Authors: Martin Meyer and Bernt Blankholm
The pilot initiative to introduce AI at the University of Vaasa was developed to support international students in preparing Finnish-standard CVs. However, the real innovation emerged far beyond its original scope. The project demonstrated that an AI-driven, end-to-end system is not merely a support tool — it can become a catalyst capable of transforming how universities operate, engage students, and partner with employers. It showed that trust in innovation, coupled with the courage to act, can unlock a new model where AI, adopted responsibly, can become a reliable partner at key stages throughout the entire student journey — from recruitment to graduation and beyond.
From Tool to Trusted Partner?
The rapid rise of AI in HR and recruitment is forcing universities to rethink how they prepare graduates for a fast-evolving labour market. At the University of Vaasa, innovation and courage have led to a pioneering initiative at the intersection of career services and AI technology.
The HR and Talent acquisition departments in companies are rapidly changing due to automation and the utilisation of AI in their processes. And schools need to rapidly adapt.
How is this a huge opportunity for AI-savvy career services with the right systems?
- Implementation of AI, but not keeping up with AI development
- Business schools – a classic example of that!
The University of Vaasa in Finland is perhaps an example of how business schools and universities can try to keep up with AI development and take steps to benefit student and staff experience. The University operates in an environment where successive governments have encouraged and supported the country’s higher education sector to attract international students with the expectation of them joining the Finnish labour market. This is viewed as one of the ways in which the country can close the skills gap caused by population decline, which is expected to impact the country by the end of the decade.
National Context – Finland, Government Talent Boost initiative
Finland, like many other European countries faces demographic challenges which will result with a decline in qualified graduates entering the country’s workforce. These effects are forecast to impact the Finnish economy significantly by the end of the decade. With this in mind, the Finnish government launched the Talent Boost initiative in 2017, revised by successive governments in 2019 and 2023.
As its title suggests, this programme aims to enhance Finland’s international competitiveness by attracting international talent, including students who not only want to study but are also looking to make a future for themselves and find suitable employment in the country after graduation. Therefore, the current government is looking to universities to educate international students with the prospect of them entering the domestic labour market, with the expectation that the majority of international students will find graduate-level employment within the country.
As a result, Finnish universities have built up international student numbers in recent years and enhanced their career and employment support.
Vaasa Context – agile university, combining expertise across business and technology, core value – courage
Like other Finnish HEIs, the University of Vaasa has embraced this mission and achieved significant growth in its international student numbers. As a specialised university combining expertise across business, technology, and related social sciences, the University offers degrees in subjects that are of particular interest to international students. While the University is one of the smaller institutes of higher education with 6,400 students, it is one of the biggest providers of business education in the country. Being big in our chosen subject areas but still comparatively small as an institution, allows us to be agile.
This is reflected in our careers team who have supported students with considerable success. Employment rates of our domestic students have been high, varying between 93% and 97%, depending on the subject, and with growing international enrolments, we want our students to have the best possible opportunity of finding employment in Finland. With a team that befits the university’s size, the challenge is to cater to increasing international student numbers and link our students’ experience to a new national context.
Our university’s career services innovation directly supports Finland’s broader national strategy to attract and retain global talent.
Courage of management to empower staff to explore new ways of doing things
The University’s values are Courage, Community and Responsibility. In line with these values and combining expertise in business and technology, the university encourages the exploration and adoption of technological solutions.
Courage in this context stands for openness to explore and try out new developments, especially in technology. The university seeks to encourage an active approach and instil a mindset of openness. Responsibility means ensuring appropriate due diligence processes precede and accompany technology implementation.
The University’s new strategy includes a development programme that is dedicated to digitisation and management. The university has agreed strategic partnerships with industry leaders to facilitate the responsible adoption of new technology, such as AI, where this is feasible.
The focus here is not just on achieving effective operations but, in line with our value of Community, using technology to improve our learner and staff experience.
Having an open mindset alongside close collaborations with industry partners has set the scene for our AI Careersorter pilot, with ABB, one of our university’s strategic partners.
The Pilot Initiative
This wasn’t just about improving a process — it was about showing that AI can be a trusted partner in delivering on the entire mission of a modern university.
The pilot initiative aimed to streamline the student-to-corporate recruitment journey by leveraging Careersorter’s AI-driven platform, tailored specifically for academic settings. The primary objectives included evaluating potential benefits and novel experiences across three key stakeholders: students, career services departments, and corporate recruiters.
The initiative emphasised the strategic integration of AI within business education, underlining the importance of adopting streamlined, user-friendly technologies to foster innovation and enrich both student engagement and career support services. Key strategic outcomes involved developing a comprehensive study detailing best practices for utilising AI in educational contexts, and establishing partnerships with industry leaders, notably ABB, to bridge education-industry collaboration.
Actionable tasks were clearly defined and assigned, each accompanied by specific deadlines to ensure structured progression and accountability.
Pilot Implementation Phases
The initiative began with the creation of several CV templates, including unbranded neutral versions and branded templates featuring Vaasa’s style guide, as well as a custom-designed template specifically for the corporate partner.
The pilot targeted a cohort of international students who required support in adapting their existing résumés to align with Finnish standards in terms of format and local professional tone.
The structured pilot phases included:
- CV design and setup.
- Training of careers staff.
- System testing.
- System introduction for students.
- CV clinic and recruiter-led coaching sessions.
- Surveys and feedback collection from both students and recruiters.
Student Feedback: Key Findings
Students highlighted the following key insights based on their experience with Careersorter:
- Professionalism vs. Personal Expression: AI-generated résumés offered greater clarity and industry-standard professionalism, effectively reducing vague or overly elaborate sentences. However, some students felt the automated process diminished their unique voice, highlighting the need for balance through personalised editing.
- Structure and Formatting: The automated standardisation significantly improved résumé clarity and consistency, especially benefiting those unfamiliar with professional formatting standards. Yet, some students desired more flexibility and customisation options to better reflect their individuality.
- Content Emphasis: Careersorter effectively emphasised impactful achievements and skills relevant to recruiters and ATS systems. However, students indicated a preference for more tailored customisation aligning with specific job descriptions.
- Error Reduction and Consistency: AI effectively addressed common issues such as grammar errors and formatting inconsistencies, significantly boosting students’ confidence in their professional presentation.
- ATS Optimisation: The automatic incorporation of machine readability of industry-specific keywords helped students understand and improve their CV’s compatibility with ATS parsers, though uncertainties persisted regarding exact optimisation effectiveness for specific job listings, and the need to adapt every CV to each position applied to.
Overall, students concluded that Careersorter is most effective when used as a foundational tool to structure and refine résumés, supplemented by manual edits for personalisation and specific job targeting.
Key points
Enabling small careers teams to conduct more with the use of end-to-end AI-supported systems. Levelling the playing field, increasing professionalism towards recruiters, and increasing the general quality of the outcome – ‘doing more with less’.
Fragmented AI Tools: The current landscape leads to inefficiencies; there is a need for a unified approach to improve productivity and quality across educational institutions.
Culture of Innovation: Emphasis on fostering courage and experimentation within institutions to drive innovation.
In the development of career services, it is becoming increasingly important to optimise the use of existing time resources. Instead of focusing on structures, career advisors can focus on highlighting the personal and unique experiences that are crucial for success in the Finnish job market. To create equal opportunities for both domestic and international students, knowledge of intercultural communication and the ability to express oneself effectively are becoming increasingly important to promote understanding of skills, knowledge and integration.
Conclusion
The conversation underscores the necessity for educational institutions to adapt quickly by leveraging technology such as AI tools that aid students’ job application efforts while fostering strong relationships with employers. This approach not only enhances student employability but also builds institutional reputation globally through professional branding initiatives aligned with modern hiring practices.
About the Authors:
1) Martin Meyer is Vice Rector for International Affairs & Director, InnoLab @ University of Vaasa
2) Bernt Blankholm is COO and Co-Founder of Careersorter.