Jobseekers in Finland had fewer open positions to choose from in early autumn and the employment ministry says that unemployment is set to rise in 2021, with furloughs continuing into next summer. Despite the grim outlook, tech recruiter Sofia Pohls told APN that people with a tech background shouldn’t have trouble finding work.
"Definitely a lot of data analyst roles, data engineers, we are looking for a lot of machine learning people, a lot of people to work with AI. So all these roles are in high demand at the moment and the talent pool is very limited," Pohls said.
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Pohls said jobs would also be available in social and healthcare, leadership and creative fields as well as in sectors requiring manual labour, such as construction. She urged people looking for work to be sure to build up their network of contacts and references since that can go a long way in Finland.
Advice on salaries, contracts and work trials
We asked labour market experts for advice on a number of employment-related issues, such as language and other forms of discrimination, salary transparency, Finland’s system of work trials or "työkokeilu" and fixed-term job contracts.
APN spoke with Katja-Pia Jenu, an inspector of the Southwest Finland State Regional Administrative Agency (commonly known as Avi) and Inka Douglas, a lawyer with STTK, the white collar union confederation. Both said that the general rule in Finnish law is that employers should always justify the reason for a fixed-term, rather than a permanent contract.
"If the employer has got a permanent need for labour then the work contract should be valid indefinitely," Jenu said.
"Fixed-term contracts are illegal when drawn up for the same job repeatedly between the same parties without the justified reason referred to in the legislation," Douglas noted.
Jobseekers can find additional information and resources on the website of the Regional State Administrative Agencies. Jobhunters and employed persons can also turn to an advice hotline provided by the blue collar trade union confederation SAK.
The website also offers useful information on working life in Finland. Guidance about work permits is also available on the website of the Finnish Immigration Service, Migri.
Football and farewells
Following Finland’s football loss in Cardiff to Wales on Wednesday, Egan accepted a challenge from APN fan Matthew Davenport, and gamely delivered a football prophecy in Welsh.
The show wrapped with a farewell to Denise, who will be leaving the podcast and Yle.
Join the conversation!
This week's show was presented by Denise Wall and Egan Richardson. The producer was Ronan Browne and the sound designer and audio engineer was Laura Koso.
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