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Finland is known to be one of the best countries to live, study, and work in the world. But not many international students are familiar with the job market and how job hunting works in Finland. Here you can find 5 useful tips for finding a job in Finland during your studies and after graduation that Edunation would like to share with you.
Table of contents
1. Get familiar with the Finnish job market
It is essential that you start to understand how the job market works in Finland from the beginning of your studies, and what jobs are currently in demand.
In many Finnish universities, there is always an orientation or a dedicated course about job hunting in Finland. Make sure that you know when this happens with your program coordinator. You can also check out infoFinland.fi to know more about the Finnish job market on your own.
If you are already a student who graduated or is about to graduate, check out the following links. These are the most popular websites to look for a job in Finland
- https://jobs.workinfinland.fi/: It is a website to find jobs that do not require Finnish language skills;
- https://duunitori.fi/: Many companies in Finland publish a job ad here;
- https://paikat.te-palvelut.fi/tpt/: The job ads are published from TE-Palvelut, which is a governmental website aiming to help unemployed people to find a job in the country;
- https://ec.europa.eu/eures/public/en/homepage: If you want to consider finding a job also outside Europe, we recommend you to check out this website, as it offers plenty of open vacancies around Europe.
2. Network is the key to find a job in your field
One of the most crucial activities that you must do from the beginning of your studies is to network.
Networking is the exchange of information and ideas among people with a common profession or special interest, usually in an informal social setting. Networking often begins with a single point of common ground.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/networking.asp
Through networking, you can get in touch with people who have your same interests and who may be working in the field that you are interested in to have a career. By talking with many people, you can also understand what is the current demand for a specific field. You can also discover if there are any open positions available to a certain company.
It is said that most of the jobs in Finland are hidden and they can be found only through networking!
3. Participate to events
Despite the COVID-19 situation, many events in Finland are still organized online and you are able to join them without any worry to travel to another city. For example, plenty of online events are published on Facebook or on the universities’ websites. You should try to join them as much as possible to increase your chances to find a job in Finland. Also, this is also a good chance for your to improve your communication skills and to build up your confidence when talking to other people in the event. Do not be afraid to exchange your Linkedin profiles with other participants, as this can be very helpful in the long-run.
4. Start with an internship or traineeship
Taking an internship during your academic years will greatly boost your CV, giving you more chances to be hired when you graduate from university. International students are allowed to work 25 hours per week during the academic year and to work full time during the holidays. This means that you can easily work full time during the summer when most of the companies are looking for trainees to join the company.
5. Ask to someone who has been living here for a while
When you decide to move to a foreign country for a long time, do not be afraid to ask for help from someone who has already been living here! Check out on/with:
- Facebook: You can join plenty of groups where they talk about finding a job in Finland, or sometimes they even post job advertisements that do not require the Finnish language.
- Linkedin: many human resource managers use this platform to look for qualified applicants that could fit in the open position. Also, you can find job ads as well here.
- Senior students: each university usually has a student union where you can talk with senior students who have been through your same situation. It is not a bad idea to get in touch with them!
- Program coordinators: they can help you from a professional perspective, and they can show you the right direction to start your career in Finland.
If you want to know more about which jobs are most in-demand in Finland, check out our blog post about Top in demand jobs in Finland!
