This is my first blog post. This blog is about my experience of job hunting in Finland, as we all know that Finland is the world’s happiest country. Honestly, I agree with this. I believe it is one of the best places to live in the world.
I came to this beautiful country in 2015. I came here for my master’s studies in business and economics. My first impression about this country is “wow, what a beautiful country it is.” In the beginning, I loved my school, my city, student village, neighbourhood and so on. However, my view was forced to change when I was finishing my master’s studies and started to look for a job. In my opinion, if you are a business graduate who doesn’t speak Finnish, then Finland is a difficult place for you to start your career. Usually, I applied for jobs which are related to my field and doesn’t require the Finnish language. In the last three years, I have applied for more than 2000 jobs in the field of marketing and management. I also applied for roles like office assistant and coordinator. From this 2000 applications, I got only three calls for the interview. For each of my interview, I thought this is my final chance, and I need to give my best. That’s why I gave my best and got selected for the last round of interview each time. However, the result remains the same. I did not get the job. After the interview, the feedback I got is like this, “unfortunately, we can not proceed with you this time because we think you are overqualified for this position”, “we decided to proceed with a better candidate” or “we got a Finnish speaker”.
This year, every week, I applied at least 8 to 10 jobs. Every week starts with a rejection email “thank you for your interest in our company, unfortunately, we decided not to proceed with you this time”. Most of the times, I got this email on Monday and Friday. So, I can say my weeks start with rejection and ends with a refusal. To get a job I tried different types of approach, for example, I tried to contact with HR of the company and ask him or her about the role, about myself and every time they told me I think your profile is good enough for this so you can apply.
Moreover, I tried to contact the CEO, HR, or hiring managers via LinkedIn or phone. They told me “right now, we don’t have any opening’s, or your profile is suitable, so please apply”. But no matter what I do, the result remains the same. Every rejection makes me feel sad, depressed. It makes me think that I am not qualified enough for any job or I am good for nothing, that’s why this is happening with me. Therefore, I should stop applying. However, sometimes I can see some hope, for example: recently, I met with a girl who used to work with me as a cleaner in a hotel. She told me she got a job. She is a student of cultural studies who nor has any job experience, neither she speaks Finnish.
Nevertheless, she is working as a marketing executive. This news made me happy and gave me hope that maybe something is there for me as well. If she can do it, then I can do it as well. I am still applying for jobs, and yet again, my week starts and ends with rejection. My hope keeps me alive, and I hope somebody will believe me, and I will find a suitable position for myself.
anik's blog 