Monday, September 10, 2007

Jobs in Stockholm - My Neverending Quest

Well, it’s back to the job search. I applied for six jobs today all around Stockholm. All of them either somehow related to marketing or to sports. Three of them I was definitely qualified for and three were questionable but worth a shot I figured. And I was on a roll.

Having applied for quite a few jobs here in Sweden I have started to realize that seldom do the Swedes send you notice of your application one way or the other. I keep a log of the jobs I apply for and when I applied for them and a majority of the job applications go back nearly three months with no answer. Now I think it’s probably a safe bet that they are nos but still. I think that if you take the time to apply for a job and show interest in a company the least they could do is send a response saying “Sorry, you didn’t get it.” I’ve also been receiving responses just recently from jobs that I applied for in the middle of the summer. Two months later I’m hearing back, come on now. I'm a simple man. I like simple things. Steak. Sports. Books. I also like common courtesy and a damn response now and then!

Anyway, I think I'm done with my rant. Back to today’s round of applications. With my ranting in mind, I have already been turned down for two of the jobs. I applied for the job at 1:36pm. I received an e-mail saying they were moving on with different candidates at 2:00pm. That’s 24 minutes. Impressive here in Sweden. It was from an American company though. Now I expected to be turned down for this job, it was an HR job and I have done a bit of work with HR before but basically I just wanted to get my CV in to the company. Now it goes on file with them which I figure is better than them not having it at all. Well following that e-mail I received another no. This one from a job that I was on the cusp of being qualified for. They needed a junior marketing manager and wanted three years of experience. Well I’m not quite there but was close so I figured I’d go for it. Again, I wasn’t pinning all of my hopes on this job at all but thought I might at least get some consideration. Nope. They took only two hours to shoot me down. At least I got a response though! This came from a Czech company, again not the Swedes.

I’ve got a meeting tomorrow afternoon about a job opportunity. Not really an interview just kind of a possibility to explore. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll be honest though – I’m not all that confident. They are a very new organization and don’t have a whole lot of opportunities right now, but I would definitely enjoy working with them I think. Maybe they will just be completely wowed by my charm and good looks. Probably.

17 comments:

  1. I lied, I actually applied for eight jobs, not six. Oops.

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  2. I so agree with you about this not responding to the status of one's job application. Actually it seems like this is prevalent all over Europe and not only in Sweden. I hope you get the job you're aiming for! Cheers!

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  3. I'm glad to hear it's not just the Swedes. It's definitely frustrating never to hear back.

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  4. I'm an American in America ;) desperately looking for a job in Sweden.

    So far, I applied to 11 jobs and received 4 emails back with "Thank you for applying, we are reviewing your resume" - Not sure if that is good or bad.

    The remaining 7...I have yet to hear from.

    Although, the Americans do the same. I will apply for jobs and three months later get a call from someone. What? I'm supposed to remember you know?

    I always find the job market like the dating market. Rejection, rejection, date, rejection, date, fall in love.

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  5. @sapphire I suppose it probably is common no matter where you are, it's just ridiculously frustrating! Not sure about the reviewing your resume e-mails. At least you know you got it though so thats a start. Good luck with your job search!

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  6. Try JobsinStockholm.com for English speaking professional jobs in Sweden!

    Good luck with your job search.

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  7. I definitely appreciate the tip! I actually had been checking out that site earlier. But since this post showed up on the blog I've actually managed to snag myself a fulltime job. Thanks though!

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  8. Did you ever find a job in Stockholm? I recently visited on vacation & fell in love with the city. If so do you have any good tips?

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  9. I did find a job. I had the best luck by just emailing places I wanted to work and getting in contact with them and sending a cover letter and cv.

    also workey.se is a good aggregating site for jobs. just type in english in the search bar and it spits out all kinds of english speaking jobs.

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  10. Thanks for the tip :) I will keep you updated on my success

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  11. No luck so far in my job hunt, not even a call back or follow up email. I have applied & sent my resume to several companies in Stockholm. I will not let it discourage me, I will stay persistent. If you hear of anything for an English speaking professional I would greatly appreciate the referral.

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  12. welcome to sweden. unfortunately. in my experience youll find that youll continue to get no response from people. its quite rude. bt apparently just how t works here. keep trying. check out thelocal.se and workey.se as well as monster.se.

    good luck!

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  13. I am apprehensive to move to Sweden BEFORE I have a job. Is it at all likely to find a job in Stockholm while still living in the states?

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  14. its damn tough. I didnt get a job until I actually moved here.

    check out workey.se. its in swedish but just type in english and it will pop out all kinds of english speaking jobs. also check out thelocal.se for jobs.

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  15. Thanks for the job links. Are you still working at the same job you got in Sweden?

    Just found some small stuff on workey.se link you had mentioned.

    <-- currently working in South Korea.

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  16. Ive had two jobs since I moved here, but the one I am currently in I have been in for well over a year now.

    glad to hear workey.se gave some results!

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