Finnish recruitment "bad" practices

When I joined my company, there is one value that I do appreciate: the culture of giving feedbacks and receiving feedbacks. Everybody is encouraged to provide honest and constructive feedback to make things better. For today, taking that hat, I would like to share some feedback to the recruitment practices in Finland. I have to say this is not a post to criticize things, but rather to give an insightful reflection of what I think the recruitment process in Finland could be improved. This is not tied to any companies, or individual but rather from my own experience and observation.

My main points are:

• Using Finnish language skills as a reason for rejecting a candidate 
• Rejecting someone right at the job fair
• Misuse of the job interview
• The culture of reference

Using Finnish language skills as a reason for rejecting a candidate

I once reading a feedback post of a candidate on LinkedIn about this. She got rejected by a company because she does not speak Finnish. From her post, it is said that in the job requirement, Finnish skills is not mentioned, but still, she got rejected because the other candidate with the same skills and competence speak Finnish. To me required Finnish skills for a position is reasonable. Since we are in Finland, for most of the positions, speaking Finnish is a must. If I am in America, I do not think that I can apply for job if I do not speak English. Language is like other kind of skills which is necessary for jobs. What I want to say is that, using Finnish skills as a reason to reject a candidate is not ideal. For not getting a job offer, there are thousands of reasons. If companies want to state specifically what is the reason, they can state them directly: "not suitable", "not capable", "not enough experience",...I think we can be honest and straightforward instead of using Finnish as a reason for all. It will leave a bad impression to foreign candidates: feeling of exclusive. To be fair, if Finnish language is a skill, should it be stated a clear requirement level. For example if I reach level ABC, then I can be considered for the position rather than using Finnish as an excuse to ask for something a foreign candidate can never become - "a native Finn".

Rejecting someone right at the job fair

When I was a student in Tampere, the university often organized job fairs for students. I was so excited. I read through the handbook, and listed down companies that I feel interested in. I visited their booths on the day. Unfortunately, what I experienced made me feel like, I never want to join any job fair or I should never have any hope in a job fair. When I visited some of the companies, the first thing I heard was: "We do not recruit non-Finnish speaking candidates. Maybe later we will expand internationally, we might have that need, but not for now". Again, same as mentioned above, Finnish is used as an excuse to reject someone. This is not yet a candidate, since for joining a job fair, to me it is not an interview but rather a visit to get to know about a company: what they are doing, how is their products or working culture. What is the reason a visitor gets rejected when they have not even applied for the company? In another story that my friend attended a job fair in Norway, he said that the company representative said something similar: "We require Norwegian for the job. But you can learn the language". Then they have a conversation about the company, their services, and so on. By saying this, I am not comparing Finland and Norway. For your information, I and my friends in my network or my classmates, we all found jobs in Finland without speaking Finnish. There are still open positions in English and Finnish is not a must. Do you see that, the way that companies present themselves in the job fair gives a wrong impression about Finnish job market? I don't think it is a good idea to say no to visitors in the job fair.

Misuse of the interview

I once went for an interview. It last for 40 minutes. The main conversation was about the interviewer explained to me why I was not suitable for the position instead of asking for my skills or motivation. I was thinking, why does she spend time to talk with me if she knows that I am not a potential candidate for the position. Since she still can read my CV at the beginning, and can just send a rejection letter or do nothing. I was walking home and crying all my way that day feeling that I am never good enough for the job. There was another interview that the interviewer read through my CV during the interview. Maybe he was busy. The most questions he asked were: "Why did you come to Finland?", "Do you like Finland?". Again not about me or my skills. Why my impression about Finland matters that much for a job? For a job seeker, who is desperately searching for jobs, it seems like I just take whatever offered to me. Since I need a job. Sometimes, I think myself for those interviews that I have been through: "If I get the offer from that company, do I want to accept?". If I have a choice, do I want to work for a company which is unprofessional in recruiting, and irrespectful towards candidates? To me I personally think that, even a candidate they apply for job, they deserved to be respected and to be treat in a professional manner. 

The culture of reference

It is pretty common in Finland that when there is an open position, the first thing is the company will ask their employees if they know someone to recommend. This referral norm is so common to the fact that 80% of open positions are hidden from the job market. When comparing between a person who has the connection and a person who does not have, it does make sense that the one who got referral at least has a better networking skill. Therefore they have a better chance to find a job. However, what if one gets the job because they have their brother/sister/uncle/friend who works for the company and knows about the open positions while others do not know? To me it is like a loss for the company since the pool of candidates they open for is small. Company may end up not having the best candidate but the one who has the connection. One of my friends working in HR shared that the culture of reference is because sometimes companies recruit the wrong person and have to suffer because of that. It is one of the reasons why companies prefer someone who knows someone so they can trust. If this culture of reference works well, I think it is fine to continue. But if the company sees that they are in a shortage of human resources, I think it should be changed or at least improved in the recruitment process so that the company can testify a new candidate both of their professiona, skills, and working attitude. 

Here are some of my two cents about the recruitment practices in Finland. Once again my overall experience is pretty good. The above mentioned points are what I think could be better. Hopefully, things will be changed for a brighter future. How was your experience while searching for jobs? I would love to hear your thoughts.