Diversity and Inclusion in Finnish Workplaces: How the Finnish Language as job requirement has hindered foreign professionals’ pursuit of desired career paths.

The research attempts to explore the extent to which Finnish language proficiency has hindered accessibility to employment opportunities for foreign labour residing in Finland. A significant increase in the workforce has been highlighted by the country’s government as a necessary means to boost the country’s economy and the solution that has been acknowledged the most is to increase the immigration of foreign labour into Finland. However, it seems Finland has yet to adjust to multicultural workplaces that would enable diverse and inclusive atmospheres for both Finnish nationals and foreign professionals. In this study, five participants, all with different foreign backgrounds are interviewed about their job search experiences following a narrative inquiry approach was utilized wherein an unstructured open interview was used as the method of data collection to investigate a diverse sample of participants on their experience of acquiring employment in Finland and how Finnish language as a job requirement is a barrier. The research finds suggest that the sample of participants have indeed faced difficulty in pursuing desired career paths due to the language barrier and this has made them consider alternative career options and shaped their perceptions of learning the Finnish language in order to acquire jobs that match their qualifications