We asked the employers in our network what they look at first when an application arrives. The answers were remarkably similar, and they are collected here as a checklist you can go through before you send anything.
Before you apply
- Read the advertisement to the end: the language requirement is often milder than you expect.
- Find out what the company actually does. One sentence about it in your application is enough to show it.
- Check whether the advertisement names a contact person. Calling them is normal here, not pushy.
The application and the CV
A Finnish application is short — one page, and rarely more. It answers two questions: why this job, and why you. The CV is a list rather than a story: education, work history, skills and languages, newest first.
The applications that stand out are not the longest ones. They are the ones where I can see in ten seconds what the person can do.
HR manager, a technology company in the Oulu region
The interview
Interviews here are usually calm and factual, and small talk is brief. It is completely acceptable to say that you do not know something. Prepare one or two questions of your own — not asking any is read as a lack of interest.
If a skill was learned in another country, say what it means in practice. Degree names do not travel, but the work does.