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My Career: From Start to Finnish

Be very active and brave, advises Seonjeong from South Korea

Get to know more about Seonjeong via LinkedIn

Seonjeong Ryu, South Korea. Director of educational research centre

“You don’t need to hesitate to talk to the top leader directly.”

When Seonjeong was looking for a country abroad where she could further her studies and major in education, she originally planned to go to the US. However, Finland caught her eye instead as “Finnish education has kept its unique values so well”.  She moved here and completed a master’s degree in educational leadership in the city of Jyväskylä. Then she and some Korean educators who studied here founded an educational research centre.

  1. What I find surprising about working in Finland is…
that you don’t need to hesitate to talk to the top leader directly even if you have a totally different opinion than them.  They will listen to you and you will focus on the contents of the discussion without considering the position gap.

  1. If I could change one thing about Finnish working life it would be… ‘
Huomenta’ [good morning] with a SMILE! Come on Finns! We are living in the world’s happiest country! ;)

  1. My favourite thing about Finland is…
nature! If you stand in the middle of the deep, deep forest, you will learn naturally to be honest and modest, which Finns originally are.

  1. The piece of advice I would give to someone contemplating coming to work in Finland is…
that everyone in Finland is kind and many opportunities are quite open to everyone, including foreigners, but you need to be very active and brave to seize them! No one will just give what you want. You are the one who needs to know what you want and speak up about it!

  1. The best way to enjoy the weekend after a working week is…
This is my thing! I usually go to Allas [an outdoor sea pool with a sauna in Helsinki] every weekend. You will be able to release your stress and feel fresh breathing the cleanest air in the world! You will also get smoooooth skin after it. Yeah!

Published on 20.05.2019