(edit title) UK National Graduate Engineer With work experience Options

[yola]

Hi

Im a UK graduate civil and structural engineer and I am currently looking to relocate to Sweden (a choice brought on by wanting a better quality of life and the chance to work in a strong construction sector).

I've been looking for jobs in Stockholm for the past 2 months and have found, with no surprise, that almost all job adverts are in Swedish. Also, I am a member of the ICE in the UK and have contacted SVR; however, I have had no response to job applications.

Could anyone offer any advice on how to increase my chances? I understand that learning Swedish would help dramatically, but this would take over a year and I would ideally like to find something by the end of the year.

Thanks in advance.

Yolanda

[gplusa]

How good are you with roads and bridges ? That's where the shortage of engineers are in Sweden.

[entry]

Could anyone offer any advice on how to increase my chances?

Look towards mid-Canada, Western Canada and the USA. Your chances of employment with your education and language skills are probably much better there initially. Use recruiters(headhunters) they get paid to find you a position. Special work visas have been increased in the USA and probably for Canada. Closer to your home there is a sizable offshore energy project that seems that it will go through. The firms that have those projects are Danish, German & Swedish. It might be a backdoor for you. -Paul

[Yorkshireman]

... and the chance to work in a strong construction sector ...

Define strong?

According to the UN Economic Commision Commission for Europe, out of 44 countries Sweden was ranked #31 in terms of Share of Construction in GDP %.

Countries above Sweden in terms of GDP % were for example ... UK, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Finland, Switzerland, Estonia, Russia, Austria, Spain, Belarus, Armenia, Albania, Romania, Poland, Czech, Luxemburg ...and more!

[Edmund]

Hi

Im British, graduate Structural Engineer (1 years UK experience before I moved here), been working here for the last 8 months or so. I had no problems getting a job (way easier than in the UK if you ask me), so heres what I reckon worked for me:

-target smaller companies. At larger companies your application will go to HR, and few HR people are going to be interested in the CV of someone who can't speak the local language. At smaller companies your application will end up with an engineer who might be interested in your skills.

-admit your lack of swedish, but emphasise your keenness to learn it. Enrolling in a course in the UK would help.

-don't worry about applying to specific job applications. Most companies have an email on their website for unsolicited applications, and these actually get read.

-when it comes to finding companies, you probably aren't familiar with ones that aren't multinational. Linkedin is much better than google (in my experience) for finding these - search ingenjör, konstruktör, and search in english aswell.

Good luck, PM me if you have further questions.

Ed

[gplusa]

Maybe the UN Economic Commision Commission for Europe might want to visit a few of those countries before writing their reports. As one working inside the industry in Sweden I can say that our civil and structural guys are constantly being run off their feet. The current resources can't cope with the demand. It's got to the point where my company has started up buying smaller engineering design companies located outside of Sweden, just to get their civil and structural engineers. Last year we inherited 10 engineers from our UK offices to try and help with the Swedish workload and to avoid redundancies in the UK offices due to their decreasing workload. It's not a bad game to be in if you're qualified.

[AW1]

Define strong?According to the UN Economic Commision Commission for Europe, out of 44 countries Sweden was ranked #31 in terms of Share of Construction in GDP %.Countries abov ... (show full quote)

Define strong?

According to the UN Economic Commision Commission for Europe, out of 44 countries Sweden was ranked #31 in terms of Share of Construction in GDP %.

Countries above Sweden in terms of GDP % were for example ... UK, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Finland, Switzerland, Estonia, Russia, Austria, Spain, Belarus, Armenia, Albania, Romania, Poland, Czech, Luxemburg ...and more! ... (hide full quote)

Did you not understand the question? The OP asked for advice about securing engineering work in Sweden, not in any of the countries you mention above... regardless if the engineering sector in those countries are stronger or not.

[Yorkshireman]

I undstood the question perfectly. I was curious as to whether the OP meant strong construciton sector in terms of investment or strong in terms of very good at what they do!

[Somebody]

Well, i think it is relatively easy to get a job, but when you have some experience behind you.
They lack Engineers with experience in these country and the ones they have are really expensive.