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Aiming at recognising competences and guiding educated immigrants

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Finding suitable career paths for the highly educated immigrants

Elisa Manninen · 13.5.2019

SIMHE-Metropolia customers have many characteristics in common yet the need for an individual and personal approach for planning their path in Finland is highly demanded. The most frequently discussed topics, that are almost always in the core of the discussions when it comes to career paths and taking the first steps: how to create a coherent image of yourself as a professional, and how to sell and brand your competences to employers? Also, how does a certain field work in Finland, and which competences are appreciated in the field? How to update and supplement those competences if necessary? I will share some thoughts concerning these topics below. 

What are you made of? 

Knowing your skills and assets can take you far in today’s working life (1). To create a coherent image of you as an expert in your field, you could start by searching answers e.g. to these questions: What are your interests? Where are you good at? Which are your core skills and competences? What can you do with them? Which are concrete examples of your talents?  

It is also beneficial to strive to understand how your competences position you in your field in the Finnish context (2), as different skills might be appreciated, different applications used, or different educational level required. Finding out about the educations in your field gives you an image of the skills set that is valued and offered by the Finnish degrees. To perform a detailed comparison between your skills acquired in e.g. a degree in higher education and the Finnish counterpart, have a look at the curricula open for all at the websites of the higher education institutions.  

Do you know your field of expertise in Finland?   

It is important to understand the characteristics of the field you aim to, as fields can be different between countries. There are multiple ways to access information, but one could be through the organizations functioning in your field in Finland. You can get information e.g. about the different companies operating in your field. Another good way to get information is to go through the open job vacancies ads, as they give you information of what the employers are looking for. Remember, that you don’t have to tick every box to apply. 

Different mentoring programmes exist to give you an opportunity to connect with an expert from your own field to add to your field-specific knowledge, but also the opportunity to find out more e.g. about the practices for applying for a job and contacting interesting employers with an open application.  Overall, networking is a key skill in today’s working life. 

Where can you update your skills set? 

At the moment, the pressure to continuous self-development and learning is strong in Finland, as job descriptions are more and more complex and multidisciplinary (1). This applies to everyone, not only immigrants. After mapping your competences, comparing them with the competences gained through the local degrees, and familiarizing yourself with the competences the working life requires, it might be easier to understand what kind of completing of your skills could benefit you.  

Options to build up your expertise could be e.g. open university/university of applied sciences studies, different educational opportunities offered by the TE-office or degree studies in an educational institution. Supplementary studies do not only increase your expertise, but also help you build up your networks and knowledge of your own field. (5.) Preparatory educations for immigrants aiming for studies in higher education can give you an intensive Finnish language learning opportunity.  

How to brand and sell yourself? 

The ability to brand yourself and to sell your skills is crucial, especially because it might be that the employers do not know what skills your degree completed abroad has given you. Research shows, that the employers find it difficult to comprehend the true skills of the immigrant applicants (3). At the same time, the capacity and potential of immigrants is not in full use (4). 

Building your cv towards a skill based cv could help. Instead of focusing only on the formal degrees you have completed, in a skill based cv you focus on outlining the key skills the degree and everything else in your life has given you. The emphasis is in describing how you convert all that learned into practice, with the help of practical examples from your personal history. Don’t forget to add in the results you have gained during your work history. (6)

 

Sources:  

1 Hakala, L. (2018) Työelämä muuttuu – mitä työelämävalmiuksia tarvitsemme? https://stm.fi/artikkeli/-/asset_publisher/tyoelama-muuttuu-mita-tyoelamavalmiuksia-tarvitsemme-  

2 Autero, M. (2018) Osaamisen kartoitus tukee maahanmuuttajan työelämään ohjaamista. In the title Osaamisella ei ole rajoja – Vastuukorkeakoulutoiminta maahanmuuttajien integraation tukena Suomessa.  https://www.metropolia.fi/fileadmin/user_upload/TK/Julkaisut/pdf/2018_stenberg_ym_osaamisella_ei_ole_rajoja_TAITO.pdf 

3 Hakala, K. & Pesonen, J. (2018) Työnantajien haasteet korkeasti koulutettujen maahanmuuttajien työllistämisessä. https://unlimited.hamk.fi/ammatillinen-osaaminen-ja-opetus/tyonantajien-haasteet/ 

4 Uudenmaan liitto. (2019) Helsingin seudun muuttotutkimus: Koulutettujen maahanmuuttajien osaamista ei hyödynnetä, paitsi huippualoilla. https://www.uudenmaanliitto.fi/uudenmaan_liitto/uutishuone/tiedotteet/helsingin_seudun_muuttotutkimus_koulutettujen_maahanmuuttajien_osaamista_ei_hyodynneta_paitsi_huippualoilla.34372.blog  

5 Hiitelä, E. & Kolu, M. (2018) Korkeasti koulutettu maahanmuuttaja matkalla työelämään. https://verkkolehdet.jamk.fi/elo/2018/11/29/korkeasti-koulutettu-maahanmuuttaja-matkalla-tyoelamaan/ 

6 Uusivirta, M. (2019) Pelkkä töiden listaus ei enää riitä – Näin laadit osaamista korostavan cv:n, jonka avulla erotut ja saat työpaikan varmemmin. https://www.hs.fi/ura/art-2000006091980.html 

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Various Variables -blog introduces information, ideas and experiences about  support services in University of Applied Sciences for highly educated immigrants for recognizing their prior learning and competence and their guidance.

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  • Heidi Stenberg, Project Director, tel. +358 40 535 3388
  • Marika Antikainen, Project Coordinator, tel. +358 40 681 1244
  • Riikka Wallin, Publications Coordinator, tel. +358 40 869 1849

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Heidi Stenberg

has a vast experience in various fields as she has worked in promoting health, in sales and marketing, in conceptualizing services and in the field of education in expert and supervisory positions. Heidi has a Master’s Degree in Education and is also a Public Health Nurse. Learning, developing competencies, leadership and promoting health are in the center of her expertise and competence. Heidi devotes her free time for spending time with her family and friends and she is also active in many areas of sports. Heidi’s motto is: “If you start something today, you’ll notice it was worth the effort in a year’s time”.


Elisa Manninen

Elisa Manninen

has gathered various experience in the field of higher education as well as in guiding international applicants and students in different institutions. She has a Master’s Degree in Education and is a Special Education and a Class Teacher. Additionally she studies to become a Guidance Counselor. In her work at SIMHE-Metropolia, she focuses in guiding customers with immigrant background to pursue their studies and career. Elisa has a keen interest towards social issues, stories behind everything and taking it easy. Favorite quote: “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire” by Confucius.


Emilia Deseille

Emilia Deseille

is passionate about career development of international talents in Finland. Having studied and worked abroad on several occasions, she has experience in starting a career abroad, and feels at home in a multilingual and intercultural environment. Before joining the SIMHE Metropolia team as a career coach and employer relations specialist, Emilia was working in the field of labor market integration in Austria. She has a Master of Social Sciences degree in Development and International Cooperation, and studies in Intercultural Communication and Adult Education. In her spare time, Emilia enjoys dancing and doing other sports with friends, and the language geek in her enjoys learning new languages.


Ari Koistinen

Ari Koistinen

teaches mathematics, computer programming, application software, and modelling and simulation in Metropolia UAS. In recent years, his work has been related mainly to international degree programmes. Ari has also a long experience in hydrological modelling and development of software used in water forecasting. In free time he reads books, travels and does a variety of sports such as gym, climbing, ashtanga yoga and mountain biking.


Leena Honkasalo

Leena Honkasalo

works as project planner in Metropolia’s SIMHE services (Supporting Immigrants in Higher Education). She holds a Master of Arts degree in Spanish philology and has professional teacher qualifications. Before joining the SIMHE team, Leena worked in the NGO sector developing global citizenship education. Her special interests include sustainable development, equity and diversity. In her free time, Leena loves spending quality time with family and friends, eating out, visiting art exhibitions and doing yoga.


Marika Antikainen

Marika Antikainen

works as a project coordinator in Metropolia SIMHE services. Her work focuses on increasing employment among international professionals living in Finland. Internationalisation and societal responsibility inspire Marika in her work and life. She has a Master of Arts degree in intercultural communication and a professional teacher’s qualifications. She has also worked several years in international relations in Metropolia and has taught intercultural competence. Travelling and salsa bring an international flavour also to her freetime, balanced with hiking in Finnish forests and other sports.


Niina Tapanainen

Niina Tapanainen

spends most of her working hours with SIMHE personal and group guidance. Niina has a Master’s Degree in Education and is a qualified Guidance Counsellor and Psychology (as a second subject) Teacher. She has worked over a decade in Higher Education Institutions in various posts within the study and student services also with international students and admissions. She volunteers to help youngsters and spends rest of her free time enjoying life: relaxing, dreaming and whatever interesting comes her way.


Oksan Niemi

Oksan Niemi

has experience both in field of education and in agile projects in IT environment. Oksan holds a Master of Social Sciences degree in International Relations. Before joining SIMHE Metropolia as a project manager for two different projects, which concentrate on the employment of higher educated immigrants, she has guided international degree and exchange students and worked with the international partner higher educational institutions. Having graduated from an international degree programme herself and worked in international environment in different business areas, Oksan enjoys working in a global environment surrounded by people with various backgrounds. Oksan devotes her free time to her multilingual family, friends and travelling with them.


vierailija

vierailija


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      • My Journey in Supporting Immigrant Women in Higher Education
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      • Finding suitable career paths for the highly educated immigrants
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      • Do you need supplementary education?
  • ►2018 (2)
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      • How to succeed in higher education in Finland?
    • ►February(1)
      • Supporting Highly Educated Immigrants' Career Paths in Finland
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      • Healthy Mind, Healthy Life - How to improve the sense of belongingness among highly educated immigrants in Finland?
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      • Recognising competencies of educated immigrants

SIMHE on Metropolia.fi pages

Metropolia University of Applied Sciences has launched Supporting Immigrants in Higher Education SIMHE project to start services for recognizing prior learning and competence of highly educated immigrants and their guidance.

SIMHE Metropolia

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Sisällöt edustavat kunkin kirjoittajan henkilökohtaisia näkemyksiä, Metropolian johtoryhmän Pelinavaajat-blogi ilmaisee Metropolian virallista kantaa.

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