International Employer of the Year competition gives credit for organizations that hire international talent

Guest post by Niina Virtanen from JCI Finland’s (Suomen Nuorkauppakamarit ry) International Employer of the Year 2022 project team

International talents and highly skilled immigrants are increasingly needed to boost economic growth in the Finnish job market. The most recent survey by Finland’s Chamber of Commerce shows that as many as three out of four companies are facing a shortage of skilled labor. While work-based immigration is widely recognized as one of the most effective ways to ease the labor shortage, many companies are still not ready or capable of hiring immigrants. According to a study by Barona in 2021, half of Finnish companies have never recruited international employees.

To encourage those companies that are still hesitating to hire international workforce, JCI Finland has launched a national competition called International Employer of the Year. This competition calls out for organizations that have successfully recruited and retained international talent, or that have otherwise enabled and encouraged multiculturalism at the workplace. “With this competition, we want to give credit for international-friendly organizations and raise them to the spotlight, as Finland needs more positive examples of employers who value and promote diversity”, says the project manager of the competition, Pauliina Papunen.

International Employer of the Year is now seeking employers – both private companies and public organizations – to participate in the competition. Winner organizations are granted a lot of positive publicity in the national and international JCI channels, and they are invited to a thematic panel discussion at the national JCI conference in October 2022. They will also receive the International Employer of the Year badge that they can use in their own communication channels as a recognition of their international-friendly culture. 

Organizations can be nominated by filling out an application form. The nomination period is open until 29.5.2022.

What makes a good candidate for the International Employer of the Year?

To be an international employer can mean many things, but there are some aspects that seem to appear in all organizations that are able to attract and retain international talent. Firstly, international employers have flexible language policies that allow working in multiple languages. In Finland, this often means that English is used alongside Finnish and/or Swedish. This kind of multilingualism is usually a baseline that determines whether the employer can even begin recruiting international talent. Most international employers have already adopted English as the official organization language, and they usually have many roles that don’t require Finnish or Swedish skills, at least on a fluent level.

Of course, even in English-speaking organizations some work tasks, such as legal and administrative jobs, might be hard to perform without knowledge of the local language. However, the most international employers take the time to evaluate each position and their language criteria critically, rather than just stamping ‘fluent Finnish required’ on each job ad. At the same time, it’s important to remember that many people with international or immigrant background do speak Finnish and/or Swedish on a very good or fluent level.

Employers that pay attention to diversity and inclusion don’t make assumptions about the applicant’s language skills based on their name or country of origin, but rather concentrate on their actual competencies and make objective hiring decisions.

This leads to another recognizable aspect of international employers: they have adopted recruitment practices and a working culture that promote diversity. Maybe the most well-known example of an inclusive recruitment practice is anonymous recruitment. In anonymous recruitment, job applicants’ personal information such as name, age, gender and nationality are removed from the application. This way, the recruiter is supposed to focus only on the applicants’ merits and motivation, and not let their (unconscious) bias affect the hiring decision.

Of course, anonymous recruitment is just one tool that doesn’t guarantee an inclusive and diverse workplace, but it makes it clear that the employer has put intention and effort to reducing discriminative recruitment practices. Apart from recruiting, an international employer is also able to retain international talent by boasting an inclusive and open working culture that celebrates diversity. This kind of organization culture treats employees’ diverse backgrounds as strengths- and supports international employees’ professional growth and career advancement. Often, this also means that the employee is encouraged to learn Finnish or Swedish alongside their work, and the language learning is supported by the employer on a financial and practical level.

How can you get the title of the International Employer of the Year?

If you recognize your employer in the above description, why not make it public knowledge? There are three organization categories in the International Employer of the Year competition, and a winner is chosen from each category:

1. small and medium-sized companies (<250 employees)

2. large companies (250+ employees)

3. public organizations (e.g. municipalities, government agencies and universities) 

To take part in the competition, organizations can fill out an application form in Finnish or English. To answer the questions on the application form, it helps to be familiar with the organization’s recruitment practices and working culture, as the applications are evaluated by those factors.

The nomination period is open for applications until 29.5.2022. The winner organizations are chosen and announced by autumn 2022.

More information:

International Employer of the Year on LinkedIn

Nomination form for organizations (open until 29.5.2022)

Author: Niina Virtanen is a member of JCI Tammerkoski and part of the International Employer of the Year 2022 project team. She works as a specialist at Aalto University, supporting the employment of international students.