Finns are more extroverted than their reputation suggests, says Kishore

For Kishore Shouche, scrolling through LinkedIn led to a significant career change. Kishore holds a degree in chemical engineering and has 30 years of professional experience, primarily in the man-made fibre industry in India. One evening, he came across a job listing for a technology manager at a new textile fibre initiative managed by Metsä Spring, the innovations company of Finnish forestry giant Metsä Group. The only challenge? The position was based in Äänekoski, a small town about a 3.5 hour’s drive from the Finnish capital, Helsinki.

Despite this, the job ad captured Kishore’s interest. He reached out to the company, and after some successful online interviews, he was invited to spend a weekend in Finland with his wife, visiting Helsinki and Äänekoski. The visit convinced him to relocate. Now, 1.5 years later, Kishore has settled just south of Äänekoski in the city of Jyväskylä, adapted to Finnish work culture, and learnt how to dress for temperatures below -30 degrees Celsius.

I didn’t know much about Finland… before coming here, but Metsä helped me a lot with that. I had my first interaction with the company in March 2023. That was an online interview, and things went well. The company suggested that I visit Finland and go with my wife, not alone. So, we visited Helsinki and the company’s demo site in Äänekoski for three days in June. 

That really helped. We got a feeling of what everything looked like and had a chance to learn about the company and the country. The one thing we didn’t learn was the weather, which is a totally different story [from the summer] in winter.

But we had a good trip, and after that, we also had expert counselling. The company had arranged sessions with counsellors for both of us, my wife and me, who helped us understand the Finnish way of life, the Finnish culture and the weather – all the positives and challenges that can be there. That helped us a lot to get mentally prepared, so there were no big surprises. 

The demo plant where I work is in Äänekoski… but that would have been a bit remote for my wife to stay in as well, so we live in Jyväskylä instead. We are used to seeing a lot of people around us, there are 1.4 billion people in India [compared to under 18 000 in Äänekoski and 144 000 in Jyväskylä].

I was also aware that there are some Indian families in Jyväskylä, which helped.

It is great to live here… as we live near the city centre in the harbour area, and it’s one of the most beautiful places I know. We enjoy it.

There are around 30 to 40 [Indian] families in the area, and we’ve connected with some of them. A few of them have become family friends, and we interact regularly with them.  

Both my wife and I wanted to do whatever we could to be prepared… so we tried to study the Finnish culture closely. Especially what the dos and don'ts are and what rules to follow in public places and so forth. Because culture is a very sensitive thing and if you understand and appreciate it then you'll gel into it. 

One difference is that people in India tend to be extroverted and social, while Finns tell me that they are more introverted. However, looking at my colleagues here, I don't think that is necessarily true. They are like good friends and family members; we have a very good time in the office.

Initially, there was a language barrier… especially in public places. But the good thing is that most of the time, if you speak English, you can get help. The young generation here is quite fluent in speaking English. 

For the first few days, many things were new and we were trying to get to know the system so there were some challenges. But we didn’t hesitate to ask for help and that way we got a very good response, a very warm response in fact. After that, things have gone well.

It is very difficult to understand the Finnish language, and it will take a while. But we already understand some things and there is always Google Translate to help. With technology and some initiative from our side, everything is possible.

I’ve started to learn Finnish… although it is a slow pace. My wife has joined some formal classes, so she has already started taking it seriously.

Although there are some integration courses for learning Finnish in our city, there is a long queue for those, and my wife will have to wait a long time before she gets in. So, she is trying to do whatever she can to learn on her own and on the private side.

She can now converse a bit, at least greetings and all those things. She is definitely far ahead of me.

The surprises that have come [with the move]… have been positive. Before I joined Metsä, what they did was to translate into English all the important documents that were in Finnish and I needed to understand. That was a great help. 

Also, all the meetings I attend are conducted in English. At times, my colleagues find that challenging, but they are trying to understand and speak in English.

Finding people in Finland who are… experienced in the textile fibre field is a challenge. In our demo plant, people come from many different backgrounds. I appreciate how they have performed during the past four to five years, they’ve worked hard to make it a success. 

I’ve been working in this field for a long time and enjoy training and teaching my colleagues what I’ve learnt. My objective is that we shouldn’t reinvent the wheel, I’ve really learnt that the hard way. So why not teach that to everyone so we can move faster. 

The company I work for is part of a big, diverse group and you get exposure to many different activities. I come from a fibre background, and here I get exposure to pulp production and all the processes and the intricacies related to that. That is something that I’m learning here, and it helps to enrich my professional knowledge. 

There are very high safety standards here… which is good learning for me. When I discuss this with my friends in India, I tell them that this is the type of standard that everyone should have, and there is a lot to learn from that. Systems have been set here for each activity, and whatever instructions there are, they are followed in letter and spirit. If you don’t take any shortcuts, then things are very safe.

Everything is also well documented. I’ve learnt that whatever you want to say, you just prepare some slides on that, give instructions and people will follow those. 

I’ve realised that following the rules and having the right systems in place makes life simpler and easier. I really appreciate this and also discuss it with my Indian relatives and friends. There are many things to learn from Finland. 

Sometimes people feel they are stepping into unknown terrain[when thinking about relocating]… and are doubtful about that. But if you move out of your comfort zone and try to explore new things, there are many opportunities that enrich your experience and add value to your life. Both in professional and personal terms. 

My advice is to always study what you are going to do in detail and interact with as many people as possible. This way, you will know what others have learnt the hard way and can easily gain that knowledge.

Relocating is also an opportunity to give and take. We learn many new things and on the other hand whatever experience we bring with us, we have an opportunity to share that knowledge. In India, there is an old saying that the more you share your knowledge, the more knowledgeable you become. We are all part of one big family.

Right now we are exploring more of Finland… and we love being in nature. The forests and lakes here are a beautiful gift for us to enjoy and experience. 

My Finnish friends sometimes jokingly ask if I went skiing in the winter. It was my first winter here so no, but maybe next winter I’ll give it a try.

I had no experience with snow… before moving here. In the places where I’ve lived, the maximum temperatures were between 45 to 48 degrees Celsius and 15 to 20 degrees used to mean winters for us.

The coldest we’ve had here was when it dropped to minus 33 degrees. That was challenging in the beginning, but I got very good guidance from my colleagues. They gave us small tips that helped a lot, like what and how we should wear and what we should take care of.

For me, the surprising part was that my wife enjoyed winter like anything. She has a habit of going on a long walk every day, and even during the extreme winter when we had snow all around us, she used to go for an eight or ten-kilometre walk.

When you go on regular walks, you see the same people, the faces become familiar and now she has some Finnish friends as well.

I plan to stay in Finland… for a long time. I’m not considering moving anywhere else. My wife and I were very clear that if we moved countries, we’d stay long. Who knows, if everything goes well, maybe we’ll become permanent residents here.