Discrimination in Hiring

[jahasjahas]

I call it a society because doesnt the east coast of FIn speak swedish as the common language.

East coast? Where is that?

Åland has an east coast. They speak Swedish there. Seems accurate.

[tony webb]

I smell arrogant colonialist who cant understand that english isnt our language.

Proves my point. The above comment is both discriminatory and prejudiced.

[cors187]

hmmmm, dont know why i said the east coast.
The west coast of FIN has swedish speaking fins there, unless my sources are in correct,but 3 different people told me so i am pretty confident that they do use swedish as a common language there.

[onkko]

I smell arrogant colonialist who cant understand that english isnt our language.

Proves my point. The above comment is both discriminatory and prejudiced.

Proves my point, in finland finnish is language we use. If you cant speak finnish you cant really compete in low level works and even if you feel like we should because youre special... we dont. Why would employer want to use sign language or force all to speak english because of one english or whatever. Even when global language of business is english that doesnt mean local language is.
Only if there is real need of workers employer will be willing to go thru all problems.

[onkko]

hmmmm, dont know why i said the east coast.
The west coast of FIN has swedish speaking fins there, unless my sources are in correct,but 3 different people told me so i am pretty confident that they do use swedish as a common language there.

Dont be. There is handfull of places where you can get by with swedish and even in there majority do speak finnish and finnish is de facto common language if there is even one finn in group.

[CH]

hmmmm, dont know why i said the east coast.
The west coast of FIN has swedish speaking fins there, unless my sources are in correct,but 3 different people told me so i am pretty confident that they do use swedish as a common language there.

Dont be. There is handfull of places where you can get by with swedish and even in there majority do speak finnish and finnish is de facto common language if there is even one finn in group.

In general what Onkko says is true, but as far as I know it doesn't necessarily hold true for truly Swedish speaking areas. But... if I go to a job interview anywhere else I would expect to be talking Finnish unless all the people in the room are Swedish speaking.

I have worked in companies where business language, read language between countries, is english but still most important was that you could speak finnish, english was plus.

Well, at least in the companies I've worked for or have been interviewed for the "business language" being English meant that the language used within the company is English. Meaning, meetings are held and internal emails are sent in English (ok... if everybody in the room speaks fluent Finnish then the meetings are most probably held in Finnish). Of course, a lot of the "käytäväkeskustelu" is in Finnish, but that is usually changed to English as soon as a non Finnish speaker enters the discussion. A good enough knowledge of English in these companies have been requirement, definitely not just "a plus", and all my interviewes have checked for language skills (usually by either the whole interview being in English, or if it is held in Finnish, by having to answer one question in English). Of course the position one is applying for might still require Finnish skills.

[onkko]

Well, at least in the companies I've worked for or have been interviewed for the "business language" being English meant that the language used within the company is English. Meaning, meetings are held and internal emails are sent in English (ok... if everybody in the room speaks fluent Finnish then the meetings are most probably held in Finnish). Of course, a lot of the "käytäväkeskustelu" is in Finnish, but that is usually changed to English as soon as a non Finnish speaker enters the discussion. A good enough knowledge of English in these companies have been requirement, definitely not just "a plus", and all my interviewes have checked for language skills (usually by either the whole interview being in English, or if it is held in Finnish, by having to answer one question in English). Of course the position one is applying for might still require Finnish skills.

You are talking high end jobs not low end jobs what argue was about.
For example i give Stora-enso, global business and business language is english. In local factory atleast 90% couldt speak enough english to say "i want soup". I personally knew about 5 and from friends way more and no they couldnt. Closest is my stepfather who worked as mainteinance man who know few english words. Throw non finnish speaker in there.... Impossible. He would die in accident in months because he couldnt understand what is said or written.

In high end jobs skills of hired are bigger than inconvience/impossibility of speaking english of others, i wouldnt mind to speak english if i get profit for it, huge profit. And translating isnt problem when one gives needed knowledge and skills. That isnt case in low end jobs.

[tony webb]

At the moment I only apply for jobs that advertise vacancies in English and don't state Finnish language required. They could be anything from cleaning to database design (which I have worked in and have a BSc (Hons) degree in.
In the mean time I study on Finnish courses in the hope that one day I'll get a job because my Finnish is up to scratch!
It's the principle of getting a job to make ends meet, to be able to enjoy life and to not be a burden to the state. It's not about; because I live in Finland I should be handed a job on a plate or expect employers to queue up at my front door with job offers.

[Sami-Is-Boss]

There is linguistic discrimination I'm afraid (whether it's any other kind of discrimination depends on your levels of paranoia); there shouldn't be, but there is. It's a downside of the country to go with it several upsides. Good luck with finding a job, you'll get there in the end

[cors187]

Its only fair to discriminate ,the whole world discriminates against a FIN that only speaks finnish.
So the whole of finland offers the same value.
The scales of justice are balanced.

[Halldor K]

We have started seeing this up north here in Rovaniemi as well, even tourism companies will only hire (native)Finnish speakers in some cases even tho all of their work is done in English.
The newest trick from some now being that yes, you have to not just speak Finnish but be a native Finnish speaker(even stating so in their MOL ads).

I have a few years experience as a guide in tourism and i will get replies like "you would be perfect for the job, but we only hire native Finnish speakers". I do know for a fact tho that the company that sent me that had a dopey Dutch techno head the season before and he caused major problems for them. But still does not excuse that kind of discrimination. Hell i have even seen more and more of non English speakers getting hired into the tourist sector, and then often the main "means of communication" is pointing/crude "sign language" and cursing in Finnish...