The purpose of the paper is to examine how the persons with Russian immigrant backgrounds define, make sense of, and experience the recognition of their competence for employment in Finland. The research seeks answers to the following questions: (1) How do Russian immigrants in Finland experience the recognition of their competence for employment? (2) What are the extent are Finns’ stereotypes to Russians reflected in immigrants’ actual experiences? The study applies a qualitative in-depth interviewing method. The purposeful sample comprises some 50 interviewees who have Russian immigrants’ backgrounds. They represent various fields: education, medicine, engineering, business, services and research. The interviews have been audio recorded and transcribed. The method of thematic analysis is used while breaking down the qualitative face-to-face interviews. The responses in the quantitative questionnaire specify the individual cases.The results of the study will provide information about and concepts of complex and multilayered interpretations of identification and recognition of competence and ethnic stereotypes.