Politics and Passports – Interning at the Finnish Embassy in London
Embassy of Finland in London offers internships for about twelve Finnish university students every year. There is normally one intern in every team at the Embassy. What is it like to intern at one of Finland’s biggest Embassies? Our current interns Annalotta Saarikoski, Laura Kämäräinen, Ronni Läpinen, Santeri Saramäki and Vilja Härkönen shared their thoughts on working at the Embassy.
Market opportunities and political puzzles
Since the interns work in different teams, their job descriptions are quite different. Annalotta and Vilja work in the political affairs section and their duties include writing reports and preparatory studies, visiting briefings and following the work of the parliament in the UK. Annalotta appreciates valuable work experience she has gained during the internship: “My tasks have varied and they meet perfectly with my interests”, she says.
Vilja finds following Brexit up close as an amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She loves learning new things at her job every day, but also sees another benefit: “I am writing my Master’s thesis on women's rights and diplomacy, so doing an internship at the Finnish embassy was perfect from that point of view as well”, she tells.
Hobbyhorses and Twitter tricks
Laura works at the press office, dealing with country branding and public diplomacy. Her duties include updating the Embassy’s social media channels, creating content for the Embassy’s website, answering enquiries from the public and daily media monitoring. She has also helped to organise a high profile event on Finnish early childhood education policy. Laura is aiming for a career in communications and thinks working at the Embassy supports her studies perfectly. “As an English Philology major, Finnish Embassy in London neatly combines all my professional interests”, she says.
In the centre of defence and security policy
Ronni interns in the Defence Attaché’s office and spends his time writing reports on Britain's defence and security policy as well as weekly media monitoring. He has previous experience of working with Finnish Defence Forces and thinks his current interning position is right up his alley. “For someone interested in international politics there's no better vantage point than London's international circles”, he concludes.
Travel notifications and express passports
Santeri’s work days at the Consular Section mainly consist of processing visa and passport applications in addition to customer service. Working at the consulate is definitely not boring: Finns in the UK seek advice and assistance in various issues every day. For Santeri the balance between customer service and independent work is what makes his job enjoyable. He also goes on to praise his colleagues and superb work atmosphere at the Embassy.
All five interns agree that internship at the Embassy of Finland in London is extremely interesting and useful for their future careers. Their views on the best aspects about their internships highlight the Embassy’s versatility as a workplace: whereas Ronni thinks the best thing during his time in London has been to get access to places and events where one would never get a chance to go otherwise, Laura is happy to take home know-how for providing fun but effective communication in social media.
When asked whether the interns are interested in a career at the Foreign Ministry, their answers are unanimous: “Absolutely!”
The Embassy advertises available internships at the Aarresaari website.
Text: Laura Kämäräinen