”At the end we are all just human – it doesn´t matter where you are from.” – Jiri Jormakka/ Kelluu 

TalentHub Joensuu started as a project coordinated by Business Joensuu and Karelia in January 2018 to meet the clear need to coordinate and bring together the regional enterprises and international talents in Joensuu area. This year, TalentHub Joensuu has been relaunched and is now part of Joensuu Employment Services.  19.5. Luotsi organized a webinar on attracting, recruiting and working with international talents in the Joensuu region. The TalentHub Joensuu webinar was hoasted by Communications Coordinator Anne-Maria Kankaisto from Joensuu employment services.

Discussion was also ongoing behind the scenes, when guests were preparing themselves in the break room. There we asked North Karelia´s Region Mayor Markus Hirvonen why Joensuu is a good place to live and work. 

“ Joensuu is both small and big enough. Here you can find all the services you need. Joensuu is also a growing university town and very family-friendly. Everything is nearby. Joensuu is a people-sized city.” 

According to Hirvonen,  Joensuu is also an internationally competitive city full of high talent. 

“ International talents are searching for something special and that is what we have here. You can come here to pursue success in a safe and supportive environment. Also, which is not often known among international people, is the amount of Finnish benefits for example maternity assistance and student allowance. “ 

The biggest question of the day was: What is the key to work and succeed in an international work community?

First to answer where Jiri Jormakka and Benedek Pragái from Kelluu -company. The company is creating airships but not selling them. They sell airship technology which is used to collect and transfer data in a very energy-efficient way. 

“Basically I think it´s the project that is really fascinating to all of us. And yeah.. At the end we are all just human – it doesn´t matter where you are from.” Says Jormakka.

Mikko Hassinen and Stefan Steinhoff were representing Sensire. Their company offers digital monitoring solutions for the logistic chain for example food safety -monitoring. 

“ We need to treat people as people. So it doesn´t matter if their international or national, we just try to create a nice atmosphere for everybody. Be open, treat every people in the same level. You also need to focus to language differences. People are very self-conscious about language and you have to encourage them to speak and communicate. I would also say that don´t take everything too personal, humour is important”, tells Hassinen. 

“Not speaking Finnish can be an obstacle in finding employment. Learning Finnish is gonna be a big plus”, adds Steinhoff, who moved to Karelia from Germany. 

Next guest was Chief Executive Officer Harri Palviainen from Business Joensuu who has led a truly global career leading international teams and developing multi-national companies. He underlines that no matter what, people should be themselves.

“First of all for companies I see it as a huge opportunity that you go on new markets and grow your markets. You need to have courage to do it, one shouldn't be kind of avoiding the risk but instead see the opportunities in there. It´s more about who you are, not how you pronounce the language. At the end as human beings we all are the same.” 

Nolwenture offers digital production services to global customer base. CEO of Nolwenture, Rob Connell, sees that people are the key to success:

“ You need to have the right attitude and willingness to learn. You have to be very flexible for working hours because of for example different time zones. Also, you need to be patient for communications and develop your own communication. It´s not only the task that is important but also people around you.” 

“ It´s similar to what Rob said – you should be ready to adapt and you must be ready to work here. It is pretty much the most important thing I think. You also need to respect other people. When you work with other cultures there might be some values etc. they keep important”, says Designer Linh Nguyen from Fastroi.

Fastroi offers care management systems especially for the social and health-care sector. 

“ It´s also kind of the same from Finnish point of view. You need to be willing to learn from other cultures.“, continues company´s Communications and Marketing Director Johanna Tanninen. 

Larisa Marttinen from Become Karelian project is serving Finnish companies and helping them with recruitment from outside the Finnish borders. She also takes care of the international experts who choose to relocate to Joensuu and makes sure they feel comfortable here. She also sees that communication and ability to adapt are most important:

“ You need to be open. There are two different aspects when working in international community – adaptation and bringing something new. You need to adapt but on the other hand you enrich the environment. Be ready to step away from your comfort zone.” 

There´s a clear need to software developers and -engineers in Joensuu region. Sensire, Fastroi and Nolwenture are searching for professionals in the sector.  At the time of the webinar, both Fastroi and Nolwenture were recruiting. If you are searching for a job from Joensuu area, be active, explore local companies and also don't be shy to send out open applications. 

Are you or is your company a hiding international talent? Take a look to TalentHub Joensuu´s renewed website and make a profile.

TalentHub -webinar available on Luotsi YouTube channel

Text: Hanne Hynynen Photos: Mika Salmi