Working in English

hychamaz · Post by **hychamaz** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:01 am

Hey everyone. I just wanted to share my experiences so that it can help future immigrants. I am a from the USA and damn, I had a really hard time learing Finnish. So after a little pursuasion, my lady at the unempoyment office enrolled me in job counseling compaany that will help m efind a job here in English. Believe me it took alot of work to tell her that I just wasnt learning Finnish, but the unemployment agaency has an option of enrolling you in a program that helps you find English speaking jobs here with no Finnish background or language skills. She told me that it costs the town a lot of money, but I got into it. So now they are working with me to find an English speaking job here. Just wanted to let everyone know of the options. *PM me with any questions

**Sponsor:**

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:50 am

Be sure to let us know when you find a job

Ravvy · Post by **Ravvy** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:34 pm

penelope wrote:Be sure to let us know when you find a job

The hotel manager in Inari barely spoke any Finnish. You could try there.

hychamaz · Post by **hychamaz** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:45 pm

Ravvy wrote:
penelope wrote:Be sure to let us know when you find a job
The hotel manager in Inari barely spoke any Finnish. You could try there.

This is why I love you guys so much. You keep my hopes of being a millionaire in Finland a reality. Who needs money when you have the Finland Forum Comedy Club (live 24 hours) .

littlefrank · Post by **littlefrank** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:21 pm

hychamaz · Post by **hychamaz** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:42 pm

littlefrank wrote:Hey everyone. I just wanted to share my experiences so that it can help future immigrants. I am a from the USA and damn, I had a really hard time learing (learning) Finnish. So after a little pursuasion (persuasion), my lady at the unempoyment office enrolled me in job counseling (counselling) compaany (company)that will help m efind (me find) a job here in English. Believe me it took alot (a lot) of work to tell her that I just wasnt (wasn't) learning Finnish, but the unemployment agaency (agency) has an option of enrolling you in a program that helps you find English speaking jobs here with no Finnish background or language skills. She told me that it costs the town a lot of money, but I got into it. So now they are working with me to find an English speaking job here. Just wanted to let everyone know of the options. *PM me with any questions

I'll get my coat.

Do you see what I mean? When I signed up for Finland Forum, I would have thought that little frank was being a real a-h@le. Now I just laugh. He has no where to vent but here. It is just so funny. He didn't care that I was typing at 2am with one hand, while rocking our little baby to sleep with the other. Like I said, you have to love this place. I could now go and make a rude comment about his "little frank" lol, but I won't. I'll leave the comedy up to the usuals here.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:20 pm

penelope wrote:Be sure to let us know when you find a job

Now I am confused. It appears you may have thought I was being facetious but this is not the case.

Many people come on to FF asking for advice and some of us (God only know why) spend our "free" time (PS I also have kids) answering their questions. Even doing the odd bit of googling for them. Sometimes even (personally I can think of at least two occasions) finding someone a job

All too often the people who ask for advice either (a) diagree with our suggestions, (b) never reply or show any further signs of life or (c) become millionaires but forget to come back and say thank you.

So my comment was intended, just as a reminder. IOW: if and when the job counselling company does find you an English-speaking job, please come back to FF and tell us about it. After all, that's what immigrants want to hear. The happy endings.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:27 pm

Note she said "when" - if she wanted to be facetious she'd said "if"....

I'd said "if by some miracle" as my normal posetive self.

littlefrank · Post by **littlefrank** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:21 am

jas_rho · Post by **jas_rho** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:41 am

Yeah well I am proof that an American come come here, learn Finnish, get a good job and make some ok money(I have to just say OK cause I am not making millions yet). And heck, I am not even the sharpest tool in the shed if you know what I mean. Finnish is hard but its possible to learn. Those who don't learn it just don't try to use it enough. In the beginning when trying to learn you gotta remember it's not about being perfect and grammatically correct, its just about using the words and being understood while also understanding the ones talking to you. At least in the larger cities in Finland you can get a job just about anywhere speaking little or crappy Finnish. You just gotta be persistent and keep looking and don't give up. Actually I was even in a small city in Kemi back when my Finnish was horrible. I got a job working in a wood gluing factory. It was probably one of the best places for me to learn Finnish cause those guys didn't/wouldn't speak English and I was forced to speak Finnish and learned a ton. Now I can talk all kinds of things about parts and qualities of wood and glue and those machines in Finnish. Doesn't really help me in the job I have now though

But my point is here that yes, there are tons of sad stories of people complaining that you can't get work here, you can't learn Finnish, etc. But I know its possible.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:20 am

Yes, I agree 1,000,000% with jas_rho. If immigrants can get a job then they are well on their way to learning the language. It's getting that first job which is the biggest hurdle for most. And if you go for the "English-speaking" job, then your chances of speaking Finnish one day are compromised (eg: if you teach English

). We put our kids into the ice-cream kiosk last summer and it really helped their confidence speaking Finnish. OK, so the vocabularly is a bit restricted (so is wood glue, right?) but you have to talk to people, all day. And that's so important when learning the language. I know lots of words (I read the paper, browse the internet, watch TV etc) but I don't use them actively because I am speaking English all day at work.

How did you get your first job jas_rho? Did you have some contacts? Family? Lots of luck?

I like the sound of the apprenticeship programmes for immigrants. I think they could be a great success. But finding companies willing to take on an apprentice during this economic recession will be difficult.

jas_rho · Post by **jas_rho** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:02 am

penelope wrote: How did you get your first job jas_rho? Did you have some contacts? Family? Lots of luck?

I guess I guess I have to say it was luck because I didn't have any family at the time and actually didn't know many people at all that could help me get a job. But luck alone isn't going to get you anything, you gotta keep active and keep looking. If you aren't looking you aren't going to find anything right?

I was just calling places all over and asking to come meet them and see them face to face. I would tell them how hard a worker I am and all that stuff and finally after talking to enough people someone hired me. It wasn't easy but it was possible. While studying I was working in all kinds of jobs, wood gluing a couple summers where I moved to Kemi to do it, I was working construction, and even in a bakery working nights and going to school during the day. The bakery job was actually really good pay since it was at night, but it murder since I had school also. That was also another place where no one spoke english and I got to develope my finnish even more.

Actually I haven't gotten any of my jobs in Finland through family or connections. Just hard work and my own searching. I have to admit though, after you get one job, the other jobs come a lot easier!

debonaire · Post by **debonaire** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:02 am

penelope wrote: I like the sound of the apprenticeship programmes for immigrants. I think they could be a great success. But finding companies willing to take on an apprentice during this economic recession will be difficult.

Coudn't agree more on this...this is how i got my first job in Finland...and partly because of the guy at the employment office

.On the first day of our appointment,after going through my CV he made calls to two companies...the first one refused owing to my lack of finnish but the other one(where i work now) agreed to an interview...and it was agreed that i would undergo an internship of 4 months at no cost to the company during which they would assess my performance...
The government even refunded 50% of my salary to the company for the first six months after i was gainfully employed..i really don't see a reason why a person would not be able to get a job through this channel if he/she matches the job profile and has the required qualification to back it up unless the language becomes too big an impediment...It is difficult as the guy told me that i had won a Finnish Lotto after i got employed,but nevertheless it provides an opportunity to make oneself visible in the job market..

rinso · Post by **rinso** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:42 am

The government even refunded 50% of my salary to the company for the first six months after i was gainfully employed..i really don't see a reason why a person would not be able to get a job through this channel if he/she matches the job profile and has the required qualification to back it up unless the language becomes too big an impediment..

One of the reasons it is difficult for most foreigners is that the government cannot pay this for all the foreigners. So I think you have to be lucky to get into such a program. (or have special qualities the appreciate)
So getting a job is part luck, part skills and part determination.

hychamaz · Post by **hychamaz** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:03 am

penelope wrote:
penelope wrote:Be sure to let us know when you find a job
Now I am confused. It appears you may have thought I was being facetious but this is not the case.

Many people come on to FF asking for advice and some of us (God only know why) spend our "free" time (PS I also have kids) answering their questions. Even doing the odd bit of googling for them. Sometimes even (personally I can think of at least two occasions) finding someone a job

All too often the people who ask for advice either (a) diagree with our suggestions, (b) never reply or show any further signs of life or (c) become millionaires but forget to come back and say thank you.

So my comment was intended, just as a reminder. IOW: if and when the job counselling company does find you an English-speaking job, please come back to FF and tell us about it. After all, that's what immigrants want to hear. The happy endings.

Hi Penelope, I am sorry that you got a little bent out of shape here. In no way was I addressing you in my post at all. I knew you were being sincere. I have read enough of your posts to totally respect you. I am just curious as to why you came back at me so aggressively. I never even mentioned you!!! Please read back, I was addressing Ravvy's obnoxious comment and a post by lil' Frank that tore apart my grammar. Again, I knew u were sincere.

AND

jas_rho wrote:Yeah well I am proof that an American come come here, learn Finnish, get a good job and make some ok money(I have to just say OK cause I am not making millions yet). And heck, I am not even the sharpest tool in the shed if you know what I mean. Finnish is hard but its possible to learn. Those who don't learn it just don't try to use it enough. In the beginning when trying to learn you gotta remember it's not about being perfect and grammatically correct, its just about using the words and being understood while also understanding the ones talking to you. At least in the larger cities in Finland you can get a job just about anywhere speaking little or crappy Finnish. You just gotta be persistent and keep looking and don't give up. Actually I was even in a small city in Kemi back when my Finnish was horrible. I got a job working in a wood gluing factory. It was probably one of the best places for me to learn Finnish cause those guys didn't/wouldn't speak English and I was forced to speak Finnish and learned a ton. Now I can talk all kinds of things about parts and qualities of wood and glue and those machines in Finnish. Doesn't really help me in the job I have now though But my point is here that yes, there are tons of sad stories of people complaining that you can't get work here, you can't learn Finnish, etc. But I know its possible.

You are one piece of work. Again someone else on "attack mode". Did it even cross your mind to consider asking me "why I had such a difficult time attempting to learn Finnish". To me that would have been the polite thing to do before going on in your speech about how people who "dont learn it just dont try to use it enough". And "you gotta be persistent".
If you would again have asked me I would have told you that I have a learning disability and as much as I battled it and I could not sit through my classes in Kerava or Riihimaki.

People, please dont assume that I am not a hard worker and looking for the easy way out. I do my best. Things said here can really be funny at times, but when you accuse people of things without knowing them, you can really be hurtful. And over the last 1 1/2 years (that I have been reading here) that happens way too often.

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