After approximately 70+ applications for different job positions in 2009 I was lucky enough to get one interview that led to a summer job (the interview and preparation is explained in a previous post). This was my first work experience in Finland. The summer internship lasted for a total of four months and took place in Helsinki.
I really enjoyed Helsinki. I myself come from a large city, it was very natural for me to be back in a slightly crowded scene with a lot more traffic than the rather large town that I was living before.
Along with the job experience, that summer was the first where I would experience how much the finns really change during summertime. I saw smiles (without alcohol), colors and overall happiness. We will see if this holds to be true in future summers or if it was just my first year's perception.
I really enjoyed Helsinki. I myself come from a large city, it was very natural for me to be back in a slightly crowded scene with a lot more traffic than the rather large town that I was living before.
Along with the job experience, that summer was the first where I would experience how much the finns really change during summertime. I saw smiles (without alcohol), colors and overall happiness. We will see if this holds to be true in future summers or if it was just my first year's perception.
Getting back to the work experience.... There are a few things that I would like to mention that really made an impression on me.
I would like to begin by saying that I had a great working environment and great colleagues. Just so you get an idea of the type of environment, I should say that the unit I worked was mostly a very young crowd(something that from what I hear is not so common in other organizations). It was a very formal organization and therefore I was told that wearing a suit to work would be advisable (again, not so common in Finland).
In Finland the summers are very short, and therefore it is very important for most Finns to try to take as much vacation as possible on the sunny days. One of my biggest shocks out of this internship, was the amount of time that people invest into planning everyone's holidays. Impacting was also the level of respect for everyone's plans. That was when I fell in love with the Nordic working style. To clarify this I should explain that in my home-country you plan your holidays around the work projects, not the other way around. An example of this was when I was working on one of my tasks. This particular task was very dependent on an outside IT consultant (from Sweden) who gave support and managed any changes to one of the systems I was working with. Right in the middle of my internship, and the middle of this task, the consultant had planned his 1 month vacation. Unfortunately, this consultant company did not have any other resource that could help me with this and so my task would be halted for the entire month just to wait for him. To which my boss replied, "well, we will just have to wait". I was not particularly pleased with his response. Because of the shot time of my visit, it would be challenging if we had that long pause. However, as my boss said, we just had to wait.
I verified one of the most interesting traits of Nordic working style, that is to be solution focused. I will be very brief with a clear example: when something goes wrong at work, nobody asks "who's fault is it?".
I worked in a very nice building in the central area of Helsinki, we had a great view from the terrace where we could have lunch on the sunny days. Here are some picture for you to get an idea.
I would like to begin by saying that I had a great working environment and great colleagues. Just so you get an idea of the type of environment, I should say that the unit I worked was mostly a very young crowd(something that from what I hear is not so common in other organizations). It was a very formal organization and therefore I was told that wearing a suit to work would be advisable (again, not so common in Finland).
In Finland the summers are very short, and therefore it is very important for most Finns to try to take as much vacation as possible on the sunny days. One of my biggest shocks out of this internship, was the amount of time that people invest into planning everyone's holidays. Impacting was also the level of respect for everyone's plans. That was when I fell in love with the Nordic working style. To clarify this I should explain that in my home-country you plan your holidays around the work projects, not the other way around. An example of this was when I was working on one of my tasks. This particular task was very dependent on an outside IT consultant (from Sweden) who gave support and managed any changes to one of the systems I was working with. Right in the middle of my internship, and the middle of this task, the consultant had planned his 1 month vacation. Unfortunately, this consultant company did not have any other resource that could help me with this and so my task would be halted for the entire month just to wait for him. To which my boss replied, "well, we will just have to wait". I was not particularly pleased with his response. Because of the shot time of my visit, it would be challenging if we had that long pause. However, as my boss said, we just had to wait.
I verified one of the most interesting traits of Nordic working style, that is to be solution focused. I will be very brief with a clear example: when something goes wrong at work, nobody asks "who's fault is it?".
I worked in a very nice building in the central area of Helsinki, we had a great view from the terrace where we could have lunch on the sunny days. Here are some picture for you to get an idea.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.