For Employer

We help you identify the potential of international students and find a skilled workforce. We offer support and concrete tools for recruiting, onboarding, and learning Finnish at the workplace as well as adapting to the Finnish work culture. Our goal is to lower the threshold for hiring international talent and make it a natural part of your organisation’s everyday operations.

Services for Employer

Talent Pool database

We collect information about our international students, including their fields of expertise, previous education, and work experience. This information helps us find talent suitable for employers’ needs as trainees or employees.

The information is compiled based on systematically repeated student surveys. Based on the students’ responses, an expanding Talent Pool database has already been formed. The Talent Pool enables targeted meetings between international students and employers.

Utilising the database in practice

The employer can notify the Talent Hub Eastern Finland network of their need for additional resources. Based on the request for information, the Talent Pool database is searched for students with the desired profile. With the students’ consent, they are presented to the employer, who then decides on further actions. If a suitable expert is found among the students, they get the internship, thesis or job they want, and the employer gets a new employee in their work community. Our experts are available throughout the process.

Additional information

Johanna Taavitsainen, johanna.taavitsainen@savonia.fi, +358 44 785 6142
Eini Puhakka, eini.puhakka@savonia.fi, +358 44 785 6825
Marko Pietilä, marko.pietila@uef.fi, +358 40 355 3039

Alumni activities

Educational institutions’ alumni activities offer graduates a variety of services. The services depend on the educational institution, but professional further education, alumni meetings, and cooperation with working life are common forms of alumni activities. Alumni can also participate in institutions’ activities after graduation, for example, by mentoring students or inviting student groups to workplace visits.

Benefits of alumni activities

Development of professional competence through continuous learning, further studies and continuing education
Strengthening working life networks both among alumni and between students and representatives of working life
Opportunity to participate in the development of education as a working life partner

Join alumni activities

You can register as an alumnus or with a separate form upon graduation. Check out the alumni activities of your educational institution and join us!

Karelia UAS

https://www.karelia.fi/en/alumni-activities/

alumni(at)karelia.fi

Riveria

https://www.riveria.fi/riveria/alumnitoiminta/

SAKKY

https://sakky.fi/fi/koulutukset/alumnitoiminta-maahanmuuttaneille

juhani.lantto(at)sakky.fi

Savonia UAS

https://www.savonia.fi/en/savonia-uas/explore-savonia/join-the-alumni-network/

alumni(at)savonia.fi

UEF

https://www.uef.fi/en/uef-alumni

alumni(at)uef.fi

YSAO

Workplace instructor training

Workplace instructor training supports employers, especially workplace instructors, in guiding international students in the workplace. The training consists of a two-hour face-to-face training and a virtual material package open to all. The experiences and results of the Teams support sessions, a service piloted for workplace instructors, will be utilised to prepare the training and material.

Benefits for employers, workplace tutors and students

The training allows employers to increase language and cultural awareness and courage in hiring international talent. An organisation can make language and culturally aware guidance skills visible by applying for a badge. The workplace instructor receives concrete tools for guiding international students. Students benefit from the guidance skills of workplace instructors as they progress in their studies and integrate into the work community.

Service path from the employer’s point of view

YSAO is piloting the Language and Culture-Aware Workplace Instructor training as a face-to-face implementation in technology expertise and food services. The organisation receives a badge after completing the training.

Alternatively, the educational institution’s website has a material bank for Language—and Culture-Aware Workplace Instructors containing concrete everyday tools. When an employer has a workplace instructor familiar with the material, the employer can receive a badge for language and culture-conscious guidance.

Additional information

Mirja Iskanius, mirja.iskanius@ysao.fi, +358 40 558 5454
Minna Jääskeläinen, minna.jaaskelainen@ysao.fi, +358 50 300 7102
Pauliina Korhonen, pauliina.korhonen@sakky.fi, +358 44 785 3403
Maarit Paaso, maarit.paaso@riveria.fi, +358 50 347 6696

Service model for employers

The service model for employers offers a comprehensive set of services aimed at responding to companies’ recruitment needs and improving the vitality of Eastern Finland. Employers receive information about graduating students and experts applying for internships, theses and project work through the service.

The service model will be developed in cooperation with the education, employment and economic development services of counties and municipalities, and it will be targeted especially at small and medium-sized employers.

Benefits for the customer

The service model for employers offers many benefits to employers:

A well-functioning cooperation network that brings together companies, educational institutions and other service providers in the area
Up-to-date and reliable information on the international workforce and its utilisation possibilities
Practical tools and training that facilitate training, recruitment and attachment to the work community
A better understanding of degree programmes, fields of study and the experts they offer

Service process

The employer’s service path often begins with situations where the company has:

Shortage of labour
The need to recruit international talent, but this may be hindered by, for example, perceived difficulties in paperwork, language skills problems or occupational safety issues
A desire to develop export operations or expand operations internationally

The service process proceeds according to an individual service path, where the employer’s needs are first mapped. After that, solutions are built that connect job seekers and employers.

Additional information

Feel free to contact us!

Sari Väänänen, sari.vaananen@sakky.fi, +358 044 785 4025
Pauliina Korhonen, pauliina.korhonen@sakky.fi, +358 044 785 3403

Cluster cooperation

The regions’ smart specialisation industries have formed several industry clusters. In addition, other well-established consortia in Eastern Finland focus on the needs of different sectors and are often coordinated by regional development companies.

Industry clusters create a strong foundation for developing effective cooperation models between companies, public organisations, vocational colleges and higher education institutions.

The services offered to the clusters can be tailored to each sector, communications can be targeted, and operations can be directed to the right customer group. This makes the collaboration more impactful and customer-oriented.

The objectives of cluster cooperation are to

improve recruitment skills in working life
produce targeted training information for companies
help students of different levels of education and employers working within the same field to meet each other

Benefits for the customer

Companies and organisations in clusters and industry consortia receive up-to-date and reliable information about international students and their skills. In addition, the degree programmes and fields of study of educational institutions will become better known to the representatives of working life involved in the clusters.

The aim is that the benefits brought by international students become concrete for companies and thus lower the threshold for recruiting international experts. In addition, we produce content related to international experts for cluster- and industry-specific events.

Service process

The services available to employers and the benefits of international experts are highlighted, for example, through case studies in meetings organised by clusters and divisions as well as other events. After this, further measures are planned together, which may affect all or only some of the companies in the sector.

Additional information

Feel free to contact us!

Sari Väänänen, sari.vaananen@sakky.fi, +358 44 785 4025
Pauliina Korhonen, pauliina.korhonen@sakky.fi, +358 44 785 3403

Future Talents Team

Future Talents Team bridges the gap between academia and industry by fostering collaboration between companies and students. The team meets with local employers and presents degree programmes and the competencies of international students. The aim is to achieve many kinds of cooperation: theses, internships, project and part-time work, as well as small case examples for courses.

Collaboration offers the employer

new, fresh development ideas
recruiting possibilities
an opportunity to increase the linguistic and cultural competence of the work community
an easy way to collaborate with educational institutions
engagement with higher education, research and innovation
positive employer visibility
possibility to implement social responsibility at the local level

Benefits for the students

network with other students and local employers – a chance to gain more employment opportunities
get to know Finnish working life, culture and language
participate in sales and marketing trainings held by an expert
develop their skills in problem solving, sales and negotiation, project and teamwork
possibility to gain study credits

Service process

The student teams can visit or be invited to local companies
During the visits, the teams and employers discuss cooperation opportunities and agree on the next steps
The partnership continues, and the student teams monitor the progress as agreed

For more information:

Sanna Jeskanen, sanna.jeskanen@karelia.fi, +358 50 462 2478
Johanna Taavitsainen, johanna.taavitsainen@savonia.fi, +358 44 785 6142
Marko Pietilä, marko.pietila@uef.fi, +358 40 355 3039
Sami Tanskanen, sami.tanskanen@uef.fi, +358 50 355 8857