During the time that I have been here in Finland I have met many foreigners who are looking for jobs. However, amonsgst the students that come here for studies many have the intention of going back to their home country and are not very motivated to find a job (other than cleaning jobs in Vikingline). From my experience you need to be very motivated and work hard to find work.
- Search in all the right places: know what companies you are interested and see their websites for offers (periodically), get acquainted with the largest companies (in the case you speak only english they are the best to look).
- Once you find an interesting advertisement: get to know the company and try to make a contact by calling the contact numbers (ask smart questions and be charming), study the industry, google the people that work there (look at their experience and background).
- Send applications that are not generic. You should write one unique application for each job position linking you directly to job position they are demanding.
- The more you apply, the higher the chances are that you get something
Before the beginning of the summer I had applied to over 70 job positions in more than 40 companies. It was very hard work and the result of all that was only one call back for an interview. I prepared myself as well as I could, but the hardest thing was wondering what to wear. At the last minute I decided to wear the suit and it turned out to be a smart move because the interviewers were wearing suits too. Next I will tell you a little bit about the interview.
Preparation for the interview:
- First I tried to read and make notes from the company's website
- I downloaded a list of most common interview questions (very useful)
- Looked for relevant news for the company
- I looked for more descriptions about the business area and found a presentation for some proposal where it indicated the taks and how the area is organized. (most useful)
My experience on the day of the interview:
I have to say that I had a really hard time finding the address in the center of Helsinki. The google maps app on my E51 Nokia phone was really off by at least two blocks when I tried using it as a GPS to find the place. Also the place had no sign! One of the biggest companies in finland, and no big sign or anything to help find the place. I went past the building twice withoug noticing it. Anyway, I arrived 15 minutes early and I waited maybe 2 minutes in reception before on of the interviewers accompanied me in. I was interviewed by a man and a woman. Both young, seemed under 30. They explained their positions. And about the projects that were going on. They explained a little bit more about the job description.
They asked the following questions:
- Tell us about yourself.
I told where I am originally from and where I have lived. Also told about my career, how I decided to study in Finland and about my working experience.
- Why did you apply to the job.
My answer involved my research about the company and about the working practices. I was also lucky to find a presentation of one of the area directors explaining the tasks and the responsibilities of the area, when I mentioned this presentation and told the name of this director they seemed very pleased. So I explained the relevance with my past experience.
- Do you have any knowledge of Finance and Management.
I explained about the structure of my studies.
- What is your dream work scenario?
I explained that I would like very much to collaborate within a multinational environment. With people from different places and also on..
- Why did you come to Finland?
I told the reason and also what I thought of Finland. The seemed kind of pleased (and surprised) whe I told them I liked the country (that is actually true).
- Do you have any questions?
I asked about the starting and ending dates (in this cas it was important because it was a summer job) and about the salary.
- Do you have an idea of salary?
I tried to not answer by saying I have looked at the standards for professional salaries (availabe in http://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_palkat_en.html) and I would asume that the company has their salary levels close to that. But then they said "yes the company has standards, but what would you expect?". I tried to get away from answering the question because I did not know the Finnish fair salaries in detail, but they were insisting on a number. So I had to say a value per hour that was on the website.
Overall it was a very relaxed interview. They seemed to be aware of what I put in my CV and did not ask about it. The interview must have lasted at the most 30 minutes.
A couple of days later I got a call saying I got the job! The agreed salary was exactly what I had asked for and that made me a bit suspicious if I should have asked for more. But it was what I wanted so it was good enough. As it was a summer job it lasted only 4 months then I would go back to school to finish my last year.
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