusted partners, taking us in their confidence and sharing and discussing issues with us that might in fact fall outside the scope of the actual project.
In addition to the content of the consulting assignments and great clients, I am also inspired by the opportunity to be building something significant and permanent in August. August was established to offer Finnish companies better consulting services. We wanted to challenge the other leading consulting firms and offer Finnish companies an option that was better geared towards their special needs. Our long-term customer relationships (the longest cover as many as 30 assignments) are proof that we must be doing something right.
August was also established for ourselves, the August staff. We wanted to have a workplace where we could all work on interesting and demanding assignments without sacrificing our whole lives for work. Being creative and able to energize each other is not possible unless our staff have lives outside work. My whole family, wife and two small kids, are all really into culture and sport in all their forms. I enjoy getting my heart rate up at our cottage in Vierumäki and I also have an active role on the board of the HJK football team.”
“It is really great to be part of August – a Finnish management consulting firm. We established August because we wanted to offer Finnish companies an alternative to international firms. We have since been pleased to notice that the alternative that we offer is also valued by students interested in a career in consulting as a potential workplace. August has carved its niche within the field of consultancy and is considered an interesting partner for its various stakeholders.
August’s early days, in the fall of 2001, coincided with a very challenging period in the market, as the IT bubble had just burst and the 9/11 crisis only added to the uncertainty in the economy. Although these were not easy times economically, August’s approach of focusing on the needs of Finnish companies was in demand.
August’s good reputation was built rapidly in the first few years of operations thanks to its uncompromising focus on integrity and execution. The best possible marketing for August has been its satisfied clients. Most major Finnish companies have used our services. Our goal is that after a project has been completed, the client comes away with a lot more than a bunch of overhead: a new strategy or operating model, which has been conceived together and will remain an established part of the client’s operations.
My work as a partner at August is exciting and I constantly learn new things in all fields of management. Personally, the best part of working for August is the opportunity to work with intelligent, wonderful people and to see them develop. The success and growth of August completely depends on our consultants’ personal and professional growth. My most important duty is to make sure that our staff has the best possible environment to learn and to help my younger colleagues succeed in their work.
Consulting is hard work and sometimes it is hard to find time for your loved ones or other interests. On the other hand, project work can be flexible, which has made it possible for me to organize my life so that my family is happy, too. In my free time, I exercise a lot and am quite passionate about spectator sports”
“Working for August has given me the opportunity to engage in long-term cooperation with large and medium-size Finnish companies. The client-oriented approach together with the versatile and international nature of the projects makes my work very rewarding. It has been really interesting to be involved in developing a strategy together with the senior management of the client company and also in the projects implementing the strategy. The duties related to generating growth and development in our own company have also been very interesting. My role as an expert and a line manager is a perfect combination for me.
The consultant’s role is a fairly demanding one because of its intense project-based nature. That’s why it’s important to look after yourself and make sure that free time and work are in good balance. I play a lot of sports in my free time and spend time with my wife and friends.”
“I started as a management consultant in an international firm after my graduation. What interested me in consulting was the versatile and project-based work and opportunity to solve many different kinds of challenges related to management and to accumulate experience in various fields. I still find the diverse array of challenges this job involves highly motivating.
I joined August in 2009. It is an exciting place to work, because it allows me to be part of building and developing a Finnish alternative to the leading strategy consulting firms. Working at August you actively cooperate with your own team and the client. At best my projects have involved dozens of representatives from our client’s organization around the world. Although August is a Finnish consulting firm, we work in a global setting as our clients often have operations in many different countries.
One of the downsides of consulting and its fast-paced projects that take you to many different companies in many different countries is that you don’t always get to see the results of your work. One of the best things about August is that our customer relationships are usually long-standing so we have the opportunity to see from close-up the impact of our work in the client organization in the long term. This makes your work even more meaningful and rewarding.
My favorite free time activity is sports. I also love to travel to new places and sailing along the Finnish coast.”
“After graduation I did research for a year at the research center of a large telecom corporation in Japan. On returning to Finland I had become convinced that I wanted to work in business and starting looking around with a more open mind. I learned about August at a recruitment event, and what impressed me then was the healthy drive and passion to develop that August seemed to have – qualities that turned out to be real.
I joined August in 2007 and have progressed from an analyst to a project manager and in that process have enjoyed being in a vantage point to witness the changes that business and industry have gone through both during the boom and in the grips of the financial crisis. I have gained experience in several projects – from strategy definition to pricing and competence development – ranging between short assignments lasting a few weeks to extensive year-long projects. The reason I went into consulting was because I wanted to see different industries and accumulate valuable knowledge capital from a variety of perspectives. That kind of experience can only be gained through consulting. To me, August also means an opportunity to learn new things, meet interesting people and contribute to the success of a growing Finnish company. I also thoroughly enjoy teamwork with intelligent individuals, both clients and colleagues.
To balance work, I enjoy being a father to our new baby and I’ve also played badminton for years. August has always had a culture that encourages a healthy lifestyle and that is partly why I’ve managed to keep up sports. That said, I also spend a healthy amount of time just relaxing in front of the TV.”
“I first got to know August at the Arena career fair at the Helsinki school of Economics and in a company presentation organized by KY-Economics. After graduation, I decided to get some international experience and got a graduate position at a global energy company in the Netherlands. However, when I decided to come back to Finland, August was my number one choice.
Every August project is original and there is no typical workday, which I truly enjoy. I have done two-week due diligence projects for Private Equity investors, as well as several-month development programs for international publicly listed companies. I have been able to take as much responsibility of the project deliverables as I have wanted to. At first, my tasks consisted of preparing presentation materials and analyses, coached by senior colleagues. Nowadays I spend my days in client meetings, coordinating projects and supervising the analysts’ work. It has also been exciting to follow how August has gradually grown into a significant player in the Finnish consulting market. I cannot imagine a better growth company to be a part of.
During my free time I love to do sports, preferably with friends or my husband. In the summertime, I spend most of my time practicing golf and in the winter doing cross-country or down-hill skiing. My year-round hobbies include ashtanga yoga, running and enjoying good food – either at home or in a good restaurant. I am very glad that at August you can find people with similar interests and high work motivation. It makes everyday work both educational and fun. “
“After I graduated, I heard from the professor of finance who supervised my thesis that August was recruiting new consultants. I thought consulting would be a perfect fit for me professionally, because it is a combination of working with people and analytical thinking. I immediately took to August’s humane, honest and dynamic entrepreneur-like approach and great team spirit.
Having worked for a couple of year on highly varied projects ranging, from pricing and service concept development to defining new accounting principles, it was time for me to focus on having a family. After returning to work from parental leave, I wanted to engage in even more human-oriented tasks and I’m now responsible for human resources at August, which I’m more than happy about. In practice, my job description covers recruitment, personnel development and resourcing. I also participate in several development projects. I’ve really enjoyed working on the “other side” of consulting, and having been able to contribute to the development of a company that is at a really exciting part of its life cycle. I could not imagine a more diverse and interesting job than my current one with August.
I’m passionate about my work as well as other important things in my life, such as cooking, home decor, music, friends, skiing and sports in general. The most important thing in my life is, however, my family and my two lovely kids. I’m so happy that I’ve been able to combine work and family life and work a shortened week while my children are still small. A challenging job and two small children isn’t always the easiest of equations. At August, this turned out not to be a problem.”
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