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WORK PERMITS

Sweden needs to do more for its international workers, report argues

The bureaucratic difficulties faced by foreign professionals, and what can be done to make Sweden a more attractive destination for international talent were the subjects of a panel debate between politicians, employers' and workers' organizations at an event in Stockholm on Friday.

Published: 19 January 2018 16:05 CET
Sweden needs to do more for its international workers, report argues
A new Almega report on the rules for international workers and need to recruit them was presented in Stockholm. Photo: Lee Roden/The Local

The “Labour Migration to Sweden – let's improve the regulatory framework” seminar was held by Employers' organization Almega in the Swedish capital, and along with a panel discussion, a new report on Sweden's need for labour migration was presented.

The report predicts that Sweden is heading towards a situation where labour shortages will grow, with the section of the population within working age decreasing according to state number-crunchers Statistics Sweden's figures.

International workers are one way to address that, but Almega emphasized that based on the number of work permits requested each year, labour migration to Sweden appears to have peaked in 2012 and has yet to reach the same level since. High-profile problems with work permit rejections as a result of bureaucratic errors are not likely to help that trend, the organization argued.

Almega's report also cited a recent survey of international students and workers in cooperation with The Local, which showed that they have concerns about being able to fulfill the requirements necessary to work in Sweden, with a lack of understanding of the country's complex collective employment agreements and work permit regulations an issue.

In the panel debate that followed, opposition Moderate migration policy spokesperson Johan Forssell labelled Sweden's recent deportations of skilled workers over bureaucratic errors “a disgrace” that has led to talented people leaving over minor issues.


From right to left: Johan Forssell (Moderates), Fredrik Malm (Liberals), Åsa Odin Ekman (Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees), Rafiqul Islam (WPHA) and Fredrik Voltaire (Almega). Photo: Lee Roden/The Local

Liberal MP Fredrik Malm argued that with the Swedish Migration Agency under pressure dealing with asylum applications alone, the responsibility for dealing with permits related to skilled migrants should be moved to another authority, such as the tax agency for example.

But Åsa Odin Ekman of workers' organization the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees countered that some employers are not doing enough to ensure they adhere to the necessary rules, and their employees are falling foul as a result.

The creation of an agency tasked solely with identifying and recruiting shortages in the Swedish labour market is one solution she proposed, which the panel agreed could be a positive step.

Also present on the panel was the Work Permit Holders Association (WPHA), an organization which campaigns for the rights of work permit holders in Sweden.

Speaking to The Local following the debate, their representative Rafiqul Islam said that while he thinks the situation for international workers in Sweden will improve in the future, he is not optimistic for those experiencing troubles at present.

“We think lots of things will change, but with the situation as is, a future solution can't solve present problems. A lot of people have been dealing with these issues for two and a half years, so most of them are going to be deported anyway,” Islam noted.

“Despite the new proposals, new laws and new decisions from the high court, deportations are still happening, so it doesn't make us optimistic.”

The strict regulation in the area is designed to prevent foreign professionals from being exploited, but Islam thinks there needs to be a clear distinction between those who are suffering at the hands of irresponsible employers, and those who have fallen victim to an innocent error.

“The rules were created to avoid exploitation, that's good. But what about cases where it wasn't exploitation? With some of our people the problem wasn't exploitation, it was a mistake, and they want to correct that. Sweden needs to distinguish between exploitation and mistakes.”

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WORKING IN SWEDEN

‘Reassess your cultural background’: Key tips for foreign job hunters in Sweden

Many foreigners living in Sweden want to stay in the country but struggle to find a job, despite having relevant qualifications. The Local spoke to three experts for their advice.

Published: 7 May 2024 09:00 CEST
'Reassess your cultural background': Key tips for foreign job hunters in Sweden

One international worker who found it hard to land her first job in Sweden is Amanda Herzog, who eventually founded Intertalents in Sweden with the aim of helping other immigrants find work in the country.

Herzog originally came to Sweden to study at Jönköping University and decided to stay after graduating.

“I thought it would take three months, maybe six months to find a job, I was prepared for that,” she told The Local during a live recording of our Sweden in Focus podcast held as part of Talent Talks, an afternoon of discussions at the Stockholm Business Region offices on how to attract and retain foreign workers in Sweden.

“What happened was it took over 13 months and 800 applications to actually get a job in my industry, within marketing.”

During this time, Herzog was getting multiple interviews a month, but was not getting any further in the process, despite showing her CV to Swedish recruiters for feedback.

“They were baffled as well,” she said. “By the time I landed my dream job, I had to go outside of the typical advice and experiment, and figure out how I actually can get hired. By the time I got hired, I realised what actually works isn’t really being taught.”

‘Reassess your cultural background’

Often, those who come to Herzog for help have sent out hundreds of CVs and are unsure what their next steps should be.

“My first piece of advice is to stop for a second,” she said. “Reassess your cultural background and how it fits into Sweden.”

Herzog, for example, discovered she was interviewing in “the American way”.

In the US, when asked to tell an interviewer about yourself, you’d be expected to discuss your career history – how many people have you managed? Did sales improve while you were working there? – while Swedes are more likely to want to know about you as a person and why you want to work in a specific role for their company in particular.

“A lot of people don’t know this, so imagine all of the other cultural things that they’re doing differently that they learned in their country is normal,” Herzog adds.

“Just start with learning, because it could be that you don’t need to change very much, you are qualified, you just need to connect with the Swedish way of doing things.”

 
 
 
 
 
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Networking is important

“Don’t hesitate to reach out for help and guidance,” said Laureline Vallée, an environmental engineer from France who recently found a job in Sweden after moving here nine months ago with her partner, who got a job as a postdoc at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

“You tend to insulate yourself and consider yourself not capable, but you’re not less capable than you were in your home country, you just need to explain it to the employers.”

Another tip is to network as much as you can, Vallée said.

“Networking is really important here in Sweden, so just go for it, connect with people in the same field.”

This could be through networks like Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s Dual Career Network, which helps the accompanying partners or spouses of foreign workers find a job in Sweden, or through other connections, like neighbours, friends, or people you meet through hobbies, for example.

Make a clear profile for yourself

Another common issue is that applicants are not presenting themselves clearly to recruiters, Stockholm Akademiska Forum’s CEO, Maria Fogelström Kylberg, told The Local.

“If you’re sending 600 applications without an answer, something is wrong. We have seen many people looking for jobs working in a supermarket, and the next application is a managing director post,” she said. “You have to decide ‘who am I? What do I want to do?’, you have to profile yourself in a clear way.”

This could be editing down your CV so you’re not rejected for being overqualified, or just thinking more closely about how you present yourself to a prospective employer.

“Which of my skills are transferable? How can I be of use to this company? Not what they can do for me, but what problem can I solve with my competence?”

Job hunters should also not be afraid of applying for a job which lists Swedish as a requirement in the job description, Fogelström Kylberg said.

“Sometimes if I see an ad for a job and I have a perfect candidate in front of me, I call the company and say ‘I have a perfect candidate, but you need them to speak Swedish’, they then say ‘no, that’s not so important’. This is not so unusual at all so don’t be afraid of calling them to say ‘do I really need perfect Swedish?’”

Listen to the full interview with Maria Fogelström Kylberg, Amanda Herzog and Laureline Vallée in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

Interview by Paul O’Mahony, article by Becky Waterton

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