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‘Swedes in the startup scene are way more forward. If they want investment, they can’t just sit back’

Just over a month after moving to Sweden from the other side of the world, Australian Sonia Kaurah is already trying to make working culture more social in her job as Community Manager for startup hub SUP46.

Published: 25 September 2017 06:59 CEST
'Swedes in the startup scene are way more forward. If they want investment, they can't just sit back'
Sonia Kaurah moved from Australia to Sweden in 2017. Photo: Private

Though Stockholm has an internationally-renowned tech scene, Kaurah didn't plan her move around career opportunities, instead moving for a reason that has attracted many others to the Swedish capital. 

Her connection to the country started with a Swedish boyfriend in Melbourne: “He was doing an exchange at a university there, and my flatmate was on the same exchange, so that's how we met. He stayed longer in Melbourne than he was meant to, and we started living together, so we had to decide if we were going to stay in Melbourne or move here”.

The “where to live” decision is one many international couples have to face. Luckily Kaurah always wanted to live in Europe, and had several friends here. Then there is the appeal of being so close to a number of different countries and cultures.

“Being from Australia, you're in the middle of nowhere. So I think being in the heart of Europe is insane, you fly for an hour and you’re in a different country”. It takes longer to fly from Sydney to Perth than to fly from Stockholm to Tel-Aviv.

But moving still raised some concerns, which is natural for someone who had never visited Sweden before and therefore didn't know enough about the country to make such a big decision.

“I said 'Okay, I need to go to Stockholm to see if I can get a decent job, to see what the startup scene is like, and if I like the city, if the language a barrier'.”

Kaurah came to Sweden's capital on a scouting mission and spent ten days meeting people and networking. Through her previous work in Melbourne she was put in touch with three people in Stockholm, who in turn introduced her to more, who then referred her further forward still. An invite to an after-work event meant meeting Lukas Gräf, membership manager at SUP46.

She told him she was moving, and he invited her in for a chat the next day. “And that’s how that happened! So once I figured out that I could get a good job here, and that language wasn’t a barrier, and that I like the city, I was like, sweet, this is perfect!”

Although the Australian only knows “about 20 words” of Swedish, she says English is crucial for her work, as it is the language of the startup world. Members of SUP46 must also have the desire to expand internationally, so everything they do – the meetings, the pitches – must be in English. It also helps that Swedes are so fluent in English and willing to converse in the language.

“There are definitely emails that are forwarded to me in Swedish, and then I have to translate. But I can always go back to the person and say ‘Hey, I’m so sorry I don't speak Swedish, can we converse in English?’ and they’re always fine with that.”


Sonia Kaurah at work. Photo: Private

After just over a month in Stockholm Kaurah has hit the ground running with her job as community manager for SUP46. That means taking care of members, partners, sponsors, and investors. It also means organizing events, bringing in keynote speakers, putting together pitch sessions and mentoring pools, as well as simply getting everyone together.

Even as a community manager in her previous job in Melbourne at a different co-working space, and someone with a startup back in Australia, coming to Stockholm still blew her away.

“Melbourne has more than double the population of Stockholm, but there's way more funding here, way more help, and way more spaces than I thought there would be. I came here thinking there would be five co-working spaces, or five hubs, and when I started checking it out I was like ‘whoa, this is insane!’”

Stockholm has an impressive start-up network, being the home of many unicorns (startup companies valued over $1 billion) such as Spotify, Klarna, King, and Mojang, and frequently appearing in rankings as among the best startup hubs in the world.

READ ALSO: Stockholm second best in Europe for startups

Although that means a myriad of career opportunities, the community manager misses the social aspects of life back in Melbourne. There, colleagues would go out together after work for a drink or a meal. Although not everyone stayed out every night, these social gatherings after work brought people closer together. In Stockholm it's not the same.

“Here, it’s social, but not to the point of going out and grabbing a meal or a drink together – not even lunch, it’s not that common to go have lunch together here. Sure, you have a chat with people in the kitchen, but I find that the community isn’t as connected as I’d expected. And that’s something I want to change.”


Some of the companies who work at SUP46. Photo: Private

Her explanation for the difference is that people in the Swedish startup industry are particularly focused and put a lot into making their business grow. Starting a new company and making it succeed requires a lot of work, a lot of energy – and a lot of time. Rather than being a consequence of Swedish culture, people working that much to make their company thrive might not be willing to go out and socialise at the end of the day.

“You know, people say that Swedes are reserved – which is true, to an extent – but I think in the startup scene they are more forward, because they have to be. If they want to get investment, they can’t just sit back and not talk to anyone; they have to go talk to people in meetings and events, and go up and introduce themselves. So they're way more forward than other Swedes you meet.”

As part of her work as community manager, she wants to create more opportunities for people to get to know each other:

“What I want to do is just put on drinks and lunches where they actually have to meet each other. I’m going to come up and say: okay, the first question you ask someone cannot be 'what do you do'.”

But Kaurah admits she too has been focused on business, and should have given herself some more time in Stockholm before starting to work. That means no tourism – yet.

“I've just thrown myself into work and organising the apartment, but the next couple of weekends I definitely want to explore more.”

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.

READ ALSO:

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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