EDF Portfolio Manager Amelie Blanguernon: “GMCFinland has been a huge help”
Kalindee Chapus Aubeeluck (left), who arrived in Finland in the fall of 2025 for a three-year assignment, Jenny Rajahalme, and Amelie Blanguernon met at a restaurant in Rauma.
The collaboration between GMCFinland and EDF began in 2020, just before borders were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the first employees sent by the French company and their families had to wait a couple of months before they could enter Finland.
“Those who arrived in Finland had to undergo a two-week quarantine at first. It was a busy time for me, as I picked up clients from the airport, ran errands for them at stores and the pharmacy, booked COVID-19 test appointments, and delivered the results to the employer,” recalls GMCFinland’s CEO Jenny Rajahalme.
“Yes, and on top of that, you handled all the usual immigration-related permits and other matters. That was a huge help as our new arrivals adjusted to working and living in Finland,” adds EDF Portfolio Manager Amelie Blanguernon, who has sent at least 25 families to work in the nuclear power sector in Finland.
“We want the family to come along because it makes it easier to settle into a foreign country and is good for the family,” Blanguernon explains.
Smooth transition in the nuclear power sector
Teollisuuden Voima’s Olkiluoto 3 power plant, whose nuclear reactor was supplied by the French company Areva (EDF), has been reliably generating electricity for about three years. OL3 was officially handed over to TVO in June 2025. Nevertheless, EDF continues to send one of its experts, along with their family, to Olkiluoto for three-year stints.
“We have a cooperation agreement with TVO. We exchange information and operational experiences so that our sister plants in Finland, France, China, and the UK can be operated safely and efficiently,” explains Blanguernon.
It’s a big change to go work in a foreign country.
“I’ll say this straight: not many of us want to move to Finland. They’re more interested in countries where it’s warmer and the sun shines more. Colleagues considering a move ask each other about their experiences in different countries. The threshold for choosing Finland gets lower when they hear how good the work-life balance is here. That’s where GMC has been really helpful,” says Blanguernon.
Cultural differences and mutual trust
EDF trains its staff before they leave for an overseas assignment, but every country has certain unwritten rules.
“Jenny, of course, knows Finnish customs. Having lived in France herself, she’s great at explaining these things,” praises Blanguernon.
Could you give an example?
“In Finland, people follow the rules much more obediently than in France, especially in the south. Everyone knows that there, pedestrians wait at the crosswalk until the cars have passed. Here in Finland, people start braking a hundred meters away, just in case someone steps onto the crosswalk a minute later,” jokes Blanguernon.
For Rajahalme, the French state-owned companies Areva and EDF have been welcome partners.
“It’s been nice to serve them, since GMCFinland has been trusted 100 percent. There hasn’t been much need for reporting. It’s been enough that the work has been done and the customers are satisfied. The exit phase has been a bit of a bummer. It’s a bittersweet moment when people you’ve gotten to know leave Finland,” Rajahalme sums up.
