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‘If you’re thinking of moving to Sweden, prepare for the Swedish mentality’

Unlike many internationals who move to Stockholm, it wasn't love of a Swede but a love of pop icons Roxette which first brought Julia Antonova to the Swedish capital.

Published: 12 March 2018 06:48 CET
Updated: 12 March 2018 08:09 CET
'If you're thinking of moving to Sweden, prepare for the Swedish mentality'
Stockholm tour guide Julia Antonova. Photo: Rebecca Knutsson

“I was studying in Russia at the time and really got into them,” she explains.

“In the 1990s I think about 80 percent of the music on Russian radio was Swedish, but I didn't realize it at first. I loved all of those bands – Ace of Base, E-type. I just really loved the music,” Antonova laughs.

“Later on my love for Roxette grew and I wanted to learn more, so I started listening to their solo projects in Swedish. That ended up in me wanting to learn the Swedish language, so that's how the whole Swedish thing started you could say.”

“A lot of people today don't even know who they are though. I took some tourists from London on a trip about two months ago and when I explained why I came here, they asked what Roxette was! I had to explain they're a Swedish band, and named some songs, but they had no idea. That was surprising,” she laments.

Aside from flying the flag for arguably Sweden's greatest post-Abba pop export, Antonova is also a guide for tour company Triple, taking tourists around not only the usual Stockholm points of interest like the Old Town, but also Norrmalm and less trodden paths in the capital.

“I've known a lot about Stockholm for a while and thought it'd be a good idea to let others know about it. It started in Moscow where there's a school that arranged some tours to Scandinavia, and I got involved as a guide and helped. It was quite natural for me to be a guide – hopefully I'm good at it – so when I found Triple I realized it was a very good chance for me to let other people see Stockholm through different eyes,” she recalls.

“It's also a chance for them to find out about Stockholm from a person who maybe even knows a bit more about the city than a local. I never use any information from foreign travel guides. I try to find odd facts people wouldn't know about – things I read in a scientific piece about Stockholm for example, or a history book.”

READ ALSO: A tour guide's Stockholm tips

The Moscow native goes through periods of feeling like a tourist herself. Dividing life between her home city and the Swedish capital means there is a constant process of adaptation that has both its positive and negative sides.

“I've found that in only three months away from one country, you actually come back as a tourist. So I'm half Swedish and half Russian in my mentality – and after three months in Sweden I come back to Russia and so many things have changed, small details. It could be a simple as a new museum or a new festival – you come back as a tourist, and you have to get used to it again. For about one month I'm a tourist in either country, then I adjust, then it's time to go back to the next place.”

“Today there's not as much change, but in particular about 10 years ago when the internet was advancing, smartphones were coming out, technology was moving quickly. In Sweden it was much faster than Russia. Coming to Sweden was like coming to the future, then back to the past in Russia, then back to the future again!” she adds.


Providing tours in Stockholm. Photo: Private

At the same time, the regular movement helps keep her engaged and curious about Stockholm – to the benefit of the people who go on her tours, as well as her Swedish husband.

“When you live somewhere you sometimes get a bit blind and take things for granted. When you move to a different country you're always a bit more like a tourist. So now I take my husband to all these places I've discovered that I really love in Sweden. I often say to him 'you don't know about this? It's in your home country'.”

READ ALSO: The tour that gives you a chance to drink through Stockholm's history

Helping others explore Sweden is something the Russian has been doing for more than a decade now, and along with taking tours she also has several guidebooks under her belt:

“Travelling around Sweden gave me so many facts and so much info that I got the idea to write a book and tell people about places they would never have found on the internet or in other travel guides.”

“At that time about a decade ago especially, you had some books and a few blogs, but they were mostly about obvious touristy things, nobody knew much about the other places. So I tried to write about a different Sweden, and that ended up in travel guides about Sweden, on on Stockholm, then a different one about Norway,” she continues.


Midsummer in Sweden. Photo: Private

The guide feels it is important to keep her tours evolving, not only in order to create unique experiences for customers, but also to keep her keen and avoid the feeling of going through the motions.

“In the beginning most tourists wanted to do the secret places in the Old Town tour for example, and it started to become a bit repetitive for me. So I work to add something new – if I get tired of it that's not good. I look for more to add to it, and that's a challenge. The tour is a living one – you never get the same one twice, because I'd get too tired of it to do that, so I try to add new things.”

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In her opinion it is also important to pay attention to the parts of the tour customers are enjoying, and be flexible enough to adapt.

“I try to see what people are most interested in during the tour and switch it up. If they're more interested in myths and legends for instance, and are supposed to be on a standard tour about the sites, I'll take away some of the sites and add more of the myths, or add a different angle to the sites with less facts and more odd stories about them,” she reveals.

“When you see their reaction, they're so pleased. That's a great part of it, I love to see the reactions on the tours.”


Teaching Swedish classes. Photo: Private

As if constantly coming up with fresh ways to guide newcomers through Stockholm isn't enough, Antonova also dedicates part of her time to teaching Swedish to Russians. After years of teaching, she has learned that while grammar and rules are important, having the confidence to use the language is the real key.

“In Russia when you learn a language you're not really learning it. You learn a lot of grammar but often struggle with speaking. Many people come from Russia after 10 or 11 years of English in school but can't ask for something in a cafe or hotel. They can tell you all the facts they've learned about London, but have difficulties with really speaking, and conversations,” she notes.

“When I started to learn Swedish I kept that in mind, and today when I teach Swedish I try to make sure people start really speaking. Rules are good, but not the most important thing when you have to communicate with people.”

Though geographically not so far apart, the Russian finds Swedes and people from her home country to be quite different both socially and culturally, and believes it is important to understand those norms.

“It's not just Brits and Americans who find the Swedes to be withdrawn. Triple has been a good exception actually, the people I've met there and through there are very open and really want to share what they know. They're quite different from your average Swede. So people coming to Stockholm as a tourist and meeting locals through Triple maybe shouldn't think that everyone is like that!” she points out.

“If you're thinking of moving to Sweden and are not from Scandinavia, I'd say you should prepare for the Swedish mentality. I'd recommend learning as much as possible about that – the Swedish way of life, and their culture. Traditions are very important here.”


Using a semla bun as an example in class. Photo: Private

Antonova has no shortage of plans for the future, with a number of new tours in the pipeline, including some catered to the nationality of those taking them.

“I'm always planning new tours, all the time. I want to do more specific ones. For example tours in Stockholm that have a connection to the person's home place – Stockholm for the Germans, or the French places in Stockholm, and so on.”

“I also want to do specific tours about royal Stockholm and the places connected to them. And women in Stockholm, plus prisons and medieval scandals. Those are things that fascinate me that I'd love to introduce, so I really hope people like it.”

In closing she has some advice for anyone thinking of Sweden, or indeed for those who have already done so: try to focus on the positive side of your new home.

“There will come a time for everyone when you compare your new country with your old country. The old country that probably felt like the worst of the two places in the beginning starts to feel like the better one. Ninety percent of people go through that process when they move – it doesn't really matter where, Sweden, Denmark, France. You have that phase regardless,” she muses.

“I would recommend people do their best to see mostly positive things in their new country. Don't compare your new country with your last one, or your home country, or wherever. Every town, every city or village has something positive to give to you – there must have been a good reason for you to move to Sweden after all. Regardless of whether it was for work, your private life, maybe even the political situation there. There's some reason you moved, and it's still there, so that's something that can help you solve the problem.”

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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.

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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