Hi everyone,
I’m a 30-year-old French guy thinking about moving to Lapland, ideally near the FIN/SWE border or around the “three borders” area.
I’m very sporty and into outdoor activities: running, trail running, strength training, hiking, long-distance trekking, sport shooting, hunting, fishing, etc.
I’ve already been to Lapland twice in winter for solo, self-supported trips:
- trekking the Kungsleden from Abisko to Nikkaluokta
- crossing Urho Kekkonen National Park is my own
Professionally, I hold a Master’s degree in cybersecurity. However, I don’t want to work in IT anymore. It just doesn’t fit me. I can’t stand office life, open spaces, corporate culture and sitting in front of screens all day. I need something more physical, more concrete, more real (ideally outdoors).
And I own a dog, a Belgian Malinois.
So I have a few questions:
What kind of jobs are available in Lapland, especially in winter?
In particular during the dark season, what do people actually do for work when it’s polar night? I’m open to retraining if necessary.
What salary is needed to live “comfortably” in Finland?
For comparison:
- French minimum wage is about €1,440 after tax
- I currently earn €2,600 after tax
- I pay around €900 rent for a 2-bedroom apartment
What would be a realistic income in Lapland to live decently (not luxury, but stable and comfortable)? Especially in smaller towns near the Swedish border?
I’m aware that moving countries isn’t just about landscapes and romantic ideas. I’d really appreciate honest and realistic feedback, including the hard truths.
Thanks in advance!
https://i.redd.it/eip8re0kafjg1.jpeg
Posted by Trekkos
36 Comments
You want a physical job in Finland without knowing the language? Good luck.
They do same jobs as everyone else, but there are very few of them available. In touristy areas like Rovaniemi and Saariselkä, there might be more tourist related jobs, but many are seasonal.
Also, near the three border crossing, there are no townS. There is A town, Kilpisjärvi. Lapland is very sparsely populated, there aren’t just random towns here and there, it’s literally mostly empty.
Your best bet is to stay in IT and do a remote job.
I would say that you might be able to get a temporary job, but you don’t speak Finnish. So I’m not sure what you could be doing. Also after winter, a lot of those seasonal jobs will be gone.
Finland is the highest unemployed country in Europe. That’s not a joke.
Do you speak the language(s)? – if you move to the border it’s gonna be extremely unlikely to find any job if you don’t.
There are often seasonal jobs, so no regular income if you will and ofc a lot related to tourism.
https://www.swedishlapland.com/work/
Think of someone wanting to move to rural France, it’s gonna be tough luck if they aren’t fluent in French.
I work in Lapland.
Winter is easy to find work with the main industry being tourism. I work as a guide, having gone to school for it and gotten the certifications. But unfortunately its not necessary and there are tons of inexperienced guides, but good ones with the right experience and background do well. Languages definitely help and there are a lot of French guests.
I would say to live comfortably, you need around 1500 euros per month. Finding a place to stay is difficult and usually you find a place that offers you a room/apartment as well as work. And again, year round is the issue.
Once the season is over, there isn’t much. Some places might hire you on for maintenance or summer trips, but not that many companies run summer trips and often you need better certifications like paddling or something.
In general, Finland isnt that easy to move and build a community. Maybe try a season of work and see if you actually like it
Winter jobs: Tourism. Can you teach skiing etc…
Summer: Erm eh. I mean…. Perhaps you can pick berries?
You would have zero income and same costs as now, good luck
None of this is realistic. You don’t speak Finnish. Hardly anyone lives there. I presume you’ve looked at a map and noticed the distinct lack of settlements. There are no jobs. Plenty of space for your dog I suppose.
not related to the post but i was wondering, what university course have you done? would it be possible for someone coming from a bachelor in economy/marketing move to something cibersecurity related with a master?
The job market is absolutely miserable right now, even for natives. I can’t imagine what it must be like for foreigners, ones that can’t speak the language no less.
Honestly, I’d suggest looking beyond the border to the West
A lot of this may seem brutal to you but it is not people just stomping on your dreams with no reason, this is a warning. Frankly, this plan is delusional at these times.
If you want to romanticise the north move to Norway and go cut some salmon
I’m from Finnish Lapland and born there. Lapland is the only place now where there is jobs available. I think there is few companies now who only hire French speaking guides as the French are main customers for them.
You do not need to speak finnish in Lapland 😊 after Helsinki the Inari area has the most international tourists.
If you have good skills with people and you enjoy the nature, I highly recommend to contact companies and search job as a wilderness guide, it is not that hard core. If company likes u you they might find you something for summers also.
And ask atleast 15€/h
But also recomment to come and try for atleast one winter season.
I did enjoy working few winters as a guide, it made the polar night easier when I was able to be outside for those few hours of daylight.
Now living in Helsinki and in office job so I feel you!
Honestly finding a remote job still in cybersecurity is your best bet, but you vould try to find one with less hours and find a balance between how much money you need for living & outdoor activities.
In such remote locations it’s hard without language, and you will also likely need a car because the distances are long.
Your other best bet would be become a freelancer while in france, see how you earn , then move. That way you could set your own hours.
Try IKEA Haparanda.
Try applying for tourism jobs in Lapland starting from September/October.
Move to Kiruna instead and start working for LKAB.
Not Finland per se but maybe investigate the possibility to get a job in Kiruna and work for the mine. That would probably require some reeducation and maybe learning Swedish.
Here’s a good tip for you:
Move to Finnish Lapland and work in Sweden or Norway.
I did this too and I’m a Finn.
There are *a lot* more jobs in Sweden and Norway and they pay you much much more than equivalent Finnish jobs.
The language barrier doesn’t matter so much to them, as long as you’re fluent in English.
From a french guy around the same age as you, living here for the last 3 years. Fall in love with a finnish girl or finnish a boy before mon ami, this country is very lonely and so different from France. The food, the aminities everythings. Also finding a job is super difficult outside of seasonal one (and they are not really pleasant jobs).
My advise to you, stay in your cyber security job, buy a mökki in Finland and do remote every now and then from it. Living here is not the same as the holidays etc.
EDIT: because you ask also for salary. I’m living close to Helsinki and I’m earning around 4k net after taxes. I have a 2 bedrooms for 1350e per month (brand new building) I’m spending around 120 euros in aminities (including the metro zone A and B) and I do not own a car. Going out is super expensive, I’m earning also three times what my mom used to earn and I do not feel rich at all, basically groceries are done at lidl because other supermarket are too expensive. (Around 400 to 500e per month in groceries). I have a very pessimist view here, you could love it very dearly and we have plenty of great things but slowly (and as a foreigner obviously) the bad start to outweight the good for me.
The three borders area is part of the municipality of Enontekiö, which has area of 8 391 km^(2) but only 1767 people living there, so population density is only 0,22 people/km^(2) . The village nearest the three country cairn, Kilpisjärvi, has only about 100 permanent recidents.
There are no real towns at the Swedish border except Tornio, which is at the southern edge of the border. The rest are sparsely populated municipalites with small villages here and there.
Based on these figures one can conclude that job opportunities there are few and far between. Chances might be best in tourism and hospitality, but those are also very seasonal, so making a stable income would be challenging, especially without speaking Finnish.
In Lapland, tourism sector would crash without seasonal workers from abroad. I’d say that maybe half of seasonal workers in winters are from abroad, and largely from other european countries actually it seems. Finnish is not required, most seasonal workers from abroad dont speak finnish. English is required, and I’d say german or french especially is also beneficial.
In summer its more difficult. And near the Norwegian border, there isn’t much people even living there. Near the swedish border there of course is.
But that would be one way to try living in Finland – couple of months as seasonal worker in Lapland. I think finding that sort of job is not that hard. If OP has even winter hiking experience, they could even be quite sought-after worker in some outdoor tourist guide kind of job. Husky/snowmobile safaris, other sort of guided tour sort of things.
Is that what OP is looking for? Not sure. In service sector, salaries arent that high. I’d quess 1700-2500€/month (around 1650-2300€ net).
How about trekking guide in the season and work remote on cyber security in the off season?
What tent that is?
guide work is probably the most realistic for you in Lapland, basically taking tourists on adventure trips, there’s many with a variety of offerings so it’s hard to be specific, some are more survivalist while some are more just trekking. Realistically, if you find full time work, you’ll probably still be looking at a small pay cut (just an industry thing, i think generally french and finnish salaries are similar). But career prospects are much more limited in that line of work, it’s mostly just seasonal stuff, the only upwards trajectory would be eventually starting your own practice but then you’d obviously need to know finnish etc.
If you’re looking for career work e.g office stuff (which i know you arent), you just won’t find stuff like that in lapland. Rovaniemi may have a little bit, but then again rovaniemi probably isn’t the experience you’re looking for.
If you’re okay with calling one side of your rent “bedroom 1” and the other side “bedroom 2” you can definitely live in a 2-bedroom apartment for very cheap in a forest.
Réfléchis bien à deux fois avant de sauter le pas mec.
I just summarize what others said
Lapland has mostly seasonal jobs in winter, little in summer
Almost nobody lives there, but working remote would be a lucky situation. Lapland is mostly small villages without jobs, remote workers, or rich people who bought cabins and don’t need jobs.
If you wanna work really far in the north, consider Kiruna in the mine or Norway in fish industry. Otherwise central Finland or middle/southern parts of Sweden have more economy. You will need to learn the language to even have a chance in the highest unemployed county in Europe, same for the other two but Norway has more jobs and easier language.
Finding a job from abroad can be even harder, you can safe a lot of money for 1-2 years job search and move then. You can apply for unemployment aid in your home country and export it via U2 form for 3-6 months to help with transition.
If you really want it it’s not impossible but as others said especially Lapland Finland the odds are low and you would need a lot of preparation, language learning, saving money etc. 1400 after taxes in Lapland should be comfortable.
Concider working in Gällivare or Kiruna in Sweden, there is plenty of jobs (lowest unemployment in all of Sweden), close to the mountains and you have more people around that can become potential hiking friends. The hard part is finding somewhere to live as there is a big housing shortage.
2600 after tax for a master in cybersecurity does seem quite low. I guess the best jobs for someone like you in lapland would be in tourism (if you don’t want IT jobs, which I don’t think there are many in lapland but you could remote work). Hope you’re ready for very cold, long and dark winters
Pretty unlikely for you to get any job up there unfortunately and the ones you probably could get are seasonal. Like somebody else said a job you probably could get way up north is to go work in a Norwegian fish factory. They always need new workers and you don’t need prior experience and the pay is alright.
I’d try and find a remote job from IT, in the service industries you’d be surviving paycheck to paycheck.
You need to factor in that you most likely will need a car and there’s not that many rentals available. At least in Oikotie (Finnish rental site) there’s no apartments available in Kilpisjärvi.
Also you’d make your life extremely difficult by living in a area that is mostly empty, better chances would be “bigger” towns like Muonio or Kittilä. If you’re open to Sweden, Kiiruna probably has some mining jobs.
I would recommend choosing a Swedish town near the Finnish border, as there are more jobs available on the Swedish side. Nature is more or less the same on both sides of the border. Housing is also very cheap there, so if you’d like to purchase your own home it’s totally doable.
Do bear in mind that a lot of the tourism-related industries are very abusive towards their (foreign/imported) staff. They rely upon a lot of their workers not knowing Finnish laws, regulations, etc.
So yes you can work as a tour-guide, but you’ll be charged for your accommodation and they will find ways to underpay you, and treat you badly.
I’m actually genuinely shocked at how poorly this stuff is handled. Every year or two there will be a raid on berry-pickers, tour-guides, and nepalese restaurants, every year there will be abuses found and arrests made, and then nothing happens again until the next time there’s a lull in the media-cycle.
are you in psychosis?
Finland is unwelfare state, where [misery and unemployment have been commercialized](https://old.reddit.com/r/Finland/comments/1gb7lww/exposing_the_commercialization_of_unemployment/), where corruption is structural and where Thatcherian austerity has been implemented over 3 decades. We aren’t the happiest country in the world but rather the stupidest country in the world. We know taxfunds are used for frauds and commercialized crimes against humanity, but we refuse to understand corruption is run by criminals. We still, decade after decade, think that our leaders are simply too stupid to understand what they are doing, rather than understanding what Neoliberalism means.
Finland is the land of drooling idiot / full blown fascism supporter (but we aren’t allowed to call em fascists, that’s hate speech.) If you need a job, best case scenario involves marrying someone whos father has a company, who is able to hire.