Immigration and emigration are sensitive topics to those who come to a new country and to those who accept the individuals. Those coming to a new country usually face struggle with integration and inclusion, especially when it comes to education and employment. The main barrier is often the language.

My Finnish beginnings

When I moved from Kosovo to Finland in July 2012, I started high school in Eira High School for Adults in Helsinki after less than a month. I, of course, started in an English-speaking program. Back then, I was completely new to my new home country and I was getting culture shocks almost every day, not only by Finland and the Finnish culture but by the international community within the program as well.

I started learning basic Finnish immediately. However, after some time I noticed that my Finnish language progress was hindered by me speaking English all the time. I would switch to English completely when I did not remember a word in Finnish. When I started speaking Finnish with my friends who had the nerves to talk to me and correct me, it encouraged me to start switching from English speaking courses to Finnish ones. I started with Math where the need for complex vocabulary is not as relevant as in other subjects. Being in an international community in high school, I could hear every Finnish accent there is, which in hindsight benefited me massively as now I can easily understand different Finnish accents. Outside of school I started using Finnish in supermarkets and restaurants.

When it came to the matriculation exams in Finnish language, I chose Finnish, Math, English and History. I barely passed them all, but did nonetheless. Even though my writing and spoken Finnish skills were not the best, I challenged myself, and I triumphed.

Towards using the language at work

My professional life in Finland has mostly consisted of working in Finnish speaking environments. When at the age of 18 I started a summer job working as a cleaner, I spoke only broken Finnish. By the next year I already saw an improvement in my spoken language skills. My Finnish was basic at the time but still it allowed me to access the coffee room discussions and gave me the necessary motivation one needs to continue learning.

During my period when I worked as a security guard, I could no longer work with only broken Finnish, because the job required clear communication with people. For example, I could not use Google Translate in the spot, like I had when I worked as a cleaner. After the job as a security guard, I worked mainly in English for a while, gaining experience in Marketing and Content Creation.

During my work placement in autumn 2020 at SIMHE services in Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, my professional Finnish has gone to another level. From the begining my focus was set into developing my Finnish in an office environment, also applying a model developed in SIMHE to support my language learning in a goal-oriented manner. This has boosted my confidence to use Finnish at work and improved my professional proficiency.

Diverse workplace: not just the language, but also new perspectives and innovation

Although employment might feel quite difficult for internationals in Finland, there is always hope and positive stories. I understand many of us search for jobs only in English, which are quite scarce, even though the number has been growing throughout the years. However, I would encourage everyone try and challenge yourself with Finnish. I have been through the process myself and I understand it is not easy and it gets tiring from time to time. It’s good to keep in mind that we are trying to be professionals in a different country, which takes a lot of adapting and perseverance.

At the end of the day, it is not all black clouds, because the international community is growing bigger and bigger in Finland, bringing a diverse set of skills to work communities. It’s good to understand that we as internationals not only represent our backgrounds and our culture, but we are skilled individuals as well, who bring innovation and other points of view to the table. Language is a barrier to be overcome, for sure – what we can do as foreigners is to try our best to adapt to the working culture and requirements in Finland. It takes courage to use Finnish as a beginner, but as long as you try, it shows professional motivation and opens a path to learning more.

 

Ahmet Binaku is an intern at SIMHE Services and 4^th year student in European Business Administration in Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (at the time of the writing)

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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.