Case study
Maryam moved to Finland to study about three years ago. After graduating, she searched for a job for a few months and then received a four-month fixed-term contract in her own field at a company in the chemical industry. Now that the fixed-term position has ended, Maryam has successfully found a new job at another company in the same industry, which will begin almost immediately after her previous job ends.
After finishing her studies, Maryam moved from student housing into a small one-bedroom apartment. The rent due date for the apartment is in the middle of the month, which happened to be the same day she received her salary at her previous job. This way, she was able to pay the rent as soon as she got paid, and the rest of her salary was then available for other expenses.
On her first day at the new job, Maryam signs the employment contract.
While reviewing the contract, she suddenly realizes that the payday at her new job is the last day of the month. This means there will be more than six weeks between her final paycheck from the previous job and her first paycheck from the new one. The rent is due in a week, but the salary won’t arrive on that day—it will come two weeks later. Since Maryam has only recently started working, she hasn’t had time to build up much in savings. She quickly does the math and realizes that after paying the rent, she’ll have very little money left for food and other expenses for the rest of the month.
At first, Maryam thinks she might need to take out a loan to get by until her first payday. Then she remembers reading somewhere that in case of payment difficulties, it’s best to contact the payee and explain the situation. Maryam decides to call her landlord. She explains the situation and assures them that it’s not a long-term problem, as her new job’s salary will be sufficient to cover rent going forward. The landlord suggests that Maryam could pay just half of the rent on the usual due date this month, and the rest once she receives her first paycheck. Maryam is relieved by the suggestion and agrees. This way, she can plan her spending to make it through until her first salary. After that, things will return to normal.
