(edit title) Is it worth going back to School to find a job? Looking for work...like many other people Options

[staycold]

Hi guys,

Long time lurker, new poster and looking for some advice on a few things.

I have been in Sweden for nearly 3 months now, living with my partner who is Swedish. I have just been granted permission to stay here for two years and then our case will be reviewed, we went down the Sambo route as it seemed the easiest as I dont have current employment or thousands of euro's.

I have read so many conflicted stories from various people regarding banking accounts, jobs, personnnumers that my head is spinning.

I am going to apply for my personnummer tomorrow, does anyone idea how long this will take and is it true that this can be speeded up if I get a job in the meantime? Do I need this to open a bank account or can it be done with out one?

Now I have been granted residency how do I go about applying for SFI lessons? Do I also need a personnumer for this?

Lastly and my main point of posting! I have been trying to get work for some weeks now, admittedly I was lazy for the first month and half I was here, we met whilst travelling so I was still in the travellers mindset, which I know has done me no favours. I never expected it to be so hard to get a job, I have never been unemployed and I'm hating it!!

I have experience in bar work, waitressing, warehouse work but my main area of employment for the last 5 years was being a Fraud Analyst at two very well know online poker companies...I understand I have no chance of getting a job like this over here without being fluent in Swedish.

So is it worth going back to school for a job in a field where there seems to be many jobs, from looking through things there are hundreds of IT based jobs. For some reason I fancy being a welder (dont ask me why, I have no idea but after living in 4 countries everywhere I go there seems to be welders jobs going) so does anyone have any knowledge in this field, how and where could I study, would I be given a job at the end of it and would it hinder me being female. I know bring on the flashdance jokes!!

Sorry for the epic post, any advice on any subjects would be a big help as I'm feeling a little bit lost with it all at the moment!!

[PDX]

No. You already have a profession and experience and could easily land a job if you only spoke the language. Hence, you should fully concentrate on learning it. With proper determination it will take you only a few months to become fluent enough so as to be employable. First thing, tell your partner to stop talking to you in any other language than Swedish NOW

Going to school to learn another profession will not help you at all.

By the way, welding is a very tough (and respectable) work. I have a feeling you would not fit, but what do I know .

~~~PDX~~~

[staycold]

Thank you for the quick reply.

Trust me I've asked, everyday I say right any question I ask, you HAVE to reply to me in Swedish but it lasts about ten minutes and thats not on my part. I admitt that I have been very lazy when I first got here, as a lot of people have said because everyone is so friendly and speaks good English its hard to feel forced to learn but I'm in the mindset now where I want a job and be able to interact with other Swede's properly. I've got post it notes all over the place with objects and phrases on them.

Would you recommend stumping up the cash to have intense courses? I'm pretty broke at the moment so it's a vicious circle of being unemployed but using a big chunk of cash to do something that will help me get a job.

Ha, you may well be right, I guess I'm not your typical girl...covered head in tattoo's etc but what do I know about welding and welders?!

[Svensksmith]

Learning (and mastering) a trade is almost always a good thing. Welding is an art and while the profession is dominated by males, I have met female welders who were quite good.

Good luck.

[intrepidfox]

Both the above replies are very good. I would take their advice. Warehouse jobs are hard to get and a welding course takes a long time but you must know Swedish. Concerning the casinos you could try the following links as gambling is international.
http://www.casinocosmopol.se/goteborg

and you can check out this Google list

https://www.google.se/#hl=en&sugexp=eia...024&bih=643

I wish you the best of luck

[staycold]

Thanks for the replies guys!

I am prepared to put in the time and effort to learn a skill, as I think it will be very useful, as I said there always seems to be welding jobs where ever I go. However I assume I need to get my swedish upto scratch before I can go back to school?

Thanks for the links, I have seen many casino jobs advertised but these are usually for brick and mortar casinos, where I worked for FullTilt and bet365, so it's totally different, I would need a dealers license and with working with the public I wouldnt stand a chance on my level of Swedish.

I've got a job interview tomorrow for LPS so fingers crossed.

Does anyone know how to get into warehouse work? I understand its difficult, is it more a case of it's who you know, mates getting you a job etc?

[skogsbo]

Learning (and mastering) a trade is almost always a good thing. Welding is an art and while the profession is dominated by males, I have met female welders who were quite good.

you are so right about it being an art form. When I moved here, I moved into farm / forestry work. Before I left the UK I did a welding course on an evening, bit of gas,mig,tig and stick. Many people here do as I do and do their own 'agricultural' welding as required, basic kit is cheap compared to somebody elses hourly rate. It's not pretty, but it's strong!

I have some friends in the UK who are first class workshop engineers, they helped me too, but to get to their standard took them years and for some jobs they still have proficiency tests; for accuracy, neatness, gas or water tightness etc.. There is a far bit of skill & science involved once you get away from welding steel, onto stuff like titanium etc.

For more specialist stuff, you are right that it will take time to learn and perfect, only then will you make the money by breaking above the 'average' standard. Easier to do this in your home country as the language barrier and lack of learning the technical words will delay you further.

Can't you do old job, but online remotely? Or work freelance offering anti fraud advice and surveys - think laterally. What does your sambo do? Could you tie your employments together, they assist with the Swedish side of things, when they aren't working in their day job?

[staycold]

She is a part qualified nurse at a care home, when she is working full time she is on good money however she is a musician so is on tour over here and the states a fair bit (which also creates a problem on her boplats profile because her income varies month to month)

If I was living in Stockholm, I'm confident that I could get a job at unibet or another company but there doesn't seem to be much going on in here. I'm more than willing to take a step back for a while and go into customer service. If anyone knows of a company with English speaking departments?

My old boss at 365 is great, he let me come back for a few months when I left FullTilt before I went travelling (I met my girlfriend in Bali) so it's worth an ask if I can work from here. However I'm not even sure where to start with working in one country and living in another, with tax etc. Surely it would be better to be paid here, pay tax, build up credit rating etc.

Thanks for you reply mate, it has definitely got me thinking. I've been travelling and unemployed for 8 months so my brain has been on holiday mode for too long, definitely keen to get working again.

[Schomberg]

Does anyone know how to get into warehouse work? I understand its difficult, is it more a case of it's who you know, mates getting you a job etc?

Get yourself a forktruck license (two day course for less than 3000kr)and warehouse work is easy enough to come by. It's shockingly well paid by swedish standards. I did it for awhile in Hisingen and I worked 4 days a week, 7 hours a day and came out with 22,000 after tax every month. I've professional mates in offices making less than that and for a lot more work and now I'm even making less than that for more hours and days work. The work is monotonous but the money makes it hard to leave and then theres the added option of being around a lot of people who speak swedish all the time. You don't get that in a professional enviroment where everyone WANTS to speak english...when it suits them.

Good luck!!

[staycold]

Cheers Schomberg!

I think I'm going to go for it, I'm short on cash but I see it as an investment and if it will help me get a job then I'm up for turning my hand to anything.

I've done some tedious work before, I once spent 10hrs peeling stickers off Simon and Garfunkel CD's...not the most exciting day of my life.

I just want to work, pay rent and not have to worry to be honest, I'm hoping I can learn the language quicker in a working enviroment and then look for a job more in my field.

Can I ask how you landed your warehouse job, Adecco, Manpower etc.

Cheers your reply pal!

[Schomberg]

I had two warehouse jobs a few years ago. One I got through Uniflex. It was out in Landvetter and it was a pain in the arse. It wouldn't recommend that route. The pay wasn't great either because the recriuitment people take a huge chunk of the money themselves. I had another out in Kärra in OneMed and for that I just rang up and asked and got called in for an interview. The "interview" in this case was a two week trial and then they decided if you were good enough. Everyone with two arms, two legs and a brain is good enough. Tingstads are another place with a warehouse out the same way. They're moving to a massive warehouse soon enough. Actually, if you went out there to Kärra (42 bus from Brunnsparken) and just walked the length of that road you'd find a lot of warehouses to ask for work.

Definetly recommend getting that license for anyone looking for work. Just take a glance at ams.se and you'll see how many places want people with a truck license. A lot of them will take people with no experience, especially places that use "plocktrukar".

Good luck mate

[Fishtank]

Schomberg ... very informative and good post mate.

[james5]

If you know and spoke language of Sweden then no problem to getting job because you are professional and also the experienced person.

[orangetree]

There are also online poker companies in Sweden who has customers in other countries. Numerous amount of Turkish or Russian immigrants are working in those companies. Maybe you can check online poker cos..

[Gamla Hälsingebock]

My input is this...every Swede I know (family) says learn Swedish!

Look, you're there, it's their country and communication in their language is important to them!

Job networks will open up to Swedish speakers first!

And to make you feel better some of my family have a hard time finding jobs too!