Career Bootcamp

Career Bootcamp is an established one-day career development event that gathers together nearly 200 highly educated international professionals, both new-comers and long-timers, as well as service providers in Finland. The event aims to elevate the careers of international talents in Finland while providing a platform for private, public, and non-profit service providers to showcase their latest services for working life and career development.

Save the date for the next Career Bootcamp event: Wednesday 24.9.2025!

Registration for service providers: register here(external link, opens in a new window)
Registration for professionals: register here(external link, opens in a new window)

🚀 Elevate your career: Dive into our immersive workshops designed to develop your working life skills and set strategic goals for your career.

🌐Network and connect: Build valuable connections with professionals from diverse industries, and open doors for new opportunities and collaborations!

🛠️ Career tools showcase: Explore the latest career tools, services, and opportunities from service providers at their stands.  

🚀 Unique opportunity: One of the few events in Finland specifically designed for public, private, and non-profit service providers supporting international talents.

🛠️ Organizational services showcase: Host your own physical stand and give a 2-minute live pitch to promote your career services to a wide audience.

🌐Event exposure: The event is advertised in the City of Espoo’s social media channels, public spaces, and our partners’ network.

Info for service providers to join the Service Fair.

Downloadable files

For Service Providers - Career Bootcamp Autumn 2025.pdf

The event takes place live in Otaniemi, Espoo, at our partner Technopolis Otaniemi (external link, opens in a new window)venue. The program consists of keynotes, workshops, networking opportunities, and a service fair. The final program will be published closer to the event.

The event is held in English and is free of charge.

📆When: Wednesday 24 September 2025

⏰Time: 08:30 - 16:00

📍Where: Technopolis Innopoli 2(external link, opens in a new window), Tekniikantie 14, 02150 Espoo

Program (subject to change)

☕08:30 – 09:00 Registration & Coffee

💬 09:00 - 09:15 Welcome words

🎤09:15 - 10:00 "From Invisible to Seen – Building a career on your own terms” - Keynote by Amin Hassan(external link, opens in a new window), Work-life Influencer of the Year 2023 and EX & People Development Lead at Gofore

In this keynote, Amin Hassan shares his personal journey from growing up in a refugee family to becoming one of the most recognized voices in Finnish working life. He currently works at Gofore, a publicly listed company known as a frontrunner in its field, where he focuses on employee experience, DEIB, and professional development. He offers honest reflections and practical advice from his background in HR & recruitment — including the lessons, mindset shifts, and everyday strategies that helped him move from invisible to seen.

🎤10:15 - 11:00 Service Providers Pitching + Q&A

🤝 11:00 - 11:30 Networking Bingo

🔷 11:30 - 13:00 Service Fair & Lunch Break

🛠️ 13:00 - 13:45 "Navigating Finnish Work Culture: Job and Income Security, Rights, and Professional Communities” workshop by “Teddy” Duy Tran, International Liaison Coordinator – Suomen Ekonomit(external link, opens in a new window) (Business School Graduates in Finland)

The Finnish labor market is structured by many institutions and processes beyond the classic: “employers hire, the government legislates”. Knowing about these and leveraging them can empower and set one up for a successful career in Finland. In this workshop, you will learn about types of contracts, salary levels, unemployment funds and much more.

☕13:45 – 14:00 Coffee is served

🛠️ 14:00 – 14:45 Parallel workshops:

I – “Exploring Entrepreneurship” workshop by Minna Mustapää, The Shortcut(external link, opens in a new window), and Nikke Vainikka, Business Espoo

This workshop introduces entrepreneurship as a real and achievable career path, from freelancing to starting a business in Finland. Participants will learn how to identify opportunities based on their own skills and discover the practical steps and support systems available for turning ideas into action. The session combines inspiration with concrete tools to help you explore if entrepreneurship could be the right next move for your career.

II - "Ready, Steady, Töihin! – Finnish for Working Life" workshop by Jenni Labarthe and Hanna-Leena Saavalainen, Auroras network(external link, opens in a new window)

In this fun and practical session, we will explore useful Finnish phrases and tips for everyday working life! Whether you're preparing for a job interview, chatting with colleagues, or joining a meeting, this workshop will help you speak with more confidence. The workshop is open to all language levels – participants will be divided into smaller groups based on their Finnish skills.

In the workshop, you will:
🔹 Learn key workplace phrases – beginner-level and job interview phrases for more advanced learners
🔹 Discover everyday ways to strengthen your Finnish for work settings
🔹 Boost your motivation and confidence to use Finnish at work.

✨ 15:00 – 15:55 “Successful Career Journeys: Best Practices and Tips from International Professionals”

Join us for an inspiring session where four international professionals share their personal journeys in Finland. Hear how they overcame challenges, navigated the job market, and built fulfilling careers in a new country. Each speaker will offer practical tips, lessons learned, and encouragement for others on a similar path. Whether you are job seeking, changing careers, or just looking for motivation, this session will leave you inspired and informed.

Our speakers:

🎤 Astrid Puumala-Thévenet, Development Manager for Immigration, City of Espoo
🎤 Andreas Grzegorski, Product Manager, Axopar Boats Oy
🎤 Tássia Rebelo, Founder & Creative Writer, Secret Club; UX & Content Designer
🎤 Oleksiy Kovalenko, Business Coach, Startup Refugees

✍️ 15:55 – 16:10 - Feedback & Closing Words

Registration

Registration for service providers: register here(external link, opens in a new window)
Registration for professionals: register here(external link, opens in a new window)

Amin Hassan is a work-life influencer and EX & People Development Lead at Gofore, a publicly listed company recognized as a pioneer in its field. At Gofore, Amin works with employee experience, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB), and people development.

His LinkedIn posts, which have received tens of thousands of reactions, encourage discussion on working life, particularly around structural challenges and opportunities for improvement. Amin is also a familiar presence in work-life media, events, and podcasts, where he shares his observations on working life openly. Despite his young age, he is an active voice in promoting constructive change.

Amin was named Work-Life Influencer of the Year at the Ajatusjohtajat 2023 gala, where influencers were recognized in three categories. The winners were chosen by public vote with nearly 4,000 participants. The shortlist nominees for each category were selected by a jury that assessed the candidates’ influence, responsibility, public advocacy, and ability to foster open dialogue.

Suomen Ekonomit

Suomen Ekonomit(external link, opens in a new window) is a central organization for graduates and students in economics and business administration with over 55,000 members. Their business school graduates range from math geniuses to creative types and from bosses to experts and entrepreneurs. They represent the core of sustainable financial and business competence in Finland.

Teddy Tran is the International Liaison Coordinator at Suomen Ekonomit, where they support international students and professionals in navigating Finland’s job market and understanding their rights as well as benefits having membership in a labour union such as Suomen Ekonomit. Previously, Teddy led the Entrepreneurship Lab at Aalto University, co-designing and running one of the university’s flagship entrepreneurship programs. With over four years of experience coaching 60+ startup teams and 400+ students, Teddy understands the difficulties and challenges that international talents face when they want to do more than survive in Finland.

Auroras network

Auroras network(external link, opens in a new window) is a vibrant community in Finland that empowers immigrant women to advance in their careers and professional growth. Through group-based mentoring combined with Finnish language learning, it emphasizes peer support and networking, and builds the confidence to navigate working life in Finnish.

Jenni’s passion is to support international women in clarifying their unique potential and shaping meaningful career paths in Finland. She acts as a bridge-builder between talents and forward-looking companies with an international growth mindset. You can contact Jenni regarding Auroras’ mentoring programme, media inquiries, and work-life partnerships.

Hanna-Leena is an expert in promoting the employment of international professionals. She is passionate about supporting Finnish language learning and fostering networking opportunities between newcomers and local professionals. Her mission is to make Finnish society more language-aware while encouraging every learner of Finnish to use the language boldly in different situations of life. Finnish is our shared language, and mistakes are nothing to be afraid of!

The event is organized by the Economic Development unit of the City of Espoo. We withhold rights to changes in the event program.

If you have any questions or requests, please contact:

Ekaterina von Brandenburg, Event Coordinator, ekaterina.vonbrandenburg@espoo.fi

Ekaterina von Brandenburg

Event Coordinator+358 40 6368431ekaterina.vonbrandenburg@espoo.fi

LinkedIn(external link, opens in a new window)

Career Bootcamp

Benefits for professionals

Benefits for service providers

Get to know the keynote speaker

Get to know the workshop facilitators

Get to know the service providers

Ekaterina von Brandenburg