Aalborg - study - work - expat

Aalborg Epat Quick Guide

Aalborg is a city located in the northern part of the Jutland region of Denmark. Being among the oldest cities in Denmark, Aalborg is home to some of the treasures dating back to AD1000. The city has experienced a fair share of bad and good times. In the 1530s, Aalborg suffered various religious civil wars but slowly emerged to become a remarkable commercial and social centre.

Until 1850, Aalborg was the second largest city in Denmark and drew much attention to the country as a cite of the Danish surrender to the Roman catholic following the Thirty years of war.

The greatness of the city is not only in the mix of modern and historical architectural designs but also the bubbly population and great adventure sites. With some of the best walkways and cycling ways, the city is attractive to visitors and those intending to have a long enjoyable stay in Denmark.

Status of Aalborg city

Aalborg is currently the fourth largest city in Denmark and has a history of Vikings. The city life gets its liveliness from over 300 restaurants, casinos and great shopping places. The city also plays host to some of the best attractions including a zoo that breeds the rare Siberian Tigers.  The Waterland and Tivoliland make the city a great destination for families to visit. 

Anyone interested in getting some real memories of the Vikings can take a walk to viking burial mounds at Lindholm Høje.

The site which may first appear scary has more than 700 gravestones the date back to from the Iron and Viking Age. With this, history is relieved and some realness abound. 

Better still, you can also climax your experience with the city by visiting all its attractions including Aalborghus castle, Kunsten, Utzon Center, and Budolfi Cathedral. 

Working In Aalborg

Aalborg is basically an international city since it has contact with people of various nationalities who come to seek employment opportunities in Denmark or students at Aalborg University.

Being a port city, Aalborg provides various employment opportunities to those seeking personal and professional growth.

The tourist and hospitality industry in the city offers employment on a seasonal or temporary basis which makes it flexible especially for those with a desire to take multiple jobs. In fact, today Aalborg stands out as a thriving tourist destination in Denmark coming after Copenhagen. 

 Some of the things that make Aalborg an attractive city to live and work in is its accessibility to the Scandinavian capital cities of Oslo, Gothenburg, and Copenhagen. In under one hour, you can move across these three destinations by aeroplane from Aalborg airport.

The city also has a lower cost of living compared to Copenhagen yet salaries still remain competitive. A foreigner can also easily start own business by relying on experts in the city to offer necessary advice. 

Where to  get career prospects in Denmark 

Aalborg being an international city, language is not so much a barrier to finding a job. Although you may still need to learn Danish at some point in your career, it should not be completely impossible for you to find a suitable English job in the city. Someone who has a reasonable competency in the Scandinavian languages and German should find it pretty easy to penetrate the job market in Aalborg. 

As an expat in the city of Aalborg, you obviously want to seek out jobs in organizations where you stand a chance of jumpstarting your career prospects in Denmark. Some of the professions which are more open to foreigners in Aalborg include Aalborg university, which is a premier research and educational university; the renewable energy sector including biomass, wind power and solar power. 

The manufacturing industry in Aalborg also has jobs for expats in the fields including oil and gas and marine industries. A process engineer can easily find a job in such fields. Another open field in the city is information communication and technology.

Aalborg being the largest ICT hub in Northern Denmark has jobs in development including front-end, back-end, IOS, and full-stack. Start-ups in the city always look out for professionals with outstanding abilities to do web and graphic designs for them. If you can prove your abilities then the Aalborg  job market will always open itself to you. Opportunities in Aalborg are also available in trading and transport, offshore jobs, and construction. 

Job sites in Aalborg

The fact that there are various job opportunities in Aalborg does not mean that competition is lower. In fact, every day, jobs are out there for grabs and the person who makes a convincing application and C.V gets the job.

This means that you want to be the first person to identify a suitable job and tailor your application to it. To be this first person in line, it is important that you check out job sites where each fresh vacancy is announced.

Some organizations prefer assessing applications on an ongoing basis to prevent a backlog. So once they get a suitable candidate for the job, other applications will be simply disregarded. 

Always be the first to get job alerts from the following job portals:

  • Indeed.
  • Glassdoor.
  • Graduateland.
  • Jooble.

Housing/Accommodation In Aalborg 

Aalborg is an educational, commercial and social city which means that at any one time, rental properties are designed and fitted to offer the best accommodation for all categories of people. As a student, your interest may be in a low cost but fully furnished house with water and proper toilet.

A businessperson will be interested in adequate floor space with access to the public while a social facility requires some silent inner city location here people can chill out after long days of work. All housing facilities in Aalborg are designed to meet all these user levels. 

As an international student in Aalborg, the international accommodation office will direct you to various types of accommodation offers from where you can choose what suits you.

Typical student accommodation can be  a single room in a private house, a hall of residence room or a large flat shared with other students. The prices of the accommodation varies and may not necessarily reflect their type and location. Nonetheless, the accommodations are located in close proximity to the campus or easily accessible inner city areas. 

There are also family homes and old houses which can be bought cheaply and then renovated at the buyer’s cost. 

Check out available accommodation offers from the following sites. It is important to note that there is no guarantee to find accommodation immediately. Typically, you will register your details and wait for the next available offers to be sent your way. Meanwhile, you have to get an alternative place to stay; either at a friend’s or relative. Alternatively, you can make prior arrangements for accommodation so that by the time you arrive in Aalborg, you already have secured an accommodation. 

Housing Websites in Aalborg

https://www.boligportal.dk/

https://boligsurf.dk/

www.findbolig.nu 

www.boligsurf.dk 

boligdeal.dk 

www.boliga.dk 

As a student in Aalborg, you can expect to get a good accommodation at the student hall of residence for between 240 Euros and 460 Euros per month. 

For privately rented apartments, where you have your own shower and other facilities are for yourself alone, the estimated price is Euro 270-600  per month.

A privately rented flat with a  floor space of between 35-60m2 will cost Euro 470-940 per month.

Although there are a few cases of scamming in Denmark, it is important that you watch out not to be duped with a housing deal that turns out fake. Always deal with verified housing companies and use the authentic housing portals. It is good to be careful if the deal seems too good to be true. 

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Author: Ludvig
Ludvig is the owner and driving force behind Scandinavia.life. A native Norwegian with ties to Denmark, Sweden and Finland, he is the perfect guy to guide you through the delights of Scandinavia.