Any bus driver out there?

[jugazabal]

Hi to all,
We are planning to go next summer to my mother in law's summer cabin in Karhi (25 km north of Kokkola). The idea is to use this house as a base and look for a job either in Kokkola or even Oulu, as a last resort. I'm thinking in trying my luck driving local buses in Tampere which is one of the biggest cities (and housing is not so prohibitive as Helsinki) and relies on buses as the main means of public transportation (which should result in more driving jobs available). I have more experience driving coaches than lorries and I would also like to have a job where I can go home every day, that's why driving buses appeals more to me, though if needs be I could also drive trucks (no experience with w&d there, just run of the mill artics). My wife has family in Karhi, so they could give us a hand settling in, but I think that we'll have to look for job further south.
I am interested in driving local buses. I have visited the web site of the Tampere local council and there seems to be a permanent need for bus drivers, although no vacancies are posted, only the information that they are willing to hear from experienced and novel drivers alike. My wife has the Finnish nationality (her mother is Finnish) so now both her and my son (8) are Finnish. She can speak Finnish pretty well and I am studying this puzzling language as fast as I can (we are planning to go to Finland on June next year). I already can talk basic Finnish, but I always have this nagging question of, will it be enough to secure me a job in an interview?
The whole idea of going to Finland is twofold: first, the situation here in Spain is not very promising in terms of employment (almost 1 in 4 is out of job) and also I want my kid to become a real Finnish (he's got the papers and a basic knowledge of the Finnish language, but that's about it) so he can choose when he grows up which country (Spain or Finland) suits him best to live in. My wife is also happy to go, as she has always wanted to live there in Finland and now that she got the papers we can live there indefinitely. In my case, I'm a language enthusiast ( I get on quite well in English, French, Italian and Portuguese and I know some German) and I really love being exposed to a different culture (It was great living in the UK)
I got my HGV licence in Spain, then I moved to the UK (Oxford) and got there my D license (on the wrong side of the road ). I drove in the UK mainly doing coach transport (London-Oxford and Heathrow and Gatwick airports). That means I have about four years experience driving local buses and coaches.
So, the main question boils down to this: Should I contact each local council separately and ask them for available driving positions or these vacancies are posted in the MOL system? I have tried to look for these bus vacancies there but I have not found them.
Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.

[Upphew]

So, the main question boils down to this: Should I contact each local council separately and ask them for available driving positions or these vacancies are posted in the MOL system? I have tried to look for these bus vacancies there but I have not found them.
Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.

It's not the councils that hire, it is the bus companies that operate the buses that do the hiring: try for example http://www.paunu.fi/toihin.html for Tampere.

For other companies to google for: http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luettelo_S ... 6ist%C3%A4

[Pursuivant]

Well, the MOL doesn't seem to have a huge abundance of vacancies posted at the moment. If you do a search they usually go for either linja-autonkuljettaja (coach driver) vs. bussinkuljettaja (city bus driver) or just mention D. As said, the buses can be in a "city livery" but the routes are bid and run by separate operators even theres a common ticketing system. Besides local companies theres european players like Concordia and Connex competing for the city traffic. One new player in the field for coaches is www.onnibus.fi - but it may fold if cheap is too cheap. Don't know how much luck you will have without the language, even the bus drivers here operate with a friendly grunt.They do have had special immigrant classes to train bus drivers in the bigger cities, so its nothing that peculiar for them, but you will probably need to brush up on your reaction to "puolikas Kakkilan tienhaaraan" for smaller local companies.

[Upphew]

Don't know how much luck you will have without the language, even the bus drivers here operate with a friendly grunt.

"Tervetuloa Savonlinja yhtiöiden Expressbussin pikavuorolle nönnönnööstä nannannaahan, kuljettajananne toimii Mikko Mallikas ja aikataulun mukaan olemme piipaassa xx.yy ja duudaassa xx.zz. Pysähdymme myös kaikilla pikavuoropysäkeillä tarvittaessa. Autossa on WC takaosassa ja etuosassa on lehtiä. Hyvää matkaa" or something like that seems to be "by the book"...

[jugazabal]

Thanks for the information. I have checked up the links to get a better grasp of the way the companies advertise their positions, but they do not display their vacancies, only encourage you to apply for any jobs that may arise. I suppose I will have to fill in these forms, though I assume that the prospective employers will not pay much attention to someone out of the country. Anyway, thanks for the help and taking the time to answer, both Upphew and Pursuivant.