Erica Kononen

Integrating Qualified Immigrants through SMEs A Report on How SMEs can play a More Significant Role in the Employment of Qualified Immigrants

Julkaisija: University of Helsinki, Career Services Tekijät Erica Kononen Julkaisun nimi: Integrating Qualified Immigrants through SMEs - A Report on How SMEs can play a More Significant Role in the Employment of Qualified Immigrants Julkaisun laji: Report ISBN: ISBN 978-952-10-7939-9 Kokonaissivumäärä: 22 Kieli: English Verkkoaineston osoite: http://www.valoa-hanke.fi

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Content

I. Introduction 2 a. Background of the Study 2 b. Objectives of the Report 3 c. Relevant Stakeholders 3 d. The Report in relation to VALOA 3

II. Scope and Limitations 4 a. Data Gathering 4 b. The Subjects Chosen 4 c. Profiles of the Interviewees 5

III. How to Read the Report 6

IV. Results of the Study 6 1) Common Characteristics of the SMEs 6

1.a. International Exposure of the Person in Charge of Human Resources 6 1.b. Company History 7 1.c. Motivation for Hiring Foreigners 8 1.d. Alternative Recruitment Channels 9

2) The Shared Traits and Attitudes of the Foreign Employees 10 2.a. They Used their Networks Strategically 10 2.b. The Foreign Workers Marketed Themselves Well 12 2.c. Ability to Market their Fluency in a Language Other than Finnish 13

3.) Long-term Plan to Stay in Finland 14 4.) Common Experiences of the Foreign Employees in Finnish SMEs 16

4.1. Freedom in the Workplace 16 4.2. No Formal Introduction to the Company 19

V. Making Sense of the Results 21

VI. Next Steps and Conclusion 21

Works Cited 22

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I. Introduction

a. Background of the Study I have lived, worked, and studied in Finland for the last six years. During my time in Finland, I have met many foreigners who have come to love this country. They appreciate the clean air, the working bureaucracy, the quietness of the people, and the safe environment. Those that are married often cite how grateful they are for the government subsidy for their Finnish education, their unemployment, or their parental duties. In spite of how pleasant the experience of living in Finland generally is, more often than not, I also hear disgruntled tones from those who feel lonely while living here. While loneliness can be aggravated by the long winters, living away from their families, dark nights, and silence, the main frustration seems to arise from the immigrants’ inability to find employment related to their education and professional experiences. After years of applying for countless jobs, most of them end up underemployed or stay unemployed. The long drought of unemployment eventually becomes a lifestyle which directly affects their self-esteem. This in turn causes them to believe that they will never find their professional niches in Finland. Statistics show that by 2015, Finland will have the largest number of retired citizens in the entire European Union (EU), which is expected to cause a shortage of labor (Euromonitor, 2009). Because of this, various sectors believe that Finland needs to attract and retain qualified immigrants in order to maintain its competitiveness (Oinonen, 2006). In fact, in recent years, Finland has been heavily promoting itself as a great place to live and work, as evidenced by articles written in countries such as India (Lall, 2008) and the Philippines. In theory, filling the labor shortage by attracting immigrants should be achievable. For example, between the years 1987 and 2008, a steadily increasing number of immigrants settled in Finland. In 1987, the net migration was only 667, but the number has since jumped up to 15 547 per year in 2008 (Statistics Finland, 2009). Interestingly, in 2009, the top two reasons for moving to Finland were education and employment (Finnish Immigration Service, 2009). Based on this data, it seems that Finland should have enough qualified or educated migrants to fill the labor shortage. However, this is not the case. Two separate studies, conducted by Forsander and Aräjärvi in the years 2000 and 2008 respectively, discovered that unemployment among the immigrant population is often many times higher as compared to the general population. To put it simply, there are less job opportunities for immigrants than we are led to believe. I am aware that there are many factors why foreigners can be considered unemployable. These include the immigrant population’s non-fluency in the Finnish (or the Swedish) language (Aräjärvi, 2008) and the migration of talents from industries that do not need replacement labor (Forsander, 2000). However, as in any societal problem, solutions often come in many forms. It is my belief that this is where tapping into the potential of the many small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, in Finland would be a great advantage. According to the European Commission, SMEs are often referred to as the backbone of the European economy and thus play a decisive role in promoting the economy. SMEs employ a significant percentage of the European workforce. (Schiemann, 2006) At the moment, there seems to be no obvious collaboration between public offices, higher education institutions, and SMEs regarding the employment of immigrants. This is therefore what this paper is all

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about – presenting the good case practices of two Finnish SMEs and how they were able to find, employ, and integrate their foreign employees. In the course of presenting the case studies, I will delve into three things: (1) what common characteristics both SMEs had that made them fertile companies for harnessing foreign talents, (2) what the foreigners’ common characteristics and attitudes were that led them to be hired (and retained), and (3) what common experiences the foreigners had when working in Finnish SMEs and how this knowledge can be put to good use in the future.

b. Objectives of the Report The intention of this paper is to provide useful and thought-provoking points as to how SMEs can play a key role in employing and integrating foreigners into the Finnish working society. As such, the following data will be extracted from the conducted interviews:

1. The common characteristics that both SMEs had, which led them to hire foreigners into the companies, and how these characteristics can be used to identify potential employers in the future;

2. The educational and professional competencies of the interviewed foreigners and the role they played in their employment and retention;

3. The shared traits and attitudes of the foreign workers and how they contributed to their employability in Finland;

4. The foreign employees´ shared experiences of working in a Finnish SME and how this information can be used to support international degree students in their employment and retention process.

c. Relevant Stakeholders Although SMEs are the central subjects of this report, it is my belief that two key groups of stakeholders would find the data presented here highly relevant. The first group is that of international degree students. They should observe and learn from their fellow foreigners as to how they found employment in the country. The students who read this report might find it encouraging to learn about how their colleagues have integrated into the Finnish work life. The second group is the staff of higher education institutions, particularly those who are in charge of the well-being of international degree students. There is much to be learned about how SMEs view foreign labor and the recruitment services offered by various groups. I hope that after reading the learning points of this report, both groups of stakeholders will be able to use them to forward the cause of employing international degree students in Finland.

d. The Report in relation to VALOA This report was commissioned by VALOA, a partly EU-funded project that aims to increase the employment opportunities of international degree students. In order to achieve this, the project enhances the cooperation between representatives of companies and educational institutions. (VALOA, 2010) The rich information related to how the foreigners found jobs, how they integrated into the companies, and how the companies decided to hire foreigners can provide VALOA and relevant parties a chance to preliminarily examine how educational institutions and international students can approach SMEs and encourage them to hire international students in their companies.

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II. Scope and Limitations This report is by no means a formal research paper as defined by most university standards. Rather, this is an informal presentation of the data gathered over the course of four months and six interviews. I would like to request readers to consider all conclusions from this perspective. While I will analyze the findings and present them in an easy-to-read format to serve as useful information for readers, please note that I am doing further research for my Master’s Degree thesis for the HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences’ International Business Management program.

a. Data Gathering The data gathering process took place over the course of four months. The first two months were devoted to short-listing possible subjects. Once the SMEs were identified, I asked for their permission to interview them for this study. For the record, the main criteria for short-listing the companies were the following:

They had less than 1 000 employees. The companies were founded by Finnish entrepreneurs. The companies were founded in Finland. They have a non-Finnish speaking foreign employee who has been in the company for at least a

year. The two companies do not belong to the same industry nor do they have headquarters in the same

city. With approval from VALOA, the two companies were chosen and interview dates were set up. There were discussions as to who should be interviewed within the company. It was agreed that three subjects from each company will be interviewed – the employee responsible for Human Resources and two foreign employees. The team believed that these three subjects will best provide insight as to how qualified immigrants can find and retain employment in Finnish SMEs. After this decision, two sets of questions were prepared by me. Feedback was given by members of VALOA and my thesis advisor. The questions were edited three times before the final sets of questions were approved. The questions asked from the subjects can be found in the annex. Please note that although there was a prepared list of questions, it was agreed that exploratory questions were allowed in order to obtain more useful data.

b. The Subjects Chosen The company subjects for this report are Hermia Limited and Cesim Limited. Hermia Limited is an SME based in Tampere, Finland. Its main clients are technology companies who seek growth, development, and competitiveness by coordinating relationships between their clients and universities, public organizations, and research institutions. (Hermia, 2010) Hermia currently has two foreign employees, one from Canada and one from the United States. Over the last four years, Hermia has been hiring foreign interns to work for their company on a short-term basis. The reason behind this strategy is their long-term desire to become more international by working with international projects more frequently. It is through their internship programs that they have employed one of the interviewees included in this report.

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Cesim Limited is a Helsinki-based company that offers corporations, universities, and other educational institutions easy-to-use and cost-effective business simulations that can be integrated into various business courses. The company currently employs ten foreigners from eight different countries. (Cesim, 2010) They began to employ foreigners into their sales force after a decision to focus on boosting the international side of their business. For them, hiring foreigners was a natural decision, because they believe that hiring native people from their target countries or markets brings more value as these foreigners are expected to possess an in-depth, personal understanding of the said markets. From each company, I interviewed three subjects: (1) the person in charge of Human Resources (who, in both cases, was the Managing Director) and (2) two foreign employees. All interviews were recorded and transcribed.

c. Profiles of the Interviewees Interviewee no. 1 is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Hermia Limited. As COO, he is the head in charge of the operational management of the company, including Human Resources. Interviewee no. 1 is Finnish. Interviewee no. 2 is a Project Manager at Hermia Limited. Her main responsibilities include coordinating European Union (EU) research projects and their activities with the ubiquitous computing cluster in Finland. She has been with the company and in Finland for almost three years. During her career in Hermia, her responsibilities have changed. She was first hired as a trainee in 2007 and became a permanent employee after nine months. The interviewee is of Scottish descent and has a BA Honors degree in International Business and Modern Languages from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. She speaks fluent English and German. She received her internship placement in Hermia through a student work exchange program coordinated by AIESEC in Finland. Interviewee no. 3 is currently a thesis worker in Hermia’s open innovation project called Demola. He has been with the company for six months – first as an intern and then as a thesis worker. At the time of the interview, the interviewee was confident that he will be contracted by Demola after his thesis is done. He is originally from the United States. His decision to move to Finland was motivated by his commitment to his Finnish fiancé. Prior to working for Demola, he had found short-term jobs with various organizations such as the Tampere University of Applied Sciences, MTV3, and an English-speaking day care center. He is currently studying International Business at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences and expects to complete his degree this year. Interviewee no. 3 has an Associate’s Degree in Business from Lansing Community College (in the United States) and a 2-year Film School degree from the Travis Institute (in Canada). Interviewee no. 4 is the Managing Director at CESIM. As Managing Director, he is in charge of managing the operations and leading the sales team. Interviewee no. 4 comes from Finland. Interviewee no. 5 is a Hungarian citizen who has lived in Finland for three years, including an exchange year at the University of Kuopio. She has a Master’s Degree in Economics and is fluent in English, Hungarian, and German. She has been in CESIM since 2008 and is responsible for client building and sales in the Hungarian and German markets. Her Finnish work experience is not limited to CESIM as she has also worked for a university spin-off company for eight months in Kuopio. Interviewee no. 6 comes from Spain and has lived in Finland intermittently from the year 2005 onward. He first moved here as an exchange student at the University of Helsinki where he studied for a year. After this, he returned to Finland to do his international placement at VTT. Because of the poor economy, he

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was unable to secure a permanent contract at VTT. He then found himself looking for a job for a few months before he was hired to do part-time English to Spanish translations at CESIM. After a few months of working part-time for CESIM, he was offered the possibility to handle the sales and marketing of the company’s Spanish and Latin American markets. He seized the opportunity and has been working at CESIM ever since. Interviewee no. 6 has a Master’s Degree in Forestry from Spain and is also currently completing his second Master’s Degree in Forestry and Economics at the University of Helsinki.

III. How to Read the Report As mentioned earlier, this study concentrates on presenting three main things:

(1) The common characteristics of the SMEs profiled; (2) The shared traits of the foreign employees; and (3) The common experiences of the foreign employees with regard to their workplaces.

These pieces of information were extracted to provide valid information that relevant stakeholders can use. For example, the results can be utilized when the career offices of higher education institutions are planning the post-graduation career of their international degree students. The report also presents suggestions for relevant stakeholders at the end of each result. They are usually disclosed in the concluding paragraphs of the text. The reader should note that in order to fully appreciate the points that are disclosed, I have added relevant quotations from the transcribed interviews. The quotations are all italicized and indented to ease reading. The interviewer is identified with the letter “I” while the interviewees are identified as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

IV. Results of the Study

1) Common Characteristics of the SMEs

1.a. International Exposure of the Person in Charge of Human Resources In both companies, the individuals in charge of the recruitment and overall management of the company had lived abroad studying, working, or both.

I: Have you lived abroad or studied abroad? 1: Yes, I have lived in the US.

I: Yeah. Have you lived abroad? 4: Yeah. I studied in US. I: Yeah. How long did you study in the US? 4: For two years. I’ve also been working in international domain and in Nordic circles. I: Okay. So you know how it is for foreigners to integrate? 4: Yeah, exactly.

While the managers’ work or study experiences abroad were not fully elaborated upon in the interviews, it was my impression, as the interviewer, that they were sensitive to the needs of their foreign employees.

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They were also well aware of the characteristics and competencies that their foreign employees had to have in order to perform well in their jobs. For example, in the excerpt of my conversation with interviewee 1 below, it is very clear that he was well aware of how difficult living in Finland can be for a foreigner. He cited that during the recruitment process, the candidate’s social skills and experiences from studying abroad played key roles in his/her recruitment.

I: So how big a factor were their university degrees or their higher education degrees in your hiring them? 1: It was kind of uh, basic premise. We wouldn’t, we wouldn’t hire them otherwise as some kind of a working experience and university degree. Of course like language and social skills and all the normal things. Finland is not that easy country to come in. And with (interviewee 2), she has been studying, a Scottish girl studying in German. So she, she has, had shown already some kind of an attitude that she can you know cope with, you know, another country cause this is not the easiest one to come in.

Because of this, I propose that higher education institutions identify companies that have internationally exposed people in their management team. As an initial step, it would be a good idea to reconnect with members of (the institutions’) alumni network who have gone on either work or study exchange. I believe that these people are sensitive to the issue of internationalization and would be willing to participate in activities that promote the well-being of international degree students.

1.b. Company History In both cases, the SMEs hired their first foreign intern or employee after ten to fifteen years of being in operation. It is interesting to observe that both companies had reached and overcome the first five years of being in operation. The first years are extremely crucial times for any start-up, since most end up closing down after a few years. It is therefore understandable that a certain level of stability in business operations must be reached before a company decides to expand further by hiring its first foreign employee.

I: So it was actually 15 years or something into the history of the company that you first hired…? 1: Yeah. Exactly, yeah. Yeah, in a sense we had like some summer trainees or people who were originally Russians who took care of our Russian activities but it was kind of uh, short term. They were short term people but this was kind of a more strategic decision that we should have all the time few people from abroad.

I: Okay, so when did your company first decide to hire a foreigner in the team? 4: When did we decide? That was 2006. I: 2006 so ten years after CESIM was established. 4: Yes, but we kind of too much focused when the company was established because the business we have now is very different from what it was in the beginning. So we can almost say that the company was reborn late 2005, early 2006 because that was when we started focusing on the international side of the business with educational institutions.

In light of this, it is very important for both foreign job seekers and work placement programs to consider the history of the company when approaching them for employment. While the start-up may have enough financial capital to hire foreigners, it might not have other adequate resources to utilize them to their full potential. It is very important to consider and study how a company has grown from its foundation to the

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present time when approaching them for internship or employment opportunities. They may be more receptive after a certain period has gone by in the company history.

1.c. Motivation for Hiring Foreigners

For both companies, it was a natural decision to hire foreigners into the team, because they wanted to expand the business toward a direction that catered to markets outside Finland. In their view, hiring foreigners who had actually lived in the realities of these international markets would provide added value because of the conscious and unconscious knowledge that the foreigners were presumed to have about their own countries and/or market areas. In both cases, the companies seemed to have realistic expectations concerning what their first full-time foreign employee could contribute to the company. The managers understood the opportunities and challenges that emerge when introducing a foreign member into their team. Thus, when integrating the new employees into the company, the managers used a resource-based approach. This means that after finding a qualified person for the job, the managers also allowed for adjustments in their duties over the course of time.

I: Okay, alright. So, okay, when did you actually first decide to hire a foreigner in your company? 1: Well, it started around 3-4 years ago as part of our internationalization process that we should have like peoples, people from different cultures and stuff like that to kind of to learn and cultivate ourselves in a sense. I: So, was it more for the company’s internationalization or was it… 1: Well it was both, it was both because of the company’s strategy. Like we wanted to have more people from different cultures and also for strategic reasons to become international. We thought that you know, Germany or Europe is the destination that’s why we hired via AIESEC a trainee from Scotland who studied in Germany and actually she’s still here. I: Okay, she’s still here. 1: Yeah, so it was for the company, it was for the strategy. I: Yeah, and um, was this kind of an easy decision to make or…? 1: Yeah, it was kind of a natural decision that we should and we like to do it also so it was kind of like not a hard thing.

I: Alright and what were the contributing factors that made you decide to hire in 1996 your first foreign employee. 4: 2006. I: 2006, sorry. 4: That’s, let’s say, opportunistic and resource based in a sense that we started into the educational sector and then we started looking for people then we started finding suitable candidates that fit with what we wanted to do. So quite opportunistic that there was no big strategy that would have told us that ok, this market, this time and this kind of person. We started doing things and then we started finding suitable people that fit in, in more or less, almost like a random order.

Moreover, both companies had long-term plans to permanently include foreign talent in their workforce. The first foreign employees were used as an indicator of how the companies could approach their human

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resource allocation in the future. Neither company saw the employment of foreign trainees or employees as a one-off deal. Instead, it was something that would be and has since been replicated. I would suggest, therefore, that students actively approach potential employers with the purpose of selling their competencies to the companies. Even if companies do not have vacant job openings, students can set up face-to-face meetings with SMEs to see how they can contribute to the natural growth of the company. They must ask the right questions about what resources the company needs and present themselves as possible providers of these required resources (without embellishing the truth for obvious reasons). Students from universities of applied sciences have a particular advantage because they can use their obligatory, government-subsidized training periods as a unique selling proposition to SMEs who do not wish to shell out financial resources.

1.d. Alternative Recruitment Channels Both companies found their first foreign employees through less traditional recruitment channels or advertisements. CESIM mostly uses its own network to spread the word about vacancies, whereas Hermia uses its partnerships with organizations to find foreign trainees and employees. Interestingly, neither company used the services of higher education institutions when looking for foreign employees.

I: Okay, now we can move to the next part, so when you recruited them what recruitment channels did you use? 1: Well, we, for the Italians, we had this um, Italian, it was kind of a chamber of commerce or some kind of agency. It was kind of a foundation near, um, Milan. No, no, Milan, Turin. Okay, and we have this connection from the European project and that was one channel. And another, it was AIESEC. The AIESEC organization at the Tampere University of Technnology. I: Uh-huh so how did it work? 1: Like, how did we do it in practice? I: In practice, yeah. 1: Well, they kind of a like contact us and said that you know we have this kind of a traineeship opportunity, are you interested? So I invited them in and we decided okay, we go for that and we started the recruiting process. We made kind of a, our own specifications that German-speaking, this kind of a background, business and stuff like that. And then they were like doing their, went into their databases and suggested a few people and we interviewed few of them and ended up hiring one. It’s still working for us. I: So you have been using them since then, yeah. 1: Yeah, yeah. I: And you’re satisfied. 1: Yeah, exactly. It’s been working quite well for us. And once in a while they call to me and you know, what about a new trainee. It’s been a good channel for us. I: Okay, um, I’m just curious why didn’t you hire somebody already in Finland who have foreign backgrounds? 1: It was a lucky accident in a sense. They just you know, happened to call us and you know I was thinking like this is part of our strategy, we’ve been talking on this, why don’t we use this. It was kind of like a service that was offered. We didn’t have to think of it like well in our normal recruitment processes, we have had foreigners applying to work for us but in a sense we have never ended up hiring anyone from the normal channel.

I: How did you find them? What recruitment channels did you use?

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1: Well, we used Monster at some point plus then word of mouth. Like people know people and then they have friends. I: So the first two you used Monster? 1: No actually through word of mouth like people knowing people then we used Monster at some point. Then we got some people through that as well. I: How did Monster.fi work? I mean how effective was it in terms of the response of the candidates and the quality? 1: It was ok but in our, in this kind of small business, it’s not the best. I mean, we found people, but we have found, let’s say better match through some other channels. I: Which is the word of mouth? 1: Yeah. I: So you were more satisfied with the word of mouth method? 1: Yes but in the beginning, I have to say, in the beginning it was, of course like, I mean now it’s easy to say word of mouth is good because we have so many foreigners so they know many people and they mingle with the, the non –Finnish people. So now it is very straightforward. But in the beginning it was not straightforward to do that kind of word of mouth because there was no mouth. I: Exactly. Were you using any of the Finnish educational institutions’ recruitment channels? 1: We looked into some of them but could not find any reasonable alternatives.

Higher education institutions should use this information to consider how they can best sell their job placement services to SMEs. Both interviewees seemed to have very little knowledge about the services of these institutions. In one case, the company was actively sought out by an organization that offers international internships. Perhaps it would be a good idea for higher education institutions to productize, market, and sell their placement services more vigorously. If educational institutions are understaffed for such an undertaking, perhaps they could ask students who are willing to do their thesis on the topic to write a report and propose suggestions that are easy to implement on how to advertise the recruitment services. For example, I imagine that the benefits of the social media have not been maximized to reach SMEs. The educational institution could get their message across to the right people with a concentrated yet minimal effort.

2) The Shared Traits and Attitudes of the Foreign Employees

2.a. They Used their Networks Strategically It was very easy for me to talk with the four foreign employees whom I interviewed. While the interviews were isolated events, they can also serve as testaments to the kind of people that the interviewees are: sociable and good communicators. Perhaps this is the reason why the four interviewees were able to find work opportunities in Finland by using their personal initiative and networks. As can be seen in the transcripts below, three out of the four interviewees found employment in Finland by simply displaying their willingness to be employed in Finland. They asked their Finnish contacts for employment opportunities and did not rely on institutionalized job-hunting programs offered by the government or their schools. Instead, they personally sought out people whom they believed could help them. They were not shy about presenting their needs to those whom they thought would be able to refer them to the right people and/or companies.

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I: Who is your boss? 3: Petri. I: What is his position? 3: He is Vice President of Hermia and he is the head of the Innovation Platforms team. I: And who did you talk to to get hired in Hermia? 3: (names someone). I: So you talked to him. Did you have to meet him? 3: No, did not talk to him until I was hired. Yeah, yeah. So actually I was applying to Hermia. I did not know too much about Demola. I knew it existed for programmers. I really didn´t know what we did here so I was applying to Hermia for like EU-application writings kind of task basically. Yeah and it took a while to figure out what we were gonna do together but it was perfect timing. I: So how many meetings did it take before you got hired? 3: Two meetings in person and a lot of emailing and calling. We were discussing pay issues whether it would be paid internship or based on school funds. I: Was it only Petri’s decision that was necessary? 3: He talked with Ville a lot I guess. I: Who is Ville? 3: Ville is the co-creation manager of Demola. So he’s in charge of the day to day of Demola. There´s actually a second co-creation manager now but she just started and she´s in the social innovation area so she´s developing those kinds of projects but, so. Ville´s been here since the beginning and has really has his hands on the development of Demola.

I: So how did you find this job? 6: Yeah, hmmm, I was looking for a job at this time and then I was basically looking for, this time I was looking for anything. I was meaning to do something and uh, I had friend he was doing this same translation for a while for this company. He, well, he moved to somewhere else, well he moved to KONE. And uh, uh, well he called me when he left the company, well we’re needing someone to work like two hours a day, ten hours per week and something like that for translations. And maybe this guy can do it. And then he called me and it seems like they were having a couple of people more to do this work and uh, then had the interview and they said “Okay, wanna start to work on it?” It’s, it’s it was not a relevant or very important job. It was just “Do you speak English?” and “what you…about the Spanish market” thoughts. I needed to understand what they wanted to say in English and then put it into Spanish into like this, how do you call it, in the translation um, language, they call it localization. To put the proper terms in the proper places because it depends on the frame it’s different. So more or less, it worked.

I: So is this your first job in Finland? 5: No, I was already working in Kuopio it was a small, uh, university spin-off company. I: One last question. Do you think Kuopio University helped you in any way find work? 5: Yeah definitely. Like uh, we had a teacher there and she was like totally uh, she was Polish but she had a Finnish husband and she speak, spoke very well Finnish and uh, she was kind of like this international person and uh, she wanted to make some kind of program like that, that Erasmus students can go to companies as trainees and then somehow some help these companies go to foreign markets but then it wasn’t starting, I don’t know why. But I still knew it from her and then I was going to her with my CV and that “Hi, and this and this and can you help me work somewhere like to get to know this Finnish working culture.” Because I would really like to get to know and she was like “Yeah I know of this medical company and they are kind of like having this Austria project. And then it was also like this language thing

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like the German and like so it was like through the university or not directly through the university but through a professor who was like quite active.

In light of this, I recommend that higher education institutions teach their students not only how to create networks but also to do some cold calling to companies so the students can find internship places and/or permanent jobs. This suggestion runs parallel to the earlier recommendation. As can be seen from the excerpts above, the foreigners were bold enough to approach companies and offer themselves as employees. None of the jobs mentioned above were advertised by the companies. Instead, the applicant and the company together came to the conclusion that the company needed the foreigner’s competence. Hence, it would be highly strategic to teach international students how to approach companies without much inhibition or fear.

2.b. The Foreign Workers Marketed Themselves Well I also observed that the foreigners were able to market their educational and professional experiences. In one case, the interviewee himself called the company to ask for a possibility to do his required traineeship program in the company.

I: So, how did it take you before you landed this job like what process did you have to go through? 3: Uh, I had to call Hermia many, many, many times. We had calls back and forth about what I could do. It was maybe two months in the works like just calling back and forth and meeting, deciding to start after Christmas. Yeah, so. I had targeted Hermia quite some time back that it would be a decent place for an internship, to work. I: So how did you find out about Hermia? It’s not one of these Finnish famous companies like Nokia, Kone. 3: Ah, I´m not sure when I first heard of them first. Might have been some trade show or some like work fair kind of thing. Or then I was searching for consulting companies and they came up as a project-based company. It was really interesting to me the technology building aspects of it. I: There was actually no job description posted anywhere? You just called them and presented yourself. 3: Yeah, a little bit. I sold it, I sold myself. Demola was, ah, there´s Demola extension project that they were thinking about, what they were going to do with it, so, it was perfect timing that I fit into it.

The foreign employees did not mince words regarding the high quality of education that they received in their home countries. They were able to give a positive impression of how well-educated they were, which indirectly reflected their own capability to learn and deliver good results.

I: You said you have a Masters in Economics. Where did you study? 6: I studied in Budapest, in Hungary in that Krogelus University. Do you want that I write it down? I: Yeah, here please. 6: It’s quite good school. I think it’s like the best economic university in Hungary. I: And where did you, which institution and where did you get it from? 2: Yeah it was University of Strathyclyde in Glasgow.

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I: What did you major in? 2: The degree is, um, International Business and Modern Languages. It’s like, we call it BA Honors so it’s a little bit different system from here and stuff. But that, so the majors were Marketing, French and German. I: Why is it BA Honors? 2: Um, because you can do a Bachelor’s pass degree. It takes you three years. Um, we call, basically our equivalent of Master’s is BA Honors. Even some universities in Scotland would call it Master’s. So it very much depends on the institution. It’s very difficult to compare with here, and even within our country so, it’s like. I: How many years was the degree? 2: It was five years and that included the year abroad. But normally people complete the BA Honors degree in four years but I had to go to Germany to spend the year there so that made five.

It is my recommendation that international degree students be provided with incentives to understand the positive aspects of the Finnish education that they are receiving. They need to be able to present their studies and/or work experience in impressive ways to everyone they talk to. Being able to market one’s education and experiences should not be limited to job interviews. Parallel to this, educational institutions must also invest in making their students understand the degree that they are receiving. Perhaps profiling a typical alumnus or alumna after graduation would be an efficient way to get the message across. To put it simply, it is not enough that students obtain a degree for themselves, but they must also understand the value of their degree to other stakeholders.

2.c. Ability to Market their Fluency in a Language Other than Finnish In all cases, the interviewees’ ability to fluently speak and write a foreign language (other than Finnish) played a major role in their getting hired or finding work opportunities in Finland. In fact, three of the four interviewees were able to fluently speak at least two languages.

I: Uh-huh. So we know the contributing factors, why we decided, you decided to hire a foreign employee and what are the main responsibilities of your foreign employees? 1: Well, the first one considering the company was of course that we should like, we should nurture the international atmosphere and we of course, we should have somebody who’s, who’s, a native speaker in German. But we didn’t get that one, we got the bonus who was one with German and with English. So that was kind of a good thing. So also to, to, kind of a, to increase our expertise in, uh, European cultures and also the national, uh, the language skills. And of course to turn not the official language in the office into English but to make people to, to force them to speak in English in a sense. I: Why do you think it’s important that your employees are forced to speak English? 1: Well, of course, if we want to be national, international player the people should be like, they should be eager and they should be like uh, it should, it should be natural way of communicating.

I: So is this your first job in Finland? 3: Ah, no, no. I: What were your previous employment? 3: They´ve all been quite sporadic. I´ve done, uh, I´ve worked in English language pre-school just when I first got here because it was the easiest thing. They needed English speakers and

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that was me even though I know nothing about kids and stuff. Ah, but I´ve also worked in TV and films. That´s part of my training and background so I´ve worked MTV3. I: What were you doing for those companies? 3: I was a gaffer on some TV shows and lighting teams. I: Gaffer like you hold the mike? 3: No like the electrical, electrician. Yeah doing that and setting up lights and all that kind of stuff. I: And those were the only things you have done so far? 3: And then some random consulting. I´ve worked for TAMK research and development department to write some EU application. And worked for a consulting company to build, um, mobile content, database kind of things but really short term projects. And usually they come about because I speak English like it´s always the language. I: That´s what you sell. 3: Yeah, it´s the best selling tool.

I: So how did you find out about this job? 5: Like I’m speaking German and I was going to that Monster.de, the German job seeking portal. Because I was not speaking so much Finnish yet so I was thinking that maybe I can check there that you know I was putting there Helsinki as a location. I was like that, okay maybe there is some German companies or some companies which is needing some German. So then I can search it like that cause I wasn’t speaking so much Finnish yet so that’s how.

I: So since you have been here, how has your responsibilities changed? 6: Well actually I start working here part-time doing some translations and translating documents for the platforms. I was working on translating these into Spanish and then uh, they need someone for the Spanish market so they offer me work in this market. And then this was basically the, basically the big leap. You know work part-time as translator and then work full time. It’s like changes to you know, a proper job. And um, the other thing is that you know, after a while, the Spanish market starts to work again and then we are working on some Latin American markets and then as well Canada and especially focused on Chile in Latin America. We also start working on this live marketing thing around one year ago and I was more or less, let’s say the one who spur the company to work on it. So let’s say that I’m the one putting my fingers into everything like marketing but not having some kind of a, official responsibility.

None of the interviewees was fluent in Finnish at the present time. This implies that their lack of fluency in Finnish was not a hindrance to them in getting hired. While it is encouraged that foreigners do attain fluency in Finnish, a lack of fluency in the language should not be an obstacle when applying for jobs. What is pertinent, as mentioned several times already, is the ability to market one’s abilities well to relevant networks and people. If a student speaks a language that is currently not considered an asset in the Finnish business society, and Finnish is much too hard to master for now, then the student must consider gaining complete fluency in a more popular language (e.g. English, Spanish, or Chinese). In addition, the student must obtain study credits and certification to prove his/her ability to use a particular language in professional contexts.

3.) Long-term Plan to Stay in Finland Three of the four interviewees had long-term plans to stay in Finland before landing their jobs. The main reasons why they wanted to stay in the country were that they liked the country and/or their significant

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others were living in Finland. Their determination to enter the Finnish workforce contributed to their ingenuity and pro-activeness when finding employment.

I: Why are you planning to stay in Finland? 3: Well, family´s here. Well not my family but (my fiancée)´s family´s here. We like the culture, like the surroundings. We´ve discussed that maybe after getting career going here little bit if something came up we can work 3-5 years in the States. But the idea that we would be coming back. I: So this would be your home country? 3: I think so, yeah. I think, I have my permanent residence now and I think I’ll apply for a citizenship soon. I: How do you see your future in Finland as a professional? 3: I think it will be good now. It’s been a slow start and quite frustrating at times cause I came from, I already had a career going and that kind of thing but I think it will be fine now.

I: But you are planning to stay in Finland for the next few years? 6: Sure, something catastrophic has to happen for me to move somewhere else. Even though with the girlfriend like even though with this hypothetical case that we won’t be together or whatever, I won’t want to live anywhere else. I: Are you planning to stay in Finland? 2: Good question. At the moment, yes. But I don’t know I’m always hesitant to talk about the future because I think it’s very much a mystery. Um, I mean I have a good position here. I work in general in Finland so yeah, I would have to get like really good alternative to get me to move I think. But at the same time it can be quite frustrating living in a small place. I do notice sometimes that I have itchy feet to do something new. I: Are you planning to stay in Finland? 5: Yeah I think so. I: Why? 5: Why? I don’t know. I have a Finnish boyfriend like we were getting together during the Erasmus time and that’s why I was also moving to Helsinki. So, like I don’t know we were planning like to stay here and have a family here. Then maybe we can move to other countries but now it’s like that, Finland is like the base country. We are both here now.

It is also very interesting to note that all the interviewees had positive impressions of Finland prior to coming here. All of them wanted to come to Finland either for work or studies because of their friends’ or families’ positive experiences of the country.

I: Why Finland? 6: Uh, there are two reasons. The funny one is that I have a friend who came here in the year before and uh, and, I mean he had really good fun and he was here, really good experience. Um, I was trying to decide what to do, I mean which country to go to, to France or Italy. For different reasons, I mean, I wouldn’t go to Italy because I have, I think I was needing my English than my Italian for this reason. And then he told me that it was fantastic, that he loved Finland. He was enjoying it so much actually. I: Where was he? 6: In Joensuu which is not that amazing at least. And uh, yeah, and because think the forest industry, Finnish forest industry is pretty famous around the world and it’s a big preference. Not even only in the forest industry thing in the matter of the forestry culture and the environmental work and how to work on these things it’s something, like, it’s a reference

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worldwide. That’s why I was thinking maybe Finland was maybe like Finland was a good country to… It was Sweden, Finland. But Finland was in here, in the heart to go there.

I: So did you aim for Finland? 2: No. I didn’t. I aimed for Sweden if I’m completely honest cause I really wanted to go to Sweden. There were some opportunities there and also in Norway. But in the end it didn’t work out for some reason with those companies and those traineeships so, ah, I thought okay why not go to the neighboring countries. Cause I really liked the idea of the Nordic region and Nordic countries. So in my ignorance at the time, I thought, ah Finland will not be much different to Sweden. I: Why did you like Sweden? 2: Sweden because from the time that I lived in Germany I got to know a Swedish friend there. And then I became like just the more I got to know her the more I got interested into the culture. When I left Germany and went back to Scotland, I started learning Swedish for a year in an evening course. So I was really, oh this could work. I really, really liked it. I just wanted to go there but well, it didn’t work out. So I came here.

I: So why Finland? 5: I was babysitting once for some family like when I was 17. At home they were also Finnish. I don’t know and they were so nice so when I had to choose, I was choosing like German university and Finnish university. And then I was like this Finnish university, so just like I don’t know. And my mom was like in Finland like one year before that was in the summer. So that was like that, that okay maybe that’s a nice place. I had good impression. I haven’t been here before personally and I knew some Finnish people. And then my mom was also here on holiday. So I felt like this was positive feedback. Okay, so I thought this is nice.

I am highlighting this point, because a student’s long-term plan is crucial when he/she is studying in Finland. If he/she wants to stay in the country because of his/her personal attachment to it, then he/she is most likely to be resilient to the challenges that come with job-hunting. Personally, I believe that an international degree student’s desire to work in Finland should not be motivated by economic reasons alone. Rather, the student must see the country as a place for holistic growth and personal development. For this reason, I recommend that students are encouraged to attend third-party workshops to start thinking about their personal development plans. By this, I mean workshops that are organized by experts in career development that are not held by the student’s university. I suggest that students attend third-party workshops since there is an abundance of available modules organized by companies and non-profit organizations alike. So, educational institutions do not need to invest a significant amount of human resources into such events.

4.) Common Experiences of the Foreign Employees in Finnish SMEs

4.1. Freedom in the Workplace All of the interviewed foreign employees found it surprising how little they were managed in the course of their work. While they did receive guidance, they were not micromanaged or pressured. They found this a good thing since they all come from countries that impose much pressure on the workforce.

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The relevance of such a realization is more important than what may appear on the surface. Non-Finns are often unprepared to cope with such freedom at the workplace, and those used to working under more supervision might find this freedom as a sign of negligence or lack of interest in the employee’s work. Unfortunately, such experiences can encourage demotivation in the employee, which can lead to many things including unproductivity, strained relations with co-workers, and so forth.

I: So do you like working in small companies? 3: Yeah, I do. It´s more my style especially Hermia and Demola. The work environment is so laid back and free form. Sometimes it looks like we don´t get anything done but we do. We really do. I: So did you have any difficulty in adjusting to this working culture? 3: Um, no, specifically in Demola` I: Maybe in Finland since you’ve been working in different companies. 3: Hmm, not so much. All the work I’ve had I work on my own. It’s like consulting so I’m working from home, my own deadlines and that kind thing so I can choose my own working methods so that’s help. Here in Demola, it was a bit, it took a while to get how the flow goes cause it’s quite open work environment like we work the same way so it’s, it’s ah, in some ways it’s formal. If we´re gonna discuss some particular topic, we schedule a meeting and do that but otherwise everything is like own responsibility and uh, there´s not so much like strict supervisation that it’s.

I: So what is the Finnish working culture in your opinion? 6: I would like this Finnish working culture, whatever it is, it is like in the sense people feel very committed to what they do. They do the things they don’t overshow in the matter of work. For example in Spain, you need to show that you’re a hardworker. You need to stay at work everyday until 7. Here it doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter if the level of competence is not the level of responsibility in the company. You need to work what you work for. As long as you do your work then. So these kinds of things is something that we, that we should actually think carefully in Spain. It doesn’t matter how in front of people you are if you are not efficient. And uh, these things are something that you know. Actually in Spain there’s a big debate because we are having many, a lot of like financial. Now some, a lot of people are saying that yeah, we should think, we should look in the Northern Europe and things. Like in the beginning, the working culture. What we should do. I mean, why we are doing these things as we are doing there now and what could change to make it better. And yeah it’s nice for example these coffee breaks, I talk of my experience in KCL, very Finnish company. 9 coffee break, everyone to the ruokala. Coffee there. It was funny. Then work again, then you go for lunch around 11, well whenever you are able to. Then another coffee break. Everything you know. That’s a very nice thing you know. You see everyone no matter how high your position is in the company if you have to go at 5 you go for. It’s not you have to show to others that you are the whole day in the company and lots of social things. I don’t think they work. There are exceptional companies in Spain working a lot with this kind of social responsibility thing ok? But, no, but I don’t think it’s like in here. Lots of trips, lots of activities, this summer party and winter party and yeah, I mean, it’s very nice. I: How would you describe the working culture here in CESIM? 6: Well, it, it is so international. I think since this is a versatile company, we don’t have these habits of having this coffee break at 9 and even though they wouldn’t make any sense at all because no one is subject to work at 9 here because we work from 10 to 6, 7 or 5. It depends on the day no? Here is more international. It’s not having any Finnish, like let’s say, routine in the way or habits. Basically, we’re working with different markets in our departments, we’re working with different, uh, let’s say timeframes. If one is working with Mexico it doesn’t make sense to be here at 8 in the morning because it is 4 in Mexico, not even 3. Doesn’t make

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any sense. Even if you have some other work in the morning, it doesn’t make any sense. So we’re having different schedules and everything. But yeah, for example we are having some events like town halls, we are going to a hotel having a lunch someone speaking about a hot topic in the company and we are trying to develop ourselves in this thing. It is I think it is too small to be very Finnish and too many international people and too many different uh, you know, aims, different objectives.

I: What surprised you? 2: Like for example we had this flexi-time. I can come to work whenever I want, leave whenever I want. There’s a lot of, the employee has a lot of trust, there’s a lot of… I think it’s a good, it’s a give and take thing with the employee and the employer. They trust that you do your work and that you do the amount of hours in a day that you’re supposed to. Give and take whatever and if you don’t do them now, you do them the next day but you work it out and you organize it for yourself. So you feel empowered and I think most people here, they don’t take it for granted. They don’t take it, oh that’s great, nobody’s checking, I’m just going to abuse that you know, hang around and stay off or something. So I think that’s very nice cause in the UK you would have somebody looking over your shoulder all the time, phoning you if you’re not at the desk 9 in the morning or whatever you’re supposed to be there. I: So was it easy or difficult to adjust to that? 2: It was easy, yeah, it’s very relaxed but at some point yeah, you have to keep yourself in check so you have to have like a strong will yourself to not to abuse that actually because I think that can easily happen.

I: After you have started working in Finland have you had difficulty adjusting to the working culture especially here in CESIM? 5: No, I don’t think so. No. I: And what contributed to the easiness? 5: Um, well like because I was like 1 ½ months at home, it was not that long time but I was like that, “I want to go to work” and I wanted to go to work so much, so that I was like, okay it’s so nice. And now I can be here, and that you know you can get back to that work flow again. So, I was really happy that okay, now I’m back on the track and that was like, I wouldn’t say that there was so big difficulties. It’s a good thing that you start a normal job like 8 hours a day after the university but it wasn’t because of the Finnish working culture. I: Can you describe to me the Hungarian working culture then? How is it similar or different? 5: Actually I was never working in Hungary like in a professional study field. I was translating things and teaching like languages and those kinds of things, I don’t know maybe in Hungary people are more overworked. Like in this multinational companies, like here, I can see many times, not in this office but in the other office there, like Finnish people are working and they come for 8 and at 4 they leave at 4:00 and then that’s it. And, uh, in Hungary if someone is working in a multinational company it’s more like a question of pride that you would stay there longer, you know, showing that your motivated and so. I think that’s some difference and of course, people are more like um, maybe emotional there so sometimes it’s maybe affecting the work. I: So do you like it that people are less workaholic and less emotional in Finland? 5: Hmm, well, if it’s about this, yeah sometimes, for example I think so like in Hungary some bosses say some kind of criticism to you then people are feeling very bad and thinking oh, what should I do different. I think in Finland it’s normal, they are saying, oh okay. It’s part of the work and that’s it and then they go home and they forget it so I think it’s good. And also here people know that there is like 8 hours, I have to do my job in that and it’s not mattering if I’m staying there 2 hours more because if you are working well, then you got 8 hours. I think it’s reasonable like I think Finnish people are less stressful because of these kinds of things.

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I suggest that educational institutions bring up this point during job-hunting orientations. This will consciously prepare students who aim to work in SMEs for this reality. While the students may have been exposed to the Finnish work culture through their schools, the working environments in Finnish SMEs can differ greatly. However, as is apparent from the interview excerpts, once the foreign worker understands that freedom at the workplace is part of working in Finland, they grow to appreciate it and do not see non-supervision as negligence, but an opportunity to harness professional independence.

4.2. No Formal Introduction to the Company None of the foreigners was formally introduced to the company. However, they felt integrated because of their own self-initiative and the kindness of their co-workers. It is very important to understand that, similarly to freedom at the workplace, many foreigners, especially those without any work experience after graduation, expect to attend several organized orientation meetings in a company. Since this is not always the case in SMEs, students must be trained to independently ask questions and seek out answers from their co-workers who are usually willing to help them out.

I: So it was more of like, kind of, your integration was kind of your initiative? 3: Yeah. I: There was no formal process in the company? 3: No. No. I: But you were not the first foreigner? 3: Yeah good question. Ah I mean there was formal induction to Hermia like I had to go there and meet everybody and stuff and then in the board meeting got introduced and that kind of thing. It’s kind of just meeting people as it goes kind of situation. I: So it was just meetings. Did you have a packet like “this is how we do things.” 3: No. I don’t know if it exists in May but it was kind of I, Hermia employee but I was working for Demola so I don’t know if my integration was different with say, Karen or Ruspern, the whole time. So yeah but there´s no formal package in Demola. There´s a lot of information in Wiki. There´s, cause we have introduction packets for the students who work for projects here with the rules and stuff but nothing specifically for staff.

I: What steps did the company take to make you feel integrated? Like formal? 2: Well, I’m not sure because I think, sometimes it’s hard to think back and then separate it when it was a traineeship and when it was you know a proper contract. I think I’ve had pretty much the same benefits in the beginning, I mean okay not salary but like side benefits. Nothing like that has really changed. I: Did you get any extra guidance or extra meetings? 2: I supposed they introduced like this kehityskeskustelu, appraisal, I don’t know what is that in English. Appraisals. That’s good because you can sit down and discuss what do you want actually from your role in the company. That’s important. I think yeah that helped. Um, because it´s better to open about these things than keep doing things you don´t like. Uh, I think we´re having that again soon so that´s good. I: Did you have weekly meetings where you had to discuss how you´re feeling? 2: Not really. We had like weekly team meetings and then company monthly meetings but nothing, nothing so personal like, not really.

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I: Why do you think it took that many months to get effective? 6: Well, one thing is we’re talking about a small company that was trying to expand to new markets at this time. At this time, we were having like a couple of customers in Spain like small customers. So when you are thinking about sales, you need to work very hard to settle, you can really make it work. The thing is I was not really experienced, I mean, I was totally unexperienced. I mean, I was someone that I know how to read and I know how to write and I know how to sell. Nothing to do with my degree. Nothing to do with my previous experience. Nothing to do with anything. So I was, I was really listening with everyone someone was having a degree in International Business, the other one was having a degree in Business or whatever. They were more or less, they were having this kind of study background. And I was trying to learn from it and also trying to learn from the company itself which is, this is maybe a lack of the company. I don’t know if this is confidential or not but anyway it doesn’t matter. No I mean, what’s wrong with that. I was needing some building of my position. I was needing more help than I had. There had been quite good help with a couple of colleagues here, they have been quite good, helping me with that. They have been working with me. But we would need something that would help to understand the whole company itself like these IT sales people like interaction. Like these kinds of things. I was not really understanding the hierarchy of everything. Even though this was a small company, I was not understanding everything. I: So you just have to learn on your own? You have to ask people on your own? 6: Yeah, even with asking it was complicated to understand. Even the people understood the hierarchy by this time. No, but you know, it was not very, it just made me very confused sometimes. Not working properly and making things slow like you know slower because I couldn’t know with who do I have to speak and who I have to this thing and what is the next step like the responsibility, like how to manage these things. Basically in this company working procedures paper, I think this is something we are missing and we are gonna work on it. Yeah. Even though I know how to work on it, I would really need to put it on paper because every single company is having these things but we don’t have it.

I: How many months did it take before you started feeling like you were part of CESIM? 5: Hmm, well. I was like seeing that it can be between 2-9 months. I: It can be one it depends. 5: I think, yeah, like, after the first weeks I was starting to make the same tasks as the others. I was also feeling like okay, I was part of the team. I: What contributed to the easiness? 5: Yeah, I don’t know. This process wasn’t so long up here. I started doing the same things and then I could be like okay we have the same problems and the same questions. So it was like that we were sharing same things with that person then it’s like going quite fast. I: Did the company do anything consciously to make you integrate faster or was it just natural? 5: Well I think so. Basically everyone was just like that you could go, like since it’s like small place like, like there is not so much bureaucracy and you can just go to someone and ask something and it’s like everyone was happy like if you had a question. So that was quite good.

When reading the interview excerpts above, it is apparent that the employees made an extra effort to become acquainted with the company. They independently gathered information and studied the company operations. They were bold enough to ask questions and help from their colleagues (who were cooperative enough to help them out).

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In my opinion, international degree students should be aware that they will not be spoon-fed with information once they are employed by a company. They should use their own initiative to meet co-workers whom they feel can give them relevant information. This kind of boldness requires confidence and determination. International degree students should not hesitate to ask for help when needed, because more often than not, people are willing to give them good advice and guidance.

V. Making Sense of the Results This study is just a mere exploration of how SMEs should be approached when encouraging them to employ foreign labor. It seems that a lack of information might present an obstacle to the cooperation of some SMEs as they try to internationalize Finland. There may be many SMEs who are currently thinking about entering a new foreign market, for example, but do not know how to find reliable and competent employees who can forge ahead with this plan. This is why it is important that educational institutions and international degree students take on a more proactive role. Both sets of stakeholders should be brazen in marketing and selling the advantages of hiring foreign employees into an SME. Foreigners should be repeatedly trained to confidently present themselves, especially their strengths and what they can contribute to a company. This is the key to finding employment in Finland. Based on the interviews presented, finding employment through traditional channels, like newspaper and web advertisements published in Finland, is ineffective. Instead, using alternative and more personal approaches yielded more results. It is my belief that personal branding courses should be compulsory for international degree students in all educational institutions. Since foreigners have a tougher time of finding employment in Finland even after graduating from a Finnish educational institution, resources should be invested in making sure that they are given additional tools to integrate into Finland through employment. This will ensure that the money invested by Finland in providing free education to foreigners will be returned to the welfare system. We should all be aware that the Finnish work culture is not as obvious to others. The Finnish culture is more relaxed, independent, and trusting as compared to many others. Therefore, students must be trained to boldly ask questions and put themselves forward when working for small companies. This is extremely important, because the aim should be not only to find employment for foreigners, but to also ensure that they are retained.

VI. Next Steps and Conclusion This study merely touches the surface of how SMEs can play a bigger role in internationalizing Finland. I am writing a more extensive thesis on the subject which should be ready by the end of 2011. Until then, this report can provide a lot of insight as to how SMEs, educational institutions, and students can work together to improve the employability of foreigners. The challenge of helping foreigners to find and retain gainful employment in Finland is not a battle that can be won by structural changes alone. It is something that can be solved by definite action. The suggestions included in this report can serve as highly sustainable initial steps for stakeholders who want to implement change immediately.

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Works Cited Arajärvi, Pentti (2009). Maahanmuuttajien työllistyminen ja kannustinloukut. Finland: Ministry of the Interior CESIM (2010). “About CESIM.” About Cesim. Web. 30 May 2010. Euromonitor (2009). “Finland.” Country Fact Files. Web. 11 November 2009. Finnish Immigration Service. “Decisions according to grounds for the application.” Residence Permit. 2009. Web. 17 January 2011. Forsander, Annika (2002). “Globalizing Capital and Labor – Old Structures, New Challenges.” Forsander, Annika (ed.). Immigration and Economy in the Globalization Process. Vantaa, Finland: Tummavuoren Kirjapaino Oy. Hermia (2010). “Building up networks and expediting businesses.” Hermia. Web. 19 June 2010. Lall, Rashmee Roshan (2008). “Ageing Finland’s ‘silver economy’ needs you.” The Times of India. Web. 13 August 2010. Oinonen, Virpi (2006). Vaapa Sana. Web. 27 August 2010. Schiemann, Manfred (2006). “SMEs and entrepreneurship in the EU.” Statistics in Focus. 2006: 24 (2006). 4-5. VALOA (2010). “Valoa-hanke.” Valoa-hanke. 2010. Web. 10 August 2010.

Erica Kononen

Integrating Qualified Immigrants through SMEs A Report on How SMEs can play a More Significant Role in the Employment of Qualified Immigrants