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‘Getting work in Sweden is about contacts’

Briton Deri Thomas makes his living from the running industry in Sweden and is pushing for more free events designed to unite amateur athletes in the Nordic nation.

Published: 4 January 2016 07:00 CET
'Getting work in Sweden is about contacts'
Deri Thomas and his five-year-old son. Photo: Private

Deri Thomas moved to Sweden 10 years ago, when his Swedish girlfriend Anna finished her degree in the UK. But their love story started back in 2001, when the couple first met in England and made an unusual decision to try to share their lives between both countries. 

“We actually tossed a coin back in 2002, to decide which country Anna would study in…She came and studied in the UK for three years and we moved to Sweden in 2005 when she finished her degree,” Thomas tells The Local.

A decade later they have a house, kids and jobs in Sweden, and have realized they are here to stay.

Thomas has forged his career in the running industry, drawing on one of his biggest passions.

Until recently he was the managing director of Urban Tribes, a company that mostly provides fitness training to around 40 businesses, largely in the Stockholm area and Gothenburg. It also organizes running courses, classes and races for the general public.

When it comes to advice on how build a career in Sweden, he says it depends on what skills you have when you arrive in the country and what area you want to work in, but he is convinced that one thing is vital whichever industry you're part of. 

“Make contacts and get yourself a little bit into the local environment,” he says.

Thomas has spent much of his time in Sweden playing for the football team Långholmen, which mainly consisted of native English speakers. He says this helped him create a lot of contacts and friends, which made it easier to make other connections with the Swedish community.

“It is really hard when you first arrive and you have not mastered the language, and the Swedes can often be a little bit reserved as well,” Thomas explains. 

Thomas has recently stepped down from his managerial position at Urban Tribes and is currently working in operations and sales for the company while he focuses on his goal of encouraging more Swedish residents to pick up their running shoes.

He hopes to use the connections he has forged to introduce more free running events to Sweden as part of a movement known as Parkrun.

“I’ve seen it grow enormously in the UK the last few years. I just think it is an fantastic concept,” Thomas explains.

Parkrun organizers put on five-kilometre runs that take place every week and are completely free. Those who sign up get a unique barcode, which they can use to track their time each time they participate as well as chart their improvement over time. The events are popular around the world with over 120,000 people participating every week in 13 countries, with Australia one of the biggest markets alongside the UK. All the runs are managed by volunteers with the backing of sponsors.


A few minutes before a parkrun go off at Barry Island. Photo: Private

But while Swedes are famously sporty, Thomas argues that formally organized runs (rather than coaching events) are often expensive and irregular in the Scandinavian country.

“There is still a real running boom in Sweden, so it’s very much a good time for something like Parkrun to come along as well.”

He aims to organize the first Parkrun in Sweden in the summer of 2016 in Hagaparken, one of the largest green spaces in the Swedish capital. 

The Briton hopes that runners will share the experiences he gets from pounding the parks and pavements of Stockholm, arguing that it is a fitness pursuit that allows people to push themselves physically, meet new people and clear their heads as well as being an easy way to train.

“It is such a simple and uncomplicated form of exercise. Put your shoes on and then you go. There is nothing more uncomplicated than that.”

Article by Emma Lidman

For members

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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