Comments:

1. 

    

   BM:

   Don’t get an English speaking job in Sweden, unless failing to integrate is one of your goals.

2. 

    

   Jimzip:

   That’s not particularly true. It’s all about the attitude.

   It can be a good idea to get an English speaking job to begin with if you are a beginner, say in a cafe, and learn while there as it’s an environment where you can speak English if you must, but have the option of speaking Swedish while in the environment. You’ll be working (hopefully) with locals who can help you and can gradually build your knowledge.

   The attitude needs to be that of progression and open to learning though, so that you continually ask how this or that is said and done. But for people who have a knowledge of the language, no, an English speaking job is probably not for them.

   Jimzip 😀

   • 

      

     Jagdeep kaur:

     @Jimzip I am a student at halmstad university. I am looking for a part time job. I can speak English only. Please reply me. I am waiting for your reply. Thanks

3. 

    

   Edina:

   My aim is integration, but it takes time to learn a language. And you can learn a langugae while you are working somewhere, at a workplace where you know the communicational language, that is English.
   I think.
   (By the way you won’t get any closer to integration to society at any language course, anyway)

4. 

    

   BM:

   @Edina:

   The best way to learn a language is to let go of English. English is a crutch. You need to practice Swedish all day, everyday. By deliberately choosing an English-speaking position, you’re missing out on the best opportunity to really accelerate your Swedish.

   If you take an English-speaking job, you’re not going to get to use your Swedish. If you take a Swedish-language job, you can still fall back on English if you don’t know exactly what word it is you’re looking for, but your primary language will still be Swedish.

   If you’re thinking of moving to Sweden, learning Swedish should start before you arrive, not after.

   “By the way you won’t get any closer to integration to society at any language course, anyway”

   True, but I don’t advocate taking a language course. You can learn a lot more through real immersion (having Swedish in your ears 18hr/day, whether music, radio, television, or interacting with people) and self-study than you can in a class. Classes are slow. Far too slow.

5. 

    

   Emöke:

   Well…after working a year in Sweden I have my own opinion. My case was quite special, as

   — I found a job from Hungary…by a coincidence: my previous company (a French one) bought a Swedish one, so practically I was offered a job at the same (but in reality: different) company, in Sweden.
   — I was only employed because I had experience in some company-specific areas – and not because I could speak English and Swedish (I could not speak Swedish that time)
   — The official company language is English, however all my colleagues here in Sweden were Swedes, so they _always_ talked Swedish…some of my colleagues even talked Swedish on a meeting, when I asked them to talk English! Plus we had a Danish project manager…it was really tough, I didn’t understand a word when he talked. (So I asked him to talk English…but I still got some Danish mails…which is o.k., reading is always better.)
   — I already studied Swedish in Hungary, so I was not a beginner here, but it took a while to understand my colleagues.
   — I had the biggest problem to understood the “small talks”, like speaking about other topics during the coffee break, lunch, etc., however I could understand the job related meetings and talks very well.

   However, I applied for a lot of jobs _before_ getting the above one, so I have quite a few experiences. Sorry, if I seem pessimistic – in reality I am not at all -, but I can see the following typical patterns here in Sweden:

   a) If you speak English (but no Swedish), it does not help you to get a job – any job! -, because _every Swedes_ speak English. And a native Swedish, too, so you are considered as handicapped, not desired.

   b) Seeing the English language job ads in the newspapers/on the websites you have the illusion that for these jobs you only need English. The truth is that for the 99% of the jobs _native or very good Swedish_ is required. Why is it not mentioned and why is the ad in English? Well, they just take it for granted and don’t even think that anybody else would apply. However they won’t mention this little fact: you just get a very polite letter/mail saying that “somebody else was chosen, because he/she had related experience, blablabla”.

   c) Even if there is a job, where only English is needed (however this is a really rare case!!), you get a a lot of competitors: all the foreign job seekers who don’t talk Swedish. You all are fight to get this one job…plus there are some Swedes, too. So it doesn’t help you, either and most probably a Swede will get the job…

   d) Let’s imagine, that you get the job, any job…even if you have basic Swedish skills, you will use the English, as you are not able to speak at this level, at least not fluently (and it takes ages to say the easiest sentence, I know – been there, done that). So basically you don’t learn anything during the job PLUS you will cause extra problem as you miss a lot of Swedish info and need extra translations PLUS you will feel very frustrated because you don’t have any progress in the Swedish language as you only use English.

   I agree with BM: you need to use Swedish, but at this level it is simply impossible for you.

   And language courses can be slow, but they are necessary, at least in the beginning. But you also need to read every newspapers, watch the tv all day long, read & learn song lyrics, etc. It helps sooooo much, more that the language course.

6. 

    

   Emöke:

   And one more thing: If you have received a job in Sweden, tell us your story!

   If you could get an English-spoken job without (advanced) Swedish skills that might give a hope to others…

   (And makes me less sceptic.)

7. 

    

   Ashley:

   I think there is some really great information here!

   As an American looking for a job in Sweden I am always open to some words of wisdom and advice.

   I’ve been looking for a job in Sweden for about a year now, and these are a few things I have found:

   – The Local is a great place to look for jobs in Sweden but to also stay up to date on current issues.

   – www. jobsinstockholm.com is a website dedicated to English speaking professionals who are looking for jobs in other countries. The best feature about this website is that you can sign up for email updates when new jobs matching your criteria come in.

   – Also i was able to search and find an agency specifically tailored to my professional field, which would be ‘fashion’, http://www.modeverket.nu. Not only do they have job postings but you can contact them with any questions regarding the industry. They were also able to direct me to another fashion industry job site where I could look for jobs.

   – Discovering the Google “translate web page” feature has made my life so much eaiser….it will translate any webpage into whatever language you desire!

   -Sign up on websites like Academic Work and Manpower.

   So one year later and after countless attempts, no I still haven’t been able to find a job in Sweden. However, the 2 phone interviews I have done were major milestones! I have taken 2 language courses to increase my chances. Not to mention, I even moved to Sweden for about 4 months, with still no luck.

   I have found that even if the corporate language of a company is English, they do want you to be able to speak Swedish too, or least conversational Swedish…which is something im still shy about.

   I have contimplated applying for a job that I am over qualified for, ie. getting a job at a cafe, but have never followed through for the fear of not being able to understand what would be going on around me. Because, even after 2 Swedish classes I still consider myself very much a begginer.

   I have even modified my resume to include more information on my schooling, language skills, and past work experience.

   I have been trying very hard and I apply for at least 5 jobs in Sweden each and everyweek. Unfortunatley, I seem to recieve the generic/polite “we have choosen to move on with other candidates” email more than anything else.

   It can be VERY frustrating but don’t give up! I keep sending my resume/CV out no matter what becuase eventually someone has to take a chance and say yes!

   Until then I welcome all ideas and advice anyone has to share.

8. 

    

   Jennie:

   @Emöke and Ashley: Thank you ever so much for sharing your experiences. Would you mind if I made o blog post out of them to follow up what I wrote yesterday? Your real life experience is much more valuable than my thoughts and advice.

   @BM: I can really see what you mean, it is tough without the Swedish and yes, you do get it by living, reading, listening, experience. But I also think Swedes fail to help out here sometimes. I have many English speakning friends that really really try to speak Swedish, but since all Swedes speak English – and love to do it!! – they reply in English. I have seen this happen so many times.
   Do you have the same experience?

9. 

    

   scott:

   I really don’t get it–

   I see it written SO many times: “….and of course all Swedes speak English, so it’s hard to learn to speak Swedish…..”

   Makes me wonder– have these people actually BEEN to Sweden? What kind of people are they associating with? If you surround yourself with only those English-speaking Swedes, then maybe that is part of your problem.

   I guess that’s fine for people who prefer to get along by relying on other peoples’ poor English to communicate, instead of actually using the locals’ own language. And yes, most of them under 50 learned some rudimentary English in school. But c’mon– if you are even half-trying, then your Swedish will be better than their English in a year, at most.

   And if people reply to you in English when you are trying to speak Swedish, then it is up to you to let them know that you do not appreciate that kind of condescending behavior.

   My advice would be to find more opportunites to put yourself in situations where English won’t do you any good. For example, talk to elderly people who never studied English…working-class people who didn’t learn it in school…non-Swedish immigrants who never had any reason to learn English. I was in that kind of environment the whole time I lived in Sweden, and that’s why I learned Swedish so quickly.

10. 

     

    Edina:

    I totally agree with Emoke, pessimisitic or not, she summed up pretty well the situation.
    Right now it feels like impossible to get a job without speaking Swedish; BUT IT TAKES TIME to learn a language. That’s why I think getting (if possible at all…) an Enlish speaking job can help you out at the beginning. You will get use to the Swedish way of employment with all the habits in company culture (I already love Fika 🙂 ) and just like Emoke said there might be a chance to practice Swedish at you English speaking workplace.
    But at least you do something other than enroll to slow language courses.
    So just like Emoke, I prettyt much welcome success stories about finding an English speaking job or a really fast and fun language course…

11. 

     

    Ashley:

    While agree that the BEST way to learn Swedish is to actually imerse yourself in the culture and language, it can be hard when you are doing it from a distance.

    I have been to Sweden for a total of 8 months over the past 2 years, trying to do just that…learn the language and culture. To tell the truth, I wish i could have stayed longer and would have if the economy had been better. Yes, I did learn a lot more while being there and using it on a daily basis!

    However, even though I have taken 2 Swedish courses (1 in the US and 1 in Sweden) I have also been practicing my Swedish with computer based programs such as Rosetta Stone, and the program I found on this website Byki. Not to mention watching Swedish movies and listening to Swedish music does help too! I would definitly recommend all the above to those are REALLY truley want to learn or imporve thier Swedish…but it can be a slow process.

    @Jennie – I have found that even when im trying to use my Swedish that some Swedes do like to respond in English to me. I dont think they do it intentionally but maybe they see it as doing me a favor by trying to make things easier on me. Most of the time I dont object when this happens, because lets face it…sometimes it feels good to be back in your comfort zone. The part that I have a hard time with is the speed in which they speak Swedish, but I guess when trying to learn that could be said for any language.

12. 

     

    BM:

    @Jennie

    I agree that many Swedes will simply switch to English if you have an accent, or show some hesitancy in your Swedish. The solution? Drop your accent (really easy to do, just listen to Swedish talk-radio or Swedish music 16hr/day), pretend you don’t speak or understand English, or make it damn clear that you’re in Sweden, and you’re going to speak in Swedish whether they like it or not. Of course, eventually you get to the stage where your Swedish is better than their English, and the novelty of using English wears off.

13. 

     

    kavitha subbaiah:

    i am looking out for a job.can you please help me to get one job in landskrona.

14. 

     

    Nana:

    I found that it’s really really difficult to get a job in sweden without swedish knowledge! I have been living here like 8 months (but just began a swedish course around 2 months). I’m here for my Master’s study, and I see that I’ll have time during summer. So I started learning swedish seriously and looking for jobs or summer jobs or internship… BUT it’s damn hard – I feel only 1% chance to get a English job here. You know learning a language takes time (my Master’s program is an international program, of course, very very very few swedish I could find in class!) I began apply for jobs around 1 month ago and found that 99.99% says “fluent in swedish” or ” for swedish speakers only” – even in international companies!

    For companies, they need us to be fluent in swedish – To be fluent in swedish, we need to be in the swedish work environment or taking time to learn from classes, listening to music, watching T.V., being among swedish friends (which I had only 1-2 swedes in my previous courses – not now) …

    So, just wanna ask – anyone got a good solution for this!? how to get a job in this summer??

    P.S. sometimes im frustrated why dont i go to english-speaking country! anyways, i already chose and indeed i do like this country – i like learning swedish language, happy when i go outside and understand more when heard ppl talking

15. 

     

    Xavier:

    I have question: has anybody tried http://www.cleanmyenglish.com/ before? Somebody told me about it and I would like to try but I want to know first is it reliable.

16. 

     

    Truth:

    The people here saying that trying to find a English speaking job is bad are BLIND to the real world. What a bunch of hogwash!!!!

    I would love to see them dropped off in Japan with no reading writing and speaking skills get a job, understand their work and speak to each customer immeadiately at start. In the real world this will never ever work. It’s like giving a person a knife and telling them to to brain surgery and they can learn as they cut away. knowledge is not assumed it is learned. Granted ability comes and improves with pratice and the more pratice the better but to just put a english speaking person with an elderly person to care for as someone suggested here is one of the most horrid ideas I have ever heard. Hello please take good care of this person even though you have no idea what they are saying if they need something (do you really think an tired absentminded elderly person who needs care should have to teach and care for their care givers lack of Swedish knowledge?) or what the instructions are saying. For example what medications they have are, because that is worth the risk of pratice right?

    Come on and get real. Pratice at home is great. After a good foundation of basic Swedish is established practice in the work place is great. But to put a person in a 8 to 10 hour job and expect them to get along training and all that comes along with their job title on guessing what they have to do because they have NO clue what people are telling them to do is CRAZY and bullpukey! Really I would love to watch one of you try it.

    So lame!

17. 

     

    SJ:

    My boyfriend and I moved to Sweden a few years ago. He transferred within his company (IKEA) from London to Sweden and he had never studied/spoken Swedish at all. His company is an English speaking one and he has had Swedish lessons but he is not fluent even now and it is not a problem for him at all. I have finished my degree at business school here. All the lessons and books were in English. I have had Swedish lessons here and i am more fluent than my boyfriend as I met Swedish friends at school and use it most days speaking to them. I am better speaking Swedish than writing it but it has never been a problem.
    I would recommend trying to learn some Swedish if you move here even if you have an English speaking job as it will make day to day life easier, shopping, booking restaurants/taxis, understanding the announcements on trains!
    Also, where we live most Swedes speak understand English but they will not respond to you in English, I’m still not sure if this is a lack of confidence in speaking English or just a bit rude.

18. 

     

    gera:

    So just to sum up: I should take a Swedish speaking job to learn Swedish and integrate, but can anyone tell HOW on Earth, if I speak very little Swedish and I could only work in English? Who would ever hire me with weak Swedish just to wait till I learn? Learning a language to a level where I can easily work takes lots of time! Please dont tell me, that all the refugees and immigrants wait a year at least just to learn a language and they dont work. Someone hired them as well at the beginning without fluent Swedish.

19. 

     

    mayura wijerathne:

    I am srilankan gent and 2 years visa holder i am looking for summer job in sweden,Umea area in garden/restaurant or any i can speak english
    kosgasa@yahoo.com

20. 

     

    Andrea:

    Hej! I would love to find a job in Sweden and have been sending my CV to endless places, but they all want me to be fluent in Swedish. Well, it is my goal to live there and speak Swedish, but I also need help. I understand getting an English job is not the long-term solution. We are planing on moving to Göteborg end of Jan 2012, I have been going to Swedish classes, but if I hear people speak Swedish, it’s like I know nothing. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

21. 

     

    loyd:

    Hello everyone! one thing I can only say that! its easy for you to say that its easy to find a work here in Sweden but thats not the TRUTH indeed! Even for “PRAKTIK PLATS” is not that easy to find because they require to speak even better of their language, so where should we begin those immigrants that could hardly find a job here! If I have the chance to move in those english speaking countries I definitely grab it! more easy and more less consuming time in finding a job.

22. 

     

    mayura wijerathne:

    I am looking for summer job in sweden ( garden ) job vacancy
    mauram91@yahoo.se

23. 

     

    Ramesh:

    This blog gave very good knowledge and especially some comments are more interesting to find jobs in Sweden.

    I am also searching English speaking jobs. Basically I am a web developer. But I don’t know Swedish.

    I got temporary web developer job in Malmö from http://www.swedenjobs.blogspot.com, It’s more about Englis speaking jobs. May be it will useful.

24. 

     

    Marian:

    i would like to move to sweden soon.
    i need find somebody to help me to find a job in construction, becouse i work in usa 20 years on construction with wood houses
    or something simillar like that

25. 

     

    Mrs. Tips:

    So basically the only tip that I have gotten from all this forum messages is: learn swedish or move to an English-speaking country.
    The title to this article is: “How to find an English speaking job in Sweden” not “How you cannot find an English speaking job in Sweden.”

    I understand that you want to be realistic about the situation but if people ask for tips don’t give them scaremongering. If we are looking for tips is because we do know that the situation isn’t easy, I don’t need to be reminded of that.
    I have been living in Sweden for one year now and:
    1. No, I haven’t found a job yet.
    2. No, I haven’t learned proper Swedish yet because it takes time and because I was studying at the same time.

    The conditions for having your right of residence are:
    1. Having a job
    2. Studying
    3. Prove that you can support yourself economically.

    Obviously, most people can’t support themselves economically for ever, so in order not to be kicked out of the country, you have to study = not time to learn swedish. I watch TV, I listen to the radio, I read swedish books + I live with a swede. I understand a 50% of the conversations and can reply more or less correctly but of course, that’s not enough to get a job.

    My point is: give tips that are useful for the present situation. Saying “you should have learnt Swedish before” isn’t gonna help us now.

    I’m not in Sweden because I want to but because I need to. The job situation in my country is not very good (+50% of young people are unemployed and I’m “overqualified” to get a job because they don’t want to pay a reasonable salary according to my formation.) The thing is, we are already having a hard time here so please don’t make it even more depressing with your pessimistic comments.

    Thank you.

26. 

     

    Vanessa:

    First, some background information on myself.

    1. 2009 lived in Sweden 7 months

    2. 2010 – present 2 years and soon 3 months

    3. I’ve been speaking only Swedish with my step daughter since she was 4. (she is soon 7) And no I am not fluent or yet considered proficient in Swedish.

    4. I’ve been job searching for the entire 2 years and 3 moths I’ve been here and still no job.

    5. I’m currently taking Svenska som andra språk grund, and I take a math course in Swedish. I cheat and translate to English 60% of the time in the online math course.

    6. Married to a Swedish citizen who REFUSES to speak Swedish with me. He says he doesn’t have the patience.

    7. Half the time I speak Swedish people will reply in English or better yet they go get someone who does speak English without even trying to first speak to me in Swedish.

    So, I have basically the same problems as everyone else. However, I have seen people get jobs around me. A lot of the immigrants get Summer jobs working in the elderly care centers. I have a friend teaching Somalian students math and science. I know another woman who got an accounting job for her husband’s company and she has no Swedish. My husbands co-worker is married to an American and he somehow found a job with a travel agency. So, it can be done.

    I did contact the Engelska Skola (English speaking School) they have in almost every town in Sweden. They signed me up as a substitute teacher. I worked for them one day, and they never called me again. I called to ask them if there was a problem or if I did anything wrong. They claim everything was fine, but they have more people they try to use before they use the newer people. I last worked for them September 2011. I think there was more to the story than they were leading on. That is something else you have to be careful of in Sweden, is how you interact with the other Swedish people. If they have one bad thing to say about you chances are you will never work for that company again. Even if its completely invalid to your job or something very insignificant.

    I agree with what everyone is saying here, if you need Swedish for the job and you do not speak it, you won’t get the job. I speak and understand enough Swedish to only communicate in that language without English, but I still cannot get a job. I’m going to do some Swedish bashing, so please if you are a native Sweden understand this doesn’t apply to everyone, but its been my experience. Swedish people will hire a Sweden before they will an immigrant. It doesn’t matter how much Swedish you know, you will always be considered after a Swede. This is illegal here, but it happens all the time. My husband has been her for 26 years and he still doesn’t get paid the same as Swedish citizens who have the same job and in some cases no exams. My husband has 2 exams that means 2 degrees. Saying Swedish people are reserved is a nice way of saying they are stuck up. That is my opinion. Even if you manage to make Swedish friends their is still always this “Swedish clique” you will never be a part of. I thought it was bad in high school to get into certain groups, but I hadn’t seen nothing until I came to Sweden. Most of the other immigrants friend other immigrants from the same country. I’ve only met 4 Americans in my 2+ years in Sweden. One was online, 1 is my teacher, 1 was an exchange student, and the other lived in Stockholm (3 hours away from me). Basically I have one friend, some school acquaintances, and a couple of online friends who live here in Sweden (2 of which are immigrants). I’ve tried to make other friends and they just don’t let me in. Its all surface communication in class or on facebook.

    Now with all that said, I do have TWO jobs. I help a friend back home create new business for her small business. The other job I stumbled across one day looking for other Americans in Sweden. Its a company in Denmark that does mystery shopping all over the world. I’ve been working for them for a year. Its not steady work, and its very minimal work. However, 500-1000: a month is better than 0: a month. They do require people to speak the native tongue to do shopping jobs, so I speak Swedish as much as I can. Its good training, but if I do not know the words I can always go into English. So, you can always say you speak good Swedish, and take the jobs. There are certain jobs I cannot do, because they record the conversations and they found my Swedish was not good enough, but they allowed me to keep doing other jobs. I’m going to post a link for people to use. It is a long application, but its totally legitimate. Here is the link …

    http://evaluator.helionresearch.com/r/s161253

    That is my personal referral link and I do get a bonus for people who sign up, just as you can too. Now here is my problem with people who complain about not being able to find work in Sweden. This is probably the 20th time I’ve posted this link to people who say they want to work in Sweden and NO ONE has yet to sign up. My cousin signed up in the USA, but no one in Sweden. So, although some say its hard to find work living in Sweden, but I know first hand work is there you just have to find it, create it, or be willing to take a chance.

    Also contact the Egelska Skola in your area and ask to be a substitute teacher. You might have better luck than me. There is always arbetsformedlingen they did find me a job once, but I was unable to interview since the bus line didn’t go by there during the work hours they needed. I guess that is why they had a hard time filling that position.

    Overall, I do like Sweden, and at times I love it. I have met some amazing people here, and even though we are not friends my life is a bit better just knowing people like them exist. I’m here only for my husband, and if I was given a choice we’d move back to the USA. I am highly employable there and the one week I contemplated moving back I was already offered one job, and had 2 other companies contacting me about interviews. That was in less than 3 days, so its really difficult for me to be in this situation knowing how employable I am. The only problem is no one in Sweden will give me a chance.

    At the moment I’m working toward getting a university degree once I can pass my national exams in Swedish. Once I have a piece of paper in Swedish saying I’m an academic of some sorts I bet I get a job. That’s one thing about Sweden they love academics, I find that to be very conceited as well. Considering I know people with no degrees in the USA who could work many of these “academics” under the table. Ok enough of that, I really do love Sweden. But I really do miss my country.

27. 

     

    Brandon Krulish:

    Nice one! Thanks a lot!

28. 

     

    Roger Elias:

    If your aspired to build up good career let me acknowledge you that Sweden will cause you deep feeling of frustration since it is ting country with shrinking labour market and competition is so fierce i do suggest you to think about Canada or Australia it could be much easier to get integrated with the labour market and go into work force at the other side the racial discrimination is creeping rapidly after the influx of refugee immigration from the middle east over the last 2 decades so listen to my piece of advice and keep away from Sweden.

29. 

     

    Nicki:

    Informativer Artikel den du hier verfasst hast. Da ich mich auch mit Fotografie beschaeftige wuerde ich mich freuen, wenn du bei mir auch mal stoebern wuerdest und mir vielleicht auch einen netten Kommentar hinterlaesst 🙂

30. 

     

    Kiri:

    Hi,
    I have found an English-speaking job in Sweden for a year now. It is in the field of IT and through the AIESEC organization. It started as one-year-internship and now I am permanently hired.

    Good luck to you all,
    Kiri

31. 

     

    Hair Extensions:

    Has US economy bottomed out? Census suggests yes

32. 

     

    Darren:

    Sounds like its tough to get a job full stop. It seems like there are no companies with a requirement for English speakers exclusively. Not many good luck stories on this blog. Sweden is for Swedes is the saying.

33. 

     

    Johanna G:

    Yes getting English speaking job in Sweden is very hard. because you have to compete with the local Sweds (Who speaks fluently English more than some other foreigners)

    But there are possibility to get jobs in IT sector, Hotel industry.

34. 

     

    leila:

    hi. I am living in iran.but “jag borde i malmo 18 monader!!(i 2005)” in sweden people talk english as well as swedish! I tried to learn swedish and I found ir so cool!I think live in seweden is so easy even your language is arabic or persian!!! swdesh pe0ple are so kind!!!

35. 

     

    leila:

    Dear Vanessa
    Hi
    I read your post. you are great! have you ever tried International schools in Sweden? they teach children up 4 years old, their language is English and their students are from round the world who their parents study in sweden!

36. 

     

    Anton:

    Howdy! This blog post could not be written any better!
    Going through this post reminds me of my previous
    roommate! He constantly kept preaching about this.
    I will send this article to him. Fairly certain he will
    have a great read. I appreciate you for sharing!

    My blog: injuries (Anton)

37. 

     

    Erik L. Smith:

    Okay, I will give you the truth as I have experienced it regarding Swedish fluency and integration for English speakers. I arrived in Sweden from the U.S. without knowing a word of Swedish. After 15 months in Sweden, I was pretty fluent in Swedish–though movies are still a little difficult to understand sometimes. And I could hold an English-speaking job in Sweden without losing the Swedish.

    That fluency could not have happened without initial classes in Swedish when I arrived, living among people who spoke Swedish almost all of the time, going to Swedish university, and having Swedish relatives to visit on holidays. I fail to see how an English speaker can learn Swedish quickly in any other way than that type of immersion–language classes AND everyday conversing.

    Therefore, I predict, that if you take an English-speaking job before knowing much Swedish, you will not integrate. And you will not learn the language in any decent amount of time. While in Sweden, I saw several English speakers n English-speaking jobs and NONE of them learned Swedish to any decent extent. The Swedes at the job can always speak English with you and they will not take the time to wait for you to learn Swedish when communicating at the job. Only when your Swedish becomes better than the typical Swede’s English can you truly integrate. I found that out for myself. If you do take an English-speaking job in Sweden, enroll immediately in night Swedish-language classes when you get there.

38. 

     

    Michelle:

    Sorry, but your assertions are incorrect (especially those in the comments section). It is impossible to get a “Swedish speaking” job in Sweden until you can prove that you are flytande. Arbetsformedlingen REFUSED to even enter me into their jobs system until I could prove to them that I was fluent in Swedish. Dell, an American company with a hub in Sweden, refused to hire me because I was not a “Nordic native”, because the job required all work and documents to be done in English. So there is always some piss poor excuse for Swedes to refuse to help find jobs, or to hire the non-Swedish. Sweden has NO official language. Just last year in 2013, Sweden took in 47,000 refugees from around the world, none of whom speak Swedish, but much of whom would speak English. How are ANY immigrants or refugees going to be able to feed themselves because of rampant Swedish bigotry refuses to give them jobs since they are inte flytande? It it statistically proven that it takes at least 2 solid years to become at least moderately fluent in any new language. So is it ok with Swedes for the new incoming people to Sweden just starve or live in the streets until they are fluent? Many of these people don’t have access, or know how to get access to take the free “Swedish for Invaders” language course, or any other reasonable way to immerse themselves in LEARNING Swedish, so how are they to integrate through language? Your height of snobbery is absolutely ridiculous. Get over yourselves.

39. 

     

    Reda:

    I’m new in sweden, and i’ve been looking for english job since my first week …. Without a chance i’ll start SFI the next week to learn the language, i work with restaurants and i talked arabic french and english, please can u help me with some advices !!!

40. 

     

    Josefin:

    Hello. And welcome to my blog zacknorell.blogspot.se

    Take care and have a nice day

41. 

     

    Alex:

    There are several consultancies available in Sweden.

    First of all, You should be master in your field otherwise you can’t get job here in Sweden.

42. 

     

    Ozgur:

    Blog made an affect more like a slap in the face on me…
    🙁 I was pessimistic before I read the blog and now i feel totally frustrated.

43. 

     

    amun:

    I have facing too many problems here in Sweden the one is I have poor experience in speaking English and not at all in Swedish it is so hard to me to lead my life here because its hard to find a job.In addition i am a free mover student in a higher institution but i cant combined my effort with my classmates hard to understand their accent and discussion matters. I am very frustrated because of this and I am economically very weak to improve my language skill in some language schools its very expensive. Can any body help me by advice or any else to take me out from this confusion please lend a hand !

44. 

     

    Anette:

    I have experienced different standards of treatment here in Sweden – EU folks are not as important as those outsied of EU. EU folks are given less help with regards to admin and job search. My classmates from SFI get help on validation of their diplomas, get financial help, get a person who will actively help them with work placement and internship – this is part of integration (refugees). What about the rest? I guess we should all go back to our countries. Im not a big fan of the system here and double standards. Looking forward to my graduation. Gonna leave as frustration is too tiring.

45. 

     

    Fernando:

    oh geez, I got my nationality through my dad but I can’t speak Swedish at all!

    I guess I’ll have to!
    Spanish, English and now Swedish , let’s go…

46. 

     

    Melissa:

    I do not work in Sweden yet, but I do plan to eventually. I’ve been trying to learn Swedish on my own with Duolingo and Rosetta Stone, but it is slow going. Luckily for me my boyfriend and his mother are fluent Swedish speakers and Swedish citizens. While I rarely speak any Swedish to them, it has gotten better. Practice practice practice.

    When I lived in Germany a few years ago I spoke no german and the host family spoke very little English. It was rough in the beginning but eventually I was able to speak german at maybe a 10 year old’s level. Not perfect, but if I was lost, needed help, or just wanted to have a basic “get to know you” conversation I could do so easily.

    It takes time, but you need to immurse yourself as deeply as you can. No country is going to hire you if you don’t speak their official (or majority) language. Maybe you’ll be lucky and find a job cleaning, or as a dishwasher, or an au pair, but chances are it will be very difficult to find a well paying job or a job you’d enjoy.

    Sorry to be a Debbie downer, but chances are you’re not going to get paid $1,000,000 a year teaching English in Stockholm and living in a huge apartment. Look for jobs in other towns (all of Sweden is beautiful, don’t limit yourself to cities), if you’re comfortable doing so apply for jobs that are low skill and don’t require talking to people, if you’re young look into being an au pair.

    Swedes for the most part are all taught English at some point in school so the need for English tutors isn’t high. Plus they’d much rather hire a tutor that can explain the rules of the English language in Swedish!

    And sorry, but no one is going to hire a low skill worker and pay to move them to Sweden or even wait for you to get your visas and then move. If you worked for a large company in the US or UK already, and your company wanted to move you to a location in Sweden then maybe they’ll help pay for it. But again, you’d already have amazing references and since you’re already employed you have some money to afford moving.

    Don’t get discouraged, but be practical. If you plan on moving to Sweden, start learning the language now! If you don’t know any swedes, meet some online that are willing to help you practice Swedish. And make sure you have a resume/cv that’s worth looking at. If your resume isn’t impressive in your own country it’s going to be even less impressive in Sweden.

    Find a way to already be in Sweden. Most, if not all, companies won’t want to wait for you to get your act together to move there. And again, visas take time and a lot of paperwork.

47. 

     

    Audrey:

    I’ve moved to Sweden when I was 12, I didn’t know I’d be living here today being a 24 year old.

    I’ve had learning diffcultys ever since the US.
    So my reading and writing even in English are pretty sub-par. I am Okay-ish I’d like to think in Swedish but it’s not pretty and I can not write much.
    Getting a job feels a little hopeless.

    So far I’ve come to learn its all about just not giving up, also who you know that can help you.

48. 

     

    Tony Abbott eats raw onions whole:

    Hello,

    Great blog post, I really liked those Swedish phrases, they will hopefully come in handy (especially salary negotiations). Hope you are still reading these 😉

    I stumbled upon this blog in the hopes of understanding what is involved for an English speaker to get work in Sweden. As for what can be seen from the comments it looks tricky, very tricky, but not impossible… (Gotta stay optimistic!). This is my fourth time to Sweden with a total of three months in time spent in the country prior. However, this is the first time looking for employment.

    I arrived from Aus a week ago with my partner who is a Swedish citizen. I have got 6 months until I start my one year study exchange. I honestly thought (before reading the comments) that Swedes love Aussies (they do btw), work here, no dramas. But as I haven’t applied for work yet we shall see how that plan goes… (I predict not well).

    Duolingo puts me down as 87% fluent in Swedish (whatever that means). I can also recommend Memorise for free phone based daily language trainers. However this is just to get you to a basic level of Swedish. Try keeping up with a group of 7 swedes racing through a heated debate over frozen water polo (ice hockey)… ME PERSONALLY I find Swedes talk super fast, very difficult to keep up with at times. This is not a view I have ever discussed with an English speaker, only my partner. Whereby my partner has commented countless times that English is a super fucking slow language to speak (she is a translator).

    So at this point I will stop prattling on and give an update sometime in the future to how everything goes. At that point I will try to give some better advise. In the mean time I am going to test some shit out and see if that will work.

    Tips to tryout:

    IF YOU ARE DESPERATE SETTLE FOR ANYTHING – nuff said, I have worked unskilled labour, cleaner, kitchen hand , barman, hotel staff, night fill, security,

    TRIAL SHIFT – I have worked many jobs in my youth and none of which where ever scored with a cv / resume / online application alone. You gotta go in present yourself and give them a day when you will be on shift, (who knows they may be short of staff that week and here you are all dressed up, ready to go).

    NETWORKING – having friends in high and LOW places is a tried and tested method. I am volunteering for a refugee service in Sweden starting next week (per capita Sweden accepts the most refugees). This gives me a Swedish contact that can vouch for my employability and immerse myself into Swedish culture perfect place to practices your Swedish amongst those who are highly understanding of you can’t speak Swedish quite yet. Volunteering also means my time otherwise spent stressing about sending 1,000 resumes to every man and his dog, will be spent helping those who are the most vulnerable in society, working with progressive Swedish people, and ultimately not wasting my time with um’ing and arh’ing about what isn’t working.

    Now before, critiquing my approach ‘of having no fucking clue of the struggles / too much optimism / seeing myself in the global picture in contrast to “Boo-Who, Sweden doesn’t cater for me”

    Instead, share what you’ve done other than emailed a resume for the millionth time.

    Has anyone put a personal add on a Swedish Craigslist, gumtree, trading post or Swedish equivalent?

    Until the next post

49. 

     

    NewtoSweden:

    Hi everyone, I came across this post today and this was exactly my experience in last one and a half year ! I had been working for one of the Big four accounting firms in India for US taxes here when I contacted my previous employer and the other Accounting firms they gave the same reason of being a non native. Also one of the reputed accounting firms had 4 rounds of interviews with me and in the end the head for the Göteborg region said I did not know enough Swedish and they dont have the time to train me hence they hired someone from the local area. My question is did they not know this when they took my first interview? I even spoke to them in swedish as much as I can. I was told this after 5 rounds of interview and the funny part is it was a job which required english as it was international taxes. I have faced this in many interviews in the last one year.
    People in general are very nice and polite but there is also growing resistance towards people from outside. I had to face this once and one of my Swedish friend had actually responded to this as he felt bad. he has even written an article about it in LinkedIn.
    But when it comes to job somehow people do not open up to forieners and prefer Swedes.
    Sometimes I feel frustrated and feel I should move back to my country as I still get job offers from there. I moved here because my husbad is working here and has a good job. I think I will give it one more year and then if not we will move back. I don want to end up with no job in my country too.
    I some time feel stupid to have left my job and moving, I guess love make u stupid 😀 ;P