How do you apply for a job?
Before you start looking for a job, consider these matters:
- what can you do already? what could you do? what are you interested in? what are you good at? what would you like to learn?
- in which locality can you work?
- do you know someone through whom you might be able to look for a job?
- would you prefer to find full-time or part-time work or something else?
- could you work as self-employed or entrepreneur?
- do you only want to work for one employer, or could there be more than one employer?
Where can you look for a job?
Find work via different channels:
- Labour exchange pages on the Internet, e.g., TE services’ te-palvelut.fi as well as duunitori.fi and tyopaikat.oikotie.fi.
- On these pages, employers report jobs for which they need employees. You can order information about vacancies directly to your email.
- Also explore the new web page at työmarkkinatori.fi. In the future, it will replace the te-palvelut.fi page in job searches.
- Specialists of TE services help you to plan job searches, find your own skills and, for example, access training. You can book an appointment for career guidance by telephone or videoconferencing.
- If you have been left unemployed, you can ask TE Services for help in job search and career training. For example, job search training helps you get started in the search for work. Career training, on the other hand, provides help with the clarification of your professional selection and career options, applying for training and developing your working skills.
- See job notifications in newspapers and different online services. Remember that there are a lot of available jobs that are not advertised anywhere in public. Often, employers invite people who are familiar to them from somewhere for job interviews.
- Use your own networks: tell people you know that you are looking for a job. Ask them to tell you, if they hear about vacancies.
- Call or communicate to employers you are interested in. Tell them you are looking for a job. If you have ever taken part in an employer’s job interview in the past, you can now ask whether new jobs are available.
- You can use many company websites to send an open job application. Even if the company does not have jobs to offer at this point, they may later. In this case, employers can look for a suitable employee from among those who have sent open job applications.
- Job advertisements often mention someone whom you can call and ask for more information. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call. That way you can also make an impression on the employer already in advance.
Make a short job application
The purpose of a job application is to tell the employer why precisely you should be chosen as an employee. A written job application can be at most a page long, but it may also be a video, for example.
State briefly in the job application
- what age you are, what you are like, what you are interested in (for example, of a social nature, quick to learn, interested in the restaurant sector)
- your work experience (what kind of work you have done)
- your education (what you have studied, for example, finished comprehensive school, graduated or have a vocational degree)
- something about your life situation (for example, why you are looking for work).
Prepare for the job interview beforehand
Once the employer has received your job application and CV, you may be asked to appear for a job interviews.
During the job interview, the employer wants to find out how well you fit the job you have applied for and what your motivation is for it.
If you prepare well for the interview, you can relax in the interview and be yourself. A little nervousness is fine.
What to do before the interview:
- Get information about the employer.
- Check again what has been said in the job advertisement.
- Go through your CV.
- Consider what kind of work-related matters you might need help in. You can tell that in the job interview.
- Prepare to explain the reasons
- why you have not worked anywhere for a while, for example
- for some choices you have made in your life.
- Think about the questions you want to ask about the position and the employer.
A positive first impression is important when people meet each other for the first time:
- Think about how you should dress.
- Take along your application, work and school certificates and any portfolio.
- Do not be late!
Which questions you do not need to answer in the job interview?
The employer cannot ask you just anything. Essential information related to the work can be asked for in the job interview. You do not need to answer questions that concern, for example,
- religion
- family relationships
- sexual orientation
- political conviction.
Read more about preparing for a job interview:
TE services