HelsinkiUNI International Talent Programme (UNITalent)

UNITalent is a programme where companies and international talents get to know each other. The programme helps students 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 from the University of Helsinki. The group can consist of Master's students or Doctoral Researchers, depending on the company's interests. 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).
  • A representative of the company will attend the kick-off event by following a joint programme on the company's premises with their student group. The host organisations from previous years have said that it is beneficial to include at least 2 people from the organisation in the programme.
  • In addition to the kick-off meeting, the company will organise 2 meetings during the programme on its premises. 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.
  • If they wish, the company also participate in a Networking Day organised by Career Services for companies and students during the programme.
  • 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 salary for traineeships. Please note that we expect the host organisations participating in the programme to be able to recruit talents without full knowledge of Finnish. 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 2500 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 600 international talents and 28 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 2025

For the season 2025, 8 organisations participated in UNITalent: the City of Helsinki (Education and Executive office groups), Fiskars Group, Helsinki Think Company, OP Financial Group, Metsä Group, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Fortum and Otava Learning. 

Other organisations that have previously participated in the programme include for example Afry, Business Finland, Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Moniheli, Metsä Group, Forum Virium Helsinki, Helsinki Games Capital, Neogames, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Alfa Mobility, Family Federation of Finland, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, Crown Cro, University of Helsinki Language Centre, Optimapharm, Nordic Culture Point, FinVector and Finnish National Agency for Education.
Registration and more information

The registration for host organisations for the 2026 UNITalent is open and the last day to register is 3 October 2025.

You can register on Lyyti.

You can contact the University of Helsinki Career Services for more information: careerservices@helsinki.fi

We will be happy to tell you more!