Building stronger support for international job seekers with city employment services
For many internationals, navigating the Finnish job market can feel like attempting to piece together a puzzle with mismatched parts.
Challenges like undefined career paths, qualifications that don’t translate easily to the Finnish market, and over-saturated, entry-level markets can make employment feel out of reach. Add to this the limited capacity of city employment services to address these unique needs, and many job seekers find themselves stuck in a cycle of frustration.
Through our ongoing pilot program in collaboration with the employment services of Vantaa, Riihimäki, Lahti, and Tampere, we’re exploring new ways to unlock opportunities for international job seekers.
Here’s what we’ve observed and how cities can build better employment services to meet these challenges head-on.
Main struggles international job seekers face
1. Generalists feel lost
Many job seekers come with a diverse range of skills, yet without a specific professional label or niche, they often struggle to position themselves in the Finnish job market. This lack of focus can leave both the job seeker and employment advisors unsure about the best direction to take. For generalists, the challenge lies in translating their adaptability into a compelling story for employers.
2. Experience might not translate easily
Professionals with highly specialized experience from industries like banking, HR, or accounting may face barriers in continuing their career seamlessly in Finland due lack of expertise in local-specific knowledge, such as Finnish regulations, laws, or systems. Their expertise, while valuable, can feel sidelined, leaving them in career limbo with no clear path forward.
3. The career-switcher struggle
Retraining in a new field is often seen as a fresh start, but for many, it brings new hurdles. Over-saturated markets and limited entry-level roles can turn finding an internship or junior position into an uphill battle, making the promise of a quick transition feel elusive.
Why current employment services fall short and how you can fix it
Despite your vital role as a city employment service, you might sometimes miss critical opportunities to support international job seekers effectively. Let’s look at the current issues and what we think you can do to address them.
1. Rush to retrain
Too often, individuals are steered toward low-wage roles or lengthy retraining programs without first exploring their existing skills, motivations, and potential career alignments.
How to fix it: adopt a coaching mindset
You need to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. By adopting a coaching perspective, your advisors can work with job seekers to map out their full talent profile—skills, interests, and motivations—and align these with realistic opportunities in the job market. This empowers job seekers to present their strengths authentically, whether in applications, networking, or interviews, resulting in higher engagement and trust from the employer side.
2. Limited market insight
Your employment advisors may lack up-to-date knowledge about the current job market and what modern roles truly require. This gap can lead to mismatched career guidance and missed opportunities.
How to fix it: bridge the gap with market knowledge
City employment services must foster deeper ties with local businesses to stay informed about the evolving job market. By understanding what roles entail and how different industries operate, advisors can make more informed recommendations. This alignment ensures job seekers are pointed toward roles where their skills and the market’s demands overlap.
3. Underusing strengths
The potential to blend previous expertise with new ambitions often goes unrecognized. This oversight leaves valuable skills untapped and job seekers feeling disconnected from their career journeys.
How to fix it: encourage career creativity
Why ask job seekers to abandon their past when their unique mix of experience and ambition can open new doors? Employment services could seek to explore “hybrid” career paths—roles that combine a person’s previous expertise with new interests. For example, a background in banking might translate to valuable insights for a FinTech company. These creative connections can lead to fulfilling opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.
The role of cities in building better futures
Cities have a critical role to play in shaping employment services that aren't just reactive but proactive. By focusing on the strengths and motivations of internationals, cultivating market understanding, and embracing modern career trajectories, you can help internationals not only navigate but thrive in the Finnish job market.
The job market may be competitive, but with tailored support and smarter strategies, you have a chance to accurately identify the potential of international talent—turning challenges into opportunities and job seekers into contributors to their local economies.
Want to learn more about the pilot? Subscribe to the Herizon Impact Newsletter or email our team directly at sini@herizon.io
