Turku and Southwest Finland is home to hundreds of companies, ranging from climate solutions to advances in Virtual Reality. Some of the main focuses are maritime, life science, cleantech, pharmaceuticals and IT. The six universities in the region, the agile public sector and the companies form a local ecosystem of innovation and expertise that has global reach. This ecosystem is in constant need of highly educated and driven experts and specialists.

Where to start?

The Jobs in Finland portal compiles open listings that do not require any Finnish or Swedish as a working language.

Our Job Board filters the national list for current vacancies in Southwest Finland. We update the listings on a weekly basis, so be sure to add the page to your favourites and check back regularly!

Finding a job without fluency in Finnish or Swedish is possible as many companies use English as a working language. However, increasing your Finnish language skills will undoubtedly improve your employment prospects.

Visit the City of Turku website for the latest information about language courses in our region.

Other Careers Services

Unemployed citizens with a residence permit can register as a jobseeker with the TE Office. The TE Office provides employment services such as advice on finding a job, current vacancies and training, including Finnish language classes.

It is also possible to register as a jobseeker with a private recruitment company, although the majority of available positions will require Finnish language skills. Examples include:

It is important to consider how applying for a job in Finland may differ from your home country. Most applications include documents written in a standard format, such as a CV and a cover letter (check out our article on this subject for more tips on how to produce these documents).

Social Media and Networking

Networking is an important part of searching for work in Finland, particularly using social media. For example, LinkedIn can be a very useful tool, as many Finnish employers and companies are very active and usually welcome enquiries from new talents.

If you have a LinkedIn profile (and if you don’t, we recommend that you create one!), you can also join our Talent Turku group, which facilitates networking and matchmaking between businesses and international talents in Southwest Finland. Feel free to introduce yourself!

Startups

Finland is one of the best places in the world to kickstart a small-to-medium-sized startup. You’ll get the best of global competition combined with the Nordic idea of supporting entrepreneurs. There are quite a few steps to take before your idea is realised as a bristling startup business. But, hopefully, you’re afraid of none of that. Like every good story, founding a startup begins with an idea and enough information to get you off the ground. Some of the most important steps include:

  • The Permits
    1. Startup Permit
    2. Residence Permit (differs for entrepreneurs)
  • The Papers
    1. Registrations, bank accounts, insurance
  • The Network
    1. Advice, accelerators, incubators, funding programs etc.
  • The Startup
    1. What to keep in mind when developing the company in Finland

Startups in Finland can expect support from three levels: the local, the regional and the national. These levels include both public and private organisations. The central actors in enabling international talent to found a startup in Finland are the Finnish Immigration Agency, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and Business Finland.

Startups can also look to EU for financial support and other kinds of incentives and assistance.

Useful links

  • InfoFinland – general information about working in Finland.
  • Jobs in Finland – jobs targeted at English-speaking professionals nation-wide.
  • City of Turku – supporting immigrants with job searching and entrepreneurship.
  • Work in Finland – support for international professionals from Business Finland
  • Fondoseuropeos.eu – the leading platform connecting European startups with EU funding