Opening the door to foreign talent — A discussion about easing the integration of non-Finnish professionals with Elisa Häggström
The doorstep a foreign jobseeker has to surpass while entering the job market is often all too high, and too many doors remain closed. In April’s Interview we met with Elisa Häggström, who works as a project coordinator for Dörren, an initiative launched by Föreningen Luckan. The aim of the initiative is to ease foreign talents’ integration into the job market. In our discussion she shared her insights on promoting diversity, employing foreign talent and how both foreign and local professionals can benefit from Dörren.
Elisa, you work for Dörren. Could you tell me a bit more about the program?
Yes, very simply put Dörren is a professional networking concept.
What we do is we create short, one hour meetings between locally established and foreign-born professionals who have experience from the same industry. In the meetings foreign professionals get an opportunity to broaden their network and increase their local industry knowledge and local professionals get new perspectives and contacts. Anybody who has local experience in a professional field can be a “Door Opener”. Foreign-born professionals seeking opportunities are called “Participants”. We have been particularly happy to see that not only people born in Finland want to be Door Openers, but many foreign born professionals who already have a foothold in their industry in Finland have also been eager to sign up as Door Openers.
What makes Dörren unique?
Lack of local networks and insights when seeking a job within one’s area of expertise is one of the key challenges for foreign professionals living in Finland. Dörren networking tries to answer this challenge by creating connections that would not necessarily happen naturally. What also makes Dörren unique is the limited time investement. The participants are only signing up for a one hour meeting, even though many also want to continue to keep in touch with their match. During this one hour the matched pair can get to know each other and discuss relevant issues — they probably have many interests in common as they share similar professional backgrounds. So this is perfect for anyone who has a local network and local insights but would not have time for a longer mentorship program. This is just one hour! Besides helping out a fellow professional, the Door Opener will also broaden their own perspectives and network. Many Door Openers say that they have learned more about the challenges of being a foreign-born employee, and many feel that they contributed to a more inclusive society. And that’s what Dörren is all about; to offer a simple, efficient, and rewarding opportunity for both parties.
What tips would you give to people who want to encourage diversity in their organization?
Sometimes it might be hard to know where to start or how to concretely do something to promote diversity. This is where we want to be a solution. If your organization wants to boost diversity, a Dörren meeting is a concrete way to start. If your company is thinking about employing new people, you might find the talent needed through Dörren. It is an easy way to get connected with international competence within your industry.
Organisations can also choose to encourage their employees to do a Dörren meeting during their work hours. It is one way to show employees that the company values diversity and to give employees an opportunity to give back. Dörren meetings can be one concrete activity for the organisation’s diversity plan.
What makes you particularly happy in your job today?
I am happy to see that there are many projects and activities going on with the aim to support foreign-born people getting employed. It has been great to see how different types of actors and organisations want to boost diversity and get involved. I have been working with Dörren since last June, and it has been really inspiring to work with this kind of a project. It has been rewarding to see how Dörren meetings can make a real difference. Every Dörren meeting is unique and becomes what the two people make of it. I believe in the power of networking and meetings between people. And Dörren is just a really simple way to make that happen.
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If you want to get inspired read more about the experiences of Door Openers and Participants in “Faces of Dörren” stories: https://dorren.fi/news/ And perhaps become a Door Opener yourself!
Dörren warmly welcomes everyone in Uusimaa to join this spring. They create meetings on a daily basis until 31st of May, while at the same time working full speed on future co-operations.
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Elisa Häggström was interviewed by Rosa Svahn, Includia Leadership’s D&I trainee. You can read Rosa’s introduction on Includia Leadership’s LinkedIn page.
