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What is the ‘Swedish dream’ and where can you find it?

Writer Paul Connolly explains why Sweden’s High Coast is home to the ‘Swedish dream’ and how moving there can help you to find life’s Swede spot.

Published: 13 March 2019 11:52 CET
What is the 'Swedish dream' and where can you find it?
Photo: Peder Sundström

Sweden has long been a beacon of hope for those looking to improve their lives. Whether it’s people like me escaping the Brexit-driven madness of the UK or a Syrian refugee fleeing that country’s civil war, Sweden offers opportunity, security and a chance to build a good life for you and your family.

The Nordic country is almost like a modern European America in that way — a land of opportunity and freedom. But while the ‘American Dream’ has been endlessly discussed, dissected and celebrated, not so much thought has been given to the ‘Swedish Dream’.

Maybe that’s because the Swedish Dream isn’t much like the American Dream at all.

Find out about opportunities in Sweden’s High Coast

The American Dream is all about money, power and status – ‘making it big’.

The Swedish Dream is all about happiness, opportunity and family – ‘making it golden’.

A region such as The High Coast in Sweden, on the Bothnian Gulf in Västernorrland, 500 km north-east of Stockholm, embodies the Swedish Dream – it’s a place of staggering natural beauty, thriving towns, great schools and robust entrepreneurial spirit.

But what are the other constituent parts of the Swedish Dream?

Living close to nature

Photo: Fredrik Lewander

Chasing the Swedish Dream on The High Coast can be a spectacularly beautiful experience – the region’s unique combination of ocean, mountain and forest landscapes offers a unique playground in which to enjoy outdoor life. Hiking, surfing, fishing, kayaking, climbing, skiing and snowmobiling, are all possible at different times of the year.

And then, when you want to kick back, the towns of The High Coast, such as Örnsköldsvik and Sundsvall have bustling bars and restaurants.

Blair Christianson, who left Canada for The High Coast 17 years ago, still can’t quite believe his luck: “We have ski slopes just a few kilometers away, are surrounded by gigantic expanses of wilderness and have peace and quiet when we need it. It really is fantastic.”

Sense of community

Rural Swedes are generally a warm, generous bunch. In our village, residents visit often to have coffee, share cakes and bring presents for kids. When we had our twin girls, we were inundated by well-wishers, many of whom we’d never even met before. It was an endless flow of friendly, baked goods-carrying Swedes. It was just like The Waltons TV series but with less God and more cake.

Friends enjoying a drink at APA in Härnösand. Photo: Supplied

“We’ve never come across rude people here,” says Blair. “If you want to talk, they’ll talk to you. If you want to be left alone, you can have seclusion. But one word of advice – learning the language will make you feel so much more at home. It’s really worth making the effort.”

Find out how you can live the ‘Swedish dream’

Gender equality

Sweden is almost ridiculously civilised. Its approach to gender equality is totally taken for granted by locals but a regular source of astonishment to outsiders. Every non-Scandinavian on their first walk or drive through a Swedish town is immediately struck by the number of men pushing kids in buggies. It’s a common sight in Sweden to see a posse of men wheeling their kids around town centres before stopping off for an afternoon latte. Where I come from in England such unusual behaviour would make the local TV news.

Photo: Fredrik Lewander. Photo: Supplied

Blair agrees. “Life here is so much more focused on both parents, not just the father. It’s so much fairer.”

This is the result of Sweden’s incredibly generous 16-month parental leave which can be shared out between mothers and fathers, with three months of that set aside specifically for each parent. This encourages fathers to bond with their children and allows mothers to get back to work.

Great work-life balance

When you first start work here in northern Sweden it’s a little discombobulating. You have to disentangle yourself from all your previous working practices. Swedes are loyal and highly committed employees who are unafraid of taking the initiative themselves and solving problems. They don’t need to be held by the hand. This makes them a productive bunch.

This dedication to getting the job done springs from being treated well. Employers don’t expect workers to eat their lunch at their desk. They encourage regular fika breaks and offer flexible working hours. Workers go home on time. Indeed, many parents in the office will likely have already gone to pick up their kids from school at 3.30pm to take them to the nearby ski slopes where they’ll enjoy an hour or two of skiing before heading home.

Find out about opportunities in Sweden’s High Coast

Peder Sundström. Photo: Supplied

Entrepreneurial spirit and support

Entrepreneurs here don’t just want to make money but are passionate about making the world a better place. 

Take, for example, Sandlund/Hossain, a Swedish/Bangladeshi leather bag company founded by High Coast local Anders Sandlund and his childhood friend Tulin Houssain. The company not only makes beautiful bags but does so sustainably through its CowFunder initiative which provides families in Bangladesh with cows. The idea is that the family cares for the cow throughout its life after which they can earn a year’s income from the meat while Sandlund/Houssain gets traceable and well-kept rawhide. Sandlund/Hossain embodies innovation and sustainability, two keywords for any business seeking the Swedish Dream on the High Coast.

There’s also a tradition of locals supporting local entrepreneurs by buying into their businesses, in a phenomenon called ‘stock-based crowdfunding’, which bolsters new businesses. Hernö Gin, for example, a startup distiller, has 1,000 investors of which 50 percent come from The High Coast – it’s a remarkable level of local involvement.

Local authorities also provide vigorous support for businesses. Timrå municipality on the High Coast was recently ranked eighth in ‘Best Service for Businesses’ category in the Confederation for Swedish Enterprise’s survey. Any business that relocates to the High Coast can expect a warm welcome, comprehensive support and streamlined establishment processes.

A great place to raise a family

In the UK, for example, childcare provisions now take up nearly 34 percent of a family’s income. In Sweden it is 4.4 percent. That disparity is truly vast. Medical care for children is free. The education system up to, and including, university is free. This is great. I don’t want my twin girls to have to pay for their university education and to be encumbered by debt for years after graduation. Sweden nurtures its young, understands that you have to invest in youth, not demonise it or financially hamstring it.

Photo: Peder Sundström

Blair agrees wholeheartedly with me. “The life here for our kids has been amazing. Brilliant. I would never have moved our kids back to Canadian schools. It’s very civil here. No bullying. There’s such a supportive atmosphere – kids can just be kids.”

Find out how you can live the ‘Swedish dream’

Affordable property

One of the most surprising aspects of The High Coast is the incredibly low price of property. For the average price of a garage for your car in London, in rural Sweden you can buy a well-maintained, 4-bedroom house with land overlooking a lake. Yes, all that for €60,000.

Indeed, moving to Sweden could be even cheaper if you’re a DIY ninja.  If you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in to a spot of renovation you could buy a large house in need of modernisation for an amazing €15,000. No, you’re not seeing things.

The Swedish Dream is alive, real and waiting for you on the beautiful High Coast.

 

This article is produced by The Local Creative Studio and sponsored by High Coast Invest.

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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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