Ministry warns Romanians and Bulgarians of difficulties in finding work
Thirteen penniless Romanian job-seekers arrive in Turku
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Finland's Ministry of Labour has issued a warning aimed at job-seekers from the new EU countries, Romania and Bulgaria, concerning the difficulties in finding work in Finland. The Ministry's statement concerning the Finnish labour market situation was sent to the Bulgarian and Romanian media on Wednesday.
The Ministry decided on the action after 13 nearly penniless Romanians without any knowledge of languages arrived in the southwestern city of Turku earlier this week, hoping to find work in Finland.
The local daily Turun Sanomat reported on the Romanian arrivals in its Wednesday issue.
According to the EURES advisor Tomi Puranen from the Turku Labour Exchange Office, the Romanians had been wrongly briefed in their home country.
"Apparently there has been an extensive campaign in the Romanian media and on the Internet pages of the Romanian Ministry of Labour advertising the abundance of open jobs in Finland, with good levels of pay. According to the applicants, however, none of the preconditions for finding employment in Finland, such as language skills, were mentioned", Puranen complains.
Employment officials in Helsinki have encountered similar problems with Romanian and Bulgarian job-seekers.
Senior officer Olli Sorainen from the Ministry of Labour is of the opinion that the Romanian or the Bulgarian job-seekers are not the problem.
"The problem is simply that they have been misinformed."
The Ministry of Labour's bulletin aims to rectify the situation. It notes, among other things, that even though Finland has not set limits to the free movement of labour, it may still be difficult to find employment here. Apart from the applicants for top specialist tasks, job-seekers must be able to speak either Finnish or Swedish.
The bulletin also reveals that there is no work for unskilled labour: both training and previous work experience are absolute prerequisites.
The job-seekers are also warned that finding work in Finland may take time. "The recruitment process includes interviews and aptitude tests, and the applicant's references are looked into carefully", Sorainen explains.
"All this is time-consuming, and Finland is a very expensive country in which to sit around and wait."
"We strongly recommend that people organise their jobs from their home countries prior to arriving in Finland."
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 25.1.2007 - TODAY |
 Ministry warns Romanians and Bulgarians of difficulties in finding work
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