I don\u2019t know about you, but ever since I finished high school, I worked alongside university. Time management has never been a problem for me, or I was just really lucky to always have very tolerant and understanding employers \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, when I arrived to Finland and started studying at Hanken, that was the first time of me being a university student and not having a job, something which I did not particularly enjoy and wanted to change. And so, the months of unsuccessful and stressful job search started. When I first moved here, I was definitely not expecting that it would take me about 8 long months to find a job \u2013 but why am I saying this? Not to discourage you, but to give you an insight into what is the reality really like and that there\u2019s hope for us all in the end! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013\n Finland is a welcoming country for foreigners, it really is, and I love\n it with every piece of my heart, yet, the stressful time of job \nsearching definitely made me curse Finland in its entirety many times. \nThere are jobs available, everywhere – and yet, sometimes it seemed that\n I was lucky enough when I at least received an automated rejection \nemail (trust me, this is hard to admit!). Amount of work experience \nwasn\u2019t a problem \u2013 I\u2019ve had plenty \u2013 the issue was in something else \nthat most foreigners end up facing when looking for a job in Finland \u2013 \nthe language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been studying Finnish since I\u2019ve \narrived in Finland, which has now been over a year \u2013 and I\u2019m at a solid \nB1 level, I\u2019d say. So yeah, solid for ordering food at a restaurant and \nexchanging a couple of words with my neighbor, but hardly fluent enough \nto meet requirements of companies, who sometimes phrase their language \nrequirements in a way that it\u2019s clear that the only person they will \nconsider is a native Finn. Sure there are jobs with no Finnish language \nrequirement, but I can\u2019t count the times when I applied for a job, went \nthrough an interview process, only to be emailed in the last round of \napplications a version of \u201csorry, but eventually we have chosen to \nselect a candidate who speaks Finnish, as that just makes everything \neasier for us\u201d. Easier. What a nice thing to say and to make me feel \ntotally useless! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway \u2013 Finnish companies have their \nright to require a knowledge of Finnish, it\u2019s obviously necessary in \ncertain industries. Yet, it just seems that some companies are simply \nlazy. Why would you say that your company language is English only to \nrefuse an applicant without a fluent level of Finnish? That\u2019s something I\n still don\u2019t get. Thankfully, the culture is changing \u2013 but it still \nneeds a little help and a little time. And what it needs the most is the\n voice of those who care about this issue \u2013 be it international job \nsearchers or Finnish employers with a conscience. They\u2019re out there and I\n was lucky enough to find them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After months of search \nand frustration, I got lucky. Lucky enough to find an internship in an \narea that I am very passionate about. I wish I could give you a recipe \nthat\u2019s proven to work. However, in this case, it was really just my \nLinkedIn search and connecting with people, trying to build a network, \nfinally paid off \u2013 and it\u2019s definitely a channel I\u2019d recommend for your \njob search in Finland. I was at the right place at the right time and \ngot accepted into a growth hacking internship on the day I applied. The \nperson who hired me is the first person in Finland who actually gave me a\n chance \u2013 and I know they know how much I appreciate that. Long story \nshort, after a couple of months of this internship, I got offered a \nfull-time position at a befriended company, which I\u2019m now working at and\n I\u2019m happier than ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, a couple of tips from me: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\n hope this was more of an encouraging rather than discouraging read! If \nyou have any questions about job searching in Finland, I can try giving \nyou advise based on my own experience, so don\u2019t hesitate to reach out to\n me at barbora.stuchla@student.hanken.fi. And remember \u2013 be persistent \nand patient. It\u2019s going to pay off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barbora <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t know about you, but ever since I finished high school, I worked alongside university. Time management has never been a problem for me, or I was just really lucky to always have very tolerant and understanding employers \ud83d\ude42 Anyway, when I arrived to Finland and started studying at Hanken, that was the first … <\/p>\n