PKO operates in five different business sectors, offering diverse employment opportunities and even the possibility to work across sector boundaries. Career paths and job opportunities depend partly on an individual’s skills, experience, and performance, and partly on the positions available at any given time.
Chef, waiter/waitress, café and restaurant worker
PKO’s restaurants, pubs, and cafés offer job opportunities for chefs, waitstaff, and café and restaurant workers. In a restaurant, the chef prepares lunch and à la carte dishes according to recipes. PKO’s restaurant locations range from à la carte restaurants to fast food outlets and pubs across North Karelia.
In fast food restaurants, staff prepare hamburgers and pizzas.
Waitstaff in licensed restaurants are required to have a serving qualification, and a responsible manager’s certification is considered an advantage.
Chefs and restaurant workers are required to have a hygiene passport.
In pubs and nightclubs, tasks include customer service, serving alcohol, cleaning, and ticket sales.
Hospitality professional
Our hotel operations employ receptionists, housekeeping and breakfast staff, as well as sales representatives.
Receptionists are responsible for customer service at the hotel or spa front desk. Their tasks include handling room reservations, managing check-ins and check-outs, and processing billing.
The work of a housekeeper is often the first thing our guests notice when they arrive — they ensure the hotel is clean and welcoming, and that each room is ready for a pleasant stay.
Breakfast is one of the highlights of a hotel visit, and the breakfast attendant ensures guests have a successful and enjoyable breakfast experience. Their main duties include preparing the hotel breakfast and maintaining the breakfast area throughout the morning.
As a sales representative, your role includes selling PKO’s diverse hotel, restaurant, meeting, and event services, as well as providing customer service over the phone.
Service station employee
Our ABC service stations are fast-paced environments, ideal for restaurant and retail professionals who thrive on variety and gain energy from a busy atmosphere. Customers are served at the grocery store checkout, Hesburger counter, and café register. Tasks also include working at the buffet, cleaning the dining area, handling dishwashing duties, and depending on your skills, assisting in kitchen operations. At ABC service stations, responsibilities include preparing lunch and à la carte dishes, as well as fast food items like burgers and pizzas.
Salesperson
Sales roles are available at our S-market, Sale, Prisma, and Sokos locations. Sales tasks include working at the checkout, unloading deliveries, and stocking shelves. Additional duties may include selling Veikkaus lottery services and possibly handling postal services.Sale stores are ideal for versatile grocery professionals who are comfortable working independently.
Service counters operate at S-market Rantakatu and Prisma, and many S-markets also feature baking stations. At the service counter, tasks include handling meat and fish, preparing salads and takeaway lunch items according to recipes, and active sales work. At baking stations, sales staff are responsible for baking fresh pies and pastries and setting them up for display.Our Prisma hypermarket employs the largest number of staff in our grocery units. At the checkout, sales staff provide fast service and handle cash transactions accurately. Checkout staff must be of legal age due to the sale of age-restricted products. The information desk staff handle Veikkaus, Toto, and postal services.
The grocery department suits employees who enjoy fast-paced, physical work such as unloading deliveries and stocking shelves, often starting as early as 5 a.m. At Prisma’s service counter, tasks include meat and fish handling, preparing salads and takeaway lunch items according to recipes, and active sales. In the non-food department, sales staff are expected to have broad expertise in the product range (e.g., clothing, construction and renovation, entertainment and electronics, gardening, and sports).Sokos department store, located in the center of Joensuu, employs sales staff in fashion, beauty, and home decor. Sokos also includes S-parturi-kampaamo Sokos (hair salon). Working at Sokos requires a personal and solution-oriented approach to sales. In our beauty and cosmetics department, a cosmetology qualification is considered an advantage. Our sales staff are paid according to the retail sector’s collective labor agreement.
Sales Roles in Customer Ownership Services and S-Bank
S-Bank and customer ownership professionals serve our customers at S-Bank service points located in Prisma and Sokos, as well as at banking desks connected to S-market stores.
Accuracy and experience in handling cash are essential for this role.
Sales experience and studies in business are considered an advantage.
Service advisors handle tasks such as customer ownership matters, basic banking services, and guiding customers in using other banking services.
Hairdresser and beautician
Our hair salons are located adjacent to Prisma, Sokos, and the S-market stores in Kitee and Lieksa. In the role of a hairdresser, formal education and work experience in the field are beneficial. The job is further enriched by tasks related to makeup and beauty treatments.
Supervisor and specialist work
At PKO, our various business sectors offer a wide range of supervisor and specialist career opportunities — from store manager roles to marketing planning.In addition to these, we have many other positions across our business operations. How does this sound: ski slope worker, seamstress, ICT support specialist, entertainment host, content creator, corporate sales representative, or property maintenance worker?These are some of the most typical roles we currently offer. However, we can't predict what job opportunities the future will bring. Over the past ten years, we've expanded into event production (such as rock festivals), revenue management, marketing sales, S-Bank services, and bonus and mobile customer support.Future roles will depend entirely on how our business evolves and reorganizes. That’s why we encourage you to join us — and see if we might have the perfect role for you, now or in the future.
Summer jobs
PKO employs more than 1,000 young people every year, including more than 100 young people with special needs and their instructors.
Working at PKO
Working with us
PKO offers a wide variety of ordinary jobs, along with exceptionally nice coworkers, unusually good employee benefits, and exceptional career paths.Exceptionally good workplace atmosphere
We work together and no coworkers are left behind. 91 % our employees recommend us as a workplace.
