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Responding to the Lack of Coders with International Recruitment

Making sure new international employees and their families relocate and settle down comfortably also works for the employer’s benefit. Representatives of Pipecloud, a software development company in Raisio, emphasize that using a third party to help with the relocation process is worth it.

Pipecloud, a Raisio-based software development company, was struggling with the same issue that a lot of IT startups face: a lack of highly skilled programmers, especially among smaller companies. To combat this, Pipecloud ended up buying the services it needed from Ukraine.

It was not long that one of the Ukrainian programmers working for Pipecloud, Yurii Miroshnychenko, expressed his interest in moving to Finland with his family. Pipecloud moved quick to offer Yurii a permanent position.

Atte Peltola, Director of Business Development at Pipecloud, had no idea what this kind of project entails. However, it was immediately clear that Yurii and his family needed all the support they could get. Turku Science Park Ltd. shared a lot of information with Pipecloud and included them in its relocation pilot. GMCFinland, a relocation service provider, helped the Miroshnychenko family with everything related to settling down in Finland. This ranged from things like finding a home to getting the children spots in Finnish schools.

Jenny Rajahalme, CEO of GMCFinland, says that the idea is to help the newcomers in the new home country and deal with any and every practical issue one at a time.

– A good measure of our success is that there are fewer contacts between us and the client as the months progress, meaning our help is no longer needed. That means we’ve done our job well.

Atte Peltola, Yurii Miroshnychenko, Jarno Soinila and Olli Yliaho at the Ardor Ltd. factory, where the business idea for Pipecloud had its inception.

Outside help with relocation

The Miroshnychenko family has been in Finland is August. Remote working between two countries is now history for Yurii, and the children have been attending Finnish schools and found local hobbies. Due to COVID-19, the preparations took nearly a year.

Pipecloud CEO Jarno Soinila’s advice for any company looking at international relocation is to set aside enough time for the entire relocation process and to make use of support services.

– Without outside help, we simply woudn’t have had the resources, he says.

Atte Peltola says it’s crucial to think of international recruitment as a holistic process: Often the families relocate with the talent, and making sure everybody is happy is also in the employer’s interest. Jenny Rajahalme adds that the is also the issue of privacy; not everyone might be comfortable discussing their personal issues as they relate to relocation with their employer. This is another aspect where outside help can be useful.

Clearly-structured services

According to Pipecloud, the process of getting residence permits needs speeding up and increased digitalization. CEO Soinila says that this is crucial in the competition for highly educated international talents. On a local level, they emphasize the need for a more structured approach. There is a lot of information available, but a detailed and organized list of what every employer needs to know at every step of the process would be a welcome improvement.

Despite the hurdles, helping the Miroshnychenko family get a new start in Finland has been a rewarding experience. For Pipecloud, a company aiming at global operations, this surely will not be their last story of international recruitment. Soinila is quick to affirm that they will be in the competition for top international talent in the future as well.

Text by Heidi Pelander
Translation by Ville Heirola

For help with international recruitment, contact the experts at Turku Science Park Ltd.: https://businessturku.fi/talentboost/