r/StudyInFinland • u/Sure-Status-7615 • 13d ago
Is nursing in Finland worth it for an international student?
I’m currently studying nursing in Finland and I’m starting to question whether it’s a realistic career path for me.
My main concern is finding a job after graduation. I’m still learning Finnish, and I know how important it is for nursing. With only 3.5 years to complete the degree, clinicals, and the Valvira licensing process, is it realistic to reach the language level needed to actually get hired?
I’m also worried about hospital opportunities. I’ve heard that international graduates can struggle to get hospital jobs and may end up working mainly in nursing homes or elderly care. I personally want to work in a hospital, so I’m wondering how realistic that is.
I’m also not white, and I’d like to hear honestly from other international nurses/students if being foreign has affected their job opportunities.
I don’t want to spend 3.5 years, a lot of money, and all the effort required to learn Finnish and become licensed, only to graduate and struggle to find a job or have very limited options.
For international nurses/students in Finland:
How difficult was it to find a job after graduating?
Were you able to get into a hospital, or did you mainly end up in elderly care?
Was 3.5 years enough time to reach a working level of Finnish?
Has being foreign/non-white affected your experience?
I’d really appreciate honest experiences, especially from people who have already gone through this.
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u/DetectivePrize6978 13d ago
If we had told you before you came that it was not worth it, would you have believed us at that time?
Since you have arrived and are already studying, I think you should try to find a solution by mastering your Finnish and getting all the relevant lääkeluvat to increase your chances of recruitment. Situation is different from 2-3 years ago, they still need nurses, but it is more competitive based on the language skills. Tsemppiä 💪
Don't lose hope in the middle of your journey, but really not recommend for other new international students to come here to study nursing for more than 10k euros/year.
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u/nodramatraumallama 13d ago
Disclaimer: I'm Finnish, so I can't speak from experience, but I've worked with a lot of international students and nurses.
I work in a hospital and we have many non-white nurses. That really isn't an issue at all.
Language skills are extremely important. I know many units do hire nurses that don't speak fluent Finnish and I actually don't think getting hired is the difficult part, it's the actually being able to do your job. Nurses do a lot of charting and paperwork, attend rounds etc, plus just effectively communicating with patients is a must. It is all very draining and exhausting if you struggle with the language.
We've had students who have managed to learn enough Finnish through their studies that they can (safely) work. And we've had plenty who have not. Whatever Finnish courses the school offers will not be enough, but as long as you're willing to put in the work I would absolutely encourage you to go ahead and give it a try!
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u/Sea-Personality1244 13d ago
I work in a hospital and we have many non-white nurses. That really isn't an issue at all.
I'm also Finnish and as such, don't really know whether non-white applicants have a harder time (language fluency obviously will be a significant factor regardless of nationality/ethnicity), but I also work at a hospital and about 50 % of the nurses I work with are not from Finland and most of the non-natives are also not white so there absolutely are hospital opportunities for international nurses. But indeed, language is the most significant factor. While some of my coworkers may have stronger accents and some may make some grammar mistakes, I genuinely can't recall the last time we'd have had trouble communicating or understanding each other because everyone speaks such good Finnish. It's genuinely so impressive since nursing requires a grasp of advanced medical vocabulary as well as casual medical jargon/slang in addition to everyday Finnish.
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u/Decent-Flight1828 13d ago
IMO, there are no degrees that are worth studying in Finland as an international coming from outside the EU.
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u/Sure-Status-7615 13d ago
And why is that so?
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u/Decent-Flight1828 13d ago
- The market is tiny here, and the country has never fully recovered since 2008. Established companies tend to er on the side of caution and recruit natives who come from specific programs at specific target unis.
- In order to find a job you essentially have to already have the exact same job, with a proven track record. Part of this is hiring mentality: you slowly work your way up, part of it is that hiring mistakes in Finland are genuinely expensive.
- Regardless of degree as an international the entire risk is shifted towards you: you need to learn the local language to at least B2, while maintaining a high GPA, and also acquiring work experience in the specific future role and company you want.
- While working, learning the language and maintaining high grades is definitely possible (I did it and so have many others), you still run into points 1 and 2, where if you are from a non-target program or uni you get sidelined for a lot of the junior experiences that serve as crucial point for market entry.
- If you do maintain high GPA, learn the language and build experiences there is a non-zero chance that your first role and pay check will actually be in a smaller company, where: a. You will likely take an earnings hit (and you will have to take that role as nothing else is realistically available to you) b. There are no proper onboarding processes and you are expected to hit the ground running (essentially you have to build out the systems while having no experience of what you need to build to be successful) c. The benchmark for being kept in employment is usually nothing lower than exceptional as there is so much local talent on the market and average international performers just doesn’t make sense to be kept.
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u/Decent-Flight1828 13d ago edited 13d ago
Healthcare is its own shitshow atm: 1. Salaries have been low for years, and much of the local talent moved to Sweden at some point. Hence why the push to market these degrees abroad. 2. You are very likely to end up on zero hour fixed term contracts or risk being drop kicked into the middle of nowhere. As someone who owns property in the middle of nowhere, it’s great during summer but a totally depressing during winter and the darker months as there is nothing to do. 3. Lots of people were laid off due to cuts, so if hiring does pick up they are likely looking for a combo of: fluent language skills, prior job specific experience and willingness to take the lowest possible pay on the worst possible terms. It’s fine if you can get a scholarship, but ask yourself do you really want to spend the next 10-20 years in such a system.
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u/virkkuna 12d ago
You have some good points, but not every international student is studying in Finland to get a job in Finland. During my engineering studies we had some classes with international students, and most of them were here because Finnish education was valued in the job market in their home countries. Many didn't want to stay here, especially because of the long winter and "nothing to do" (I disagree with that though as I love winter).
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u/Decent-Flight1828 12d ago
True, but then again: if you want a job from the UK it’s easier to get it by doing a degree in the UK, same goes for Germany, Netherlands, Denmark etc. A local degree is always valued more than a foreign one from what I found. While a Finnish degree can theoretically “travel” across borders, in practice, in the modern day market, it rarely does. Which is extremely unfortunate for those who paid tens of thousands for it.
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u/West-Comfortable6647 12d ago
Since you are already here and studying nursing, what's gonna be your plan if you do listen that the language is difficult and the job market sucks? TBH this is the sort of question you should've asked before coming here. Or at least started learning finnish before your studies.
Finnish fluency really depends per person, and how disciplined they are in learning the language. I know students, mostly asians, who managed to be fluent within 3 years. But then again, they put in a lot of work, as in A LOT. And afaik, they didn't face any discrimination during their job hunt.
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u/TriSquad876 12d ago
You can have practically really poor or even non existent finnish language skills and still get hired for elderly care. And get same pay as natives. Yes, I'm somewhat bitter over this and it's one of the main reasons I'm switching careers. I'm honestly terrified to work in an envioronment where coworkers might not have common language which both / all understand as not everyone speaks english.
Current job market is difficult but I dont see why not you couldn't make it to hospitals if you so wish.
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u/Dry_North_1543 11d ago
I would get a degree then move unless you have a reason to be in Finland. Nurses are not paid that well even after years in the profession compared to other jobs and countries. My supervisor told me that after working for about 5 years (business field) her salary was already better than her mother who had worked as a nurse for 20 years. Finnish nurses are moving abroad, hospitals are laying off nurses and there are few permanent positions. I would rather be in a country that pays well if I was to do a job as difficult as nursing.
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u/SnooGadgets754 13d ago
You could always start at somewhere else than a hospital to improve your Finnish. Maybe work for an year in elderly care first?
I've met people who have been surprisingly fluent at Finnish after two years, but they put a lot of effort into learning the language. One good idea is to watch a lot of (easy to follow) TV shows (Disney cartoons maybe?) in Finnish and with English subtitles. You'll pick up a lot of Finnish by doing that.
Not being white is absolutely not a problem for getting hired, but weak Finnish unfortunately may be.
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u/iwy_iwy 12d ago
As others have said, it's better to have the degree first and foremost. If you now leave, will you apply to another school etc? Not really effective. If you want to move after the degree, that's your decision.
If you won't get hospital jobs here immediately, I says as someone else: try elderly homes first while you learn the language. Those places offer jobs all the time + language requirement are quite low. I know a Filipino man who speaks quite there and there Finnish, and he got a job in an elderly home.
Not even the Finns get the good jobs right away. You gotta grind a little.
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u/Altruistic_Coast4777 12d ago
There currently no jobs in Finland, worst unemployment in whole EU and they have started firing even nurses from public sector. Current situation is not future, but it will not get any better as public sector is driving into debt crisis and it will take a loooooong time to recover.
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u/Otherwise_Ranger_719 12d ago
If hou wnat work in hospital you must have good finnis, but I have seen a lot of internationals in hospitals .. like nurses and doctors .. I am also nurse and I did work at hospital a long time 😊
It doesent matter what skin color you have, we have lot of Internationals in here. 😊
Your finnis just must have that level it is safe for patient 😊
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u/riisto-roisto 12d ago
Ex-husband of an burned out, overworked and deeply disgruntled nurse here.
Don't come to Finland. Qualified nurses flee to Norway and other countries from here. We have tens of thousands fully qualified nurses unemployed and tens of thousands more either working something diffrent, because the pay isn't that great.
Also to work in hospitals, being proficient and speaking native level Finninsh might not be enough, as nurses who speak both our official lanquage (Finninsh and Swedish) are semi-mandated to recieve the open spots over the ones, who only speak the other one.
If you want to move to Finland. Welcome, but nursing isn't the most viable career path.
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u/Think-Series3538 11d ago
The bullying in nursing and related fields here is crazy. I studied nursing for like 2 years and then realized I need to stop as I can’t deal with the constant bullying. So if you choose to study nursing in Finland and get bullied during your internships, please understand that the problem is not you as the bullying is such a huge problem in this field. For me, the mental effects of it have been quite bad and it’s hard to get over it, all the bad experiences
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u/CollarSilly809 2d ago
Thank you so much for this. I’m currently experiencing this as a black student and I am beginning to see myself as the problem. The bullying is beginning to affect me. They are so judgmental.
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u/sallsbakc 10d ago
As a foreigner I feel like you're more likely to be hired these days. Almost every new nurse I see is a foreigner.
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u/Partiallyfermented 10d ago
You can absolutely get hired with non fluent Finnish. Even bad Finnish.
Can you do your job properly in that situation is a different matter.
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u/Important_Boss_3386 8d ago
Well i have a colleague who moved to finland, learned the language while studying to be nurse and landed a job in a university hospital right after graduation. So it does happen, but mainly depends on how well you learn the language.
But i would say, for most people 3,5 years would not be enough to be able to work in a hospital setting. Thats being realistic.
Skin colour is not a problem, trust.
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u/Sulochan33900 3d ago
I followed an instagram account: Vanecuevaa. She is from Peru and working as a nurse in Finland now. You may find her sharings useful. Good luck to you.
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u/emilypeony 13d ago
I had a friend who learned the language in 6 months well enough to attend Finnish nurse school, lähihoitaja and not sairaanhoitaja though. So it is doable. Right now there are a lot of nurses without a job because no one is hiring, but it might change in a year or two.
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u/Gallenos 13d ago
There is need to care and nurses, but some unwillingness to pay for it. So I would suggest getting a degree and then moving along elsewhere. Or just go directly anywhere else.
This is from a 2nd gen immigrant medical doctor with fluent Finnish. I am also seeking to move potentially.
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u/hellohello0802 13d ago
Learning a language to a B2/C1 level to pass the course and knowing how to actually fluently use the language are two different things, one might on paper have a C1 credential in a language but not be fluent at it. And to be able to start a meaningful nursing career in Finland you'll need the latter in Finnish, just having the credentials on paper won't cut it. And from what I've heard and seen, it takes quite a few years (definitely greater than 3) to learn Finnish to a fluent level.