Self-study Course: Career in Kainuu
Career in Kainuu is a self-study course and reference material for students who are interested in the employment market, finding a job, and building a career in Kainuu region. Course materials can be studied as they become relevant for you. Your tutor teacher or career and recruitment coordinator can additionally point out to you what you should be focusing on based on which skills you need to improve or develop.
After completing this course, you will have overall knowledge about the Employment market in Kainuu, how to look for information related to working in Kainuu, what types of resources are available, when to use them, and how to get help when looking for a job. Additionally, you will gain skills on how to develop/improve your CV and Cover Letter to make it more appealing to Kainuu employers, as well as how to look for hidden job opportunities and prepare for a job interview.
Course structure:
- Finnish working life culture
- Knowing yourself
- Job application process
- Finnish language
- Final assignment
Let’s get started!
Each section includes a small reflection task, where you apply the knowledge you learned from the corresponding section of this web page. Based on the information found and learned, complete the assignment. The assignments are for your own learning and mastering the job hunt in Finland and in Kainuu.
1. Finnish Working Life Culture
Start by going through the career in Kainuu website. Read and take notes about Finnish working life culture.
Compare the ways in which Finnish working life culture differs from the culture of your home country.
- What are the things that define Finnish working life culture?
- What are the differences between Finnish working life culture and your own culture? Reflect on experiences you may have working in Finland – what have you learned on the work place, were there surprises that you didn’t expect?
2. Knowing Yourself
This section gives you tips on how to identify and review your strengths and areas for development. When applying for a job, you need to be able to tell the employer what skills and competencies you will bring to the company.
First, go through the Knowing Your Strengths. Choose one of the personality tests listed on the website.
Review the results of the test and their accuracy. You can use the results as a guideline for defining yourself.
You can also view the results of the test via the following questions:
– How do you describe yourself?
– What are your strengths and weaknesses and skills and competencies?
– What are you good at naturally?
– What do you do for your friends and family without asking? What are the things you avoid doing?
Next, pick an event or a point in your timeline when you had to take action to resolve something. It can be something from your previous jobs, but also from extracurricular activities.
– What was the challenging situation and how did you solve it?
– What skills did you use?
– What qualities did you demonstrate?
This is a good way to find your skills and also be able to justify/explain them. It is not only about listing the qualities, but it helps if you can explain where you have used or learned these skills.
Did you recognize any qualities that you have but hadn’t considered before? You should now have a list of qualities that you can use when describing yourself to potential employers.
3. Job Application Process
In this part of the course the aim is to explore different job search sites and learn about finding hidden jobs. At the same time, you can browse the job advertisements in preparation for the final learning assignment.
Go through the section Job Application Process and read about CV and cover letter.
Next, check out the job search sites and pick some job advertisements that you find interesting.
Read the job advertisement carefully and pick out what you think are the most important things that are required of the employee for the job:
- What qualifications are required?
- What are the requirements you should develop for the job?
Read next the section How to Find Work. Explore the topic through the following questions:
- How can you find hidden jobs in Kainuu region?
4. Finnish Language
Finding a job in Finland is often easier if you know the local language. Start by reading through the section Finnish language. If you wish, you can also look at more material under Useful Links. There are a lot of online materials to develop your language skills.
Produce a short introduction text of yourself in Finnish that you could use to supplement your CV. Write a minimum of two sentences. Don’t use a translator but try to think about what you can say with your current language skills yourself. This introduction should give a realistic image to the employer of your skills – if it’s very fluent and perfect Finnish, they will expect you to talk that way.
For example, the introduction text of a CV should mention:
- Something about you as a person
- Summary of your relevant knowledge in one or two sentences
- A concrete example of your expertise
- You can also say a few words about your plans for the future
5. Final Assignment
Once you have studied the course materials and the Career in Kainuu website, find a job advertisement that interests you or you can use the one that you found earlier. Analyze the requirements and pay attention to what is asked for. What skills and competencies are asked for? What is the required education and experience? How do your skills and competencies answer to the employers needs? Based on this job ad, prepare a CV and cover letter for the position. You can find links to job search sites from Useful Links.
search for an ad that is relevant to you and a task that you might actually see yourself working on in the future. This will help you to make the most of what you have learned from the course.
Good luck for the job hunt! You should now have a well-prepared CV and cover letter. Remember, that you should never use the same documents to apply for several jobs, but always personalize considering the task in question.
