Looking for an International French company based in Finland

[adamo]

Hi everybody,

I am just a french speaker how is looking for a job opportunity in a french company based in Finland/ Helsinki.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Merciiii

[Rosamunda]

Try posting on http://www.sudfinlande.fi you might get more response from there.

I can think of L'Oréal off the top of my head. Air France maybe. Bouygues. Danone. The commercial section of the French embassy might have a list of French companies on their website.

[Juha H.]

Digita is a French company, they operate nationwide, but how much French is required is unknown to me. But you may ask here: http://www.digita.fi/digita_esittely.asp?path=1840;1946

[Hank W.]

How did you spell "nonexistant" in French

The only French company seriously hiring is Areva, but that ain't in Helsinki that nuclear power plant...

[Rosamunda]

...and what would be the definition of a "French" company anyway A company quoted on the Bourse de Paris? A company where the French govt has >50% stake? A company where the lingua franca is French?? A company where all the employees work <35 h per week, get 7 weeks holiday per annum and retire at 57 ???

[adamo]

Thanks for all the answer,

Penelope, I really like the topic you raised. Actually a French company is where you can chat half of your time and the other half you spend it in meetings!! Je rigole!!!

Theoretically, it’s about the nationality and where the head office has been established.

Honestly, it's more about the working language. So I guess the answer was in your comment.

[raamv]

Honestly, it's more about the working language. So I guess the answer was in your comment.

LMAO!!!
Why would any Company let alone French, establish operations here and keep the working language in that language instead of Finnish unless otherwise, its only for some kinds of weired experiment..

[Rosamunda]

Well.... I'd be pretty worried if I thought the French engineers building the nuclear power plant in Olkiluoto were all speaking Finnish

[Scribe]

Try posting on http://www.sudfinlande.fi you might get more response from there.

It was http://www.sudfinlande.net but thanks

[Mook]

How did you spell "nonexistant" in French

The only French company seriously hiring is Areva, but that ain't in Helsinki that nuclear power plant...

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a little Finnish company called Setec - it used to be part of the Bank of Finland. Anyhow, it was bought by a French company called Gemplus, which then merged with another French company called axalto. So, Setec is now part of Gemalto

edit: Doesn't like TWiki formatting

[Hank W.]

And they fired all the people working there and hired Frenchmen instead? Or how does the office language change happen?

[Mook]

Well, we got two. The whole banking devision defected to another company (all their pictures were in Kauppalahti)

On a serious note, one option for getting a job in Finland is to get a job with a European or global scope from someone like HP, or IBM or HP or Nokia or Kone or ... The upside is that you can generally choose to work from any of their offices. The downside is that there's a a fair amount of travel.

[Hank W.]

I'd say also the Finnish/multinational companies with heavy presence in France like Wärtsilä (SACM diesel) or Kone... but that is then again what your niche is. If you're high enough up the food chain the less you need Finnish. But as far as French being an office language?

[Mook]

But as far as French being an office language?

From what the ex-Setec guys I know said, it's a bit like saying that Nokia's office language is English...

[Cod]

Nissan . Always employs a French CEO in foreign offices (the Renault connection). You don't need Finnish to work there and he may like to have someone to banter with..