Career Trips

By project MILEstone

Published on 26 November 2024

Finland

Länsi-Suomi

About this good practice

The goal of the career trip is to showcase the Central Finland rural areas as a place to work and live. A large number of incoming international students and immigrants hope to get a permanent residency in Finland, and suitable employment opportunities are needed. There are 21 smaller municipalities in rural areas of Central Finland, which are faced with the problem of the declining working-age population. The career trip-program is targeting to tackle the issue from the multiple angles: introduce potential workforce to the areas that are in need of it and provide the individuals with job opportunities. During the career trip international students are travelling by bus to rural areas, to visit companies from different industries and get information about employment opportunities there. They learn new things about Finnish culture, society and living opportunities and gain local networks in visited municipalities. In this way they have a realistic picture about the life and work in rural areas.

The supervised career trip takes 5-12 hours. 30-65 persons typically participate to the trip. The official language of communication on the trip is English.
The programme of Career Trips is implemented in collaboration with stakeholders JAMK University of Applied Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, ELY Centre of Central Finland, Gradia Vocational College and International House Jyväskylä.

Expert opinion

While simple in nature the Career Trips programme can go a long way in tackling dual challenges: lack of skilled workforce in rural areas and providing job opportunities to foreign students. The latter is an interesting challenge where foreign students who initially come to the country might not intend to stay after studies, but gradually fall in love with the place and want to extend their stay. However, in order to be allowed to stay they often need to find employment over a certain period of time. From the policy perspective it is about optimizing resources. It is much cheaper for the state to retain the young talent from universities who has already come to the country and learned its culture, customs and perhaps languages compared to promoting the state as an excellent working location and headhunting people from scratch. In the global competition for talent it makes sense to tap into the potential of the foreign talent that has already come to your territory for whichever reasons. It is also noteworthy that the practice has developed a partnership between Jyväskylä and Sydänsuomessa region and that already 13 students have found part-time or full-time job via the career trips. Many other regions across Europe could learn from this practice.

Mart Veliste

Works at Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

Resources needed

1-2 supervisors are typically needed to host the group of 30 to 65 people. Time resource of the participating organisations is also required for planning, meetings, contacting municipalities, arrangements etc. Costs include: transportation cost, hospitality, marketing and supervision.

Evidence of success

The average satisfaction rate among the attendees of all the Career Trips is 73% - meaning completely satisfied. As a result of this good practice a partnership between Jyväskylä and Sydänsuomessa region was created, through which international students from Jyväskylä are hired for jobs and internships in the region. Currently it is recorded that 13 students have found part-time or full-time job via the career trips.

Potential for learning or transfer

There can be found similarities in challenges faced in different regions across Europe regarding labour market integration of migrants and shortage of labour in rural areas. Career trip provides an example of innovative way to tackle this challenge by providing a platform for international students and employers in rural areas to meet face-to-face and can serve as a good example to educational institutions in Europe. It gives the international students an opportunity to meet employers in a more informal way. Rural areas have an opportunity to showcase their living opportunities to guests from different cultures. In order to meet its goal, providing internships and jobs for international students, this good practice requires communicating the benefits both to employers and international students. In addition to international students and educational institutions, career groups can be arranged for any migrants also e.g. by project or administration.