“Your first EURES job” helps Greek nurses with their Finnish

8/30/2013

Are you are a nurse interested in working in another EU Member State? Find out how 'Your first EURES job' is helping Greek nurses to settle in Finland:

After his native Greek and English, Alexandros Giannoulakis didn’t think that Finnish would be his next language. However, now that he is one of eight Greek nurses moving to Tampere, Finnish language courses are the next item on his agenda.

Mainiovire, a large healthcare provider in Finland, has been working with EURES Advisers for two years. They previously used the network to hire nurses from Spain, so it seemed natural for them to go back to EURES when they faced another labour shortage. It was here that they heard of “Your first EURES job” (YfEj), a scheme that aims to help young jobseekers to find work in other European countries and also provides support for employers. As Mainiovire were looking to hire young professionals from other Member States they got in contact with the Aarhus Employment Service in Denmark, one of the actors that deliver YfEj services. It seemed like a natural fit and one that would help both them and their new employees, by providing support for language lessons amongst other things. They were recommended to contact EURES in Greece where there was a surplus of young healthcare professionals.

Alexandros was one of these young professionals. After hearing of the position from a friend in Finland, he researched the company and sent over his CV. He was contacted by the regional manager, Rajkumar Sabanadesan, who provided more details of the position and came to Greece to interview him and the other candidates. After completing an interview, Alexandros and seven others were selected and have made the move over to Tampere.

“Six of us are living in Tampere and the other two are living in towns nearby. It hasn’t really felt like I am living abroad yet but I am pretty sure it will by the middle of winter! The scheme has been incredibly useful and I would happily recommend it to anyone. It was hard to move over because I still have my family and girlfriend in Greece but I feel like I have started my new life under the best circumstances possible.” Alexandros said.

He added, “We are going to start Finnish lessons next week and we already had some lessons in Greece. I can’t wait to start speaking it properly.”

Marja Kiiskinen, a recruiter for the healthcare sector who worked closely with EURES to find the nurses, commented that “‘YfEj’ seems like a very good opportunity for young educated professionals to look for jobs in other EU countries and it will help a great deal when you have to relocate and start life in a new country.”