How long it took for you to get your first job?

pereira · Post by **pereira** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:14 am

Its been 2 months since I've been applying to IT related jobs, but havnt got any. How long it took for you (Non-Finn) to find your first IT or any other professional related job?

**Sponsor:**

irnbru · Post by **irnbru** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:21 am

It took me 2 years to get a part time IT job and 4 - 5 years to get a full time IT job. Mind you I ended up doing an IT degree here to get my foot in the door, if you have that already and some experience you could potentially get one much quicker.

Skywalker · Post by **Skywalker** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:53 pm

3 months. I'm a designer, carpenter and set builder. I got a 2 month job for a set building company in Helsinki, i was (and still am) living in Tampere.

Now 3 years after i came to Finland i have my own company designing and building custom furniture and interior deco.

It's different for everyone. i just ignored all the moaning foreigners, got on with my life , networked well, worked hard.
Sure there were tough times, might be more to come. But life is a bitch sometimes.

mannychadha · Post by **mannychadha** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:58 pm

Hi,

This is my second year in Finland finding any kind of job. But i don't want to make it a last year because my degree is completing within 3 months and permit i think in 5 months.I have also nothing to do in my country.I believe ,whatever Finnish i learned in this time will go in vain.

Do anybody have knowledge about how to stay here or how to try VERY LAST time as i tried every method in this whole period.

*when i say that i have two masters degrees of computer science, people just say that it shouldn't be difficult for you to find job and Blah,blah,blah...
*people say be active make contacts, but didn't worked out as i am active from so long.

There must be some other way around off course as i see people are working like cleaner etc.. Just i think i don't know the proper way.

Bye..

WinterSun · Post by **WinterSun** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:13 pm

read this:
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... 80l3kqvjmQ

Nokia Yt-round starts in March.Try to find job before that. Good luck!

peteh · Post by **peteh** » Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:56 pm

Been here for close to 17 yrs on and off and speak no Finnish. I have always had work and never needed to claim any benefit or go on any hopeless courses. Have worked in many industries from Horeca, Training, Building Renovation and now Engineering. Maybe I have been lucky, but I really don't know why people find it so hard here to find work.

mannychadha · Post by **mannychadha** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:08 am

@Peteh HOw??

Mölkky-Fan · Post by **Mölkky-Fan** » Mon Feb 21, 2011 12:15 pm

It took me quite some months to find a first position (and I started from a lower position and wages than I had hoped for), but after that it has been easy... promotions came and wages and opportunities are now good... you need to get your first position in the right company (which is tough) and then things start to become easier.

As I have said many times before, look for the right companies for you (international, growing, small or medium or large, English working language, in your expertise area) and then contact them (by phone if possible)... keep pushing, do not give up.

Think a little bit laterally... if you have a doctors qualification, but it is not recognised here, then look for international pharmaceutical companies, dental companies etc and maybe sales jobs. If you are French, look for French companies here or companies which have an office in France, if you do not speak Finnish then look for international companies or companies which sell internationally etc etc
As long as you have some skills, then you are likely to be needed somewhere.

WinterSun · Post by **WinterSun** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:19 pm

Mölkky-Fan wrote:It took me quite some months to find a first position (and I started from a lower position and wages than I had hoped for), but after that it has been easy... promotions came and wages and opportunities are now good... you need to get your first position in the right company (which is tough) and then things start to become easier.

As I have said many times before, look for the right companies for you (international, growing, small or medium or large, English working language, in your expertise area) and then contact them (by phone if possible)... keep pushing, do not give up.
...
As long as you have some skills, then you are likely to be needed somewhere.

Though it is an old post. When reading it, still feel motivated.

Ice_Man · Post by **Ice_Man** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:35 pm

It took me 6 weeks. During that time I interviewed for 3 positions at 3 separate companies and got second interviews each time before being offered one job. I basically made sure I prepared like hell for each interview! When you do get your foot in the door, you dam well have to make sure you take that opportunity.

I moved here at the beginning of September – this seemed to be a good time as there were plenty of job opportunities on the market after the summer holiday season. Things drastically slowed down from November onwards but seem to be picking up again now after Christmas, so timing is important in a small economy like Finland.

Ross1983 · Post by **Ross1983** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:01 pm

why would anyone move to a country without securing a job first?

Ton W · Post by **Ton W** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:03 am

Ross1983 wrote:why would anyone move to a country without securing a job first?

Hmmm...out of love maybe. We are not living in a perfect world and sometimes choices have to be made in life which are more important then work. Many foreigners probably come and came because they fell in love with someone from Finland and choose to come here even without job. Of course best is to come when finding a job beforehand but everyone knows also that finding a job in Finland remotely from abroad isn't so easy. Then yes I can understand that people move to a country without securing a job first.

Finland Forum

Find information about moving to, living in and life in Finland