Helsinki Times talks to women who have opted out of corporate life to pursue other dreams.

It’s often said that there’s no such thing as a job for life nowadays, but for many young professionals embarking on the first stage of their careers it might seem unlikely that in 10 or 15 years they would give up their professional ambitions. However, that is the experience of an increasing number of women who, despite enjoying professional success, choose to step off the corporate career ladder in pursuit of an entirely different lifestyle.

According to an estimate by the Ministry of Labour, 60,000 people in Finland are currently unemployed due to illness, physical disabilities, substance abuse or mental-health problems.

With the help of job banks, new paths are being charted out to help disadvantaged individuals who have been sidelined from working life. According to an estimate by the Ministry of Labour, 60,000 people in Finland are currently unemployed due to illness, physical disabilities, substance abuse or mental-health problems. “Up to 2,000 of these individuals could become employed within the next few years if job banks are taken into use on a national level,” believes Heikki Palm from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

Universities are eager to attract foreign talent, while academics are just as eager to work overseas.

MANY Finnish industries actively recruit foreign workers. Although the construction and nursing industries are well-known international recruiters, other sectors are also on the lookout for international talent. Academic institutions in particular are eager to attract foreign experts.

“Academics are fairly mobile today,” says Alan Warde. “A young person might expect to have jobs in several different countries during his career. There is a thought in academia that if you are invited overseas this is a sign of your fame and the excellence of your research. This might not be true, but the climate is such that international experience is valuable.”

Studies show that for most people, work has become increasingly tedious in recent years.

WOMEN are more enthusiastic about their work than men are, but they also feel decreasingly able to affect their work rhythm. This was revealed in a study by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH).

Women are more like than men to feel that their ability to exercise influence over the amount and rhythm of their work has recently diminished.

A governmental working group is trying to draft new legal provisions that help keep contractual disputes from going to court.

New, clearly worded legislation is sorely needed for the problematic area of successive short-term employment contracts. Two decisions by the courts from earlier this year make it no easier to determine when successive short-term employment contracts are acceptable and when they are not.

Last February, a ruling by the Supreme Court approved repeated short-term employment contracts due to the fact that the only client of the day-care centre in question, the City of Vantaa, made purchase decisions for one year at a time.

Having a mentor and running group workshops for all employees can help foreign workers settle into working life in Finland.

INTEGRATING foreigners into Finnish working life is a two-way street: it requires effort from both the foreign employee and Finnish employer. Now, a new book aims to help employers hire and better integrate immigrants into their ranks.

Nicole Saari, owner of the relocation and training firm Mundus, was originally contacted by the City of Helsinki to create a guide so that public institutions could more easily hire and integrate foreigners.

The Finnish government has unveiled a growth and employment programme drafted together with labour market groups.

“The aim of the programme is to strengthen fiscal sustainability by improving the preconditions for sustainable economic growth and high employment,” said the statement.

“The starting point for the work was to create a concrete, consistent growth programme spanning over several parliamentary terms.”

Finding a business partner or a suitable post may not always be easy, but a dynamic, online service aims to make engaging in team entrepreneurship a smooth process.

HAVE YOU ever wondered about how to find competent workers for your up-and-coming enterprise, or what would be the best way to let thriving companies know about your professional talents? The answer might be just a few mouse clicks away at businessfellows.com, a service set up in 2009 with the goal to help emerging companies and specialists of different fields join forces.

Professor: employees should be judged on their work, not their social skills.

PROFESSOR of psychology Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen is convinced that the trend towards valuing social skills in working life has gone too far. These days, an outspoken visionary who is good at pushing himself and his skills may be more likely to secure a job than a deliberative and phlegmatic expert.

The professor feels that managers and supervisors should place greater value on workers’ tangible results and know-how than they currently do. The emphasis on social strengths should be tempered.

Many people would like to run their own business but lack a viable business plan. Buying a franchise is an alternative worth considering.

AS large Finnish companies continue to downsize many people are turning to entrepreneurship. Franchising in particular is growing in popularity. Today Finland has about 200 franchise chains with 4,000 entrepreneurs employing 50,000 people.

Franchising involves a contractual relationship between two independent companies. The franchisor provides a business model while the franchisee runs a specific business location according to that model.