nursing, again

[biscayne]

Calling all FF regulars, especially Amadine K and anyone else involved in nursing.......

So, a temp. contract I had in a private IVF clinic has come to it's end, in the time I've been here I have really brushed up on my Finnish, gotten all my qualifications recognised (except for one non-nursing one) etc. etc. I have done the rounds of hospitals, clinics etc., but no banana. Yet, at the same time, I keep hearing about the dreadful shortage of nurses, how so many Finnish ones go to Sweden/Norway, how Finland is trying to attract them back, how Finland is importing Filipino nurses etc. etc. Yet, I still cannot find a job. (yes my Finnish is not perfect, but both my Finnish and knowledge of local culture and western culture in general would be better than a newly arrived Filipina). I even tried contacting the agency supposedly responsible for importing those Filipinos, saying "hey, I am already here - give me the job", but heard nothing back. Lately, I've been reading about Polish nurses supposedly going in droves to Norway, but, amazingly can't find any agencies who deal with that either. Is this mass movement of nurses to Scandinavia in general a huge myth, or am I just being kept out of the loop? Does anyone know anything about this? You read that there is a nursing shortage, when you actually go to the hospitals you are told "not hiring". Then you can't find any info about these alleged jobs in Sweden/Norway either. Can anyone advise me on this? Not asking anyone to give me a job, just to try and help me clear up all this as I feel I'm getting lost in the fog of misinformation and misdirection......................

[mrjimsfc]

There were three pages of listings just for nurses last week. What are you doing wrong?

[Rick1]

Finns often like to do it difficult. e.g. counting 6 holidays in a week when you work 5 days a week etc. Must be some subsidy to ship them in instead of hiring the ones here. Did not get any support when I mentioned that some time ago so I think everybody is happy about it that they ship them in (with later the other family members coming) than rather use the 25 percent unemployed foreigners ready to start.

[Upphew]

Finns often like to do it difficult. e.g. counting 6 holidays in a week when you work 5 days a week etc.

That's true for 9-5 jobs, but one must remember the history of these holidays and other "chocolate" that workers have, unions and they were powerful not with the 9-5 workplaces but with places that had shift work.
Now that the paper mills are closing left and right, maybe the counting of holidays should be changed too...

[Rick1]

And if they finally modernising it, at the same time 25 holidays for everybody and not if you start at the wrong time no holiday at all. This will also make the workforce more flexible.

But this leads us away that it is a bloody shame that a smart lady like Biscayne cannot do her job here because she does not speak 'fluent' finnish. I think it is anyhow better than no communication at all by some Finns.

[AldenG]

Is there too much experience on your resume, perhaps?

Maybe they're looking for undemanding, low-cost entry-level nurses and they assume that with your experience, you will want a position with more responsibility and pay than they want to provide?

You know there are the stories of people with PhD's who can't get hired until they either delete the PhD or move it into the "hobbies" section of their resume.

I'm only guessing here, but I wonder what would happen if you tried a "dumbed-down" resume for one or two applications and see if it made any difference. Especially since the purpose of the resume isn't to get the job, it's to get the interview. It's the interview that gets the job. So often saying less on the resume but creating a bit of curiosity is a good tactic.

[biscayne]

Thank you for the replies. As I mentioned, just to be clear, I was looking for information, and not expecting a magic job to drop into my lap.

I already went personally to most of the hospitals and clinics (in the HEV area) which were advertising on those pages, and some said they were not hiring, others wanted absolutely fluent Finnish, which I admit I do not have, it is getting better, but currently about mid-level. However, I have to say here, that having had experience working in other countries, the best way to get fluent is to get working, you learn more on the job than in any course. On the other hand, I do accept that Finland is Finnish, and the language is Finnish and if they want fluent Finnish in their workers, they are so entitled. (they should try communicating with some of the nurses in the British NHS, don't tell me they all passed the IELTs, 'cos some of them are barely comprehensible, but that's another story.....)

So, ok, Finnish is the main stumbling block. Fine. So what about the Filipina nurses, does the 3 month course they are put on render them all totally fluent in that period of time? Just curious.

Regarding experience, dumbing down etc., I did make it clear I just simply wanted a job and would start at whatever level, not expecting to go in as a manager or whatever. But, I will apply to those adds (even though I went to most of those hospitals) and will do up a simpler CV just giving my qualifications and basic experience without going into it too much. Might work.

[Rick1]

That might work Biscayne, AldenG got a good point. There was a few days ago a doc about Spain and their problems. Young highly educated people cannot get a job there and are minimising their CV's to get at least a simple job. Good luck and after reading some of your comments I wunder why you are still trying here, there must be countries where it would be much easier to get a job for you.

[Amandine.K]

Oh how I feel your pain. It's not too much experience as I got the same exact answers as biscayne and I have no experience whatsoever despite the fact that I did study Nursing here, albeit in English.

I don't know about the Filipinos nurses, like you I got in touch with the agency that supposedly got them there in the first place. No answer. There are pages and pages on mol about nursing jobs, yet like biscayne nobody gives us the time of the day. I'm not even getting any replies anymore even for agency work. Have you contacted Seure? I was told that they are the ones with the most temp. work opportunities. I contacted Mediverkko and Deborah as well but no answer...

I do understand that one needs Finnish to communicate with patients but come on, give us a chance at least! My Finnish is average as well, I understand it well and can speak it well enough to make myself understood. I agree with biscayne on the fact that without actually working we are not going to improve our Finnish skills. And I'm in a bad position having graduated in november 2009 and no nursing jobs since graduation. I am getting more and more unemployable each day. Fortunately I do have a job, not related to nursing, that I actually really enjoy. But still I went back to school for 4 years to study Nursing, which I greatly enjoy...

Biscayne I keep my eyes open for you, if you do get a chance somewhere, let me know! I was told that they were not so fussy in elderly care about Finnish skills (as if old people don't need to communicate!) but this has yet to be proven to me!

[AldenG]

Amandine, you're on to another possibility I was thinking about.

It may be that these employers, even though they advertise to individuals, actually only want to buy cheap nursing services from a corporation. In fact, the advertising in other channels could even be part of some kind of dodge that makes it easier for them to say they've met some kind of legal requirements. In turn, the corporations may have their own dodges going since they're hiring third-world nurses (who, as Biscayne points out, can't possibly meet the formal requirements) and providing them to an EU employer. I'm confident somebody is making a lot of money from that, and probably not in a way that would stand up to sunlight.

Biscayne, I hope something works for you. I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert and I don't know if my earlier suggestions will work. But at least they're an idea for something different.

And whatever the explanation is, remember in the end you only need one opportunity to work out. No matter what the system is, there should always be room for something like that around the edges. In fact, now that I think about it, you'd think that maybe a place that only uses one nurse, or three nurses, might be bear more fruit than these places that buy them wholesale with high turnover.

[Rick1]

http://www.mol.fi/paikat/BrowseList.do? ... resultList

If you look how many nurses are asked There is really something very wrong in the education/compatibility system here. And do not tell me the pay is too low because it is rising every year. There are many foreigners here who also need treatment in the coming years so these people would be happy with an (who likes to speak) english nurse.

[Rick1]

http://www.mol.fi/paikat/Job.do?lang=fi ... or=7649821

This is a nice one Biscayne, a little bit playing with instruments and a boobyjob with employee discount

[Bubba Elvis XIV]

Is this mass movement of nurses to Scandinavia in general a huge myth, or am I just being kept out of the loop? Does anyone know anything about this? You read that there is a nursing shortage, when you actually go to the hospitals you are told "not hiring". Then you can't find any info about these alleged jobs in Sweden/Norway either.

I think it's been and gone...My GF was a nurse for about 10 years. A couple of times a year we'd discuss moving to Norway or Sweden. A few years ago we decided to look into it a bit more...and the same thing...no info and no jobs. After a bit more poking around it turned out that Sweden and Norway just weren't recruiting foreign nurses anymore, or at least not to the extend that they were. There wasn't the shortage that there was in the past...And any jobs that were going required a much higher standard. IIRC, language was never an issue and now they only want Swedish / Norwegian speaking nurses....

but, of course...that's just what the GF found...Maybe she was just out of the loop too.

how so many Finnish ones go to Sweden/Norway, how Finland is trying to attract them back

Some years ago I read an article in HS about the issue...Norway was offering better pay, better work conditions, cheap apartments and IIRC a flight or 2 home a year...There might have been something with the tax too. Hospitals in Helsinki were saying that they would help find accommodation if nurses were willing to move to Helsinki to help out with the shortage there....The Finnish nurses weren't overly impressed...

[martinmartinez]

Did you pay and get registered? Have you tried this company spelt: medivida.fi
Guy that runs it is south american so might be quite sympathetic to people.
Hope this helps

[mrjimsfc]

It may be that these employers, even though they advertise to individuals, actually only want to buy cheap nursing services from a corporation. In fact, the advertising in other channels could even be part of some kind of dodge that makes it easier for them to say they've met some kind of legal requirements. In turn, the corporations may have their own dodges going since they're hiring third-world nurses (who, as Biscayne points out, can't possibly meet the formal requirements) and providing them to an EU employer. I'm confident somebody is making a lot of money from that, and probably not in a way that would stand up to sunlight.

I believe that Alden has found the real answer! Find one of these "corporations", take their certification course and they will actually "place" you into the system somewhere. I'm also pretty sure that you will end up paying (a lot?) for their certification and placement services. It's a rotten system but so many have "bought in" to it that even though it doesn't bear legal scrutiny it's the only system that seems to work.