“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
― Benjamin Franklin

Expertise today and in the future is all about continuously learning, sharing and interacting with others (3). This applies to all professional stages – from juniors to seniors. Mentoring programs, currently popular and numerous, are founded on the same idea of enabling networks and developing competences in interaction. This is particularly invaluable for international graduates. In our case, this spring with the COVID-19 pandemic gave us a unique chance to experience a virtual learning journey together, as a mentor and a mentee.

Daniel’s perspective: networks, insight and improved competences for the mentee

For international graduates in Finland, besides Finnish language skills, networks and knowledge of the local professional practices are immensely important for finding a job (4, 5). I joined the EntryPoint programme as a mentee because I have an extensive education from this country in the fields of business and education, yet no expert level experience so far. I therefore felt I needed some guidance from an experienced professional and decided to take action to improve my employability.

The discussions with my mentor Marika helped me better understand the local job market, my options for a career path and ways to develop my self-preparedness. Marika connected me to a whole new range of networks and services and helped me identify my utmost competences and skills. I discovered the connections between my skill sets and how to integrate them in my career path. The experience was eye-opening.

Marika’s perspective: diversified professional perspectives and new views for the mentor

Mentoring is a learning experience also for the mentor (2). My day job at Metropolia focuses on international talents’ employability, yet also on the personal level the topic motivates me and I am always interested in learning new. I therefore wanted to volunteer as a career mentor and share my professional experiences and insights as a private person as well.

The experience opened new views for me not just to myself, but also to employability, the education sector, Finland, professionalism and human interaction. The mentoring discussions made me think about organisational learning as well, so crucial for any organisation today (see e.g. 2). I realised that we can all do mini-scale mentoring in any encounter in an expert organisation. Moreover, for internationalising organisations, cross-cultural mentoring could definitely be used as a tool to develop staff competences for both mentors and mentees.

Leap to digital: surprisingly effortless and efficient

Our five-month mentoring program started in January 2020 and took an unexpected turn in March with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing us to adjust to virtual meetings. Luckily, we had met face-to-face once before, immediately establishing a rapport based on a combination of friendship and professional support. Shared professional and personal interests, such as helping others and teaching, made it natural for us.

As first-timers in career mentoring, going suddenly digital meant stepping out of our comfort zone. Mentoring is based on openness, trust and confidentiality, which in a virtual environment requires a different type of a focus on the process and the choice of tools. The communication needs to be structured and goals clear particularly when using social media. (1.)

We ended up using WhatsApp messages and video calls and also shared material in LinkedIn. Using such common social media made the communication surprisingly effortless and quickly more informal than perhaps in a face-to-face setting. The uniqueness of the crisis situation also brought us closer together on a personal level. However, we did have a structure of working together as well: we set goals and topics for each video call, whereas messages were used for updates, follow-up and building a rapport.

The organiser of the program, Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, also arranged joint Zoom meetings for mentees and mentors for sharing experiences. These were not only fun but also supported the process and gave us new perspectives to what we were doing. Mentors also met in virtual peer sessions which helped us mentors face the new normal and brought in even more professional networks for us. We both learned new ways of communicating and the experience actually also motivated Daniel to write a PhD research proposal on remote working.

Mentoring as a tool for international students’ career development

80% of Finnish employers say that they are open to multiculturality (5), yet the employment rates of international graduates from Finnish higher education institutions are significantly lower than those of locals (6). Employers need to start opening doors to international talents. Moreover, higher education institutions and Finnish society at large need to rethink their support for employability to get more talents to work in Finland. (4.)

Mentoring provides an excellent and natural way to tackle the employment challenges. For instance, it provides networks and field-specific tacit information, develops professional competences and at the same time empowers the mentee through positive feedback (2). These are important for any junior expert, yet even more so for international graduates who struggle with the lack of local working life connections as well as with sometimes rather discouraging job search experiences.

Activeness and action needed to build a successful career

Just like in any competitive career building, the success of a mentoring process is dependent on the international student’s activeness – it is their career after all. The mentee needs to be open about their goals and needs, as the process is always unique to each mentoring relationship (2). The most important step is the first one: to grasp the chances available.

In the Helsinki region plenty of opportunities are available for different needs, for example:

• EntryPoint mentoring by Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce (in English)
• FIKA mentoring program and networking program Dörren by Luckan Integration (in English)
• Womento mentoring for educated women by the Family Federation of Finland (in English)
• Suomen Mentorit mentoring by the association Suomen Mentorit ry (in Finnish)
• Yrittäjien Mentorisi.fi mentoring for entrepreneurs by the Finnish federation of entrepreneurs Suomen Yrittäjät (page in Fnnish but the search and mentoring are available in English)
• NewCo Helsinki mentoring services for start-ups by NewCo Helsinki (in English)
• Several higher education institutions also have their own mentoring programs for students and alumni

Mentee – take your first step towards goal-oriented career building!

Mentor – why not use your professional expertise for helping somebody get started in their career?

Organisations – encourage your employees to share and develop their expertise and build networks with talented graduates!

The EntryPoint mentoring program is part of the AIKO Talent Boost project activities of the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, funded through the Council of Tampere Region. Metropolia University of Applied Sciences is one of the project partners. The program for autumn semester is open for applications until 31 August 2020.

 

Writers:

Daniel Boateng is a qualified teacher and holds an MSc in Business and Health. He lives in Finland.

Marika Antikainen is a project manager working in SIMHE-Metropolia.

 

Sources:

1. Ala-Tommola, Sirpa (toim.) 2017. Jokainen opiskelija ansaitsee eMentorin! eMentoroinnin kehittäminen ammattikorkeakouluopintojen ja työelämän rajapinnassa. Kajaanin ammattikorkeakoulun julkaisusarja B 78 / 2017. Viewed on 3 June 2020.

2. Karjalainen, Merja 2010. Ammattilaisten käsityksiä mentoroinnista työpaikalla. Jyväskylä Studies on Education, Psychology and Social Research 388. Jyväskylän yliopisto. Viewed on 2 June 2020.

3. OECD 2019. OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030: Conceptual learning framework – Skills for 2030. Viewed on 1 June 2020.

4. OKM 2019. Kansainvälisten korkeakouluopiskelijoiden maahantulo ja integroituminen sujuvaksi yhteistyöllä. Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön julkaisuja 2019:31. Published on 16 September 2019. Viewed on 2 June 2020.

5. Taloustutkimus Oy. 2020. Kotona Suomessa – Selvitys maahanmuuttajien rekrytoimisesta: Tutkimusraportti (pdf). Kotona Suomessa -hanke, Elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus. Published on 15 May 2020. Viewed on 2 June 2020.

6. Vipunen 2020. Education Statistics Finland: Placement after Graduation. Viewed on 2 June 2020.

Homework, experiments, essays, even physical education, all being done by children, adolescents and adult learners all over the world in front of their laptops, from their homes. Never before have parents, spouses and other significant others been so close to the pedagogical aspect of educational process. The coronavirus crisis has changed our daily life in so many ways, but education has been in the spotlight since the beginning of this uncertain new decade. 

The world from home

By the end of March, Unesco estimates that almost 90% of the world’s student population has been affected by worldwide closures of schools. In Finland, contact teaching has been suspended from 17th March 2020 – except for early childhood and pre-primary education (grades 1 to 3). Thus, about one million learners from primary school pupils to higher education students are studying online at least until mid-May this year, without knowing exactly when they will return to school buildings and university campuses again. 

Remote learning has become a reality on such a scale that not even the most optimistic Edutech executive could have predicted. But it came with many concerns, too, especially for the vulnerable population being them in Finland or Somalia. Firstly, nearly 60% of the globe’s population is online, so a lack of access to the internet is still a barrier for many students. Secondly, specialists are concerned that remote learning could enlarge the gap of inequality. And last, but not least, many kids depend on the school to get a decent meal. 

Still, the general feeling is that governments, companies, and NGOs are making a considerable effort to keep the learning going. Google, Microsoft and Zoom, for example, are offering many of their video conference software for free since the beginning of the crisis. Finnish Edutechs partnered up to provide free resources suited for distance learning. The Hongkong government, for example, announced that it should maintain a consortium providing more than 900 educational assets for free even after COVID-19 is under control.  

Will this crisis change the way we see and implement education?

Specialists of the World Economic Forum writes that this unique experience might also be an opportunity to remind ourselves of the skills students need in this unpredictable world. Resilience is a value that must be woven into the educational system to make sure that those skills continue to be a priority for all students. 

Chip Paucek, chief executive of the online education company 2U Inc., expects that after schools try online tools during the outbreak, they’ll be more inclined to opt for “blended” educational experiences that mix in-person classes with online tie-ins after the situation improves. 

As nobody is considering shutting down schools and universities forever, it seems that the task will be to retain the online learning aspects and integrate them with face-to-face learning. Hamish Coates, director of the Higher Education Division of the Institute of Education at Tsinghua University, told The Times Higher Education  that “there will almost certainly be a post-virus boom” in online higher education. 

SIMHE-Metropolia moved services swiftly to the virtual mode

The guidance and counselling services have now been implemented solely online since mid-March at SIMHE-Metropolia. In normal times, the majority of our guidance and counselling customers wish to meet face-to-face at the Metropolia Myllypuro campus. However, providing counselling via phone or over the internet is not totally alien to us as meeting remotely has served some customers’ needs the best in the past, too. 

Being available online gives a total new concept of accessibility and convenience for the personal guidance discussion as there is no need to travel anywhere on either side. There is also more flexibility in scheduling the meeting times and customers have been very up to the new mode of meeting so far. The downside is a lack of all cues of non-verbal communication and the closeness and togetherness that can be experienced when sharing the same physical space. 

For now, two Guidance Generalia lectures have taken place virtually with over 30 participants. All has gone remarkably well, and elements of two-way communication were established via chat and the attendants posed questions quite actively. The lecture series will be carried out as a web-based format for the rest of the spring-term, and perhaps continue to co-exist with the face-to-face lectures once we are able to be campus-based again. 

The digital future is already here

Even though the digital leap of the 2020’s was somewhat forced for many, the elements of web-based learning have emerged prior to the crisis too.  At Metropolia, online teaching and guidance and counselling for preparatory course for immigrants was tested out in 2019 as part of the Getting Ready – A higher education program for immigrants project. As we are facing a somewhat unpredictable future ahead, Metropolia will offer preparatory courses for immigrants online also in autumn 2020.  

Teachers now have needed to adjust, not only the methods, but how to acquire a new mindset towards teaching. For Anne-Mari Raivio, senior lecturer of School of Business at Metropolia, the next step is to focus not on the tools but on the pedagogical side of online teaching and learning. “After this mandatory digital leap we will have more brains thinking about how we can add and create meaningful digital encounters to enhance learning”, she says. 

Undebatably, the societies around the globe will wake up to a different morning once the pandemic has surpassed. Millions, if not billions, of people have now learnt to work and study from home and this is not to be regarded only as a bad thing.  In Finland, like the students, over a million workers have confined themselves in a remote work-mode, and about half of them are willing to continue this way even after they are able return to the offices one day.  

We do not know how this all will end, but perhaps we could confide in Albert Einstein’s wisdom in his quote “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.” 

Writers 

Juliana Holanda is a Brazilian journalist who lives in Finland since 2019 and has used SIMHE-Metropolia’s guidance and counselling services as part of her integration process. 

Marianne Autero works as a career coach at SIMHE-Metropolia. 

Sources

• COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response. Viewed 6.4.2020 
• Digital trends 2020: Every single stat you need to know about the internet Viewed 6.4.2020 
• Helsingin Sanomat 13.4.2020. Etäopetusta saa nyt miljoona opiskelijaa, mutta varsinaista kotikoulua käy vain noin 400 oppilasta. Viewed 13.4.2020 
• Free apps and resources to support distance learning in schools affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Viewed 6.4.2020 
• 3 ways the coronavirus pandemic could reshape education, World Economc Forum. Viewed 6.4.2020 
• This is online education’s moment’ as colleges close during coronavirus pandemic. Viewed 6.4.2020 
• Will the coronavirus make online education go viral?  Viewed 6.4.2020 
• SIMHE-Metropolia. Viewed 6.4.2020 
• Metropolia Myllypuro campus. Viewed 7.4.2020 
• On-line counselling pros and cons.  Viewed 13.4.2020 
• Guidance Generalia lectures. Viewed 13.4.2020
• Getting Ready – A Higher Education Preparatory Program for Immigrants. Viewed 13.4.2020 
• SIMHE-Supporting Immigrants in Higher Education in Finland. Viewed 13.4.2020
• E-mail interview with Senior Lecturer Anne-Mari Raivio, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
• YLE uutiset.5.4.2020. Yli miljoona suomalaista siirtynyt etätöihin koronakriisin aikana – heistä noin puolet haluaa jatkaa etätöissä koronan jälkeenkin. Viewed 13.4.2020 

 

How have you boosted your professional networks in the past couple of months? 

As we embarked into this decade, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra published a compilation of future mega trends (1) stating that the importance of networks and managing them will only continue growing. But how to discover and seize opportunities for networking? This is with no doubt one of the most frequently asked questions I encounter in my work as a career coach for international talents at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. 

Institutes of higher education boosting networking between businesses and international talents 

Networks surely are vital for the integration process of a newcomer entering the Finnish labor market, and the lack of professional networks is perceived as one of the main obstacles to the employment of international talents. This scarcity of networks gives rise to another issue: Employers are struggling to spot the international talents with suitable profiles, while the latter group finds it hard to discover Finnish businesses in their own field (2). 

According to a study on cooperation between Finnish institutes of higher education and businesses, issued by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry of Education and Culture (3), the main objective for businesses collaborating with institutes of higher education was recruiting new workforce. Further development of networking opportunities meeting the needs of everyone involved is for sure in demand, and it seems to be a timely objective for us at institutes of higher education.  

Perks of tailored recruiting events 

We, the SIMHE Metropolia team (4), have the luxury of working with various groups of international talents: both current international degree students, and persons with a higher education degree from abroad seeking to develop their career in Finland. Among these professionals of different fields, the common denominator is their motivation to create networks to local businesses and find their niche in them. 

Hence, we decided to organize a recruiting event focusing on businesses interested in the potential of our English-speaking international talents. The event, “Metropolia Match – Boost your Business” took place in early March and successfully united businesses with high-skilled talents.  

According to their feedback, the participating companies were pleased to attend an event tailored specifically for English speakers, and thanked the attending international talents for being well prepared and genuinely interested in hearing more about the businesses. For example, the recruiting company Digipool (5) not only discovered several interesting profiles for their clients, in line with the common procedure for recruiting companies, but also hired a recruitment consultant and a marketing specialist straight from the event to boost their own business.  

We are looking forward to the next round, as soon as gatherings of people are possible again. Next time perhaps with an increasing amount of businesses tapping the potential of our international talents! 

Networking events instead of recruiting events 

Events are great opportunities for brushing up on your networking and self-presentation skills and hence being less nervous when you have a chance to impress a potential employer at a job interview. Thus no need to be disappointed, if a visit at a career fair did not lead into a direct job offer yet, since you probably made new connections anyway. Due to this reason, it would actually make more sense to talk about networking events instead of recruiting events. 

Besides forging new connections at events, there are other benefits likely to arise. Perhaps you could receive valuable feedback on your CV or LinkedIn profile by a recruiting professional, or learnt more about the skills needed by an interesting company, and then used this knowledge for the most brilliant job application they are about to receive. Talk about perks!   

Growing your professional networks online 

And yes – due to the exceptional situation we are currently facing, lots of upcoming events have been cancelled. It is thus the ideal timing to fix up your LinkedIn profile and see what kind of opportunities for networking are available there, for example groups and channels in your professional field. This is also the prime time to keep an eye on emerging virtual platforms, such as the Find a job in Finland Meetup (6). Or maybe you will come up with a new online-based solution for networking?  

Other steps taken to create new networking opportunities 

What kind of a role can Finnish institutes of higher education, such as universities of applied sciences, have in facilitating networking among international talents and local businesses seeking for talented workforce, apart from organizing networking events?  

According to the study on cooperation between Finnish institutes of higher education and businesses (3), one key issue mentioned by the businesses was that institutes of higher education do not seem to be sufficiently informed on the actual needs of businesses. To address this issue, we at SIMHE Metropolia (4) aim at acknowledging the skills needs of companies as the first step in the collaboration process.  

For example, our current project SIMHE path (7) strives for matching the skills needs of participating businesses operating in the field of ICT with the skills of the project participants. The latter group consists of persons with a higher education degree in the field of ICT completed abroad, often supplemented by even years of work experience in their field, yet lacking sufficient networks for finding employment in Finland.  

Matching the profiles of international talents with the skills needs of businesses 

To tackle the challenge of international talents lacking both networks and information concerning the skills needs of their professional field in Finland (2), we first mapped the skills needs of the ICT companies taking part in the SIMHE path project. This information was then utilized in order to match the companies with the participants’ skills. If needed, the participants have an opportunity to supplement their skills by taking online courses in the field of ICT, to even better correspond with the expectations of potential employers.  

Considering that “What are the top skills in my field that employers based in Finland are looking for?” is one of the top questions asked by the international talents at our career counselling and guidance services, this kind of opportunities are desirable. The SIMHE path project also showcases the plurality of ways for an institute of higher education to facilitate networking between businesses and international talents.  

If you have ideas on what kind of further networking opportunities would be interesting to you, we are all ears! 

Would you like to utilize the extra hours at home by getting feedback on your CV or LinkedIn profile, or by discussing possible ways of developing your skills? You can book a free career counselling and guidance appointment by sending an email to , and chat with us on Skype! 

Interested in reading more about the experiences of a previous SIMHE path participant? This blog describes the path of Shaki, our participant in the 2019 intake to SIMHE path (8).  

Writer 

Emilia Deseille, career coach and employer relations specialist at SIMHE services, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.  

Sources: 

1) The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra 2020. Megatrendit 2020.  Viewed on 6 April 2020. 

2) Ministry of Education and Culture 2019. Kansainvälisten korkeakouluopiskelijoiden maahantulo ja integroituminen sujuvaksi yhteistyöllä. Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriön julkaisuja 2019:31. Published on 16 September 2019. 

3) Crazytown 2019. Korkeakoulujen työelämäyhteistyön tilannekuva (PDF). Published on 1 February 2019. 

4) SIMHE – Supporting Immigrants in Higher Education in Finland. Viewed on 6 April 2020. 

5) Digipool – Helping businesses in their digital growth. Viewed on 6 April 2020. 

6) Meetup: Find a job in Finland – peer-2-peer and recruiter insights. Viewed on 19 March 2020. 

7) SIMHE path: From Recognizing and Supplementing Competences to Employment. Viewed on 19 March 2020. 

8) Metropolia blogs. Various Variables. SIMHE path connecting Finnish employers and international talents. Published on 3 February 2020.