Finnish Young Professionals Beijing is a forum for young Finnish students and other young Finnish professionals in Beijing. Young Professionals (YP) aims to give young professionals a chance to get familiar with doing business in China and to network with other interesting people. YP organizes visits to Finnish companies in Beijing and invites hardcore professionals to give lectures on how to build a career or do business in China. We also organize informal events, such as get-togethers.
Even though the forum is called Young Professionals, we don’t have an age limit. However, we do require that you have a strong link to Finland, eg. you are a Finnish citizen, you have studied in Finland or you can speak Finnish.
To join Finnish Young Professionals Beijing contact YP leader Luyang Syvänen (luyang.syvanen@gmail.com). Please send your name, your university/company in Finland and/or China, and your major. We will send a confirmation email back to you. Remember to join our Facebook group!
Finding internships and other opportunities in Beijing
More and more young Finns are interested in working in China. This means that finding a job from Beijing can be a bit tricky. Nowadays, in order to start your career in China, basic Chinese language skills are needed. Companies wish new interns or assistants to be able to take care of themselves.
If you are determined to find a job directly from China, the solution to getting a post is the same as anywhere. You need hard work, good luck with timing, and possibly good contacts. It is always easier for a company to hire someone they know than someone they have never met. Sometimes companies and organizations recruit assistants from Finland to China.
CIMO (the Finnish expert organization in international mobility and cooperation) offers a few possible ways to get to China. One way is to apply for the CIMO country program and choose China as the target country. If you get accepted, CIMO will help you to find an internship from China and provides a grant. The application period is in the early Spring. CIMO also organizes the intern applications to, for example, the Finnish embassies and Team Finland offices (Organization program). Beijing is often on the list, slightly depending on the year. The application period in in the early Autumn.
If you already have a business idea, you might consider contacting Chinaccelerator. Chinaccelerator is the first mentorshipdriven seed funding program in China. The accelerator program is committed to helping entrepreneurs who are innovating at the cutting edge of information technology to create successful startup companies. Participation in Chinaccelerator gives startups enormous validation and access to the best, brightest, most experienced network of mentors.