Marketing job opportunities in Uusimaa/ Helsinki area?

[kath77]

Helloooo! I have been with my Finnish boyfriend since more than three years - he lives in Espoo - myself in Germany... I am a German native. Now we think about moving together and discuss advantages and disadvantages of living in Germany, Finland etc.
Somehow he cannot give any advice whether there are possibilities for me to get an English speaking marketing job in the Helsinki area, cause he is into a completely different business.
I have been searching the internet already for companies located in the Helsinki area with English being the office language. But it seems to be quite difficult to find an "English" job unless you are into IT etc.

I am 32 years old and have been working in the marketing (metal industry) for about 6 years -(office language English).
Since more than 3 years I am with my current employer - an international FMCG / food company. I'd love to stick to this, but also know that it might be difficult to work in the FMCG business as a brand manager, in the direct marketing or market research unless you have perfect Finnish language skills.
I have been learning Finnish in evening classes for more than 3 years ... but it is still so limited . I do alright when asking for something in the supermarket or need to approach people asking for the way, it is very basic indeed, hehe.

I love Finland as much as I love Germany. Generally I do not favour any of these two countries. But I do love my job a lot and earn good money. I am not keen on becoming a big manager or director, but I like what I am doing now. IN the end of a day I would not even mind doing a job that eventually is not that good. But preferrably I'd like to carry on with the Marketing.

Maybe there is a marketer in here who could give a little advice?!

[rinso]

As you already discovered, finding an English speaking job outside the IT sector is not easy. And in the present situation finding a job at all is difficult.
So if you don't speak Finnish, you have to bring something special before they even consider you.

[raamv]

If you are marketing Finnish products/services to international markets, you might have a chance..but then those jobs are already taken...either by a Finn or by Foreigners who are already here..
Consider these things:
number of marketing jobs are better if Germany than here
Pay scale there is much better than here..
Taxes are also lower in Germany than here..
After 6 years of experience, you will probably start at the bottom of the marketing scale..and work upwards to your current scale which could take a decade..
Since Finnish is the essential "management" lingo here, you need fluent skills to be a part of the management team ..unless you are Uber good!!
"brand manager, in the direct marketing or market research" All require fluent Finnish, Swedish, English and sometimes a 4th language ( Russian) skill!!
apart from a Master's degree and 5-10 yrs of experience!!
Considering all this, Can you ask your BF to relocate to Germany? or Start your own Company here and work all over EU!!
and as you can see there are a grand total of 29 positions in ALL of Finland for the English term marketing in the job search page..

[Desundial]

And just because they use "marketing" in english in those titles, it doesn't mean the job language is English. Lots of marketing jobs are listed under the English name for the position, but then described in Finland.

If you have a good career already in marketing, particularly in FMCG, it is very unlikely you will be able to move here and find an equivelant position. Maybe you could find something through a transfer with your current company. Or try the steel companies (who are not hiring right now, but cutting costs). But consider, the majority of consumer marketing jobs in Finland, whether they be with a foreign MNC or not, require native Finnish because the job envolves marketing to Finns and will involve Finnish subcontractors (ad agency, print house, internet service firm, research agency). As an example - if you go to Taylor Nelson in Finland all of the research tools (panel data, product categories, product names, etc) are in Finnish. The staff can give you a presentation in English, but if it includes market data most of the actual data tables will be in Finnish. Consider what you do now in work, and then think about how you would function if you didn't speak German. Would you have that job? Consider also that there are abundant Finns competing for those markeing jobs who are 1.) native speakers 2.) excellent english speakers 3.)very likely speak also a professional level of swedish/german/french/maybe russian. In domestic marketing it is very hard to pitch your talents against such competition.

Don't mean to put too grim a face on it, but this is the reality.

[Mölkky-Fan]

I am getting many cold calls from marketing companies at the moment, which I guess means they are feeling the recession pinch.
I would therefore guess they are not hiring too many new people at the moment.

If you check out the internet, every marketing company always says that 'it is a proven fact that you should increase marketing during a recession'.
This is a sure fire way of knowing that marketing companies will be the first to be in trouble as companies look for cost savings everywhere!

[Pursuivant]

And how do I find a marketing job in Germany if nix sprechen? You do have a chance of going through the Finnish metal companies, like Outokumpu and the likes as that is a niche market and they're pretty competitive and global. The onus though then is your job might be in Tornio and your BF's job not.

[kath77]

Many thanks for all your comments and advices. I had already been assuming that it would be everything but easy finding an appropriate job
The FMCG group I work for has two offices in Helsinki but currently no open vacancies. And as some of you mentioned before.. working for instance as a brand manager in FMCG needs excellent language skills for the local market.
I have a bachelor's degree plus a European diploma in direct marketing , I speak German, English and French.
My current focus is CRM/ CRM databases/ direct and online marketing ....and I just love it! But I know it's impossible working in the direct marketing in Finland.

But BF and myself are in no hurry and we think about moving together sometime next year. So hopefully the economical situation has recovered by then. My boyfriend's German is okay but at the moment it would not be easy finding a job for him here either.
Well, at least we see twice a month so we can cope with the situation.. more or less

The only thing I do not agree is that you must be a Finnish native for big marketing or director position. Especially in these positions it is not required to speak the language of the country you work in. We have a German Director in the Czech Republic (speaking no Czech), an English guy being the Austrian director (not speaking a word of German), a Croation in Moscow, a French guy in The Netherlands etc...it's unfair, isn't it

I know that many people are kinda blue-eyed when moving abroad thinking "I learn the language just by living in this country". For this reason I try to collect as many ideas, advices and impressions as possible.
Just hope that BF and I can start living together someday, hehe.

[mjam1978]

Obviously keep an eye on any jobs that your german firm might have in Finland.

But I would focus on big German companies advertising in Germany for posistions in Finland. The likes of BMW, Audi and so on will have massive databases that require a centralised approach but need to appoint local CRM managers to implement defined database stratgies.

In addition if you enjoy direct marketing and online marketing then you might want to look at global below the line creative agencies and take an account management role. It is a long term strategy but you could join a firm in Germany and look to take a posistion in finland a year or two down the line.

Many of my friends have used creative agencies to travel the world while working at the same time!

Alas, marketing jobs at the moment are difficult to come by in such difficult times. But those that wish to take advantage of the opportunites that such times bring will need to actually create more jobs in marketing. It is a catch 22.

I wish you luck in your search.

[finlandforumuser]

Current crisis market is very problematic. Nokia fires many sails people with deep local and international backgound. Competing to locals could be a huge challenge. But try. Finnish langauge in Uusiama is kind of optional but experience and other job seekers are biggest issue so far.

[Pursuivant]

Problem is that if the companies have laid off, they must rehire the old people first before offering the jobs to outsiders.

[raamv]

The only thing I do not agree is that you must be a Finnish native for big marketing or director position. Especially in these positions it is not required to speak the language of the country you work in. We have a German Director in the Czech Republic (speaking no Czech), an English guy being the Austrian director (not speaking a word of German), a Croation in Moscow, a French guy in The Netherlands etc...it's unfair, isn't it

I know that many people are kinda blue-eyed when moving abroad thinking "I learn the language just by living in this country". For this reason I try to collect as many ideas, advices and impressions as possible.
Just hope that BF and I can start living together someday, hehe.

Remember that this is Finland ( and similar in attitude to Nordic cultures )..
In FINLAND
The higher you want to go, in terms of a career, the better off you must be, and better than the aspired positions' boss!!
So if you want to be a Director, you must have the skillsets of a VP!! Plus the language sets, plus the culture sets...etc
There are exceptions...but that's bcos those are positions that are pretty unique!! and are not many..
Generally, to get into a management position takes a lot of years and cultural skills and the Finns's management circle is the most closed compared to all of the Nordics..
So, you not only need to have a language skill to converse, you need to be "trusted" by those people to be one of them..
Most companies here follow the M by P model!! and even if they say that its not and we are different, deep down, inside the mindset of a manager, there is that sense of "control" and power!
Sometimes the upper management even orders the lower managers not to think M by P