Original: [https://www.hs.fi/paivanlehti/20022024/art-2000010227749.html](https://www.hs.fi/paivanlehti/20022024/art-2000010227749.html)
EN translation:
HS reported (February 13) about Quivine Ndomo’s doctoral research, according to which immigrants are directed to low-wage jobs in Finland.
IT IS worrying that Finland still does not know how to take advantage of the added value that international experts bring to our country and business life. As industrial order backlogs decrease, new market openings are needed. There are already missing pieces of growth in Finland, if only we are able to more courageously utilize the potential of all people living in Finland.
Innolink interviewed 600 technology industry managers on behalf of Business Finland, and the result was clear: international experts who are employed in expert or management positions create new business opportunities and open up new markets for companies. The longer the companies have employed international experts and, regardless of their background, the experts have been able to advance to expert or management positions in the company, the more significant growth the companies have made.
IN THE REPORT, it was found that companies that use international labor have grown faster on average during the review period than those companies that do not have international labor. The company’s decision-makers say that thanks to international experts, the work culture in the company has become more diversified and enriched.
International experts open up new markets for companies.
According to our second recent report, companies in low-wage sectors see significant financial risks to their business if the availability of labor for international recruitment weakens. Business decision-makers in low-wage industries perceive international experts as motivated, hardworking and productive employees.
Companies in lower-paying sectors feel that the employees’ training corresponds to their current job duties. There is a big difference of opinion regarding low-paid work in Finland for people with a foreign background. **Almost 60 percent of the employees who responded to the report’s survey see that their educational background would have significantly more to contribute to working life in Finland if their skills were recognized.**
**84 percent of the respondents say that they do not work in positions similar to their education, and 66 percent of them dream of working in positions similar to their education**. It’s sad to read that every tenth respondent has already given up on their dreams of getting jobs that match their skills.
Jobs in the LOW WAGE INDUSTRY while studying are everyday for both Finnish and foreign students and offer valuable lessons about working life. However, highly educated experts should not be forced to remain stuck in entry-level occupations against their will – that is a waste of competence resources.
Joonas Halla
Development manager
Laura Lindeman
Manager
Work in Finland, Business Finland
by Ok_A_crypto_32
3 comments
>**Almost 60 percent of the employees who responded to the report’s survey see that their educational background would have significantly more to contribute to working life in Finland if their skills were recognized.**
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>**84 percent of the respondents say that they do not work in positions similar to their education, and 66 percent of them dream of working in positions similar to their education**.
IMPORTANT to know for ambitious and career oriented international students and professionals who recently moved to Finland, or the ones considering Finland as a destination based on random English-made talent attraction campaigns. You’ll have to work really hard anyway, better do it in countries with a better ROI like Germany, Canada or USA.
If Joonas Halla knows better, he should start a company and hire all those international experts and make profit.
As somebody who studied in Finland I’ve seen this happening myself. The thing is, many industries still require a comprehensible level of Finnish. This is a bit double-edged: On the one hand the Finnish language is beautiful and should be preserved. Also people who live in Finland should learn the language.
On the other hand, the Finnish language is nightmarishly complex and it’s somewhat uniqueness provides some additional challenges. I have no doubt that if I wanted to, if I really wanted to, I could learn Swedish or Danish quite quickly considering I speak German already. But as for learning Finnish…it requires you to basically rewire your entire brain if you learn it late in life.
I also know of one guy, educated, hard working and speaks Finnish. Learned the language within six months with rigorous study and is still learning to this day, although his Finnish is quite good. Thing is: He’s Vietnamese. It’s sad, but these companies don’t seem to hire him based on that alone. Sometimes I would like to switch out my name for his and see if he’d get an interview like that (although my name isn’t Finnish, but it is far more western).