I got it!

A friend of mine once told me that the best opportunities usually come to you themselves. I wasn’t so sure then if her theory was correct since we were both unemployed and had been like that for a while, so I naturally started to send my job applications absolutely everywhere, from advertising agencies to hotel administration in order to find a summer job - ANY job actually. In Finland the competition in a job market is insane and it is important to start applying for a summer job already in January, therefore, the situation didn't look so good for when I started to deal with it in the beginning of March. And as an impatient person, I gave up hope pretty quickly. 

But exactly a week ago, V saw a job offer in a newspaper (that he never reads) for a sales assistant that could speak Estonian. Without even thinking much I picked up the phone and called the number in the ad and immediately got an appointment for a job interview the next day. Everything was happening too fast for me to even get nervous and I hadn’t even come up with potential answers for the interview which is very weird for a control freak like me.


The office located right in the heart of Kamppi and as I opened the door, a big DOG ran to greet me which was a very funny start. The dog apparently belonged to the boss and it was even allowed to join me to the interview room. On that brief journey I already started to like the whole open atmosphere of the office and it seemed as the office liked me too. At least the dog did.

The interview was in Finnish and  I was asked quite difficult questions but despite of that, the process was somehow so surprisingly careless and human. I could tell that the person liked me for who I am and vice verse, so it was more a chat between friends than a formal hiring process. I got to be fully honest about my skills and qualifications which made it a very pleasant experience and even better - I got the job!

Yesterday was my first day. I spent some time on studying the products and after the  lunch I already got to make some phone calls. The manager suggested that once I get more familiar with the company, I can start communicating with the Finnish customers as well. And as the company is currently trying to expand to the Estonian market, I am exactly in a right place at the right time. I guess good opportunities do come to you. It’s all about luck and being prepared for it.  

With the job search I somehow started to look back to the presentation me and V one gave at school for the Business Communication lesson. It was called:”It’s not me, it’s you” and the point was to compare applying for a job with dating. It’s still quite stop-on in my opinion and here's a small hint of what it looked like: 

 

 Good luck everyone with your job search!