UPM Graduate Life: communicating how we renew the everyday

Maximilian Buskohl

UPM Graduate, Communications

This is the first post of a blog series sharing my experiences in the UPM Graduate Program. Throughout 2025-2026, the series will follow my Graduate rotations across various communications departments within the company.

Part 1: Beginnings

“Maximilian will handle social media over the summer,” my manager Nina announces during a team meeting, pointing at a PowerPoint slide that shows my name. I take a moment to process: Did I hear that correctly? It’s not only my first day at the Helsinki headquarters of the globally operating material solutions company UPM, but also my first day working full-time in communications after graduating.

While I had gained a good understanding of the Graduate Program’s ambitious approach before, I didn’t exactly expect to be managing UPM’s social media presence so early on. My colleague’s words hang in the air like the clouds outside the window on this perfect Finnish summer day: impressive, voluminous and floating at high altitude. Sensing the trust my new colleagues place in me turns the initial surprise into a feeling of confidence about the challenge ahead.

The following months offer ample opportunity to make the high-reaching task my own, taking off on a professional and personal journey to new heights.

Becoming a Graduate

Applying for UPM’s Graduate Program felt like a natural choice after completing my studies. Its promise of a fast track into the professional world of communications – through a year of intense learning on the job across various teams and countries – immediately appealed to me and stood out from other trainee programs. The structured setup of multiple rotations, complemented by dedicated training and mentoring, presented an outstanding opportunity to build a strong network and gain multifaceted communications experience within an international company in a short time. Coming from Germany, joining an English-speaking company like UPM in Finland gave me a rare chance to launch an international communications career beyond my native language. On top of that, UPM’s vision, commitment to sustainability and value-driven culture strongly resonate with my own beliefs about conducting responsible business and creating value – in the broadest sense of the word – in a rapidly changing world.

While deciding to apply was easy, succeeding in the end required a bit more. Going through the recruitment rounds took some time and effort but also allowed me to bring the facts and figures of my resume to life. With my somewhat unconventional academic background – holding degrees in European law, philosophy and literature – I was able to demonstrate how my distinctive experience, skill set and personality not only matched the job description, but could also offer something beyond the standard requirements. Receiving the job offer affirmed to me that the Graduate Program genuinely values fresh perspectives just as much as the core competencies required.

Kicking off the Graduate Program with CEO Massimo Reynaudo

Renewing the everyday on social media

After relocating to Helsinki – where I had previously lived for a year as an exchange student – I began my Graduate year in the Communications & Brand team responsible for global communications across the UPM Group. After a warm welcome and thorough introduction, I started contributing to the team’s work without delay. I soon realized I had joined at an exciting moment, as UPM’s new brand identity had just recently been launched.

While UPM has its roots in the Finnish forest and paper industry, it has evolved into an internationally operating material solutions company with a sharpened focus on innovation, sustainability and service excellence. The updated brand messaging – “We renew the everyday” – reflects this transition and draws on the fact that around 190 million people use products made from UPM materials every single day.

With the new brand messaging in place, it became essential to reassess how we communicate our stories and innovations. This involved a comprehensive review of UPM’s digital communications at the group level, with a particular focus on developing a new social media strategy. Being fully integrated into such high-caliber communications planning from the outset offered the kind of immersive and dynamic learning environment I was hoping for. It was fascinating to see how modern social media planning demands both strategic thinking and creativity – and how we kept challenging ourselves to create formats and content that truly reflect the innovative spirit of UPM’s businesses. I still recall thinking that my Graduate position gives me the best of both worlds: the scale, variety and impact of a global material solutions company, combined with the openness, flexibility and collaborative spirit more often found in much smaller companies or communications agencies.

As our renewed social media strategy was taking shape, we began bringing it to life on the UPM Group LinkedIn channel. Four weeks into the company, I was entrusted with overseeing the LinkedIn presence, taking care of community management and contributing to content creation for an audience of around 140,000 followers. While I had gained hands-on experience in corporate communications and social media through previous internships, this certainly was a challenge on a different level. Being trusted with such responsibility so early on felt both demanding and empowering. Thanks to my colleagues’ openness to questions at any point and the shared culture of trust and encouragement, I felt confident taking it on and following it through. By now, with the team operating at full capacity after welcoming new colleagues, we have implemented most elements of our strategy and significantly strengthened UPM’s visibility and channel performance on LinkedIn.

Graduate side responsibilities

Alongside my day-to-day social media duties, I supported an international media pitch project. This experience taught me a lot about the practical and organizational side of public relations work at the intersection of corporate, agency and media communications. It also made me realize how many impactful, yet untold stories are being created at UPM, and how effective, modern communications can bring them to light.

Beyond digital communications and public relations, I took a deep dive into hands-on brand marketing and project management for UPM’s Verla Mill Museum. A former paper mill turned into a museum – and a UNESCO World Heritage site – Verla stands as an impressive timepiece of Finland’s industrial heritage. Connecting the past with the present, the museum features a showroom area presenting UPM’s modern material solutions portfolio. The renewed brand messaging and ever-evolving product innovations called for a complete makeover of the showroom. Joining the project in its later stages, I coordinated the selection, collection and installation of material samples, working closely with a partnering agency and our internal business areas. This fast-paced, deadline-driven project was a valuable lesson in time management and stakeholder coordination.

The renovated showroom at the Verla Mill Museum, presenting UPM’s material solutions portfolio

The final highlight of my first months was the Graduate Program’s official kick-off week in September. With all fellow Graduates gathering in Helsinki, we got a comprehensive view of UPM’s strategy, values and business operations, as well as the program’s unique mentoring, learning and rotation elements. Above all, experiencing UPM’s CEO Massimo Reynaudo share his personal journey and engage in an insightful discussion was not only thought-provoking and motivating, but also underlined the company’s strong commitment to the Graduate Program.

Moving ahead

Looking back, my first months at the Communications & Brand team in Helsinki have been an all-around promising start to my Graduate year at UPM. Working on diverse topics across the whole organization as a fully integrated team member laid an excellent foundation for the journey ahead. As the excitement of my first day at the office in summer still shines bright on these crisp Finnish autumn days, I’m already preparing for the next part of the journey. Expanding my horizons once again, my upcoming international rotation will take me to UPM’s Adhesive Materials business, where I’ll join the Marketing, Sustainability and Communications team for the Asia Pacific region. Based in Shanghai for three months, I’ll continue to grow my communications skill set – this time with a sharp focus on customer relations, product communications and media engagement in one of UPM’s most dynamic global market regions.

Follow me to Shanghai in my next blog post!

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