A case of a Frenchman in Finland

Sebastien Bouillon - a Frenchman in Finland

When in Helsinki live like the Finns!

I'm a French citizen, but I left France over ten years ago. I've been living and working in Oslo, Dublin and moved to Helsinki about three years ago. I me my Finnish wife in Norway as we were exchange students. We are now parents of two.

In my experience, finding a job in Finland is a bit tricky as long as you don't speak Finnish, even if you don't need it at work. I eventually found a workplace, where my Finnish skills were not as important than my working skills. CIMO deals with international relations aftel all.

Computers in Finland do work in the same way than anywhere else. As an EU citizen, I was a little bit puzzled as I had to register as a foreigner in the country at the police station, and even had to pay some fee. I did these formalities the day after I arrived, but I only got my KELA card four to six months later. I was then living in Finland officially. In the meantime I started to learn the basics of the beautiful but quite complicated Finnish language at the university of Helsinki where I took the two first levels.

As a student in France I've been used to the pretty good old fashion French bureaucracy. So I must say I was quite pleased overall with the Finnish ways. I can't imagine what it would be to move to France...

Back there, being member of an union isn't as common as it is here. "When in Rome live like the Romans." Akava and SPECIA was recommended to me by some coworkers as I joined CIMO. I could join even if I only was on a fixed term contract.

The obvious first reason to join is of course the extra safety of a better unemployment benefit when needed. Akava and SPECIA does offer a lot of services such as legal assistance, insurance or even some discounts. The membership fee is very reasonable in my opinion, and there's also possibility to make it a sort of direct debit with your employer... This way you won't have to remember to make the transfer for every month.

In my experience Akava and SPECIA staff is friendly and really willing to help you as you approach them. As implied you won't feel alone anymore...