February 14, 2012
Published: 8 Dec 09 15:23 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Updated: 8 Dec 09 16:36 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/23732/20091208/
Having a university degree is no guarantee for immigrants hoping to succeed in the Swedish labour market, a new study shows.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
A Stockholm woman fed up with male passengers on public transport taking up the space of women sitting next to them, has started a blog snapping secret pics of straddle-legged commuters and posting them on the internet. READ (30 COMMENTS) »
A suburb of Mjällby, southern Sweden, known by locals as ‘Negro Village’ for forty years, will be changing its name after a storm of recent attention. READ (9 COMMENTS) »
A 27-year-old German man has been living at the Gothenburg Landvetter airport for two months having no wish to return to Germany and nowhere to go in Sweden. READ (12 COMMENTS) »
Every second Swede is at risk of developing dementia, according to a new study from Umeå University, which concentrated on the 85+ population in northern Sweden. READ »
After a 28-year-old woman was pulled off her bicycle and raped by an unidentified assailant in Malmö over the weekend, and police are fearing it could be the work of a budding serial rapist. READ (13 COMMENTS) »
Families of children in Sweden suffering from narcolepsy caused by vaccination for the swine flu can expect some form of compensation, Swedish health minister Göran Hägglund said on Sunday in response to new calls for help from parents. READ (1 COMMENT) »
The new leader of the Social Democrats Stefan Löfven has indicated he's ready to negotiate with the government over the future of nuclear power despite a previous party decision to phase out nuclear energy in Sweden. READ (2 COMMENTS) »
One in five Swedes believes that people rise from the grave after they've died, a new survey has shown. READ (14 COMMENTS) »

As diverse as Sweden is, there are a few societal norms that are distinctly Swedish. Understanding a handful of them will hopefully prepare you culturally before you relocate. When you're invited home to a Swede, you better be on time and take your shoes off, writes expat Lola Akinmade-Åkerström. Read more »
Sweden is a country where almost everyone can speak English. So why bother to learn Swedish? Edina Varnagy from Hungary managed with English for a whole year but then found that Swedish could open doors – to a job, a social life and greater understanding. Read more »
"The ice dripped in the winter sun. It was the first day when the light had been intense enough to cause dripping in the sunlight. To hear it was an extraordinary wakeup call. The cycle was happening again as it always does, always will (or so we think). I imagined that on my summer island, the bees..." READ »
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fin
adjective
Fin means anyhting from sweet to proper. When someone says, Du är så fin it's quite a compliment.
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Many Swedish managers seem to value having everyone from the same background in the office. If you were an adopted Swede with dark skin and went to the same Swedish university as your boss...you would also have a higher chance of being hired...its not racism its the desire for similarity.
My work experience in completely counter to this line of logic. The most creative and often the best performing organizations are those with a diverse set of skills from around the world.
Group Think is a leading management problem here.....
These people also speak Swedish really well, it's really sad that it's almost impossible for a foreigner to get a job unless it is cleaning work.
Even the big companies prefer to bring over expats with proven record, who will deliver precisely to the specifications, rather than dealing with immigrants on the local contract.
Sad for us, but understandable...
But...Sweden is not a Dynamic, vibrant culture, its a country in decline and they are trying to hold onto what they have. Go to Silicon Valley, Toronto, Belgrade look at the worker demographics there...much more interesting.
@Skatty Exactly! If people are coming to Sweden you have to solely depend on yourself to generate an income from either other markets or your own business here. If you are waiting for a Swedish company to give you a job you may be waiting a long time and the odds are against you.
As far as learning to speak Swedish. I think its a waste of time because the return on investment is very low...what do we as foreigners here really get out it? If I were seriously considering seeking a job in Sweden I would master German. I see jobs for people who speak English and German all the time in the papers...and they are typically well paid positions with travel.
As a foreigner, I speak little/no Swedish. While my company does speak English, a large majority of the "HR Communicatio" is conducted in Swedish and almost all the "non-work" discussions are held in Swedish. It can be sometimes quite daunting and I can understand why it's definitely preferable to hire native speakers.
In terms of university, I've found that there is a strong university alumni presence. Many of my colleagues who have graduated many years ago still keep in close contact with their university friends and societies. They even attend recruitment drives and general university away days. I find this practice quite strange as I have little ("no") contact with my university.
As implied, I don't think there is any underlying racial issues. It's more about people being loyal (for better or worse) to their education institutions.
Cheers,
Sean
About the racial issues, I suggest you first try to learn Swedish, and you should live at least five years in Sweden to discover racial issues; otherwise, it would be nearly impossible for you to understand the structure of racism in Sweden! Swedes are not easy people. As an example, in Germany it's almost easy to distinguish between a German friend and a racist; it's not easy in Sweden, needs long time to figure it out!
Tell me something I don't already know ........
People are racists .. admit it ... not all people ... and even those who say they are not racist .... will behave differently when their daughter want to marry another race or religion ....
Let me guess what you mean with lot of friends working in Sweden. I suppose your friends have already a degree and just complete their higher education (probably master or PhD) in here, otherwise they could not study in a Swedish University. Many of these friends already worked in a job market, somewhere else and have experiences. They get their higher education in here and apply job for international companies to get the job for two major reasons 1. Their previous experiences in another labor market 2. They are cheap. (Probably come from developing countries). Now, most of immigrant (refugees), who live in Sweden have to go through a painful process of starting everything from toe to top, learning language, KOMVUX, and great misery to get a degree to do what? Nothing, they didn't get even the chance of a high-educated person from a developing country to find any experience to work cheap for an international company here in Sweden.
Thus the answer to " that goes the same in all countries . . ." ( above) is graphically factual data that illustrate that generalizations are generally unproductive.
My thought is that Sweden is right in their choices, and that the United States--who are now suffering the greatest losses in jobs since their first Depression, and counting--might also be better-off to first begin looking inward to their own native-born educated to staunch their hemorrhaging job losses rather than employing their native-born unemployed as cannon-fodder for the United States Forever Wars.
That might put the brakes on their Depression, and give the rest of the world a breather as well.
I just mansion, most of that native and nonnative-born high educated in Sweden have managed their studies by student loan (very popular here, actually a way to run away from unemployment) and should pay it back by interest! Paying it back by working unskilled low pay jobs ruins lot of them; jobs which don't need high education. The Swedish system indirectly announces to get high education is the most stupid thing to do! What about USA, do they the same thing!!
As "discrimination" goes, my bosses certainly don't like religious people. Esp those that are oppressive towards woman.
Oh how I love Sweden \Ö/
"This is further heightened by the fact that the Swedish education system is perceived to be a world leader."
Ha Ha Ha! Which world? Clearly like some Swedes I know your knowledge of how the world beyond Sverige works is extremely limited. Standards of education are not a matter of opinion. There are such things as league tables. Check and see where Sweden is. There a few good universities, but World Leader? Ha ha ha!
There are also so-called "un-civilized " societies that have a profusion of things that other societies and nations do not have and could not match, thus they, too, are a "world leader" in a sense of that phrase.
Now the so-called "World Leaders" who claim that phrase because of their nuclear or war-making powers, or because of their corrupt capitalistic systems, are less than "leaders" and more like exploiters.
I can think of several, and one of just two is quite large, and the other is quite small. Characterizing either as leaders is a miscarriage of the word.
I went to the UK and earned twice as much money with a third of the tax and now work in the Australian Auto industry and am watching the state of the Swedish Auto industry, thinking of a lot of my friends currently working there, but must say finding it a tad hard to hide the smirk on my face. Go figure! I've said it before here and Swedes don't like hearing it, but they can be awfully racist. I have never had a problem getting a job in any other country, so what makes Sweden so different?
Look at it this way. What are the biggest complaints on these pages from us Johnny Foreigners when we come to Sweden. We can't integrate, we can't make friends, we find it hard to communicate with the locals, we find it hard to break into friendship groups... And you honestly think when it comes to jobs it is going to be any different?
A progressive thinking company will always expand its horizons when it comes to its employees. I am surrounded by a majority of non-Australians, they are infact a minority here, but are our parent company in the process of trying to a) sell us to the chinese or b) wind down the company? Nope.
Tell me you work for Holden! Never seen one in real life....interesting history. I always wonder if they are good cars...can't be so bad with around 200,000 in sales?
I think your success story is great. Congratulations. Not a surprise your success was not found here.
Good luck to all immigrant....the first priority will go to swedish born, Been working as executive chef, souchef in Asia. Experience in cooking for 28 years. work in my company for 4 years as a low profile cook and also have to wash dishes. Still being paid by the hours.
They put a 21 years old Swedish kid who has only very little experience as the kitchen chef. Just 2 weeks ago was put on the F"#¤#¤# chopping board for time cut. Mind you I am the longest working staff in the kitchen, Of course the other 2 in the kitchen are Swedish Swede who have work only less than 2 years(one -8months, the other-1 1/2 years)., me, immigrant Swede. Maybe I should consider changing my skin colour like Micheal Jackson . Very hard for an immigrant to be on the top, work my arse off, don't even stay at home for more than a day if I am sick. Disappointed by company,s decision on time cut. Don't give a damn so much as who is in change in the kitchen.
BUT STILL........I am glad I still have a job (of course they can't kick me out for no reason since I've been working for 4 over years) Wish all the immigrant the very best of luck
I hope that one day you will open your own restaurant, and it will do 1000x better than the one you're currently working for. I'm sure then it'll teach them a lesson to not waste someone with experience.
I Moved over to Sweden in 2006, i was head hunted by one of the big mobile telecommunication companies, finished that contract in june and had a new job waiting for me, I just had a skill that is still rare in the IT industry ( for those that work with SAP)
I beleive that if you have a skill that cannot be filled in the local market, the recruits will look outwards, thats why yo have so many IT expats living and working in sweden, also networking is a very important aspect when looking for
good roles
Where do you live? I need to look for housing there immediately!
so, it depends if you're a 'bad' eastern immigrant or a 'good' core european one ...