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‘I took a challenge and now I’m a station officer’

Moving abroad can involve a lot of firefighting for any expat. But British-born Jeffrey King has literally been putting out fires during a ten-year career with the Swedish Fire and Rescue Service.

Published: 28 September 2015 08:00 CEST
'I took a challenge and now I'm a station officer'
Jeffrey King, 41, has been a firefighter in Sweden for more than a decade. Photo: Private
Back in 2003, Jeffrey King was having a hard time adjusting to living in Sweden after relocating here with the love of his life, a Swedish woman he met on a backpacking trip to Guatemala.
 
“I'd been here for a year and I was still struggling to use Swedish,” he tells The Local.
 
Having worked for Surrey Fire and Rescue Service in the UK, he found himself being shunted between temporary jobs in Stockholm, working for removal and delivery firms as well as in sales.
 
“It was a really big moment. I had to decide whether I wanted to move back or not. But then I turned round to myself and thought 'what can I do to make this work?'. In situations like this you have to decide whether to face the challenge or not…for me I always enjoy a challenge,” he laughs.
 
King went back to his books and spent the following year trying to become fluent enough in Swedish to return to his passion: fighting fires.
 
“Communicating is so important,” he says, explaining the need for excellent language skills in his role, even in a nation where English is so widely spoken.
 
“Speed is very important and you're also under a lot of stress, when it's easy to revert to your native tongue.”
 
His study efforts paid off.
 
In 2004 King scored a job with the Swedish Fire and Rescue Service and ended up working on some of the most high-profile emergencies of the last decade.
 
These included a runaway train that made global headlines after it ploughed through 70 metres of snow and crashed into a family home in eastern Stockholm in 2013, and a wave of arson attacks that destroyed three supermarkets in Södertälje, south of the Swedish capital, in 2009.
 

The Saltsjöbaden rail crash made international news in 2013. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT
 
“People often ask if I think I've worked on fewer big things than I would have done if I had stayed working in the UK, but I don't think that is the case!” he says.
 
While the 41-year-old clearly found it fulfilling to be working out in the field, he is now a station officer in Haninge, south of Stockholm, where he manages a team of firefighters.
 
“I think I probably progressed more quickly than if I had been back home,” he explains.
 
“It's a smaller fire service and there is less hierarchy and it's more flat. So when you do involve yourself in different things it's easier to get noticed.”
 
While it's not uncommon for expats to struggle with making friends in Sweden, King says he's enjoyed getting to know his Swedish colleagues and also cites his rugby club, the Stockholm Exiles, as a major source of support outside of work.
 
“One of the reasons I stayed in Sweden after that first year was because I had other things in my life,” he tells The Local.
 
“A lot of the players were expats in a similar position. We all helped each other with jobs and Swedish and things and our partners got to know each other,” he adds.
 
“Expats I have met are maybe more open from the beginning, which makes it easier to become friends. But I have Swedish friends too. When you befriend a Swede properly, after a while they'll be very, very good friends.”
 
 
King, who has two daughters aged six and seven, says he was also drawn to settle down in Sweden due to “much more affordable childcare” than in the UK as well as the country's education system.
 
“Not just smaller classes, but also just the whole process of how you get your children into the school you want seems easier here than back home, when I hear what my sister has been going through.”
 

King's daughters learning about his career. Photo: Private
 
But despite his now deep roots in the Nordics, King says his family is considering a temporary move back to the UK.
 
“We have been discussing perhaps returning for a little while, so my children can get to know my family and my parents. But it probably wouldn't be a permanent move because the quality of life is just so much better in Sweden.”
 
As for the Swedish Fire and Rescue Service, he says he would “totally recommend it” to any Brits or other foreign firefighters willing to put in the time to learn the local language.
 
“Yes, come and work here!” he says with a chuckle.
 
“Actually we are recruiting right now…but Swedish is a must.”
 
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READER INSIGHTS

How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who’ve been there, done that

The Swedish job market poses unique challenges for newcomers. The Local's readers share their best tips for cracking the career code.

Published: 10 April 2024 11:32 CEST
Updated: 13 April 2024 15:50 CEST
How to find a job in Sweden: Five tips from those who've been there, done that

Network, network, network!

A statistic that often gets tossed around is that seven out of ten jobs in Sweden are obtained through personal connections, and there’s no doubt that a good network is crucial to your job hunt, making the labour market extra challenging for newcomers to the country.

In fact, networking was the main tip mentioned by The Local’s readers.

“The job market is quite hot in Sweden, and talent is in short supply. People hiring do not have a lot of time to find the right talent, and tips from friends, colleagues and former colleagues are the way to first, find out organisations are hiring, and secondly, get your CV on the short list,” said Kyle, a Canadian reader who works in innovation management in Gothenburg.

“If you are going for a major employer like Volvo, network gets you in the door, as HR does not have much to do with hiring… the hiring managers do all of it and have no time, due to the insane number of consensus meetings. If you are looking for smaller organisations, they have even less time to find people, and networking is their primary way to find talent,” he added.

NETWORKING IN SWEDEN:

Some of the networking tips readers mentioned were going to job fairs, getting an internship to help you establish connections in your preferred field, joining clubs (this could be anything from your local gardening association to meetups for coders, but focus on clubs that may be popular among people working in your chosen field), and drawing on your organic network of friends, neighbours and others.

Don’t neglect the groundwork

The saying “dress for the job you want, not the job you have” is getting worn out (and people may look at you funny if you turn up to interviews in a Batman suit), but there’s truth to the notion of making sure you know what you want – and preparing for it.

In other words, don’t wait for a job ad to appear before you start to customise your CV and figure out what skill set you need. Create your CV now so that you’re ready to tweak it to your dream job – you could even have a general look at job ads in your field to see what requirements are needed. And don’t forget to spruce up your LinkedIn profile so that it fits with your career goals.

“I believe that several factors contribute to successfully landing a desirable job in Sweden. It’s essential to prepare to meet the requirements beyond just having a university degree. Many individuals realise these requirements only after completing their studies when they start searching for a job, which can be too late,” said Adnan Aslam from Pakistan, who works as a food inspector.

“I recommend identifying the job advertisements for positions you aspire to hold in the future and then preparing for those requirements during your studies. For me, acquiring a basic level of proficiency in the Swedish language and obtaining a Swedish driving licence were crucial. I pursued these goals during my studies and was able to secure a desirable job before graduating,” he added.

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Felipe Cabral even has a GPT assistant trained on his own CVs and old cover letters, and said the set-up only takes ten minutes if you already have your documents. “With that in place, you can give instructions like: Read this job description and create a tailored version of my CV and letter for it. (…) Remember to always review and ask it not to create data aside from your documents.”

Be flexible and ready to adapt

Moving to a new place inevitably means having to learn not just the practicalities such as how to write a CV or which websites to use to look for job openings, but also learning how to navigate a new culture with all its unspoken expectations.

Swedish workplaces are generally less hierarchical than many other countries, but that doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want whenever you want without anyone raising an eyebrow. Swedes are usually direct, but be careful of being too abrasive or boastful: raising your voice, even during a spirited argument, or banging your own drum to show off your skills may not go down well.

“Talk, deliberate, complain like a Swede and you’ll come across like you know what the job entails, so your trustworthiness increases,” said an Indian data analyst who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Office politics are just as strong in Sweden as anywhere else. The flat hierarchy is deceiving as social hierarchy is enforced quite a bit in that lack of formal hierarchy. Take your time in learning these dynamics wherever you work before revealing your talent and capabilities. Expect those internal politics to happen, and they won’t hurt so much when they do,” said Kyle, the Canadian reader in Gothenburg.

This article about Swedish office politics may be useful.

Stay true to yourself

Adapting to your surroundings is one thing. Completely changing who you are is another.

For one thing, your happiness is as important as your career progression, and for another, your foreignness need not be an impediment: it’s also a skill that sets you apart from the rest. It means you have unique experience, and also, in the right setting, provides an opportunity to sometimes violate those social rules we mentioned above, because people assume you will, anyway.

“Trust is key. Build trust in your network, work with integrity. It’s OK to violate jantelagen if you are maintaining integrity. Sometimes your outsider and more honest/open opinion will burn bridges, especially those that may feel threatened by talent. But it will build trust with other colleagues who see it as brave and more trustworthy to work with,” said Kyle from Canada.

Hunker down for the long haul

We don’t want to scare you, because there are plenty of examples of people who quickly find their dream job in Sweden and settle into their new workplace, enjoying perks such as long summer holidays, generous parental leave and the famous work-life balance.

But if you do find it tougher than you expected: know that you’re not alone.

Several readers who responded to the survey said they were still trying to find a job in Sweden.

“I found jobs all over Europe but not here. They say they have a lack of experienced senior engineers but the don’t seem to be doing much to solve this,” said a Brazilian in Gothenburg.

A reader from Bangladesh said she was “at a loss” as to how to make a career change from her current AI role in Stockholm, despite many years of experience as an IT project manager.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve submitted over 600 applications to various organisations. Unfortunately, despite being overqualified for some positions, I’ve faced rejections at every turn, from both large and small companies. The job market here, especially for foreign-born women, feels overwhelmingly challenging,” she said, adding that the struggle had impacted her mental health.

The Local has on several occasions reported on foreign residents’ struggle to get a foot on the Swedish job ladder, with many facing hurdles such as employers’ unfamiliarity with international degrees, discrimination, or a lack of network that can provide paths into a company.

So during the job hunt, don’t forget to care for yourself. Share your concerns with fellow job-seekers, ask for help and join networking groups – this is good not just for creating new contacts, but also in terms of your social well-being and meeting people who are in a similar situation.

And finally, as one British reader in Stockholm advised, keep looking: “Be open-minded with the opportunities that present themselves. It isn’t an easy market to enter and doesn’t feel inclusive.” But he added, “don’t give up”.

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