Why we run events every single week

Someone just asked about the next Herizon community event. There's one every week. Company visits, meetups, professional activities. Viivi organizes them, and they happen every single week without exception.

Here's why.

The system is designed to produce metrics, not outcomes#

The public sector's approach to activating unemployed people is to force them to send hundreds of AI-generated job applications that no one reads. Then they measure "activation" by how many applications were sent. Not by whether anyone got hired. Not by whether anyone felt like a human being at the end of the process.

According to Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, unemployed job seekers are required to apply for a set number of positions to maintain their benefits. The Nordic labour journal noted that Finland's 2025 employment services reform transferred responsibility to municipalities, but the core activation model remains the same: measure activity, not outcomes.

Finland's unemployment rate hit 10.6% in November 2025, the highest in the EU. Eurostat Youth unemployment reached 22.5%. The employment rate of foreign nationals was 59.6% in late 2024, roughly 10 percentage points lower than native Finns. Finnish Government

These numbers are not improving. The activation model is not working.

What unemployment actually does to people#

You know what constant rejection from a system designed to produce vague activity metrics does to people? It destroys their self-worth.

We encounter people all the time who haven't stepped outside their home in months. People whose friends have practically dragged them to our meetups because they're in such a dark place mentally. People who've been told the path to employment is more applications, more courses, more waiting.

A meta-analysis in the Journal of Vocational Behavior found that unemployment is significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. The longer it lasts, the worse it gets.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has documented that unemployment is one of the strongest predictors of social exclusion in Finland. For immigrants, it compounds with language barriers, lack of professional networks, and zero familiarity with how the Finnish job market works.

What people actually need#

Unemployed people don't need another mandatory activation course. They need a reason to leave the house, meet other humans, feel like they're not alone, and rebuild confidence that the system has systematically crushed.

For immigrants specifically, our events do something the public sector completely fails at: giving people access to Finnish companies. Seeing how they work, understanding how to approach them, learning the unwritten rules. Nobody teaches this. Not the TE office, not the integration courses, not the two years of language school.

Our community spans professionals from over 110 countries who speak over 100 languages. They have degrees, work experience, ambition. What they don't have is access.

What weekly events actually look like#

Every week, people show up. Some are coming for the first time because a friend convinced them. Some have been regulars for months.

Company visits let people walk into a Finnish workplace, talk to real employees, and understand what a company actually values. No integration course provides this.

Meetups create a routine. A reason to get dressed, leave the apartment, and be around people who understand what you're going through.

Professional activities build real skills and confidence. Not certificate-collecting for the sake of a CV, but actual practice in presenting yourself, networking, and navigating the Finnish professional world.

The hardest thing to fund#

Weekly community events don't look impressive in a grant application. There's no flashy metric. No clear "project" with a start date, end date, and a neat report. The public sector mainly likes to pay for projects.

But when someone who hasn't left their apartment in three months walks into a Tuesday meetup and feels like a person again, that's the outcome that matters.

We've hosted over 100 free community events. We don't charge for them. We don't gate them behind program enrollment. You show up, you're welcome.

Probably still the most impactful thing we do at Herizon.