Getting a job as a foreigner....
Having been an ex pat in Norway..TWICE.. I can tell you a thing or two about TRYING to land a job over here... it AIN'T EASY.
Now, this is MY experience..
(.. & the experience of all of my ex pat girlfriends over here.)
There are of course those.. with some wonderful education in a specialized field who will tell you that getting a job over here is EASY.... maybe for THEM is was...
for the rest of us... not so much.
When I arrived the first time.. a bright & bushy tailed 25 year old...
with a double major & a minor.. 3 years work experience.. & 3 languages...
I thought it would be a BREEEZE landing a job. That is what my new husband told me.
Why wouldn't someone want me?
In the U.S. most employers think that if you have a degree.. you can be TAUGHT to do anything... Oh you have a BA in English? sure you can work in HR.. or sales etc.
Not so much here...
In Norway.. MOST people work with their degrees...
not so much flip flopping as in the U.S.
I have my education in Political Science & German with a minor in International Relations.
so as you can imagine.. there wasn't (still isn't)
a huge demand for those qualifications in my area.
For the first few months I lived here (15 years ago).. I scoffed at some of the jobs my husband suggested... PUH-LEASE... I am not going to do THAT..or THAT..or THAT.
Well after a few months of NADA...
some of those jobs were looking PRETTY darn good.
too bad those jobs I THOUGHT I had been too good for.. didn't want me either...
My first go around here the 2 jobs I was offered... were cleaning lady.. &/or newspaper girl.
I ended up driving around with newspapers every morning at 4 am.. just to be able to contribute. - that lasted for a few months until Bjørn & I ended up going back on cruise ships... & then back to the US.
When we decided to move back 6 years ago.. I knew it would not be easy...
I knew that no one was going to want me just because
I had a degree or because I was an American..
I knew I was going to have to work..
sometimes harder than the Norwegians just to get my foot in the door...
Just getting an interview proved almost IMPOSSIBLE...
In the past 6 years I have had 3 jobs... Daycare..Hotel Concierge &
then finally Cosmetic /Perfume Manager... With this last position.. I GOT LUCKY.
I have been getting alot of emails on how to get a job over here.
A lot of patience... hard work.. & an open mind...
A lot of patience... hard work.. & an open mind...
Comments
:-)
First - the language. I live now in Telemark and I am learning to speak Telemark-Norwegian. If I have to move to other region or city in Norway (f.eks. Bergen, Stavanger) - my language will not be even considered.
Second - connections. If we don't have network of friends we have ZERO chances to get anything. We need recomendations and in the beginnig it's very difficult to get any, especially if we have no friends here.
Third - our education. To be honest, in many cases it's higher than Norwegians. And they don't want to hire people with bigger experience than they have.
Fourth - system in Norway. It is so complicated and unfriendly. Or maybe people are unfriendly, because they are fedup of foreigners...
I am sorry, if there is a sound of frustration, but this is my experience and I have no support of Norwegian husband, because I have no one. However even in Your story Tressa is visible that having one is not helping enough ;-).
In the region I live, to get a job (even as a cleaning lady) requires connections and reccomendations or norwegian diploma.
I try not to give up but it is very difficult not to. Thank you for your post!
I really wanted to be over there before the next baby. Guess that won't happen . . .
Have a lovely weekend.
Cheers ~ Deb