The City of Espoo and Technology Industries of Finland join forces: “We are expanding our operations to recruit experts from abroad”

The City of Espoo has worked for over ten years to bring together people who move to Finland for studies, work or family reasons and employers suffering from labour shortages. 

“Espoo has always attracted job and talent seekers. Companies’ readiness and willingness to recruit international employees is vital to attract skilled labour,” says Mayor Jukka Mäkelä.

Services to strengthen the working life knowledge and skills of international experts and to help create professionally and socially relevant networks have been developed for a long time to bring jobseekers and employers together. Employers have been encouraged to recruit international experts and supported in developing the capabilities needed in the increasingly international work community environment. Employers have been involved in TalentMatch recruitment events to strengthen their employer image among highly educated and experienced international professionals. Companies are also offered a candidate search service and support in utilising different employment subsidies.

“Now that we have a strong foundation, it is the right time to expand operations to recruit experts from abroad. The cooperation with Technology Industries of Finland enables the service to be developed in a truly client-oriented manner,” says Melissa Arni-Hardén, Senior Planning Officer at the City of Espoo.

Technology Industries of Finland’s member companies, in particular, have communicated for a long time that the shortage of experts is a significant obstacle to growth. Therefore, Technology Industries of Finland and Espoo have jointly hired a person whose task is to create a service concept for recruiting experts from abroad based on the client’s needs. The aim is to turn the offerings of the recruitment, entry and settlement service providers into a smooth recruitment path from abroad to Finland. Companies interested in recruiting IT experts from abroad should note the opportunity.

“For a company that needs IT experts and is ready to recruit non-Finnish speakers, this is an excellent opportunity!” tips Eero Manninen from Technology Industries of Finland.

The task of the project planner, who started in early October, is to cooperate with the City of Espoo business coordinators to determine the Finnish technology companies’ skills and service requirements and create a scalable recruitment model based on the results. The project planner focuses on the recruitment of highly educated IT professionals from India. Besides India, Espoo is also building a cooperation network to attract experts from Vietnam.

“The key to attracting international experts is to ensure a good immigration experience for the whole family. Besides smooth migration processes, the package is to include, for example, access to education for any children and opportunities for the spouse to develop their career in Finland. To achieve this, we need help from public actors. I am pleased to say that, besides our partner, Espoo, many other public actors have also expressed their willingness to support the idea,” says Manninen. 

The Finnish Immigration Service has also been involved in the discussions related to launching the project.

The growth and internationalisation of businesses are a prerequisite for a viable city. Vitality is further promoted by ensuring the smooth integration of the whole family in Espoo in connection with international recruitment.

“Espoo is the most Indian city in Finland. It can be seen, for example, in the clientele of the city’s career development services, a significant number of whom have moved to Finland – often from India – due to their partner finding work here. Cooperation with associations like the Indian Women in Finland and Vietnamese Professionals in Finland is very important to us for two reasons. Good experiences from Espoo and Finland spread in networks, increasing the attractiveness of interesting job opportunities and also Finland and Espoo in general. To settle in, it is also important to receive and share peer support for living in between two cultures,” says Arni-Hardén.

“We want to act responsibly and build as good a package as possible for all parties. If and when we get good results from this project, we would be happy to see the idea copied, expanded and implemented in other sectors and regions as well,” emphasise both Manninen and Arni-Hardén.

India and Vietnam are mentioned as target countries in the Government Programme for recruiting international experts to Finland, and there are a lot of IT experts in both countries. India has a national goal to increase the number of higher education graduates and also send them to work abroad. Vietnam has a rapidly growing tech ecosystem with significant interest in studying and working abroad. In addition, both countries already feature well-functioning networks created by Work in Finland to support international recruitment.

Inquiries:
City of Espoo
Melissa Arni-Hardén, Senior Planning Officer, melissa.arni-harden@espoo.fi, tel. +358 40 5082234
Petri Lautjärvi, Project Planner, petri.lautjarvi@espoo.fi 

Technology Industries of Finland
Eero Manninen, Senior Advisor (vocational education and labour immigration), tel. +358 40 4893083