Find your first marketing job in Finland

We put together a list of useful tips and links to help you find the very first job in marketing.
Built by The Awesome Marketers, the most awesome (according to the members) slack community for marketers in Finland.

Welcome!

If you found us here, then you're probably looking into entry-level marketing jobs in Finland. We have been exactly where you're standing now and good news, you can do it!

All about job search in Finland

Links to Finnish job search websites

Links to useful materials about job search in Finland

Importance of networking in Finland

In short, in Finland, your network is your everything. I can’t even stress this enough. Many jobs are first opened for the close circle of your network and sometimes are hired within the network. That means, if you are not in the network, you won’t even know the vacancy existed in the first place.The good news is that a network can be built (even in the covid times). Try connecting with interesting people on LinkedIn and asking for lunch or a call (surprisingly, many people say yes). Be open that the reason is to meet new people in your industry. Join online and offline meetups. Join communities. NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK!How to Network like a ProNetworking is one of the best business skills you need to be a successful marketer in Helsinki. Networking comes in many ways, but mainly indirect or direct. Indirect networking means that you attend events, and workshops, join communities and interact with people there.Direct networking is when you're reaching out to people with the sole purpose of getting to know them. That might sound more tricky, but actually, it can be very simple.Find other professionals in companies/industries that you're interested in and connect with them on LinkedIn. In pre-covid times, you would invite them for coffee/lunch to learn from them or talk about some marketing trends.You don't even have to be more specific than "I'm new in Finland, I'm looking for my first marketing job and I'd love to know your story". People are surprisingly welcoming to this type of request. Now, when real-life meetings are scarce, you could still ask a person for a call on that same topic.

Useful programs

Icebreaker Growth Hacker Internship (Helsinki)Icebreaker.vc arranges a 2-month intensive growth hacking internship every 4 months during which you will learn about hands-on growth hacking methods by solving weekly growth challenges for Icebreaker portfolio companies.The program focuses on learning and maintaining the growth hacking process in weekly sprints and solving the bottlenecks of early-stage startups firsthand in a group.Members of Awesome Marketers have shared extremely positive feedback about this opportunity.The Shortcut community (Helsinki, now online too)“The Shortcut is the largest talent accelerator in the Nordics. We equip talent with the skills and networks they need to drive growth and innovation and to kickstart their entry into the Finnish startup world.”In practice, The Shortcut organizes high-quality talent fairs, workshops, and networking events for marketers and other tech professionals. It also offers unpaid internships and longer educational programs.Aalto ES or other ES societies
Aalto Entrepreneurship Society (or other ES) are usually organizations that belong to the universities but are open (and even welcoming) for general public as well. Aalto ES is probably the most active of them and you can join their events/projects (regardless if you're an Aalto student or not) or even help them organize those.Open university courses (Anywhere with a university)
Open university courses will be a perfect fit for people who do not plan to study again but would like to show and have some local educational experience, and also sense the local approach to marketing.
- Arcada Course calendar
- Aalto open university

First salary

According to our own benchmark research "Marketing Salaries in Finland" done in autumn 2022, entry-level marketing professionals are gaining between 2000-3500e/month.- The average salary for marketers with less than a year of experience: 2600e/month
- The average salary for marketers with 1-2 years of experience: 3100e/month
- The average salary for marketers with 3-4 years of experience: 3500e/monthAll salaries are listed before taxes as it is common in Finland. The tax you pay depends on your salary, but it's usually around 15-25% if earning less than 3200e/month.

Unions and unemployment funds

Professional unions offer legal support, career advice, professional training, and other benefits like discounts, special rates for cottages, bank benefits, and more.
Marketing professional unions:
- MARK
- MMABut whatever union you join, you also have to be sure you’re in an unemployment fund. That’s the really vital part.Union ≠ unemployment fund. You don’t have to be a member of a union to be part of an unemployment fund.In general, unemployment funds will pay around up to 50-70% of your income. There are some exceptions and investigations (especially if you have been or currently are running a side gig as a Toiminimi or equivalent).Unions are generally industry/discipline-specific. Many unions may cooperate with the same unemployment fund. It’s not an unemployment fund per union.Unemployment funds can be related to a specific discipline. This is a list of all the unemployment funds in Finland (25 in total) and their fees.This is a good article on the unions in Finland. In short, there are three union confederations, which comprise 71 unions.

Must-have skills to work as a marketer

Let's be honest, business schools and universities don't give you the skills to land even the junior marketing role. So it's on you to learn the digital marketing basics.

Courses & blogs we love

Certifications we recommend

Certifications are not a must-have for a marketer, but they definitely prove that you have been actively exploring marketing outside of school.

Marketing roles

The marketing world is large. Depending on your skills and interests, you would most likely have to choose your own niche. You could start a joke "A content marketer, a product marketer and paid acquisition specialist went into a bar..." and end up with a totally unexpected result. All those roles have absolutely different skillsets and work.

What we have learned on the way

Pick Your Battles

If you’re trawling through job sites, desperately applying to any job that might conceivably be relevant to you, and you count your applications in the hundreds, STOP!Quantity ≠ Quality
Determine what you want to work at, and look for jobs in that area. If you have no experience, do personal side projects. Link to them in your applications. When you pick your battles, you can put more effort into each application.

Job serch is a full time job

It takes time to find a good company and craft an application. If you're doing it thoroughly, it might take up to a few hours to fill in an application for 1 position. But, if you have read the whole guide, you might have guessed that applying is not simply enough. At the same time as you are applying, you need to learn practical digital marketing, network, and participate in extra side projects.In our experience, job search can easily last from 1-2 months to 6-9 months. You need to plan what you're going to do during that time.

Your assets

Craft a Cover Letter
Look at the job description. Each bullet point is a writing prompt. Provide examples, from your professional or personal life. If you’re applying for a junior position, personal examples are sufficient enough. If you’re applying for a senior position and you don’t have professional examples to link to, then that job is probably not for you.
If there’s no option to provide a cover letter, write one anyway and send it to the recruiter via email.Personal Website
Build one. Document your projects and achievements there. Get Google Analytics. Total cost: ~24€/year.

Track it

Link Building
You’re a marketer, right? Link to your achievements. If you don’t have them documented somewhere, document them, then link. Always build a UTM link. (Suggestion: Campaign Source is the Company you’re applying to. Campaign Medium is the Job you’re applying to. Campaign Name can describe the content you are linking to.
- if the link is to your own website, link the UTM as is
- if the link is to an external source, use a link shortener with click analytics to track clicksEmail Vs. Upload PDF
If they ask you to upload a PDF, do it. But also, search for the email of the recruiter and send them the email too.
Why? Because each application is a “Deal” in my Free Hubspot. Every email communication goes through Hubspot. Every open and click is tracked by, you got it, Hubspot.Finally, FOLLOW UP!
Now you can track when your application is looked at, if they click on something, etc. Perfect — when you get that notification, send off that follow-up email, be open to questions, etc. If there is no email, use LinkedIn to follow up.
Starting a conversation makes you memorable.
These are basic marketing and sales skills. They require an effort but they also show something very, very important to your potential employer — that you know the basics, and that you’re applying tools and knowledge to improve your application.REMEMBER: By law, employers are not allowed to look you up in Finland. They have to restrain themselves from your application. The more you provide, the more information they have to go on — but no one likes to read a book.
As with good marketing email practices:
- the subject is for providing a solution
- the body is for explaining the problem and the solution in brief
- behind the CTA is the beef.Cover letters are similar: you address their concerns, briefly explain how you have solved these issues in the past, and link to supporting documentation.
This gives your employer the chance to skim, then deep dive. And gives you actionable data to follow up on.PS: If you don’t get the job, always ask why. Use that information to tailor future applications. And, however hard it may be, always keep moving forward — next, next, next — remember, those who solely dwell in the past or the future forget to live in the present.

© 2021 by The Awesome Marketers
Credits to Colm O Searcoid, Polina Zyaparova and Anna Pogrebniak