“Nort­hern Lights – the best thing to expe­rience whi­le living in Oulu”

Shar­min Farah came to Oulu from Bangla­desh. Her life has chan­ged sig­ni­ficant­ly during the five years she has lived in Fin­land. Though it has been a rol­lercoas­ter ride, I am enjo­ying this jour­ney, Shar­min says.

Who

I am Shar­min Farah. I am ori­gi­nal­ly from Bangla­desh. It is almost five years since I moved to Oulu.

Why

I came here to stu­dy master’s pro­gram­me at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu. My major was Inter­na­tio­nal Busi­ness Mana­ge­ment.

Whi­le wor­king as a teac­her in Bangla­desh, I searc­hed for a good master’s pro­gram­me in Euro­pe. I rea­li­sed that Fin­land has the best educa­tion sys­tem in the world. Also, one of my friends told me that I should apply to the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu.

When I asked him why, he told me that Oulu Busi­ness School is the second-best busi­ness school in Fin­land and that Oulu itself is a fami­ly-friend­ly city whe­re life is easy and relaxed and rec­rea­tio­nal oppor­tu­ni­ties are clo­se at hand.

Whe­re

After gra­dua­tion, I acti­ve­ly applied to seve­ral com­pa­nies for a job. Oulu Talent Hub sug­ges­ted to me that I should apply for the posi­tion of Mar­ke­ting Mana­ger at Visi­don Com­pa­ny. I applied and after a great rec­ruit­ment process, I got hired.

Now, I am wor­king as a Mar­ke­ting Mana­ger. This is my first pro­fes­sio­nal full-time job.

At Visi­don, I am res­pon­sible for digi­tal mar­ke­ting. I also col­la­bo­ra­te with our Sales and HR team. I love my job because I learn new things eve­ry day and it encou­ra­ges me to do bet­ter at work. Moreo­ver, the mul­ticul­tu­ral and col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve wor­king envi­ron­ment moti­va­tes me not to be afraid to make mis­ta­kes and ask for help from others.

I have also wor­ked volun­ta­ri­ly at AIESEC as a Vice Pre­si­dent of Talent Mana­ge­ment for over a year.

What

My first impres­sion about Oulu was that it is a very qui­et city. One can find only a few people on the streets, and people main­tain much dis­tance whi­le wai­ting for the bus. I had had a long desi­re to see snow from my child­hood, so one of my favou­ri­te moments here is see­ing snow­fall.

People are qui­te shy to ini­tia­te discus­sions. Howe­ver, when a con­ver­sa­tion starts, I feel like I am tal­king with someo­ne from my home count­ry. I feel com­for­table and attac­hed when we get into deep discus­sions.

Oulu is an acti­ve city full of cul­tu­re. Seve­ral fes­ti­vals and exhi­bi­tions occur throug­hout the year — food fes­ti­vals from around the world, the Lumo Light Fes­ti­val, concerts during the sum­mer, and so on. In 2026 Oulu will be the Euro­pean Capi­tal of Cul­tu­re, and I hope the­re will be more fes­ti­vals to obser­ve and celebra­te.

In my spa­re time, I cap­tu­re pho­to­graphs and videos, ski, and tra­vel. I knew about the Nort­hern Lights whi­le in Bangla­desh. It was magical when I first saw it! I feel luc­ky to see the Nort­hern Lights qui­te easi­ly in Oulu. People from other cities are not always get­ting the chance to see it. This is the best thing to expe­rience whi­le living in Oulu!

I love Kui­vas­jär­vi; it is clo­se to my house and is a peace­ful area here in Oulu. I can go for a walk in the win­ter or for a bike ride in the sum­mer.

How

My life has chan­ged sig­ni­ficant­ly during the five years since I have lived in Fin­land. My jour­ney has been a kind of rol­lercoas­ter ride.

I lost my fat­her after I came here; he was always my ins­pi­ra­tion. During that time, I was shat­te­red. Since then, on some days, I am exci­ted about my achie­ve­ments, such as par­tici­pa­ting in dif­fe­rent events – Social Storm, the fes­ti­val of cul­tu­res, the Uarc­tic congress, and my gra­dua­tion as well.  Some­ti­mes, I am frustra­ted – for example, when I had chal­len­ges with get­ting a real job. I have had so many jobs during the­se five years – news­pa­per deli­ve­ry, ber­ry pic­king, fun­drai­sing and clea­ning. Though it has been a rol­lercoas­ter ride, I can say I am enjo­ying this jour­ney.

Here in Fin­land, the­re is a saying that if one has sisu (inner strength), then one can hand­le any situa­tion. I think I have alrea­dy obtai­ned sisu.

Any­one thin­king of wor­king and living qui­et­ly can move and work in Oulu. I feel life here is relaxed. Job oppor­tu­ni­ties are still a chal­len­ge for inter­na­tio­nal stu­dents because of the lan­gua­ge bar­rier and pro­per gui­de­li­nes, but the wor­king situa­tion is impro­ving year by year.

Also, I would like to request that all com­pa­nies in Oulu, and in Fin­land, plea­se pro­vi­de oppor­tu­ni­ties for inter­na­tio­nal talents. We won’t disap­point you!

Oulu Talent Hub

• Oulu Talent Hub brings toget­her and deve­lops regio­nal oppor­tu­ni­ties and ser­vices for inter­na­tio­nal rec­ruit­ment.
• Oulu Talent Hub offers talents, for example, con­tacts with local com­pa­nies, match­ma­king events and info ses­sions, com­pa­ny visits, a tan­dem model for interns­hip pro­gram­mes and career coun­sel­ling. For Oulu Talent Hub, inter­na­tio­nal talent is defi­ned as inter­na­tio­nal specia­lists, emplo­yees, researc­hers and stu­dents.
• Oulu Talent Hub aims to pro­mo­te inter­na­tio­nal talent emplo­y­ment to com­pa­nies in the Oulu region and open up emplo­y­ment paths for inter­na­tio­nal talent.
• Pro­ject part­ners are Business­Oulu, Oulu Cham­ber of Com­merce, Uni­ver­si­ty of Oulu, Oulu Uni­ver­si­ty of Applied Sciences and Oulu Voca­tio­nal Col­le­ge.
• The pro­ject is fun­ded by The Euro­pean Social Fund, ESF.
• Learn more about Oulu Talent Hub at oulutalenthub.fi.

This article was ori­gi­nal­ly publis­hed at oulutalenthub.fi

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