‘You Need to Know Someone Who Knows Someone’: International Students’ Job Search Experiences

Abstract


 
 
 The article analyzes how 31 international students (IS) entered the Finnish labor market as they graduated from Finnish universities. Despite a growing interest in international student migration (ISM), there are few studies that analyze the firsthand experiences of IS as they seek to enter the receiving-country labor markets as they graduate. This article contributes to the topic by showing how the interviewees of this study managed to enter the receiving-country labor markets, which are embedded in national, cultural, and institutional contexts that require context-bound knowledge of particular recruitment patterns.The contribution of the article lies in (1) providing new insights on an understudied topic: IS’ experiences of finding jobs in the country of graduation, and, in (2) constructing a theoretical framework for analyzing IS’ job search in the countries ofgraduation. More broadly, the article contributes to the studies on highly educated migrants’ labor market integration by shedding light on the experiences in a Nordic setting.
 
 

Do they stay or go? Analysis of international students in Finland

“…In many ways, Finland has a 'hidden' job market; a job market in which international students are at a disadvantage in finding employment due to their 'weak' professional network ties (Alho 2020). Despite being highly desirable by governments, recruitment of international students into local and national labour markets require context-bound knowledge and embeddedness into that culture (Alho 2020). As such, and coupled with our finding our model's positive employment finding, it suggests it is beneficial for international students, as well the Finnish government and HEIs, to invest time and resources in enhancing international students ability to develop professional networks and acquiring Finnish language skills.…”

“…The employment findings are particularly noteworthy as previous research shows Finland being a difficult place to find employment for international students, before and after graduation (Alho 2020, Korhonen 2015; Ministry of Interior 2013). The main barriers identified are Finnish language skills and networks (professional and personal).…”

What Makes Resources Capital? The Labour Market Integration of Highly Skilled Japanese in Finland

“…The rapid growth of the ICT-based Finnish economy has been the factor to attract more HSM workers and thus retaining HSMs is a central concern among the Finnish business sectors and policymakers (Habti & Koikkalainen 2014;Koskela 2010). However, scholars have pointed out challenges HSMs experience when accessing the Finnish labour market, involving discrimination, exploitation, overqualification and unemployment (Alho 2020;Maury 2020). To understand better how HSMs become integrated into the Finnish economy, more empirical research is required (Kilinç 2021).…”

“…By doing so, this article contributes to the ongoing discussion concerning the role of capital in facilitating and/or constraining the labour market integration of HSMs (Erel & Ryan 2019;Nohl et al 2014). Furthermore, it offers an extensive view through the empirical data on the topic of HSMs and integration in Finland (Alho 2020;Kilinç 2021;Koskela 2019;Saksela-Bergholm 2020;Wahlbeck 2018).…”

International Students Labour and School Attendance: Evidence from China

“…Key questions in research on student employment usually refer to working students' characteristics and reasons for working during studies (Robert & Saar, 2012). An important tendency is that not only students from low-income families work during studies, but also those who do not have financial problems (Roshchin, 2006;Beerkens, Magi, & Lill, 2011;Vosnesenskaya et al, 2001;Alho, 2020). It reflects different motives for student employment.…”