Yrkesdörren exported to Finland

2020.01.31

Axfoundation’s initiative Yrkesdörren has been exported to Finland. Established Finns and newcomers can meet through the new organization Dörren by Luckan since January 2020. Just as the Swedish Yrkesdörren, its Finnish equivalent creates contacts between people with experience in the same line of work, to widen their networks and to speed up inclusion into the labour market.

The Finnish organisation Dörren by Luckan is independent from Axfoundation, but their start-up has been helped by sharing part of the IT-system that Yrkesdörren has developed, which easily matches people from the same line of work.

“We decided more than a year ago to share the fantastic matching tool Axfoundation has developed through Yrkesdörren with our neighbouring country. It was to us a way of examining if it was possible to adapt the tool to new languages and different circumstances – a pilot to see if Yrkesdörren could cross borders.” – Amelie Silfverstolpe, Head of Operations at ÖppnaDörren, Axfoundation

Unemployment is higher among foreign born

In Finland, like in Sweden, unemployment among foreign born is considerably higher than among those born in the country, even though several sectors are crying out for labour.

“Newcomers need trade specific knowledge for guidance and support when they’re applying for jobs, that’s why Dörren by Luckan is needed. Another goal is to increase the awareness among the Finns about the skills that the foreign born have. In social debate the foreign born are often depicted as people with a low educational level, however that’s only a small part of the newcomers.” – Ann-Jolin Grüne, Head of Development, Föreningen Luckan

18 % get a job through Yrkesdörren

In Sweden, 8 out 10 job positions are filled via contacts. Yrkesdörren exists partly to facilitate the creation of a professional network for new Swedes in Sweden, but also to facilitate established Swedes to utilise the skills that newcomers have. Established Swedes and people who are new to the country meet for an hour to talk about their common line of trade, for example about social codes and how to improve your CV. ÖppnaDörren’s impact assessment from 2020 shows that one hour can make an incredible difference to someone’s life. As many as 18 % have got a job and another 10 % of the job seekers have got an internship after their meeting arranged by Yrkesdörren. Furthermore, 82 % state that they understand the Swedish labor market better or much better.