(edit title) Job Haunting In Sweden Ideas would be appreciated Options

[Jake.my]

Hi Everyone,

Am Jake and being living in Sweden for 6 months and the past months been rather challenging to say. I have a Bsc in Business Administration and Msc in Human resource management trying to get a decent job in my field but nothing keep coming up. Anyone got any recommendations on how to get any job related to my field, I have been to arbetsformedlingen and was told to keep applying from their site and it will be hard to get a job in my profession as a non native speaker, how true is this.

[Jake.my]

Anyone??

[TheExpatEagle]

Learn Swedish. It's true you need to speak the language. How easy would it be for a person who can't speak English to get a job in your field in the UK or US?

I'd say if you put the graft in you could be able to speak well enough in a year but I would advise you to take any job you can to 1) get in the system. 2) learn workplace ethic and 3) help pick up the language.

Any employer will want you to fit in and no expect the other employees to have to speak English to work with you because it can and will make other workers feel alienated.

Good luck!

[Martin565]

[Essingen55]

Anyone got any recommendations on how to get any job related to my field,

Yes, leave Sweden.
It may sound hard but having been here for 30 years and worked in banking, I would say that in the current environment you just aren't going to get a job in Sweden that relates to your qualifications.

[LM1]

I am not fluent in Swedish yet but managed to find a role in Human Resources. I think it is easier to look for HR roles within tech as often English is the business language, especially in cities. Another option is to look for a role in Admin and then build a network from there to find a more suitable position. I find more HR jobs are posted on Linkedin than on AF.

[TheExpatEagle]

I am not fluent in Swedish yet but managed to find a role in Human Resources. I think it is easier to look for HR roles within tech as often English is the business language, ... (show full quote)

I am not fluent in Swedish yet but managed to find a role in Human Resources. I think it is easier to look for HR roles within tech as often English is the business language, especially in cities. Another option is to look for a role in Admin and then build a network from there to find a more suitable position. I find more HR jobs are posted on Linkedin than on AF. ... (hide full quote)

The problem isn't what the business language is in it's communicating with the people you work with.

A number of years ago I worked for Dell Enterprise support (the business servers) and everything was in English. We logged all the information in English, had English literature and a lot of the customers spoke English.

We had to communicate to each other in the office in Swedish. That was the workplace language because there were people there who couldn't speak so much English (there were other departments and people working there) and they felt alienated.

Even we who had English as a 1st language had to speak Swedish. I don't see why speaking Swedish in Sweden is such a difficult concept for people to understand.

As I said, try moving to the UK and insisting on only speaking French or German and see how long it takes you to get a job.

[Anders]

Not the best areas to work in as a foreigner since both have a lot of "local" elements. But you could try large international companies, Ericsson, H&M and so on. Maybe send spontaneous applications to such companies.

You could aim lower to get your foot inside, my workplace has a few "assistants" that helps with ordering stuff including contractors, helping managers with meetings and room reservations, handling bigger meetings and other administration.

I have the opposite experience as TheExpatEagle, Swedish is spoken when there is Swedish speakers only in a team or a in a meeting, otherwise it is English.

[Alinlulea]

Ghost tours?

[TheExpatEagle]

Not the best areas to work in as a foreigner since both have a lot of "local" elements. But you could try large international companies, Ericsson, H&M and so on. ... (show full quote)

Not the best areas to work in as a foreigner since both have a lot of "local" elements. But you could try large international companies, Ericsson, H&M and so on. Maybe send spontaneous applications to such companies.

You could aim lower to get your foot inside, my workplace has a few "assistants" that helps with ordering stuff including contractors, helping managers with meetings and room reservations, handling bigger meetings and other administration.

I have the opposite experience as TheExpatEagle, Swedish is spoken when there is Swedish speakers only in a team or a in a meeting, otherwise it is English. ... (hide full quote)

I guess it could depend where in the country too. In the south there has been a 'war' on English over the past 11 years with it being actively banned being spoken in schools (apart from English classes) and at companies (apart from lunch time).

This has been documented on Radio Sweden on a number of occasions and it is since 2010 when Swedish was made the official language of Sweden.

Since that time there has been less English news made available. Radio Sweden reduced their daily news podcasts from 30 minutes to 3 minutes, for example.