Towards the career of your dreams in tourism – Tour4Youth Introduction
It is in the interests of both individuals and society that young people are employed in jobs that match their skills and aspirations. This is the aim of the Tour4Youth project.
The Introduction Day held on 14th January, aimed at the target group - students or unemployed jobseekers in the tourism, hospitality and catering sectors aged 15-24 - explored the benefits for participants of the three-step programme on offer. The steps include an online career skills course, recruitment events and local or international traineeships in Finland, Estonia or Latvia, and sometimes Sweden.
The day provided a wide range of information about the traineeship made possible by the project, including professional support for career planning. Career planning support and opening up a range of employment opportunities for participants is at the heart of Tour4Youth, which aims to help the target group find employment. One aspect of this is to explore the possibility for entrepreneurship, now or later in life.
In the opening session, Project Manager Tiina Leino told the participants about the Tour4Youth project and what it can do for them. She gave a comprehensive overview of the traineeships organised through the project and how the project supports and helps trainees to start their traineeships. The decision making process is supported, among other things, by the trainees' stories and traineeship presentations on the Tour4Youth website and Facebook page.
An internship in a Latvian castle?
The project already has almost 60 internships available in different countries, and more organisations can be connected according to their interest, the doors are open.
The range of placements is very wide, from cafés and restaurants to hotels, destination organisations and museums. In Latvia, for example, there is an event programme office and a hotel where trainees can go. Or how about a Latvian castle for a traineeship! One Finn is going there for a traineeship in the spring - how exciting is that!
In Finland, and especially in Satakunta, internships are available in hotels in Pori and Rauma, for example. In principle, Finnish language skills are required for hotel reception jobs, but there are also internships with a variety of tasks for international participants.
Project expert Teija Nuurma underlined that trainees can also look for a place themselves and then approach the project workers. A scholarship is available for unpaid internships to support motivation, on-the-job training and living costs during the internship.
Ready, Steady, Go! - An online course for people starting their internship
To get a smooth start to the internship and work placement, participants will complete an online career skills course before starting their internship. The e-learning course was presented in depth to the participants by project experts Teija Nuurma and Jonna Huuhka. The e-learning course includes tips on CV writing, self-marketing and general work life skills. It is a 5-credit course in English to support internationalisation at work.
To support their participation in the whole Tour4Youth programme, each participant will receive personal career guidance from project experts. These sessions will dig deeper into what motivates the participant and what directions they would like to take in their career. A concrete plan on how to start working towards this goal will also be developed.
Workshop: get your CV, cover letter and LinkedIn in order
To make the job search run smoothly, the job application documents should be in order. This was the theme of the afternoon's workshop on Introduction Day. Students were given very detailed instructions on how to prepare a CV and cover letter, as well as how to create a LinkedIn profile. Visuals and approachability are also an important part of the job search, which is why participants had the opportunity to have their photo taken by SAMK's communication specialist. The focus was also on what kind of things should be in these documents in the tourism, hospitality and catering sectors.
Jonna Huuhka, project expert, gave a comprehensive introduction to the topic. Ms Huuhka gave a detailed presentation of what a good application is, while emphasising that a LinkedIn profile can nowadays serve as a job search channel without the need for other forms of application. At the same time, LinkedIn and application documents also support each other. After the presentation, the students worked on their own documents and profiles. The project experts helped them to refine their work, as an external perspective always gives a new perspective on their own skills. Good luck in your job search!
Ongoing opportunity until 31.7.2025:
Financially supported internships - ask more!
Coming soon:
Introduction Day 4th of March, 2025
Recruitment event International Food Day in Winnova 8th of April, 2025
More information:
Tiina Leino
project manager
tiina.leino@samk.fi
+358 50 307 7593
