Are skilled IT people really scarce in Finland?

DMC · Post by **DMC** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:46 am

A few years ago when I was searching for work in the UK I got onto a number of job & contract mailing lists, and I still get regular mails that I rarely open. I did happen to look at one today and was surprised to see this:

Oracle DBA/Consultant X2, Accounting or GL knowledge a bonus
Although a UK based company, this role will be based in Finland for up to two years returning for weekends in the UK. You will have the opportunity to work in other areas thereafter...
Job Type: Permanent
Salary: To £55k + bens + car allowance + fuel card + £bonus
http://www.theitjobboard.com/index.php? ... _id=e10001

Why is it necessary to fly a Brit in every week? Surely there should be someone available in Finland?
Last month I received a completely unsolicited job offer from a Finnish company. Why would they do that?
We mentioned here recently that finding Windows developers is difficult. Why?

Currently there seems to be a constant stream of lay-offs in Finland, so why is it so hard to recruit staff? Where is the army of natives with masters degrees and fluent Finnish who are supposed to make it impossible for foreigners to get a job? Something seems very strange in the job market at the moment.

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Oombongo · Post by **Oombongo** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:27 am

quite unusual if you ask me

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:55 am

Presumably the company in question wants to hire and train a permanent employee who they will then use to deploy their applications worldwide (ie long term). I assume this company no subsidiary in Finland, so cannot hire locally under Finnish law and pay in Euro. There are probably plenty of people who could do the job in Finland, I don't think that is the issue in this case. In fact, there is probably nothing to stop a Finn applying for that particular job and no one will force him to fly to the UK at weekends.

OTOH, whoever applies for the job won't see their £ go very far up here, and although "benefits" are included there is no specific mention of a housing allowance.... Not sure about the personal income tax relief in the UK if working abroad, not as generous as it used to be... IIRC travel days are no longer included in the count.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:03 am

Then again if its project work, the fly-in is probably contracted for the 2 years and costs the company X a year, which you can write off as expenses, and after the 2 years you expect him to piss off as per the contract with the outsourcing. The resident you need to pay the salary + social security + insurance = X+n and then getting rid of him is tedious and nobody wants a job for just 2 years. Besides which Oracle DBA is one of the "magic words" and you can't get a good one cheap and getting into Oracle is a long road.

mrjimsfc · Post by **mrjimsfc** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:29 am

Salary: To £55k + bens + car allowance + fuel card + £bonus

A real whizkid with Oracle DBA skils should be starting at 60k + with all the other benefits mentioned.
I agree with Hank, some company is trying to get by on the cheap by screwing over the unwary applicant.

irnbru · Post by **irnbru** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:44 pm

mrjimsfc wrote:A real whizkid with Oracle DBA skils should be starting at 60k + with all the other benefits mentioned.

In Finland?

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:27 pm

irnbru wrote:
mrjimsfc wrote:A real whizkid with Oracle DBA skils should be starting at 60k + with all the other benefits mentioned.
In Finland?

in £? or $ or €? Paying taxes an all that jazz to us, uk or finland..?

mrjimsfc · Post by **mrjimsfc** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:41 am

Upphew wrote:
irnbru wrote:
mrjimsfc wrote:A real whizkid with Oracle DBA skils should be starting at 60k + with all the other benefits mentioned.
In Finland?
in £? or $ or €? Paying taxes an all that jazz to us, uk or finland..?

In Finland that would be €. Based on the statement above, I would guess that irnbru is not a whizkid.

irnbru · Post by **irnbru** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:45 am

mrjimsfc wrote:Based on the statement above, I would guess that irnbru is not a whizkid.

Been working with Oracle for about 3 years. I'm not a whizkid but even our most anally retentive Finnish DB guru doesn't get near that figure. You would get that in the US/UK sure enough.

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