High­lights of the Työn­taita­jak­si 2024 event

Työn­taita­jik­si 2024 – the pro­fes­sion­al and work­ing-life event for young peo­ple – was more ver­sa­tile and enter­tain­ing than before.

At the Työn­taita­jik­si event, the Eng­lish-speak­ing ses­sion was very fas­ci­nat­ing with lots of infor­ma­tion from the pan­elists about the “Work­ing life in the Oulu region – facts and tips” along with ses­sion on “What kind of employ­ees Fin­land needs” by Pia Klemet­ti, Pai­ja Group. The ses­sion was grace­ful­ly mod­er­a­tor by She­fat Islam, from Business­Oulu.

The pan­elists includ­ed-

• Johan­na Kar­ju­la, Oulun Osaamiskeskus — Oulu Skills Cen­tre
• Katery­na Hudozh­nyk, Kier­tokaari
• Tony Sten­berg, HR Busi­ness Part­ner, Nobi­na
• Anni Saara­nen, OSAO

Katery­na Hudozh­nyk shared her jour­ney, empha­siz­ing the impor­tance of net­work­ing and per­se­ver­ance. Land­ing in Oulu and nav­i­gat­ing the job mar­ket was a tes­ta­ment to resilience; it took numer­ous appli­ca­tions before secur­ing her cur­rent role. What stood out was the Finnish work­ing cul­ture’s empha­sis on bal­ance and equal­i­ty, a refresh­ing sur­prise from her pre­vi­ous expe­ri­ences. For new­com­ers, Katery­na under­scored the cru­cial role of com­mu­ni­ca­tion and advised direct engage­ment with poten­tial employ­ers while con­tin­u­ous­ly striv­ing.

Tony Sten­berg from Nobi­na high­light­ed the evolv­ing skills need­ed in today’s job mar­ket, point­ing out adapt­abil­i­ty, dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy, and soft skills as crit­i­cal for job seek­ers. Inter­na­tion­al employ­ees, accord­ing to Tony, bring invalu­able diver­si­ty and new per­spec­tives to the bus trans­porta­tion indus­try and beyond. He empha­sized the impor­tance of a well-craft­ed CV that reflects gen­uine skills and expe­ri­ences. For non-Finnish speak­ers, Tony acknowl­edged the chal­lenge but also not­ed the increas­ing avail­abil­i­ty of Eng­lish-speak­ing roles, urg­ing job seek­ers to per­sist and embrace Finnish learn­ing when pos­si­ble.

Anni Saara­nen pro­vid­ed an edu­ca­tion­al lens, not­ing OSAO’s com­mit­ment to inter­na­tion­al stu­dents through var­i­ous voca­tion­al pro­grams. She advised on embrac­ing edu­ca­tion­al paths that align with one’s inter­ests and the mar­ket needs, espe­cial­ly high­light­ing sec­tors that active­ly seek inter­na­tion­al tal­ents. Anni stressed the impor­tance of Finnish lan­guage skills, not just for employ­a­bil­i­ty but for deep­er inte­gra­tion into Finnish soci­ety.

Johan­na Kar­ju­la intro­duced the Oulu Skills Cen­tre (OSKE) as a piv­otal resource for job seek­ers, offer­ing guid­ance and sup­port to nav­i­gate career paths effec­tive­ly. She encour­aged attend­ing OSKE’s events for net­work­ing and learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. Johan­na point­ed out the crit­i­cal job search dynam­ics in Fin­land, par­tic­u­lar­ly the val­ue placed on direct com­mu­ni­ca­tion and per­son­al ini­tia­tive.

“Don’t under­es­ti­mate the pow­er of direct com­mu­ni­ca­tion”

The pan­elists col­lec­tive­ly under­scored the sig­nif­i­cance of Finnish lan­guage pro­fi­cien­cy in enhanc­ing job prospects. How­ev­er, they also rec­og­nized the grow­ing num­ber of oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able for Eng­lish speak­ers, reflect­ing a grad­u­al­ly diver­si­fy­ing work­place.

For new­com­ers to Fin­land, the advice was clear: lever­age every avail­able resource, from lan­guage cours­es to net­work­ing events, and don’t under­es­ti­mate the pow­er of direct com­mu­ni­ca­tion with employ­ers. Per­sis­tence, open­ness to learn­ing, and adapt­ing one’s approach based on feed­back are key to unlock­ing job oppor­tu­ni­ties in Oulu and beyond.

This pan­el dis­cus­sion not only illu­mi­nat­ed the path for inter­na­tion­al tal­ents seek­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in Oulu but also cel­e­brat­ed the rich­ness that diverse back­grounds bring to the Finnish job mar­ket. As we nav­i­gate this ever-chang­ing land­scape, let’s remem­ber the shared insights and encour­age­ment from our pan­elists: embrace the jour­ney, stay resilient, and keep com­mu­ni­ca­tion at the heart of your job search strat­e­gy.

In essence, the job mar­ket in Oulu, with its unique blend of chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties, is a dynam­ic envi­ron­ment where inter­na­tion­al tal­ents can thrive. With the right approach and sup­port, such as that offered by Oulu Skills Cen­tre, Nobi­na, and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tions like OSAO, the jour­ney towards a ful­fill­ing career in Fin­land is more acces­si­ble than ever.

Report­ed by Fah­mi­da Sark­er,
Inter­na­tion­al House Oulu Ambas­sador