The Helsinki International Voucher was piloted because many international students obtain high-quality degrees and qualifications in Finland, but face difficulties finding a job that matches their education after graduation. At the same time, businesses are looking for talent for growth, development and internationalisation.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the International Voucher pilot, the City of Helsinki’s Director of Migration Affairs Glenn Gassen stressed that Helsinki aims to be one of the most attractive Nordic cities for employers and international talent. International students bring expertise, diversity and new perspectives, strengthen the labour market and promote innovation and growth.
“We want to promote the employment of international students. The International Voucher was one concrete way of doing so that we wanted to try. In the pilot, we paid particular attention to how the financial support and practical recruitment support helped employers make use of international talent,” said Gassen.
The pilot was carried out in cooperation with Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, which supported both the trainees and the companies throughout the process.
“It is important for us that international students can get traineeships and that companies can find the talent that they need. The companies that utilised Metropolia's services received concrete help and support in the recruitment process of international talent, finding suitable trainees and integrating them into the work community. During their traineeships, the international students participated in career coaching, which supported both their integration into Finnish working life and their Finnish language skills in their own fields,” said Project Director Johanna Liukkonen from Metropolia at the event.
Encouraging feedback from employers
The participants of the International Voucher pilot consisted of 17 employers and 17 trainees from a total of six different higher education institutions. They represented a total of ten different nationalities. The traineeships, some of which were part-time, lasted 2–4 months.
Feedback from the employers was encouraging, with an overall score of 4.3 out of 5. More than half of the participating companies said they would not have hired an international trainee without the financial support.
“The threshold for hiring an international trainee was lowered. We already know that two trainees have been employed by the companies that participated in the pilot, another two have been employed by other companies and one continues to work as a freelancer in the same company in which they completed their traineeship. This indicates that we achieved the impact that we were aiming for,” Gassen said at the event.
“The financial support from the City of Helsinki was a good incentive to take on an international talent as a trainee. We also received support from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences for recruitment and practical issues. We were delighted to employ the trainee after their traineeship,” said Maxine Buchert, CEO and co-founder of Meridian Agency, one of the companies involved in the pilot.
Buchert noted that the trainee also had skills that the company had not anticipated at the application stage. As a result, the trainee provided a great deal of added value to the company.
“The level of applicants was high, so we were able to choose a skilled trainee, which was a great help for our company,” says Jukka Karhula, CEO of Frame Rate.
At the closing ceremony, the trainees who took part in the pilot were honoured with flowers and diplomas.
The results of the International Voucher pilot will be evaluated and the lessons learned will be utilised to plan future forms of support for employers of international talent in Helsinki. Cooperation with Metropolia University of Applied Sciences is also continuing in Helsinki’s summer traineeship programme and its recruitment process.
