A brief interview with Tai - A Talent Hackathon 2023 participant
Talent Vantaa, in cooperation with the Nordic leading innovation consulting company Spinverse Oy, organized a Talent Hackathon event for the first time March 2023. We had over fifty international talents who are currently studying at universities in Finland or recently graduated to participate together with corporate partner companies such as Manpower Group, VR, High Metal and Valo Hotel & Work to solve business challenges with creative methods.
Each company had one or two challenges related to business development, innovations, and operation and students were divided into groups with three to five members to find the solution within two days of time. Talent Hackathon was not a competition but a fantastic opportunity to network between two parties and raise awareness for international talent employability in Finland.
During this event, the Talent Vantaa team met many distinguished international talents.
Among them, Tai Tran, a Vietnam international student, and entrepreneur accepted our interview and shared his insights on the event. Tai came to Finland in 2017 and he received his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a specialization in Entrepreneurship and SME (Small or Medium sized Enterprise) studies in 2020. Tai is highly active in the entrepreneur circle. Even when he was a student, he participated in many student competitions and business case-solving events. He mentioned that he went to South Korea and competed in the International Business Case Competition hosted by Samsung and emerged as the first-place winner. With all this experience and drive, Tai is eager to contribute his thoughts and ideas and capable of making a valuable contribution to the Talent Hackathon 2023.
Tai pays great attention to international students’ development in Finland. He thinks that he and many of his international student friends struggle to secure employment in Finland, yet eventually, must leave the country due to the language barrier and a sense of isolation from society. This could be a loss to both international talents and the Finland community. Tai hopes and believes that the Talent Hackathon 2023 could be an excellent platform to air their voices and foster change.
Tai participated and worked on a plan about how to keep international graduates in Finland provided by Manpower Group during the event. He thought it was a daunting yet worthy challenge. He was amazed at the teamwork's efficiency and was happy to make a new friend on the path of creating positive changes. They developed a comprehensive plan that they believe could make a real difference in the lives of international graduates in Finland. More importantly, Tai got to meet and connect with people from a variety of industries and backgrounds, and the confidence and skill to continue advocating changes in his community.
As a young and professional talent with an international background, Tai is always lookout for services and events that can help him grow both personally and professionally. He’s interested in events that can bring people from varying backgrounds together. These are great occasions for the cross-pollination of ideas and perspectives. He hopes to have services that can help him integrate into Finnish society and culture, such as language classes or cultural events.
Being an international student and graduate is a brave move and can bring unique value to one’s life. Tai shows us what an international graduate hope to do for the community, and we hope the issues he cares about can improve soon.
Text:
Ying Wang
