Category: Guests
Playing hide and seek with hidden job markets
A hidden job means an open position that has not been made public. Instead, potential candidates are found for example via headhunters or networks. Sometimes the employer is not even actively looking for a professional to join his/her team but a new position is created when a capable person offers his or her expertise at a suitable time. As many as 70-80% of employment opportunities in Finland are not advertised publicly but remain “hidden”. (1) According to Sitra’s survey 2016, less than a quarter (23%) of Finns found their current job by applying for a vacancy, while around 70% found work through other channels. (2) But where to find these hidden job markets? This blog will give you practical tips on where to start looking. Why Finland has hidden job markets? From the employer's point of view, the recruiting process via open job markets often is lengthy and expensive. It requires a lot of resources: advertisement, going through the applications organizing the interviews, and communicating the process status for the applicants. From the company's point of view the new hire is also always a risk. It’s easier to hire personnel internally. If the right person for the job can be found inside the company, it minimizes the risk of making a bad hire. Some companies prefer that their open positions and periods of hiring aren’t public knowledge. Perhaps the company is opening a new branch, for example, but does not want to share this information with the public and the competitors just yet. In these cases the company uses silent recruitment by looking for the suitable canditates through their networks, social media or with the help of a head-hunter. Where to look for a hidden job? Hints and tips for the jobseekers 1. Media and news Follow the media. Decide which media you wish to monitor. What are the most important regional newspapers, what are the most notable publications in your profession, which websites you should follow online and which social media networks are worthwhile to participate in? 2. List of fastest-growing Companies in Finland Look for growth companies. Growth companies often want and need to recruit new employees but they have very little time or money for the lengthy recruitment processes. Follow the news and check out startup companies (3). 3. Company expansions, reforms and news about designation Relocating to new premises, establishing new functions, winning bids or outsourcing projects often result in a need for new employees. Appointment news is always a source of opportunities. If a company is replacing its management it often results in changes at other levels of the company as well. On the other hand, many people who start in a new job leave behind a vacancy that probably has not been made public yet. 4. Social media Be present on social media. Many recruiters use channels such as LinkedIn when scouting for professionals. Be bold in your networking and be active in various groups. If a job seeking campaign on social media seems like a natural thing for you, give it a go. By sharing your home page or video-cv you gain visibility that may lead you to the right employer. 5. Networks Networking (4) is not just for social people but in today's world, everyone can find a suitable way to network. Networking takes on very diverse forms and it can be done even from your couch at home. Use the channels of networking that suit you: LinkedIn and other social media, exhibitions and conferences. Expand your network boldly and be active in different kinds of professional discussions, either in person or online. Remember to use your own professional networks and circle of acquaintances. Let your network know what you can do and what you are looking for. 6. Direct contact You should directly and boldly contact employers that interest you and send them an open application (5) and CV. Choose the targets you approach carefully before making contact. Think about why you want to work for that particular company. Think of yourself with the company, find a contact person to approach and think about what additional value your expertise could give them. Always tailor your application and CV to match the company or position you are applying for. 7. Headhunters, recruiting and HR companies and their recruitment platforms You should regularly update your information on the pages of different recruitment and headhunting companies and maintain active open applications in the electronic systems of the target companies. 8. Recruitment fairs and events Events and fairs (6) are a good and easy way of meeting interesting employers. 9. Universities' and UAS’s Career Services Career services at different universities/UAS offer support for job seeking and career planning. The services can vary slightly depending on the university/UAS. Check the possible career services of your home uni/UAS. 10. Open-minded attitude Don’t give up. A hidden job is always an open opportunity. Keep on trying with an open mind. Feeling embarrassed to ask for a job. Why? Psychologist and career coach Päivi Montgomery highlights in her latest book “ Työnhaun psykologia” that your jobseach and contact message is an advantage for the company. (7) You are offering your professional expertise to the employer. Be proud of yourself and your expertise. And remember to show it to the employer! Sources: 1. TEK (2020) Hidden jobs - what are they. https://www.tek.fi/en/news-blogs/hidden-jobs-what-are-they 2. Sitra (2016). Only one in four Finns finds employment by applying for a vacancy https://www.sitra.fi/en/news/only-one-four-finns-finds-employment-applying-vacancy/ 3. Startups in Finland Open Data Storehouse https://tietopankki.businessfinland.fi/anonymous/extensions/Startups/Startups.html 4. Riia Hoppania, Metropolia (2022) The Art of Networking – where to start if you don´t know anyone in Finland? Blog post. https://blogit.metropolia.fi/variousvariables/2022/08/25/the-art-of-networking-where-to-s 23.tart-if-you-dont-know-anyone-in-finland/ 5. TEK työkirja (2022) Tools for job-search. Top tips: Application letter. https://www.tek.fi/sites/default/files/attachments/tek_tyokirja_2022_online_spreads-1.pdf 6. Events by Helsinki Employment Services: https://tyollisyyspalvelut.hel.fi/en/current-matters/events 7. P. Montgomery (2022) Työnhaun psykologia. Helsinki. Readme.fi Bloggers: Timo Luoma works as a Career Coach in Metropolia SIMHE services supporting highly educated immigrants with their employment and study paths in Finland. They are working in a collaboration project with the employment services of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa-Kerava to increase employment among international professionals in the Helsinki region. In addition to career coaching, Timo’s responsibilities include coaching of students in Metropolia’s ICT Career Boost programme. Jaana Vaittinen works as a Career Coach in Metropolia SIMHE services supporting highly educated immigrants with their employment and study paths in Finland. They are working in a collaboration project with the employment services of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa-Kerava to increase employment among international professionals in the Helsinki region. Her responsibility is to guide business accounting professionals in Metropolia’s Career Boost programme.
Dip your toes or just dive right in: the Helsinki region invites you to explore entrepreneurship
One of Finland’s largest ever mergers and acquisitions, the purchase of Wolt by DoorDash (1), in November 2021 created a huge buzz again around the startup scene in Finland. With such record-breaking deals, it is easy to think that only few extraordinarily brilliant business minds could manage entrepreneurship and founding a startup. In the best-case scenario, with hard work, a clever idea and some luck, your business can indeed turn into a unicorn like Wolt. However, as an entrepreneur, you set the goals for your business. The unique appeal of entrepreneurship is that it can take different forms based on your interests and expertise. No matter what your vision for your business is, the Helsinki capital region is an ideal setting for developing your business idea. You certainly have plenty of support available around you. Should I? Could I? — Plunge into the idea of entrepreneurship The first step is to ask yourself: could entrepreneurship be something for me? We all start from somewhere, and baby steps are allowed along the way. Your skills and competence will grow by seeking information, experience and feedback. Once you have your business idea, you can determine the scale of your endeavour. You can start with anything from light entrepreneurship to visionary business-building with global reach. Entrepreneurship incorporates a huge variety of options. When contemplating the thought, you can explore the forms of enterprises in Finland e.g. on the InfoFinland website or in the Guide for Becoming an Entrepreneur on the NewCo Helsinki website. Polish the key: your attitude Secondly, as an entrepreneur, you need to be prepared to work on your attitude. In speaking with business and talent advisors and startup entrepreneurs, three main themes tend to come up: flexibility, openness, and adaptability. Teemu Seppälä, a Business Advisor for NewCo Helsinki, offers that to be successful as an entrepreneur, you need to find the balance of being open to feedback and confidence in your vision. Of course, any successful entrepreneur needs to have confidence in their abilities and, in some sense, be slightly stubborn. But as Teemu summarises his experience of working with thousands of startups, "you need to be open to feedback and criticism." This fail-fast mentality fosters quicker development and can help you crystallise your ideas, product, or initiative (2). Echoing Teemu's advice, Jochen Faugel, an experienced business coach and current Project Planner for the City of Helsinki initiative The Spouse Program, emphasises a similar must: "Learn from others, ask for advice, and appreciate all kinds of feedback; good and bad. Because success is not about having a great concept but your ability to implement it." Satomi Peltola, one of the founders of the Finnish zero-waste culinary startup Misola, stresses that openness not only represents being open to feedback from others but also a willingness to ask questions. As she says, “The City of Helsinki offers many services and support for entrepreneurs. When getting help, I decided early on not to be afraid of being embarrassed or looking ignorant.” No matter how well you draft your business plan, surprises tend to come along. "It is critical to be flexible and adaptable when becoming an entrepreneur. Not everything goes as planned, so you need to be willing to adjust to what comes your way.", pinpoints Bahman Doaeian, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of the MedTech startup Phonolyser. Build up your know-how through business advising services Thirdly, like Satomi points out, the region provides you with a wide range of services — thanks to strong national and regional commitment. Discover and utilise these services! The burgeoning startup scene in the Helsinki region is internationally renowned. The vibrancy of the scene is crucial to the cities in the region as well. Thus, they heavily invest in leveraging their entrepreneurs’ success. In practice, this translates into high-quality public services available for you, free of charge. For example, the City of Helsinki has committed to being a "hotbed of business opportunity in Europe." As the recently released Helsinki City Strategy for 2021-2025 explains, "Helsinki must be an enticing place for testing out new solutions in an urban environment. We effectively arrange innovation competitions, funds, and other tools." A vital component of the City of Helsinki's entrepreneurial initiatives is NewCo Helsinki. NewCo Helsinki is there to help you get started and to support you throughout your entrepreneurial journey. Their business advisors guide from translating your initial ideas into a business plan, starting a business, acquiring funding and even potentially taking your business abroad. You can book one-to-one sessions, join their numerous multilingual events and explore the extensive material bank available to you online. In the neighbouring cities similar services are provided by e.g. EnterpriseEspoo and YritysVantaa. The strong commitment reaches through to the national level as well. E.g. Business Finland creates a backbone for success with its services such as funding, support functions and information resources. It has developed for example a Startup Kit and launched with Finnish Immigration Service the Startup Permit for entrepreneurs who move to Finland. National funding is channelled also through TE services as startup grants for new entrepreneurs. You indeed have plenty to explore. Unlock the strength of the startup community through networks You definitely do not have to walk alone as an entrepreneur in the Helsinki region. The local startup community is known for its strong networks and geared to supporting each other to excel. The community is also highly international. Networks help you to develop your business know-how and to evaluate your business concept. Check out for example the following ways to build your networks and skills: Maria 01 campus: The leading startup campus in the Nordics provides its members with the tools, working spaces and knowledge for developing their businesses. The hub focuses on tech startups and investors. Recently Maria 01 was awarded with the Internationalisation Award for the year 2021 by the president of Finland. Coaching and training services and networking events such as those organised by Startup Refugees and The Shortcut Free entrepreneurship courses such as the Entrepreneurship Course by Startup Refugees and the Aalto University online course Starting Up developed in collaboration with Reaktor, Kiuas, Maki.vc and Aalto Ventures Program Open working spaces, such as Startup Sauna Startup accelerator and incubator programs and centers, such as Kiuas, Urban Tech Helsinki by the City of Helsinki, Aalto University, Metropolia University of Applied Sciences and University of Helsinki, and Health Incubator Helsinki Mentoring programs, such as the Mentorisi.fi program (for members of the interest and service organisation for small and medium-sized enterprises Suomen Yrittäjät) And yes, Helsinki is home of Slush, one of the world’s leading startup and tech events. Slush is all about world-class networking with your colleagues, investors and just about anybody interested in new trends. Are you a student? Build up your entrepreneurship skills already during your studies! Finally, if you are a student in a Finnish higher education institution, explore the opportunities available to you in your institution. As it happens, also higher education institutions want to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation in their students. Your time as a student is a valuable opportunity to not just develop your know-how, but to also build up your networks and try out new things with a low threshold. For instance, the Wolt CEO Miki Kuusi started his startup career already as a student, harnessing the drive of a creative student community to launch the now already renowned startup networking hubs Startup sauna and Slush (3). Having fun with your friends can turn into something meaningful! Often you have access for example to entrepreneurship courses and workshops courses developing your innovation thinking student entrepreneurship societies events and hackathons startup incubator programmes. Again, the cities collaborate with higher education institutions to encourage entrepreneurship through e.g. joint events, workshops and new initiatives. For instance, in January 2022 the City of Helsinki announced a new network of business incubators collaborating with the region's higher education institutions, Aalto University, University of Helsinki and Metropolia. As Jussi Laine, Project Manager of the Campus Incubators programme, says, "My goal is to create a framework on behalf of the city that enables sharing best practices between institutions and bringing the city's special expertise close to the institutions’ incubator activities". The Campus Incubators programme strives to create 100 new companies annually by connecting top researchers, the Helsinki region's startup ecosystem, and students in higher education. Next: write your story in the business ecosystem of the Helsinki region! To sum it up, you are in the place to be for gathering up the courage and knowledge to start your business. In fact, the Helsinki region ranks among the top 20 emerging startup ecosystems in the world (4). Precisely the scope of funding for startups, talented workforce and the strong startup network are seen as an asset for the region (5). There is room for everyone in the Finnish entrepreneurship thinking. While successful startup entrepreneurs can become rock stars of the business world attracting top talents’ eye to Finland, the vast majority of Finnish companies, 93 %, are small enterprises employing less than 10 people (6). On the other hand, Finnish entrepreneurship is internationalising also in terms of ownership. The number of immigrant-owned enterprises has grown dramatically in the past two decades. Immigrants’ self-employment rate is nowadays similar to natives. (7.) Dive in or simply just start by dipping your toes into the ocean of entrepreneurship. By trusting in your own skills and expertise, remaining open to failure, and utilising the resources and networks of the capital region, you can find the style of entrepreneurship that best fits you. Writers: Vejay Nair is a Project Planner for the City of Helsinki and a Communication Specialist from International House Helsinki. He relocated to Helsinki 5 years ago from San Francisco, USA, and completed his MA in Intercultural Encounters from the University of Helsinki in 2019. Marika Antikainen is a Project Planner in Metropolia. She works in a collaboration project with the employment services of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa-Kerava to increase employment among international professionals in the Helsinki region. Sources: Levingston, I. & David, R. 2021. Wolt’s $8 Billion DoorDash Sale Joins Largest Finland Deals. Bloomberg. Published on 10 November 2021. Giles, S. 2018. How To Fail Faster -- And Why You Should. Forbes. Published on 30 April 2018. Armstrong, S. 2015. The 2015 WIRED 100: Miki Kuusi (No.32). The Wired. Published on 29 Juy 2015. Startup Genome 2021. Rankings 2021: Top 100 Emerging Ecosystems. The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021. Published on 22 September 2021. Startup Genome: Finland – Greater Helsinki. Viewed on 22 December 2021. Suomen Yrittäjät. Entrepreneurship in Finland. Viewed on 22 December 2021. Fornaro, P. 2018. Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Finland. ETLA Raportit – Reports 83. ETLA Economic Research. Published on 13 September 2018.
Knowing your skills is crucial for your career ‒ how to get started?
We all have skills and strengths, but it’s not always easy to see close and recognise what we are good at. Especially if getting constantly rejected in job search, or having a longer gap in the resume, the focus can easily shift from the skills you have to those you lack. When you are under evaluation or in a competitive situation, it is quite natural to feel uncertain about your strengths (1). However, recognising your skills, and also your development needs, is absolutely crucial when you are searching for a job and building your career: To be successful in job search you need to be able to communicate your skills to the employers. To guide your career in a desired direction, you need to recognise the skills gaps and development needs you might have, and find a way to learn the skills needed. Recognising your skills will give you new ideas and help you find new ways on how and where to use your skills. Skills come in many shapes and forms There are many ways of categorising and labelling skills. You might have heard about hard skills and soft skills (2), employability skills (3), future skills needs (4) and so on. All kinds of skills are important, but these kinds of categories can help you to identify the skills you have. One commonly used categorisation is to make a distinction between job-specific (5) and transferable skills (6). Job-specific skills are the skills required to be able to work in certain profession or certain field. For example, if you work as an architect you need CAD skills. As a teacher, pedagogical skills are crucial for you to be able to do your work. Transferable skills are skills that are relevant to any job, no matter the professional field or the title. You can take transferable skills with you from one job to another. For instance, communication skills and analytical skills are relevant to an engineer as well as to a teacher and a marketing professional. Transferable skills are especially important to recognise if you are just starting your career or changing careers. These are typically situations in which you might not necessarily yet have a lot of concrete work experience in the field you are applying to. You develop new skills throughout life Skills are not something you learn only in school or while working. You gain new skills also when volunteering, while participating in social activities, in your hobbies and personal projects and just by living your everyday life. For example, while staying at home and taking care of your children, you might learn skills like patience, handling unexpected situations, negotiation skills and flexibility. When adapting to a new country and culture, one typically develops curiosity, productivity and resilience (7,8). Job search, then again, might improve your self-knowledge, networking skills and perseverance, for example. As you start identifying your skills, it’s good to remember that you don’t need to be an expert on something to be able to say that you have that skill. According to Blooms Taxonomy learning starts with remembering and understanding. After that you will move on to applying, analysing, evaluating and creating. So, you can be on a beginners’ level with some skills (you understand the skill, and you can maybe even apply it a little) and on an expert level with others (you are fluent in applying the skill and you can even analyse and evaluate it). (9) Skills will develop as you get to use them (10). How to get started with identifying your key strengths, skills and competencies? Luckily, a lot of tools and methods are available ‒ for free ‒ to help you identify and put your key skills and competences into words. Take a quiz. To recognise your personal strengths, try The VIA Survey of Character Strengths. The test is based on theories of positive psychology and it can give ideas on where your personal strengths lie. However, tests shoud always be taken with caution and critical review: they do not necessarily provide the ultimate truth, but should rather be used for ideas and inspiration on your journey. Ask a friend. It’s usually a whole lot easier to see skills in others rather than in yourself. Be bold and ask someone who knows you well to give you feedback on your skills. You can find some ideas on how to do this on the SITRA website. Review your biggest achievements. When we achieve something, we have used our skills and strengths to get there. Think about your biggest achievements. These can be related to work, family, hobbies, studies, anything you consider to be an achievement for you. What did you do and what skills did you use to make the achievement possible? Use tools like SkillMill app or Mid-life skills review. These tools will help you to make your skills visible to yourself. Study job ads and company web pages. These can offer you detailed information about the skills demands in companies, and give you information about the skills you need to develop next. However, it’s important to remember that you can apply for the job even if you don’t have all the skills the companies are asking for. Compare your skills to the skills requirements of your field. Trade unions and other influencer organisations can provide a lot of information about the skill requirements in your field, see for example Osaamispulssi by Technology Industries of Finland. You can also check the Deck of Skills Cards (PDF) for sector specific needs in Finland. These cards list the growing and key skills needs in each sector in 2035. Use curricula in your field of study to compare your skills to those of graduates in your field. European and Finnish higher education institutions tend to describe in the curricula the skills and competences each degree provides. Recognise the impact of your international experience. If you have international experience, Hidden Competences research by Demos Helsinki and CIMO, that is now part of Finnish National Agency for Education, is definitely an interesting read on the topic. Living, studying and working in another culture and country might have given you skills such as cultural knowledge, language skills, tolerance, curiosity, resilience and productivity. Seek guidance. You can, for example, book a one-on-one guidance discussion with Metropolia’s SIMHE career coaches and get help with identifying your skills and competence as well as your strengths and development needs. Other organisations such as other higher education institutions offering SIMHE services, trade unions in your field and employment services can also offer career guidance services. Recognising skills is one of the top skills of the future As the skills demands of work are constantly changing we also need to adapt and focus on developing new kind of skills. The report Osaaminen 2035 (PDF) by Finnish National Agency for Education shows that the skills earlier considered as “soft”, skills like creativity and problem-solving, are actually the hard skills of the future. It is not easy to predict which skills are “the must-have skills” in the future, but for example ability to learn and to develop personal competencies is definitely one of the most important ones. (11) Furthermore, the ability to recognise our skills is part of the general knowledge of the future (12). According to Towards lifelong learning report (PDF) by SITRA, making skills and competencies visible and utilising one's strengths is important not only to individuals, but also to communities. It’s about participation, involvement, agency and wellbeing. How we see our skills and what we think we are capable of doing will define our careers and future goals. (13) As the skills needs for work are constantly evolving, also your own skills set develops and changes over time. You use your skills, learn new ones and forget others. In the end, recognising your skills is also just another skill that can be learned, so let’s just get started! Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom – Aristotle Are you interested in transferable skills and future skills needs? Read also our previous blog post by Marika Antikainen on the importance of sustainability in the future. Sources: Saatko osaamisesi esiin? 7 havaintoa taitojen tunnistamisesta. SITRA. Viewed on 8 November 2021. Hard skills vs. soft skills: What’s the difference. The Balance Careers. Viewed on 8 November 2021. What Are Employability Skills ‒ Definition & examples of Employability Skills. The Balance Careers. Viewed on 8 November 2021. Osaaminen 2035. National Forum for Skills Anticipation. The Finnish National Agency for Education. Raportit ja selvitykset 2019:3. Summary available in English. 2019. What Are Job-Specific Skills? The Balance Careers. Viewed on 5 November 2021. What Are Transferable Skills? The Balance Careers. Viewed on 5 November 2021. Hidden Competences. CIMO/Finnish National Agency of Education. Viewed on 8 November 2021. Hidden Competences publication (PDF). CIMO/Finnish National Agency of Education and the think tank Demos Helsinki. Published on 1/2014. What is Blooms Taxonomy. Blooms Taxonomy. Viewed on 8 November 2021. Saatko osaamisesi esiin? 7 havaintoa taitojen tunnistamisesta. SITRA. Viewed on 8 November 2021. Osaaminen 2035. National Forum for Skills Anticipation. Finnish National Agency for Education. Raportit ja selvitykset 2019:3. Summary available in English. 2019. Reveal your skills. SITRA. Viewed on 8 November 2021. Towards lifelong learning report (PDF). SITRA. Published on 3/2019. Blogger: Riia Hoppania works as a Career Coach in Metropolia SIMHE services. Before Metropolia Riia worked as a Career Coach in employment services in Vantaa. Riia has done specialisation studies in career planning and has certificates in solution-focused coaching and life coaching. Riia has a degree in business administration and she did her first career in retail and business where she worked as a manager for years.
Sustainability: the winning strategy for you, your organisation and all of us
Skills mismatch. Skills gap. Skills needs. Reskilling. Upskilling. Sound familiar? Indeed, the revolution of skills needs is transforming the job market in Finland and globally. The Future of Jobs report by the World Economic Forum states that on average, companies estimate that around 40 percent of workers will require reskilling of six months or less and 94 percent of business leaders expect employees to learn new skills on the job (1). What future skills should we all then prepare for? Alongside digitalisation, another underlying development sets the targets and realities for organisations across sectors, and thereby also for professionals. An all-encompassing shift towards sustainability is urgently needed. As the Future of Jobs report puts it, we have reached our defining moment: what we decide and choose today will define the course of entire generations’ lives and livelihoods (2). This is why the know-how on sustainable development has topped several skills rankings in the past few years, in Finland and globally. For you as a professional, it means that you need to invest in your sustainability skills to be successful now and in the future. Thinking outside the green box — what do we actually mean by sustainability? When we talk about sustainability, it is easy to be stuck on the green track: to only pay attention to environmental or ecological sustainability. Naturally, it goes without saying: no one living in the 2020’s can ignore the overwhelming impact of climate change. Clean water and air, biodiversity, environmental migration, extreme weather conditions, energy efficiency and so on; environmental issues have become part of our regular media coverage, daily discussions and, to varying degrees, our everyday realities. Even those who deny the very existence of climate change are aware of the importance given to the phenomenon. Besides environmental concerns, however, sustainable development in its broad sense requires action also on other important aspects: the economic and the social. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all member states in the United Nations, provides “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”. The agenda thus incorporates all three — the environmental, economic and social — dimensions into our action plan. In other words, for a better future, we need to secure the wellbeing of our planet, our people and our economies, and they are all interdependent. (3) The 17 globally agreed UN Sustainable Development Goals shed light on the all-embracing nature of sustainable action. To secure sustainable development, we all need to re-evaluate a wide range of our personal, professional and political choices. Sustainability versus profit and performance — does one rule out the other? Yes, sustainability is rather a complex concept requiring critical, long-term thinking. Why would organisations and companies then want to commit to sustainability? The answer is simple: it brings value, better performance and profits. Consumers and customers are increasingly aware of responsible consumption. The public is also more and more vocal about sustainability: bad choices get immediate reactions on social media and generate boycotts. Investors show increasing interest in sustainable investing. Employees want to work for a purpose and for a responsible employer, bringing a positive impact on the world. (4, 5, 6) In short, if you lose your customers, investors and employees for poor strategy, it is obviously not good for your business. By contrast, investing in sustainability can actually attract the best talent and also open new avenues for business. The pay-off seems to be getting even higher with younger generations. The Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and Gen Z Survey shows that millennials and the subsequent generation Z are very much concerned about the environment, discrimination and inequality. This impacts their consumer and other free time choices as well as professional ones. (7) Strategic level of sustainability: align your focus The data on the benefits of committing to sustainability is why companies have started to take sustainable development seriously and to also communicate it. Naturally, many organisations also genuinely see sustainability as an integral part of their values. For you, the abundant sustainability strategies and reports as well as value statements can be useful tools for developing yourself: they show you what you need to focus on. Globally, 64 percent of major international companies publicly disclosed their carbon targets this year. In the USA, 90 percent of companies published a sustainability report in 2019. (8) Also in Finland, two thirds of companies recognise that sustainable development, corporate responsibility, climate change and circular economy are of great or growing importance for business (9). In fact, six Finnish companies are even ranked in the Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world in 2020 (10). That is a lot considering the size of the country. And, note well: all of these corporations are also in the top 20 best performing Finnish companies by revenue (11). When exploring sustainability, their strategies seem well worth checking. Sustainable development cannot be a strategy priority only for businesses, though. All types of organisations need to get onboard. Luckily, a wide variety of examples keep on popping up similarly to businesses. For instance, Metropolia has recently published its sustainability roadmap and the City of Helsinki has invested in a sustainable strategy already for some years. Strategies matter, as they set the targets for action in the context of your organisation and your field. Change, however, also needs makers. You, me, us. Translating sustainability to job market expectations Now this is the moment to stop to think about your competences and skills. Where are you at in terms of sustainability thinking? Where do you want to get to? Are you equipped with the needed skills? Just the so-called green economy alone is a growing business and job market. A report by the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that, by 2030, 24 million jobs worldwide could be created by the green economy alone. (12) Yet, and perhaps more importantly, data pulled out from LinkedIn shows that in reality there is no such thing as a single “green industry” anymore. “Green jobs” are out there across a wide range of obvious and not so obvious industries. Employers increasingly expect all staff members to be actively incorporating sustainable practices into their work. (13) The same trend applies to Finland as well. The Competences and Skills in 2035 report by the National Forum for Skills Anticipation maps 30 sectors and their future skills needs. Alongside competences related to change management, digitalisation and customer-oriented development, knowledge of sustainable development is highlighted across sector groups. (14) A recent study by Technology Finland also identifies the need for several skills related to sustainability in the Finnish technology industry, including e.g. knowledge of circular economy, inclusion and low-carbon practices (15). How to get started as a professional? Sustainable development can seem overwhelming a topic, but we can all re-orientate the way we operate and think. This is important for a sustainable future, but it will also bring added value and a competitive advantage to your organisation and to you as a professional. You can start by considering the following: Understand sustainability. Make sure that you know what all dimensions of sustainability mean in general, and more importantly, in your field of work and your profession. Check the Deck of Skills Cards (PDF) for sector specific needs in Finland. Open yourself for opportunities. Pay attention to good examples of sustainability, successful organisations and winning innovations around you and use them for learning more. Follow the discussion and research on global megatrends and be curious. What new innovations are out there just waiting to be invented? Pay attention to people. Evaluate your customer group, your staff, your visiting specialists, your board and the social reality in which you operate. How diverse are they? Are you bringing added value to local communities? Does your product or service work for all relevant customer groups if you consider for example age, gender, sexual orientation, culture, social background and geographical location? What potential new market areas and target groups could there be? Lead by example. Are you in a leading position in your team or organisation? Your role is hugely important for the change: learn, take responsibility, set goals, show example and communicate. Train your creativity, long-term thinking and strategy talk. Investing in sustainability might not bring in value immediately. You need to be creative and consider what is possible in the long run. Be patient and consistent and communicate. Also, keep on learning more. Listen to podcasts and talks, read articles, observe, be inspired and stop to think as well. When that idea comes along, prepare to give field-specific justifications, use examples and calculate the return of investment. Purchase, subcontract and commission wisely. When purchasing services or products or making contracts with suppliers, check their background. Are they produced sustainably and responsibly? Are you maintaining inequality and inapproapriate practices or supporting equity and fairness? Re-visit your daily practices. What do you really need to print? Which (technological) solutions reduce the use of paper and other resources or the total hours of commuting? Make also sure that your office set-up works energy efficiently, be it in the office or at home. For more food for thought and insights on the Finnish context, explore for example the publications by Sitra, Demos Helsinki and Inklusiiv. For ideas on developing your professional competence, read the Harvard Business School Online blog 8 Sustainability Skills for Working Professionals by Catherine Cote. Mahatma Gandhi said it. Be the change you wish to see in this world. Now is a good time to start. Sources: The Future of Jobs report 2020. World Economic Forum. Executive summary. Viewed on 18 October 2021. The Future of Jobs report 2020. World Economic Forum. Preface. Viewed on 18 October 2021. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Developmen. The United Nations. Viewed on 21 October 2021. Gast, A. & al. 2020. Purpose: Shifting from why to how. McKinsey Quarterly. Published on 22 April 2020. Lipponen, K. & Mäkelä, T. (eds.) 2019. Vastuullisuuden suunnannäyttäjät: Käytännön työkaluja ja esimerkkejä yritysvastuun johtamiseen (PDF). Confederation of Finnish Industries. Chladek, N. 2019. Why You Need Sustainability in Your Business Strategy. Harvard Business School Online blog. Published on 6 Novemeber 2019. The Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and Gen Z Survey. Deloitte. Viewed on 21 October 2021. Cote, C. 2021. 8 Sustainability skills for working professionals. Harvard Business School Online blog. Published 7 October 2021. Lipponen, K. & Mäkelä, T. (eds.) 2019. 2020 Global 100 results. Corporate Knights. Published on 21 January 2020. Talouselämä 500 -selvitys. Talouselämä. Published on 4 June 2021. World Employment and Social Outlook 2018. International Labour Organization. Published on 14 May 2018. Kimbrough, K. 2021. These are the sectors where green jobs are growing in demand. World Economic Forum. Sustainable Development Impact Summit. Published on 23 September 2021. Osaaminen 2035. National Forum for Skills Anticipation. The Finnish National Agency for Education. Raportit ja selvitykset 2019:3. Summary available in English. 2019. Osaamispulssi. Technology Finland. Viewed on 22 October 2021.
Find your way to become a Finnish speaker
According to the interesting Expat Insider 2021 survey (3), Finland is in the top 5 for quality of life, but even 50 % of expats are pessimistic about the local career opportunities. Surprising? Despite possibilities to communicate in English (75% of respondents agree that you can get by without speaking the local language), it is considered hard to get used to the local culture and make local friends. Also, even 71% struggle with learning the local language (vs. 42% globally). Good reasons to invest in language learning? Finnish workplaces are getting more and more international, but knowledge of the local language is still required in most organisations, for both finding employment and advancing in a career (2). Even if the working language is English, Finnish is often used in various communication situations (4). Requirements related to language skills naturally vary depending on the job description and the industry. According to a survey by the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce (2), already the beginners’ level A1 is of advantage to get at least an internship. The intermediate level B1 enhances remarkably the chances to get at least an internship (enough for 65% of the companies). Most of the companies (about 65%) require at least the independent level B2 in skilled worker positions and the advanced level C1-C2 in expert and management positions. On the whole, knowledge of the local language provides many benefits. Already presenting yourself, having simple small talk and understanding main points in everyday conversations make you feel more connected to the language community. By using the local language you show your interest and commitment in an efficient and convincing way. Language skills widen your career opportunities to the public sector, smaller local companies and entrepreneurship. At the same time, language skills increase your sense of control and well-being by enabling you to follow the information flow in your everyday living environment (4,6). Identify the motivating language learning strategies Are you one of those struggling with learning Finnish? If yes, you are not the only one! The structure and vocabulary do differ a lot from at least the Indo-European languages. Nevertheless, to learn any new language, you have to be exposed to it (a lot), and work on it (a lot). What you really need is to find and keep up your motivation. According to theories of functional language learning (1,7) the best way to learn the language is to integrate it into your everyday life in the ways that you like. There are lots of good language courses, books and online materials available, but the key is to recognise the opportunities to use the language and apply your skills in your environment. The super-talented language learner Brasilian Gustavo (Brassinyymi) has learned Finnish with the help of Finnish metal music, Fred Karlssons Grammar book and Uusi kielemme website. He listens to Yle news in Easy Finnish and chats in Omegle. Of course not everybody has to be able to do the same, but there are methods for everyone to make language learning easier, faster and funnier. First, focus on what is relevant to you. Second, keep your eyes, ears and mouth open. You need to listen a lot, make observations - and imitate. Start using the language straight from the beginning. There is no need to be fluent before starting! Also, don’t give up if the answer is in English (Finns are still very stubborn to switch into English instead of supporting Finnish language learning)! If you feel shy, you can speak first to your flowers or cats. After that, there is no limit for imagination. You can search for other language learners and set up a language club, find a language mate in Lango or join a language cafe. You can join a Facebook or a hobby group that are of your interest, watch films e.g. in Yle Kielikoulu or listen to music, sing along and write the missing words (lyrics training). In the learning process, instead of thinking about everything you cannot do, it is important to enjoy learning and feel good about all the situations you can already manage. After all... Language skills requirements seem to be sometimes even unnecessarily high, but there are also some positive signals in sight. Employers seem to be more and more willing to support the language learning process at work (8). This indeed is highly recommendable: professional language skills related to specific work can only be acquired in real-life work environments (5). Finland and Finnish organisations must open themselves more to Finnish speakers who are not fluent. From another perspective, learning a new language is not connected only to concrete usefulness related to employment or career opportunities. Have you had the experience of really diving into the new language, starting to think directly through it? Have you felt the joy of becoming a member of a language speakers’ group? Learning a new language not only opens doors to work opportunities, society and culture. It is an inspiring possibility to find new ways to be you and what you could be. We support you! Metropolia supports your Finnish language learning in many ways. Degree students in Metropolia: Find a Finnish course for your needs offered by your degree programme or in Elective language studies. Ask also your degree programme and/or Finnish teacher about other possibilities to further your language learning during your studies: could you integrate Finnish into your studies or focus more on your language skills during the work placement? (Read about Ahmet’s experiences: Courage to use Finnish – growing into a professional). Find tips and materials to learn the language in the Job Teaser resources. Other language learners: Check the selection of Finnish courses available in Metropolia Open UAS in 2021 and find a course for your needs. If you are searching for a job and you already know the basics of the language, find my Youtube videos Kerro itsestäsi työnantajalle 1-3 minuutissa and Tervetuloa työhaastatteluun. Writer: Eevamaija Iso-Heiniemi works as a S2-teacher (Finnish as a second language) in Metropolia and SIMHE Continuation project. Sources: Aalto, Eija, Mustonen, Sanna & Tukia, Kaisa 2009. Funktionaalisuus toisen kielen opetuksen lähtökohtana. Virittäjä 3. 402–423. Viewed on 31 May 2021. Helsingin seudun kauppakamari, 2018. Yritysten kokemukset ulkomaisesta työvoimasta työmarkkinoilla. Katsaus koulutettujen maahanmuuttajien sijoittumiseen Helsingin seudun työmarkkinoille (pdf). Viewed on 11 June 2021. Internations 2021. Expat Insider 2021 survey report. Viewed on 15 June 2021. Jäppinen, Tuula 2010. Suomi (S2) korkeakoulutettujen työssä – Millainen kielitaito riittää? Soveltavan kielitieteen tutkimuksia AfinLA-e. Published on 14 January 2011. Viewed on 15 June 2021. Komppa, Johanna 2015. Työnantajan odotukset, työntekijän vastuu ja työyhteisön tuki. Näkökulmia korkeakoulutettujen maahanmuuttajien ammatillisen suomen oppimiseen. Soveltavan kielitieteen tutkimuksia AFinLA-e. Published on 13 January 2016. Viewed on 27 May 2021. Lehtimaja, Inkeri 2017. Korkeakoulutetun maahanmuuttajan oikeus oppia Suomea (pdf). Kieliverkoston verkkolehti Kieli, koulutus ja yhteiskunta. Viewed on 31 May 2021. Mitchell, Rosamund & Myles, Florence 1998: Second language learning theories. London. Arnold. 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 2021. Yle News: Brasilialaismies tahtoo Suomeen niin kovasti, että alkoi tubettaa suomeksi. Published on 13 May 2021. Viewed on 15 June 2021.
Mentoring in the time of corona: networks, insights and improved employability for international talents
“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.
My Journey in Supporting Immigrant Women in Higher Education
By June this year, we have met over 800 highly educated immigrants in personal guidance at SIMHE-Metropolia (1). In 2018, we met more women than men in personal guidance. Although, the gender ratio has been fairly equal among the sexes in previous years too. In general, immigrant-background women face more difficulties in entering the labour market compared to their male counterparts as pointed out by 2018 OECD report on skills and labour market integration of immigrants in Finland (2). Career mentoring is a joint effort towards better employability I have volunteered as a mentor for an immigrant-background lady in the Finnish Family Federation’s nine-month Womento mentoring programme (3) in 2018-2019. The programme has been running since 2011 to pair up highly educated female immigrants and native Finnish women. The mentor-menteer pairs usually share similar educational and professional backgrounds. Thus, our autumn 2018 group had 12 mentor-mentee pairs with the mentees interested in finding careers in their field in Finland. I was also happy to find few of my previous SIMHE customers among the mentees in our group. Furthermore, the mentors have a long experience in their field and a genuine interest to support their mentees. As a result, the mentees become more familiar with the Finnish society and working-life. We have met with my mentee in the joint sessions at the Finnish Family Federation and in our one-to-one meetings about once or twice in every two months since October 2018. As we shared common interests and educational background, it has been of mutual benefit to talk, share experiences and discuss about the trends in the field. My mentee had education as her main goal and we have been very pleased that she has accomplished her goal during our mentoring voyage. I have now been a mentor twice in my professional life. At first, in Metropolia’s own mentoring programme in 2017-2018 and now in the Womento programme. Therefore, I strongly recommend mentoring to anyone who is willing to support others in finding their way in working life and in Finland. Above all, the small investment you put in as your time and devotion results in many wonderful encounters and enticing discussions. Additionally, you will get new and fresh idea for you to use as well. How to make Finland a home - let’s focus on the spouses Finland is in need of international talents (4) due to an ageing population and already existing competence-deficit in some fields. Many brave newcomers have already moved here with their families. Universities, like Aalto University (5) in Helsinki region as well as Finnish business sector (6) have also paid attention to make it all easier to move to Finland - also with the family. It is somewhat common that women move to Finland along with their company-recruited husbands. Thus, highly educated wives are also looking for their path in Finland. Some of them have perhaps spent several years at home due to taking care of their children. Once your family has settled in at work, daycare or school, you wish to get back to business too! Companies do try to make it better for people to settle. For instance, I participated in a Supercell spouse event in May to introduce our SIMHE services. Albeit, this was not a new concept at Supercell as they had had a spouse event (7) also in 2018. The get-together was well organised with guest speakers from municipality services like International House Helsinki (8), well-being experts from Compass Psychology (9) to start-up scene at Shortcut (10). There was also plenty of time to mingle prior to and after the presentations. I had vivid discussions with some affluent ladies from Mexico, Singapore, Russia, Kazakstan and India over a buffet meal. It’s a woman’s world Moving between countries and settling into new cultures is more and more prevalent trend in our contemporary world. Although, giving immigrant women possibilities to integrate in the society through education and work benefits not only them, but also their families and the Finnish society in general. Living in a new country without any connection to education or work can be a daunting experience for an educated person. However, I have met many courageous ladies who are ready to tackle the obstacles. In conclusion, English writer Virginia Woolf has encapsulated this phenomenon so well nearly a century ago in her quote “As a woman I have no country. As a woman I want no country. As a woman, my country is the whole world”. Sources SIMHE-Metropolia website: https://www.metropolia.fi/en/about-us/simhe/ (Read 3 June 2019) OECD (2018), Working Together: Skills and Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and their Children in Finland, OECD Publishing, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264305250-en Väestöliitto website: https://www.vaestoliitto.fi/monikulttuurisuus/womento/career-mentoring/ (Read 3 June 2019) Kauppakamarin linjaus: Suomi ei selviä ilman työperusteista maahanmuuttoa https://kauppakamari.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/tyoperusteinen-maahanmuuttolinjaukset.pdf (Read 3 June 2019) Aalto University website: https://www.aalto.fi/fi/palvelut/for-families-and-spouses (Read 3 June 2019) TalentBoost Finland website: https://www.businessfinland.fi/en/do-business-with-finland/work-in-finland/in-brief/ (Read 3 June 2019) Business Tampere news 14.3.2018. International talents boost growth – Talent Boost Spouse event on 22 March: https://businesstampere.com/international-talents-boost-growth-talent-boost-spouse-event-on-22-march/ (Read 3 June 2019) International House Helsinki website: https://www.ihhelsinki.fi/ (Read 3 June 2019) Compass Psychology website: https://compasspsychology.fi/ (Read 3 June 2019) Shortcut website: https://theshortcut.org/ (Read 3 June 2019)
Highly skilled immigrants aboard to build Finland
Pedro Góis (2017) informs that in USA alone, immigrants have been involved with founding companies such as “Google, Intel, WhatsApp, PayPal, eBay, Tesla, and Yahoo” and even though immigrants “make up less than 15 percent of the US population, skilled immigrants account for over half of Silicon Valley start-ups and over half of patents”. Could this be achieved in Finland as well? Building companies operating in English and having international potential such as the IT companies Góis mentioned will keep being created in Finland. However, working in many professional fields here requires the knowledge of our national language(s), mainly Finnish but speaking also Swedish can be an advantage. The language skills and navigating how our education and work-life operates typically takes time in the beginning. Yet they are significant puzzle pieces to integration. Back to studying basics? Anything human rarely surprises me, but I must say that the first time I heard a foreigner having a Bachelor´s Degree Certificate telling me he is studying in Finnish Basic Education - I went speechless. Basic Education is the school Finnish youngsters nearly always complete by the age of seventeen (EDUFI 2017a). Sadly, we in SIMHE-Metropolia have had a handful of clients like him who have taken too many steps backwards. SIMHE-Metropolia: 1) aims for faster integration It touches my heart when a client says after a thank you that they wish they had met me X years (that number could range from two to multiple years) earlier. Thus, I completely agree with the Minister of Education, Ms. Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, “We cannot afford to miss or waste anyone’s skills.” (Ministry of Education and Culture 2017b) and therefore need to better and faster recognize and utilize immigrants’ existing skills. 2) guides highly skilled immigrants My first three months in SIMHE-Metropolia have flown by fast because there is no shortage of clients. We guide those immigrants who reside in Finland but are not currently degree students in higher education (=HE) here. The minimum criteria to become a SIMHE client is that one is eligible to apply to HE in their home country and therefore in Finland as well. Actually, most of our clients already have at least one HE degree. 3) helps to steer multiple ways SIMHE-Metropolia has many services which we constantly develop. I mainly focus on group and personal guidance. In personal guidance discussions, we reserve an hour so we can holistically go through the immigrant´s situation and possible options. We focus on the topics they want, most typically connected to studies and career. SIMHE-Metropolia has been operating as of spring 2016 and already some of our clients have succeeded in gaining admission to studies or work where they were hoping. New initiatives for integration When it comes to degree studies, in my opinion vocational institutions are further with flexible options like apprenticeship training and competence-based qualification (terms from EDUFI 2017b). Fortunately, there is a momentum in Finland to accelerating immigrants’ integration seen in for example the launch of International House of Helsinki and that Espoo adopted English as their third official language. The Minister of Education allocated in total 5.5 million euros to various measures promoting development of for instance immigrants´ educational paths (Ministry of Education and Culture 2017a). From prep courses to graduates Some HE institutions like Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (UAS) have preparatory courses for immigrants. One of the projects which received funding from the Minister of Education is called in Finnish “Valmentavasta valmiiksi” where we in Metropolia UAS have teamed up with eight other UAS to develop preparatory courses. The idea is to develop them to be more nationally compatible and that the student who wants to graduate with a degree in higher education on that field would have a clear path for that. Utilizing everyone’s skills I have met so many clever and inspiring immigrants, most of whom are eager to stay and become full members of the Finnish society as fast as possible. Thus, I hope that initiatives like the above mentioned will help to make it more and more possible. I wish work places will to a greater extent take advantage of the diverse skills and ideas our multilingual and -cultural clients can bring. Sources: EDUFI (2017a) Finnish National Agency for Education. Education system in Finland picture available at http://www.oph.fi/english/education_system [retrieved 1.12.2017] EDUFI (2017b) Finnish National Agency for Education. Opetushallinnon sanasto available at http://www03.oph.fi/sanasto/listaakaikki_s.asp [retrieved 1.12.2017] Góis, Pedro (2017) Facing the human capital challenges of the 21st century’s new era of mobility: Migrant populations in higher education – students, academics, researchers. Keynote lecture, 13 December 2016 published in Käyhkö, Katinka; Bontenbal, Ilona & Bogdanoff, Minna (Eds.), "Open the doors!": Migrants in Higher Education: Fostering Cooperation at Universities Seminar 13.-14.12.2016 in Jyväskylä. Available also online: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-6977-6 Ministry of Education and Culture (2017a) Solutions for accelerating immigrants’ educational paths are sought and supported. Press release published in 11.8.2017 at http://minedu.fi/artikkeli/-/asset_publisher/maahanmuuttajien-koulutuspolkuja-vauhditetaan?_101_INSTANCE_0R8wCyp3oebu_languageId=en_US [retrieved 1.12.2017] Ministry of Education and Culture (2017b) Steering group: We need better ways to recognise immigrants’ skills. Press release 25.9.2017 published in English on 29.9.2017 at http://minedu.fi/en/article/-/asset_publisher/maahanmuuttajien-osaaminen-tunnistettava-nykyista-paremmin [retrieved 1.12.2017]
Blog introduces information, tips and insights that help international talents with a higher education background to integrate and find their study and career paths in Finland. The blog is part of Metropolia’s #talentboost actions.
Outi Lemettinen (head editor)
Riikka Wallin
Anu Luoma
Email addresses: firstname.surname@metropolia.fi
Editorial Board handles all the publications of Various Variables blog before publishing.
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