EN – FI

Mustafa Cekic from Finland: “If my name was Matti, I wouldn't have had to go through this merry-go-round of job searches”

Construction and urban engineering supervisor Mustafa Cekic sees himself in a managerial or leadership role in the future.

“My working life has been a rocky road. My father is Turkish and my mother is Finnish, but my Finnishness doesn't show on my face. It’s mostly in what I say. My father always said I had two choices: train for a Finnish profession or work in his pizzeria. I decided early on that I wanted to work somewhere other than a pizzeria.
 
In 2012, I completed a professional qualification in civil engineering. After graduation, I sent out 150 job applications a month, but never heard anything back. So after a while I started following up by calling them. If I introduced myself as Mustafa, the call never lasted long. I started to avoid saying my name so that the conversation wouldn’t end before it even got started.

This was frustrating. After graduating from vocational school, I worked as an unskilled worker and in a factory, among other things, and also did my military service. The various jobs I had ended for various reasons, often due to the downturn in the sector.
 
For me, this has meant that I’ve ended up over and over again in the same merry-go-round of job searches. 
 
Ten years ago, I moved from Lahti to Helsinki to take up a plumbing job. That was the start of a new career path. I’ve now also studied more to pursue my dream. I graduated as a construction and urban engineering supervisor last year.
 
The degree opened doors for me, but it wasn’t easy. I worked like crazy to finance my studies: working as a security guard in another town, driving back and forth on only four or five hours of sleep a night. I was tired all the time.

But I’m lucky nevertheless. My character and perseverance have paid off, and I’ve since been able to get the jobs I want. Things have been easier for me on account of having a brilliant command of Finnish. When I think of all the other people of foreign background like me who don’t speak Finnish, things must feel impossible for them.
 
It’s important that work is meaningful and not a chore, and that you don’t have to prove yourself time and time again. I’ve told my father that if my name was Matti, I wouldn’t have to go through this rigmarole – going through bullying, shame and constant rejection.
 
But he always urged me to think of the day when I’d be hired for the job I dreamed of. In that moment, he told me, I’d prove that everyone’s prejudices were wrong. Right now I’m working as a civil engineer in a good company. In the future, I see myself in a managerial or executive position.”

Mustafa Cekic is sharing his story as part of Rastor-instituutti’s Työelämäteko working life action campaign.