HelsinkiUNI International Talent Programme (UNITalent)

UNITalent is a programme where companies and international talents get to know each other. The programme helps students and doctoral researchers build networks in the Finnish labour market and business world. For companies, it is an excellent way to build a positive employer brand among our talents or try their hand at internationalisation!
What is the HelsinkiUNI International Talent Programme?

In HelsinkiUNI International Talent Programme (UNITalent) a company starts hosting a group of international students and doctoral researchers from the University of Helsinki. Through the programme the company provides the students information about their organisation and industry. In the 3 month long process the company has the opportunity to look at their own level of internationality.

What organisations have said about UNITalent:

"By taking part in the programme, we gained really valuable information about the students’ mind-set, skills and motivation. It also helped us to look at our own level of internationalisation and understand how we could develop our organisation."
    – Outi, Senior Advisor for International Relations, City of Helsinki

"We would encourage other companies to participate in the program. It’s a great opportunity to actively engage with international students to understand their unique perspectives and skills. Lastly, it’s a great way to support international students’ entry into the Finnish workforce and contribute to a more diverse and inclusive society."
   – Liam van Zyl, People Development and Engagement Manager, Fiskars Group
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How does a company participate?
  • The programme is intended for all companies and organisations operating in Finland.
  • The company creates a profile on the University JobTeaser platform. The profile is used for student marketing of the programme.The profile can also be used for other employer branding after the programme student marketing. See an example of a a company profile on JobTeaser: Metsä Group.
  • The company chooses the students it wants to act as a host organisation for from among the applicants to the programme. The organisation can decide the maximum amount of participants in the group (minimum 10).
  • The company representative participates in the kick-off and closing events and the voluntary info session before the programme kick-off. The host organisations from previous years have said that it is beneficial to include at least 2 people from the organisation in the programme.
  • Over the course of the programme, the company will organise 2 meetings in its facilities. The themes of these meetings can include a company presentation and recruitment practices, skill requirements in the field and learning about the students’ expertise. During the programme the students can also work on a solution for the organisation's challenges in a form of a project.The company may tailor the content of these meetings to its needs.
  • Ideally the programme will lead to long-term cooperation - for example a traineeship. In case a traineeship is something that interest the organisation we require that the organisation pays a monthly salary for traineeships that complies with Kela’s work requirement. However, the company is not bound by any commitments after the programme ends.
Programme schedule
International students and doctoral researchers at our University

The University of Helsinki has over 2200 international students and over 1100 doctoral researchers. There are currently 36 Master's programmes in English and 33 doctoral programmes - so the range of expertise is very broad! International students from all these programmes can apply to join UNITalent groups.

 
Experiences from the previous seasons

Since 2020, more than 400 international talents and 25 organisations have participated in the UNITalent programme. More than 30% of organisations have also participated more than once. Read about the experiences of students and organisations in the this section.

"UNITalent is a great opportunity to get an outside perspective from international students in different fields."
   - Janna Rintamaa, Publishing editor, Otava Learning

 
Participating organisations 2023-2024

For the season 2024, 11 organisations participated in UNITalent: City of Helsinki, Fiskars Group, Helsinki Think Company, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, National Institute for Health and Wellbeing, AphaSense, Family Federation of Finland, Otava Learning, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Alfa Mobility and Finnish National Agency for Education.

Other organisations that have previously participated in the programme include Afry, Moniheli, Metsä Group, Forum Virium Helsinki, Helsinki Games Capital, Neogames, Family Federation of Finland, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and Finnish National Agency for Education.
Registration and more information

If your organisation is interested in participating in the UNITalent programme for 2025, please register with this form.

You can also contact the University of Helsinki Career Services: careerservices@helsinki.fi

We will be happy to tell you more!