Marika Tiukkanen / Unattached

Jewelry artwork of four pieces

Silk thread, wood fiber cardboard, mixed media

The idea for this artwork started from feelings of detachment and isolation. From these emerged the concept of a piece of jewelry that wouldn’t "stick"—it would only remain on the skin, clothing, body, or surface for a moment. I suggested stretching the boundaries of what defines jewelry in this project. Lauren appreciated this idea because she has had to continually stretch her own boundaries in different areas of life—work, parenthood, volunteering, and social life. This took the idea further, with these four areas of life forming the artwork. The varying sizes of the four elements represent the constant balancing act; one part is always larger/smaller, lighter/heavier than the other for a moment, until the balance shifts again.

Lauren Stevens

I’m from Reading, UK. I met my Finnish ex-partner in 2011 while studying at the University of Chester in northern England. He was an exchange student, and I was in my first year of an undergraduate degree. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in International Development in 2015. I moved from the UK to Finland in August 2015 to start my studies at the University of Tampere, where I graduated with a Master’s degree in Peace, Mediation, and Conflict Research in June 2019.

I’ve attended 18 Finnish language courses and one Swedish language course. I did an internship at the Åland Islands Peace Institute and volunteered. In 2019, I completed the general Finnish language exam required for citizenship and applied for Finnish citizenship. I received it in 2020. I have friends from different countries with whom I speak English and/or Finnish, and I speak English with my child.

While searching for a job in Finland, I participated in mentoring programs offered by the University of Tampere, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Väestöliitto, Cimson Koulutuspalvelut, and Urasparraajat ry. Multilingual workplaces and the use of plain language help improve language skills without making the Finnish language requirements feel impossible.

I’m a mummy to a 2-year-old. My ex-partner is the birth mother of our child, who was conceived through fertility treatment. Our child is bilingual. The rest of my family (mother, sister, grandmother) lives in the UK.

I work as a project planner for the Kumppanina kotoutumisessa project at the Uusimaa ELY Centre. Sometimes people contact me at work and immediately speak English because of my name, which makes me feel "othered" and like my Finnish skills are not good enough.

Surprisingly few people with immigrant backgrounds are hired in integration work, even though the core of the work is supporting immigrants. Previously, I worked as a project coordinator at Moniheli ry in a network of multicultural organizations (2021–2022), as a research assistant at the University of Tampere (2020–2021), and as administrative support at the European Chemicals Agency (2020).

I volunteer as a facilitator for the English-speaking group at the Helsinki Pride Community. I enjoy swimming, going to the gym, playing board and video games, listening to music, cooking vegan food, visiting museums, cycling, and traveling. I used to do Bollywood dancing in Tampere, but the dance school closed after the pandemic.

I lived in Reading, UK, from 1993 to 2011. In 2011, I moved to Chester to study for my undergraduate degree, where I lived for two years. I lived in Melilla, Spain, from 2013 to 2014 while working as an English assistant in a secondary school during my Erasmus exchange. I returned to Chester for a year (2014–2015) to finish my degree.

I lived in Tampere from 2015 to 2023, studying for my Master’s degree between 2015 and 2019, and then job-hunting between 2019 and 2023. I moved to Helsinki in July last year after getting a job at the Uusimaa ELY Centre.

I don’t feel Finnish, but I notice that more of my character is becoming Finnish, like respecting silence and valuing honesty. I don’t think I’ll ever be fully Finnish. Even if I spent many years using only Finnish, I believe I’d still have an accent.

Equality means the chance to achieve my dream job titles: communication expert, advocacy specialist, or international affairs specialist. As a non-native speaker in Finland, I know this is unlikely for me. Still, I want to believe that the more people with immigrant backgrounds submit job applications, the less employers and recruiters can continue to ignore us. After all my experiences, and those of people I know, it’s hard to believe in equality or describe what equality looks like. There seem to be a lot of words about it but not much action.

I sent 507 job applications and was invited to 27 interviews between January 2019 and May 2023. I have all the statistics. I received a response to 56% of my applications and got an interview for 5% of them. My first interview after finishing my Master’s was in December 2019 for a sorter position at the Fida sorting center. Sorting a bag of clothes during a job interview after 10 years of higher education felt deeply humiliating. At that point, I was ready to do almost anything instead of sitting at home.

My unemployment led to severe depression. I joined the queue for Kela-supported rehabilitation therapy in August 2019. I got a spot in March 2020 and continued until June 2023. In January 2020, I got an interview for an office assistant position at an organization that supports immigrants. The job involved cleaning and some customer service. I was told my language skills weren’t good enough for the job. It was shocking and deeply affected my self-esteem.

In April 2020, I started a part-time (50%) research assistant position at the University of Tampere. I also got a temporary full-time (100%) position at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) from May to October 2020. When ECHA offered me three short consecutive contracts (2 weeks, 12 weeks, and 6 weeks) over five months, I decided to continue the part-time research assistant role alongside it. I didn’t want to quit a job with 18 months left on the contract for a two-week full-time position. Working at 150% was exhausting, but I didn’t want to be unemployed again. When living with a series of short-term contracts, you can never accumulate enough vacation days to take a proper break.

It was humiliating when, in 2021, my situation became so desperate that I applied to be a delivery driver for Wolt and Foodora. Luckily, I got a job with an organization just before the Wolt training for the driver position I was offered.

I constantly experience minority stress. I feel like some people stare at me or act strangely when I speak English or Finnish with an accent. I thought it would be better in Helsinki than in Tampere, but it continues, especially at work.

It’s important to have discussions and share information about immigrant integration. We can challenge discrimination or negative comments about people with immigrant backgrounds if we encounter them.

I recommend the use of anonymous recruitment. I’ve experienced it only 5 times in Finland (less than 1% of all my applications). However, even if a person’s name and photo are removed from a resume and/or application, their work history in their home country or other countries is still visible. Employers can still make discriminatory decisions based on that.

Reception in the Workforce

Many of us with immigrant backgrounds are ready, willing, and capable of doing more than cleaning, food delivery, and basic assistant work. If we’re not in a position to hire other people with immigrant backgrounds, we can encourage those who are.

I think Finland should focus on the so-called international talents already here rather than trying to attract more. Several recruitment events were organized for Ukrainian refugees in 2022. I hope employers recognize the value of immigrants through these events. Some immigrants have lived here for decades.

It’s important to hire more experts on immigration issues who actually have immigrant backgrounds. We can be seen as experts by experience, with a personal understanding of these matters. The fact that most of Finland’s so-called immigration experts are native Finns only seems to perpetuate the problem.

Understanding Employment Contracts and Rights

The employment issues immigrants face in Finland also affect native Finns. Many immigrants may become financially dependent on their Finnish spouse, for example. My ex-partner supported me financially during my studies. I didn’t expect him to continue after I earned my Master’s, but I was only offered short-term contracts or part-time work. He also helped me understand my employment rights and the collective agreement in my field. Not all immigrants have that support, which leaves them vulnerable. I joined a union and an unemployment fund after a Finnish friend recommended it. My financial situation is now better. I didn’t know about this before.

Collaboration Between Authorities

At the end of (international) student degree programs, there could be a course on employment services, health services, Kela, and the Tax Administration. For example, services are brought together at International House, making them more accessible to immigrants.

Links:

- [Me Naiset](https://www.menaiset.fi/): Lauren applied to over 500 jobs before getting hired – one question she was asked makes many of us stop smiling.

- Lauren has all her job search statistics in an Excel sheet.