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| Image istockphoto |
Networks linked together form connections which, when they land,
bounce back out to the next point of contact. But what opportunity does the
network create if each platform simply provides the next connection for which the
line can link to? Therein lies the infinite job search effort for
skilled-migrant in Finland.
Support mechanisms lie in front, as far
as the eye can see, electronically. Foreign job seeker group upon foreign job
seeker group. … but no: jobs. Yes there are job seeking sites, yes there is the
state run job seeking network, yes there are spreadsheets with names of all the
business who have employed foreigners in the past, so you may have a chance to
get a job there… but no: jobs. Call outs from a graphic designer seeking a job
as a cleaner, requests for help for an architect looking to work in a bar… “any
suggestions?, please”.
The network becomes a tool to connect
empathisers. The bitterness of the skilled migrant-job seeker threatens to
undermine the very reason the ‘networking’ group existence. The frustration
builds with every non success and comments become measuring sticks in the psyche
of the job seeker. Who has had it harder? How racist are Finns anyway? ´I’ve
been out of work longer that you have’ `let’s compare’. Competition comes from
the banter and from this, deliberate forms of entertainment as the bored skilled
worker racks up points on reactions.
The moderators of job-seeking pages
become experts in crowd-control and behaviour management. HR consultants who
are forced in the realm of ‘the unemployed’ manage the job-seeking network
pages, create hope for the professional. Databases, libraries, spreadsheets,
links to online events about online networking, an endless sea of CV workshops:
moderators are providing these services in an unemployed state. Specialists in
the HR industry who are skilled migrants, are out of work, in Finland. And they
must manage everyone else’s bitterness as they keep a professional air in order
to maintain order, in order to lead and create hope for the non-worker.
And as we all seek that magic
opportunity to find: full-filling, bill paying, sustainable, skill-using,
purposeful work, we become as numbed in our exhausting networking ‘opportunities’
as the immeasurable length of a piece of string is.