Need Advice on Moving with Family & Finding Work

[Elizashahh]

Hello there,

My family and I are considering a move to Finland; and I was hoping to get some advice from those of you who have been through the relocation process. We’re originally from India, and while we have done a lot of research; there are still many things we are unsure about.

First; we are wondering about the best way to go about finding jobs before arriving. My spouse works in IT; and I am in the education sector. Are there any specific job boards or websites that are better for international applicants? I have heard about the TE Services website; but I am not sure how effective it is for foreigners.

Second; we have two kids; ages 5 and 8. How does the Finnish education system work when it comes to transferring into primary school? Do international kids typically have any trouble with language adjustment; or is there good support for this? We’ve also read that daycares can be hard to find how early should we start looking?

Also, I have gone through this post; https://www.finlandforum.org/viewtopic.php?ccsp=99704 which definitely helped me out a lot.

Lastly; we are wondering about housing. We’re hoping to rent for the first year or so while we get settled.

Are there any neighborhoods in Helsinki or other cities that you would recommend for a family? Safety and proximity to schools are big priorities for us.

Thankyou in advance for your help and assistance.

[FinlandGirl]

My family and I are considering a move to Finland; and I was hoping to get some advice from those of you who have been through the relocation process. We’re originally from India, and while we have done a lot of research; there are still many things we are unsure about.

First; we are wondering about the best way to go about finding jobs before arriving. My spouse works in IT; and I am in the education sector.

IT is the only sector with realistic chances of finding a job without being able to work in Finnish.
Outside IT, foreigners who are not able to work in Finnish usually do gig economy work like food delivery.

Are there any specific job boards or websites that are better for international applicants? I have heard about the TE Services website; but I am not sure how effective it is for foreigners.

There are no special websites for foreigners, every job that matches the skills of your spouse and does not require Finnish should be an option.
When the job advert is in Finnish, that's usually a clear sign that the language is required.

jobly.fi and LinkedIn are other options to search for IT jobs.

Lastly; we are wondering about housing. We’re hoping to rent for the first year or so while we get settled.

Are there any neighborhoods in Helsinki or other cities that you would recommend for a family? Safety and proximity to schools are big priorities for us.

Safety is not an issue in Finland, and even in Helsinki there are usually sufficient apartments available for renting even at short notice.

If your spouse actually manages to find a job, then proximity to the workplace will also be a big priority for you.

[browndude]

You have to ask yourself very honestly why exactly you want to move out of India and why Finland in particular. Depending on your situation, it may not be worth the effort. It has always been very difficult for immigrants to find jobs in Finland without Finnish language skills. The exceptions have been experts in tech, academia and a few other fields. But at the moment, there are a lot of layoffs and hiring is slow. If you or your husband happen to have relevant skills then it might be possible but it is impossible for me to know without knowing more details. I would say you should use google and linkedin to see if there are jobs being advertised. Ideally, you should both have jobs lined up when you move here and if you want to stay here in the longer term, you should learn Finnish within the first couple of years-this will make life much, much easier later on. Most kids will adjust and learn the language fairly quickly especially in the bigger cities which have lots of kids from non-Finnish backgrounds.

[agroot]

TE Services is not relevant. It's for unemployed citizens and residents to get jobs. Your spouse cannot get a relocation-enabled job that way.

Such jobs always use English with above average pay and permanent contracts, mostly for senior positions, and often with relocation support including for spouse and kids. I don't know about your field, but your spouse's job better be enough to cover all 4 persons' expenses, enough for you to not working for a few years in order to learn Finnish and get some local license of your field if needed.

Many IT jobs are remote now so distance wouldn't be such a problem, so long as you live in Finland.


However, instead of targeting Finland you should consider the whole northern Europe for a better chance to land jobs, especially if you want jobs for both before arrival. Once you become citizens you can freely move to nearby countries without restriction.

[FinlandGirl]

TE Services is not relevant. It's for unemployed citizens and residents to get jobs.

https://tyomarkkinatori.fi/en also works for foreigners.