Hello, my name is Felicia Prenn and I'm making these videos for my workplace skills class at Satakunta University of Applied Sciences. Today I'm going to talk a little bit about what is an open application, what does that mean in Finland, how is that different from like a regular CV or resume, and then also a bit about applying for jobs in Finland and some kind of advice about what you should do and what you shouldn't do. For some context, I work for an animation studio called Nopia, and I'm in charge of not directly hiring anyone, but I'm the first person that sees any of the applications that come in, and I'm usually present in the interviews as well.
So I can give a couple of kind of basic pointers from my experience. Now, the first thing is, what is an open application? An open application is like a modern version of a CV.
You know, back in the day, you used to, at least where I'm from, you used to just walk into a place like a cafe or whatever, hand them your CV and walk out. And that was it. They'd look at it.
If they liked what you've done, you know, they'd call. That was your history of what you've done. It was just like, okay.
In this year I went to school, in this year I did this job for this long, and this is what I did there, and blah blah blah, and maybe some references and maybe some hobbies at the bottom. But an open application is, well, it's what the name implies. It's an open application. So it allows you to really describe yourself, your skills, and what you have to offer for that company or position in a much more kind of open way. It can be a letter, sometimes it could be even like a video application if you want to do like this kind of a thing except in video form.
I've seen a lot of people do kind of creative stuff with it. Some people make, because I work in animation, so some people have made their open application be more like a kind of animated short in a way. Like there's lots of different ways you can do it but I would say the most traditional way would be an email or a physical letter and in that letter you would just discuss who you are, why you want the job, why you think you'd be good for the job, what experiences you have, what you think you could bring to the company.
You know, it's really up to you, but it's your sort of most important chance to really stand out. Naturally, you would still attach your CV along with that. You wouldn't just send that letter, but it's sort of the first real image your potential employer gets of you.
So it's really important that what's there is accurate and quality, or of a certain quality, and most importantly, you know, you. It's not the kind of thing that you'd want to copy and paste from the internet or whatever. It's really something that you should write yourself, because that's, like I said, it's the first window a recruiter gets into who you are as a person.
And the most... I would say a common mistake I see with open applications would be grammatical errors, and big ones. When I'm looking at applicants, I'm not looking to see who's the best speller.
My English isn't perfect and I'm a native speaker, so I'm not looking for incorrect usage of certain words. It's not important. But, if I get an application...
that's just full of typos and you know obvious mistakes that were just overlooked. For me it's a really big red flag especially in an industry where precision and accuracy are really important. So that's one mistake I see quite often is that people just simply didn't proofread their applications well enough and then they send them forward and then I get it and I'm like okay. what do I do because you you say you want this job but you you couldn't even you know take a couple of seconds just to make sure that everything looked okay enough. Um another thing I've seen a lot of uh people do is they'll send out open applications and mass, so it's more like a standard letter that they've written and at the top they'll just change the name of the studio or company that they're sending it to.
And they'll just list the same skills and the same thing they want to do and I think That's like a gray area for me as a recruiter because I understand if you're just the big thing is that you want people to know your names. You're like, okay, I want them to know my name. I'm just going to send this out, send this out, send this out.
And that's also valid if you do one thing really well. But if you're trying to kind of get your foot in the door anywhere, I would say it's really important to kind of tailor. that application to the place that you're applying to.
You know, why do you want to work for us? What makes us interesting to you as a company? What do you think you could add to our team specifically? Not just a team in general, but our team.
That to me is really important because it shows that you're interested. Of course, like let's be clear and honest here, like everybody wants a job. Some people care more about the specific company they work for than others.
Yeah. But if there's someone who's really enthusiastic about us, they like our work, they're fans of our stuff, they've seen it places or whatever, you know, it makes us feel really good. It makes us feel like, okay, this person isn't just, you know, mass applying for places and not even taking the time to research what they are, but he or she has actually researched what we do and... They like us.
So it makes us feel good at the end of the day. And it also shows that you've taken the time out to be thoughtful and to research. And I think patience is a really important skill that a lot of employers and recruiters look for.
So if you can demonstrate patience in these kind of little ways, similarly with the grammatical error thing, I think it really kind of makes you shine a bit more. I get a lot of applications, like I said, that are just, they replace the name of the company and then they send them and they say, I'm this, I'm that, I think I can do this and that, and that's it. But it really says a lot to me when someone says, yeah, I saw the music video that you guys made for Pegboard Nerds, and they list kind of things we've done and why they're excited about them and what they think they could offer.
You know, for example, the Pegboard Nerds music video I mentioned, we've gotten quite a lot of attention from that. And my favorite people... are the ones who say, yeah, I'm really good at pixel art, or I'm really good at another thing that we, a technique or art style that was used in that project, and I think I would want to work for you guys because I'm really good with that and I want to do that.
It kind of shows us that, okay, they're familiar also with what we even do. Because there are different kinds of animation studios, just like there are different kinds of factories and different kinds of bakeries and different kinds of everything. So it shows that they know what we do.
I think it would be very awkward if I were to call someone and say, Yeah, you know, come in for an interview. And then they quickly are scrambling like, oh, which company was this and what do they even do? And then you realize that we are a, you know, 3D animation studio and you're kind of only proficient with 2D or something like that.
Like it's, it's, um... Like I said, it just shows that you're patient and that you've really thought these things out. And now I'm gonna talk a bit about the actual interview process, I would say, and when we call you.
Naturally, for most jobs, your skills and your experiences are what's really going to shine, but it is possible to be really talented and then kind of blow it in. the interview process or the process of kind of negotiating your contract and whatever else. I think the big thing is to show up on time. It's really important in Finland and I think most western countries and probably Asian countries as well maybe like and the states I don't know where it wouldn't be a thing but like the being on time is it's it's like it's so crucial you know if you're for me if it's like if it's like three or four minutes like clocks vary traffic lights happen it's not the end of the world uh but if you show up 10 minutes late 15 minutes late it's it's a really bad sign because it just shows that maybe you're not that interested in this maybe you're not so careful again like with animation specifically it takes a lot of skill and precision and like time is kind of part of that. Time management is really a big thing in a company like ours where we have a lot of projects that are due in very kind of strict deadlines and you need to know how to manage your time.
So if we see, okay, this person was 15 minutes late, they didn't bother to call. It just shows that you maybe you're not so good at that and maybe we would want to take somebody who would be good at that. If you're gonna be late um and you know that like you know you're gonna be late there's a really bad car accident or something happened call and just say listen I'm really sorry this happened and I'm late but I'm coming don't worry.
That kind of reassurance you know it helps because yeah things happen you know. there is always the world around you happening so there's all kinds of variables and unknowns that could make a person late so that call is really important because then it shows okay they know that they're late they know there's a problem and they're already trying to solve it uh we had someone recently oversleep and they were late to their interview and they never even called and uh you know no call no show we just assume that you you don't want it. And that person wrote to us and apologized the next day but at that point we had already moved on and kept interviewing new people so it's sad.
It's sad when that happens. But the importance of calling when you know you're going to be late is really important. The other thing I would say is respect and this seems like so obvious but You never know who the person interviewing you is going to be. They might be a man, they might be a woman, they might be a different race than you or a different religion than you.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Whatever they are, whoever they are, you still have to be respectful.
In Finland everybody is equal. So you have to talk to the person that's talking to you as if they were equal. It's a really big red flag for us if I'm doing the interview. and there's a man on the other side of the table and he's not taking me seriously or if you know one of my co-workers from another country would be interviewing a finn and they wouldn't you know take them seriously it's it's uh it's bad it's not okay everyone in finland is equal and like i said this probably seems like a really stupid obvious thing to say but i have to point it out because some people still don't know that so remember that respect is respect is really key So another thing that's really important is that you, as the applicant, ask a lot of questions from us.
Because it's much better that you ask every stupid question that pops into your head than ask nothing. And then when you come on your first day, you have no idea what's going on. And of course, naturally, we train you.
But, you know, things like salary, you have to ask about. You have to know, hey, when am I going to get paid? What do you think, you know?
What do you think we're going to pay you? And things like that. And what are my hours going to be like?
How much overtime is there going to be? You know, what kind of team am I working on? What kind of projects do you think?
How long do you think you'll have me here? Like, there's a lot of really basic questions that aren't presumptuous to ask because they're, I mean, you're going to be working for us, so naturally you want to know. It's your right to know these things.
So it's really important that you ask. Another thing I wanted to say that I forgot to say in the beginning in relation to open applications is that they're also really good if there's a company who isn't advertising their position and you like the company, you know a lot about them, but they don't seem to have any jobs available per se. If you know something that you could do there or you have an idea of how you can help them, especially if it's a smaller company, send an application.
because it might be so that there's openings that they just haven't thought to put out yet or they don't even realize they have a need that you could fulfill. So you might be the one that says, hey, listen, you need this and I offer this. And they see that and they're like, oh, hey, they're right. I'm going to call them.
So open application service is a really good way to just in general get your foot in the door. When I was unemployed, I sent many actually. And quite often I...
Got responses. A lot of times they were just to companies in general just saying hey I'm a person that exists and I think I could help you with this. I did a lot of research but I got a lot of responses. A lot of people saying thank you so much for sending this. We don't have anything now but we'll keep you in mind.
And the thing is I know a lot of people who've never gotten that. When I've told friends about it that I've actually gotten like thank you for sending this. emails and letters back. They were always shocked, but that's the difference between, I would say, a really well thought out open application and just something you threw together in a couple of minutes and sent en masse to every company with an opening or every company you could think of. The more personal, the better.
Another thing I want to say about the interview also is that regarding like how you dress. It's not... For us, and I'm speaking strictly from my company's perspective, we don't really look at whether or not you're wearing a designer suit or a t-shirt and jeans because we work at computers all day in a small office so we don't care. But basic grooming and basic hygiene are really important so you know you don't have to come in wearing the best clothes you own for us.
Other companies might have it differently. You should always try to look as nice as you can. But the big thing for us really is that you look clean and showered and maybe a haircut or something. Again, just to show that you are taking this whole thing seriously. And bigger companies and bigger positions might of course require you to wear a suit and tie.
That's something you should research, you know? when you go to that place or when you drive by that place, how do people look when they go in and out? Are they wearing just kind of t-shirt, jeans, whatever? Or are they wearing, you know, suits and ties and, you know, nice dresses and everything? It's part of the research process.
I think everything I've said in this video kind of goes back to the importance of doing research about the places that you're applying to and doing the work involved with applying. Applying for a job is more than just writing in or filling out a form online, writing in your name and your address and sending your CV forward and hoping to get a call. It's a lot of research. And the more effort you put in to your application and then hopefully your eventual interview, the more likely it'll pay off for you.
Because, I mean... Let's face it, recruiters want to see someone who's determined, they want to see someone who's passionate, they want to see someone who cares. They don't want someone who's, you know, eh, this is fine, I guess, whatever. You know, that attitude doesn't look good.
That attitude is really good, you know, for other things, but not for when you're applying for a job. So I think the most important thing is to do your research, be patient, take time to do everything as... properly as you can and Number one I would say is be yourself It's so important that you're yourself because you might become a permanent fixture at the place that you're applying to So it's important that the recruiters know who you really are and And we value that we can tell when someone is oh, thank you so much This is so great. We can you know, we can we can see through that kind of Charade.
Just be yourself. Don't worry about being overly polite or anything. Just be you. And that's always going to be better than trying too hard to impress or trying too hard to be someone.
I understand how stressful it is to apply for a job, especially if in a different country, maybe you don't know the rules, you don't know how things go, but just be you. You is always better than not you. So I hope that This video is useful for someone and I hope that I remembered to cover everything that I meant to cover and that you can walk away from this feeling a bit more educated about the job application process in Finland and hopefully you get a job because of me. That would be really cool. Thank you!