How to get a job in Scandinavia
How to get a job is a worry for most people planning about moving abroad. In most cases, the actual decision to relocate to another country hinges on the high hopes of a better job and a fat salary among other benefits.
Oftentimes by the time that a person decides to take a leap into a new country, a lot has been considered. At the very least, you expect that it won’t turn out to be another tragic blunder about getting a job. Indeed there is the greatest expectation of landing a well paying job to uplift own life and possible that of the family left behind.
A strong desire to get a job as an expatriate does not necessarily mean that everyone moving into a new country is an economic refugee. Instead, these are people who have decided to venture out there and earn honest living. Anyway, even if they were economic refugees, the baseline is that someone is willing and ready to work.
Job hunting as an expatriate
Whether you are moving abroad as a student, refugee, or job seeker the need to find a job is almost palpable. Be it a student job or full time employment, all you need is a means to earn an honest living. Therefore, it is just good to know job search manoeuvring tactics upfront. Such information always helps you to pull through every stop to land a satisfying job upon arrival at the new country.
Today, so many countries continue to open their borders to and be welcoming to immigrant workers. There is a recognition that immigrants play a key role in developing their host countries which makes a difference for even the locals.
Immigrants are considered to have skills that will be so helpful in making them establish themselves in their new home abroad. The immigrants do not necessarily want to depend on the system but instead readily offer their intellect, knowledge, skills and more to any ready employer out there
Upon arrival in Scandinavia a person who has a sense of self direction and a nudging desire to lead a meaningful life will always feel the urge to work. Working will not only guarantee financial freedom but also make the days interesting and you become livelier every moment you solve a new challenge at the workplace.
Apart from the traditional job hunting. it is also possible to set up own business, get the required approvals from the authorities and start off. It may be more rewarding to operate own business and be in charge. self employment is even easier for people who have skills to work remotely. See here for more information about the freedom of working online in Scandinavia.
It is possible for someone moving to Scandinavia to believe that they will obviously get a job quickly upon arriving. Of course, some lucky people do find jobs that are even better than what they were doing at home as soon as they arrive. But in most cases, it requires mastery of the job search survival tactics.
It is a reality that it may require some skills to be able to get the best out of the many job opportunities available in Scandinavia. Truth be said, so many people still stay long without a job upon arriving in Scandinavia partly because of their errors or poor choices.
To get the most out of the limitless job opportunities in Scandinavia, you should always approach the job market on the correct footing from the word go. How the job search survival tactics work also depend on the expats skills and education background as well as the specific country in the Scandinavia.
Something positive about all the Scandinavian countries is that it is easy to find a job because the unemployment rates are very low, Also, the population within the employable age is low. Therefore, employers are always on the search for that next available human resource that will meet their company needs.
Winning job search tips
Most expatriates in Scandinavia may unfortunately find themselves wanting for not getting their job hunt correctly from the outset. Whether it is because of utter ignorance, talking to the wrong people or wilful disregard of the much information available information online, things may sometimes go wrong. But why should you be at a loss with anything if we can offer it to you here?
As a first, you should not ignore how critical social networks and referrals are in Scandinavia. Most immigrants will always find their first, second or even third job through someone. Just do a random check among the immigrants in the Scandinavia and you will surely understand the power of referral to a job.
People will confess that they met someone who told them one or two things about the job market which they never imagined. Whenever you interact with people who have lived in the region long enough, do not hold back from asking them likely employers and what skills they are looking out for.
Being given a referral by someone who has some form of demonstrated abilities and contact with the would be employer gives you just the necessary head start on a job. I would advise that anyone seeking a job in Scandinavia to make as much contacts as is possible.
Know your potential employer
Having critical information about your possible employers may just work a miracle for any foreign job seeker in Scandinavia. In the region, employers seem to be more specialist and focused on people with specific function abilities, knowledge and information.
For simple and easy-to-master tips on how to increase your chances at getting a job in Scandinavia, just click here. We have tried as much as possible to make every bit of relevant information easily accessible to you. When you go through the short guide, you will never be starting from scratch in your job hunting.
Whatever knowledge and skills you carry from your home country as an expat may need to be pitched differently to convince employers in Scandinavia. You will be surprised that just rewording or reformatting your resume just does the magic for you.
It really works in your favour to be extrovert in seeking jobs in Scandinavia. Being outgoing and easy means that you will always be quick to strike rapport with even strangers, share a word or two and who knows, the person may just give you an hint about available jobs.
Most employers in Scandinavia highly fancy and rely on super informed employees. The employers are a bit hesitant to employ someone who completely lacks knowlege and skills for the job.
Whether you are looking for highly advanced or mid-level professional jobs or less skilled ones, a resume is one critical document that will speak for you. Do not look at a resume as just an account of what you have done but also a truth teller that speaks to the employer in a convincing way.
Most people find themselves making the mistake of just enlisting whatever they have done so that the resume looks unnecessarily long. A long resume does not make you the most favourite candidate for a job. Instead, the longer your resume is, the less chance it is that the employer will easily pick out what makes you stand out.
As a recommendation, only highlight the specific abilities, experience and education which are relevant to the job being applied. A resume you use for applying to one job may not be best to use in its exact form for another one.
You need to master the art of customizing your resume to show exactly your skills that relate to the particular job at hand.
Focusing on the right Jobs
As usual, human instinct and high expectations will always incline people to look for the best types of jobs in Scandinavia. Actually, ambitiousness and desire to attain highest possible achievements have their place. However, being a little patient and giving yourself time to learn how the Scandinavian job market operates is not too much to do for yourself.
Although some people come to Scandinavia with work permits ready at hand, most people do not always have that luxury. It means most expatriates have to literally put in the effort to get a job and scale the ladder through sheer hard work and dedication.
To someone who does not already have a wok permit as at the time of arriving in Scandinavia, yours may be a journey of patience while pushing yourself to the limits. Most people get depressed because the first job offers you will get will extremely not match your expectations or level of education. However, you should not be dismayed or reluctant to take the jobs. All you need at the initial stages is to learn the job market while earning some income.
Openness and flexibility about jobs to take
Those who have successfully made it in the Scandinavia will tell you that they were very open and flexible in their initial phases of job searching. They literally take any next available job even as they angle themselves for better ones. Who knows if in the course of your regular job, someone will identify how exemplary you are and get interested to know more?
You will likely get first jobs in the service industry such as customer service, cleaning assistant, office attendant, receptionist, dishwashing, farmhand, postman, mailman et cetera. People with higher education and demonstrable experience will likely get better first jobs such as nursing, engineering, marketing, business executives ,doctors, researchers and more.
Show up for every job interview
Hopefully, by the time that you decide to make a particular job application, there is a genuine need for it. Of course some applications may be made impulsively but at the end of the day, you are just a newcomer and its worth checking what the possible employers have to offer. Who knows if it may turn out that this next job interview is what you really needed to start on a satisfying career path?
All you need is to always be on the go for interviews after the other. every job interview as an expatriate counts for something. In any case you do not get the job, at least you do not come out without a thing; you get to know what exactly the employers need in their employees. This information will obviously make you more prepared for the next interview.
Role of friends in getting a job
The greatest undoing for most expats is the inferiority complex which makes it difficult to make contacts and friends. Being open to friends just makes it easy for someone to access helpful information and opportunities. Friends are not just people to hand out with on a good day but also important people in your quest to get a job.
It’s even better if you get friends who have been living in the Scandinavia long enough. They may not have so much information about available jobs or how to get one but obviously, their ten cent information will not leave you the same person. They will open your eyes to know that the minimal wages in the job market protects you from exploitation and that a job is as good as it pays your bills without harming you.
