Many of us searching for the new job being already employed. I have learned that it’s normal. Really, it’s very natural to look for better place and for bigger income. So, job search is a permanent process in my life.

I searching for new job using few methods:

• Browsing through job listings on job search sites.
• Checking recruitment sections of home pages of design-related companies and agencies (Nokia in first hand).
• Leaving my CV everywhere it’s possible.
• Using Google Adwords ads to get visitors on my online portfolio.
• Sending job inquiries directly to companies that may be in interest of my qualifications.

There is a few really working job search resources on Finnish Internet that I use:

• www.mol.fi – job listings of Ministry of labor of Finland
• www.oikotie.fi – one of best, but with some usability problems.
• www.monster.fi – this is a good one, but sometimes job position ads appears after some delay
• www.uratie.fi – not bad, but has many non-actual job vacancies.
• www.stepstone.fi – this was my long-time favorite but this service has more emphasis on vacancies abroad.

These resources usually has job positions, where very often real candidate is selected already, but from some reason companies obliged to post their job positions there. I have been on several interviews after applying to these job listings, and many times I felt that it was only the formality - interviewers has checked watches and fight against their yawns.

This is very severe selection when Finnish companies hiring, and usually they looking for young people, with those will be nice to spend boring hours of work and corporate parties. And except of few large companies they looking for Finns. Especially in advertising agencies. So fluent knowledge of Finnish language is must. It’s very difficult to get the level of pronunciations not sounding funny to native Finns. Thus, many foreigners in the weakened position a priori when they’re coming to interview. In leading IT companies, such Nokia and TietoEnator, it’s often totally opposite – I knew few people that doesn’t speak Finnish and survive perfectly. My tip to you, if you’ll go to job interview to Nokia and you are foreigner, it’s better to speak English, then you will be on the same level with the interviewer.

Many jobs in Finnish companies are filling without to be posted on public job search resources and newspapers. Company workers very often recommending their fellows and relatives, and this approach works well in advertising agencies, for instance.

If you want to get job in Finland, it’s not enough to rely on newspaper ads and online job listings, you need to send job inquiries directly to companies, usually to recruitment department. It’s a regular thing in Finland, and there is a special term for these inquiries in Finland, meaning “Open inquiryâ€? (avoin hakemus). I sending these letters regularly, and receiving a lot of standard answers, very interesting sometimes. These answers vary from an automatic response with some polite phrases to accusations in spamming, like this one, that I have received in answer to my inquiry:

“Lopeta toi vitun spämmääminen, ok?� 

(“Stop this f**king spamming, OK?�)

I need to note that I have worked with that company previously as freelancer, and they were associated sufficiently politely before…

Here is another pearl from my collection:

Your message

  To:      F121 Sales
  Cc:      
  Subject: Avoin hakemus
  Sent:    Tue, 30 Aug 2005 23:02:32 +0300

was deleted without being read on Tue, 30 Aug 2005 23:02:32 +0300

Sometimes it’s difficult to understand about the size of company looking at its home page, and some of my inquiries come to freelancers or one man companies. And their answers were the friendliest and sympathizing.

Keep trying!