Working

How to find a job in Finland? What you need to know about working in Finland.

Looking for a job before arrival and during the studies

The search for a job in Finland can be challenging and requires effort and also luck. Lot of workplaces require Finnish skills. People that have programming or coding skills often do not need to speak Finnish in order to get a job. There are things that can be done to reduce the part of the luck.

If you want to look for the job opportunities before your arrival have a look under the subchapter "Start of working during studies" in the following part. There you find easy to access online databases and a little vocabulary. The following information describe actions that should be considered if one is doing the degree studies at TUT. But they can be helpful also for exchange students.

Useful vocabulary in the end of this page

Steps for the life after graduation.

To do list

It is important to prepare for the time after your graduation already in the start of your studies. You will have to do a lot of arrangements in the beginning. This guide gives a big picture and tips to keep an eye on your career and to reduce problems after your graduation. Preparation and social activity during your study time is important.

Start of degree studies

1. Register at Police station for residence permit (both EU and non EU students)
2. Register at Maistraatti (Register Office) to get social security number and home community right (kotikuntaoikeus) to be able to use public services such as health care and children’s daycare. In Tampere you will obtain a home municipality right, and will be entitled to these services after one year of your registration.
3. Apply for free student membership at TEK (Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers), www.tek.fi
* Very important to pay the offered additional unemployment fee from the start or when you get work
* After working 10 month full time or 23 half time (has to be checked for Non EU citizens) you are entitled to get unemployment money from TEK!!
* The time of working can pile up fast, e.g. two summer jobs full time and couple of month part time e.g. thesis. If thesis is full time that is already up to 6 month
* Also join the free offered SMFL membership. It increases contacts and they offer seminars that can be beneficial for the CV.
4. Be active in student clubs and study activities try to get references which will help a lot after graduation
* Participation in project works
* Board member, tutor or Officer in a club
* Participation in organising of bigger events

Half year after your start

1. In January and February applications for Summer job start
2. Ask your department for positions (departments are a very good source of work)
* Summer projects / Research assistant
* Laboratory work
3. Apply online for summerjobs at companies and recruitment agencies such as Adecco, and call them after that to show interest
4. Be open to work for a Finnish company in your home country for the summer
* It is tempting to stay in Finland for summer but working once for a company increases the chances to work another summer for the company (then in Finland) and maybe also doing thesis there and start working there (in Finland or abroad).
5. Use the services of TEK

Start of work during studies

1. Make sure you have paid the unemployment money for TEK to get the benefits
2. EU/EEA citizens have no limitations for working hours during their study time
3. Citizens from other than EU/EEA countries have certain limitations.
* During studies the maximum hours of work are 25 h per week
* During holidays the students can work full time with their student residence permit
* More information under http://www.uvi.fi/netcomm/content.asp?path=8,2474,2515
4. Register for taxation through the TUT responsible person, Ms. Ulla Siltaloppi (ulla.siltaloppi@tut.fi) who takes care of the TUT employees’ bureaucracy. Less trouble through that
5. Sources for job openings:
* University departments offer different kind of work, it is worth contacting them
* Ministry of labour has online services and databases. Unfortunately the search function is in Finnish
* Recruitment agencies offer onlince CV databases and open job positions here are some of them
http://www.aarresaari.net/english/jobboard.htm
http://www.monster.fi/
http://www.uratie.fi/uratie/main.jsf
http://www.stepstone.fi/
http://www.uranus.fi
http://www.humanlink.fi
6. In the end of this page you will find a vocabulary relating to job search
7. Further information:

Taxes in Finland

Open Jobs at Adecco TUT

Aarresaari Academic Career Services

TEK Recruitment

Info bank about working in Finland ->Guide of the Ministry of Labour

Slides by the Ministry of Labour from Career Day 2007

Half year before your Master Thesis

1. Ask in your department how the thesis works are arranged
2. Ask if they have an upcoming position
3. If you worked for a company before as summer job contact them
4. Offer clear topics to companies and not just areas of interest
5. You can also decide for a arm chair topic
* Thesis topic is theoretical but it might be that you don’t get money from the department
* Benefits are that you can look for a part time job or concentrate on other things and you get your degree done

Half a year before graduation

1. Think about your future jobs and your likes and dislikes
2. Collect a list of potential companies
* Use infos from Tampere Kauppakamari
3. Fill out CV at recruiting agencies like Adecco or manpower with your estimated grade.
* Those companies are an asset that you can keep working for you while you do your thesis.
4. With the day of graduation (The day the departments council meeting approves the thesis) the student card for door accessing does not work anymore. That has to be considered
5. The personal computer account at TUT ends in the end of the month of graduation.

After graduation

1. Non EU-Citizens should apply for residence permit again. They are allowed 6 month without registration to stay in Finland when you graduated from a Finnish university. EU citizens do not need again to register. Their registration as student is enough.
2. Ask Työvoimatoimisto employment office to tell you the steps (Important to ask them if they have the necessary information already about your social security number AND the home municipality right. This right (from Maistraatti) is important to be able to get benefits
* Online registration to be count as job seeker www.mol.fi
* Within 7 days of this registration go to the työvoimatoimisto office (if you live in Hervanta go there)
o Bring there your certificates with you. Passport, Diploma and permits
* You will get an appointment with the Maahanmuuttaja immigration office.
o You get those services if you have a residence permit, social security number and a home municipality right
o You will work out with them an individual integration plan and discuss about the work you want to do
* At the same time fill out or update your entries in the recruiting agencies
o Browse their pages for positions and apply towards open positions, that increases the changes that they find your profile
* Look at newspapers to find positions
* Aamulehti and Helsingin Sanomat in their Sunday edition
* Continue the TEK membership, You can pay in rates of three months
* Use their job database and CV bank

CV databases are an asset that you shouldn’t miss. You should not rely on them and wait that they contact you. But in your time of active search they work for you in the background. One can ask friends or other contacts which positions they see that one could be good at if one struggles to decide for a career.

It also can help to find out technology start up companies that want to go international and might need the language skills of the desired market. Some of the companies can be quite small and not well visible. That is why one should use different sources in order to get to know databases where companies are mentioned.

Vocabulary