[2] Following his graduation Itälä founded a middle school in Yläne and directed it.

[2] He became an advertising manager and textbook editor at the publishing house K. J. Gummerus in 1958.

[4][5] In 1968 Itälä was named as executive director of the Mannerheim Children's Protection Association.

[4] Itälä was the secretary general of Mannerheim Children's Protection Association from 1990 to 1997.

[1][4] Itälä was named an honorary doctor by the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Philosophy in 1990.