How to find work when you’re new in Stockholm
Publish date: 25 October 2023
Many of the jobs advertised in Stockholm will require that you speak Swedish. However, at the large international companies and some startups where the corporate language is English, Swedish is often not a requirement.
Some people move abroad for an irresistible job offer. But if you decide to settle in a new country for love or adventure, finding work can all too quickly become your biggest source of stress.
Many people who move don’t know anybody in their new city and can say nothing more than ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ in the local language. It’s easy to become disheartened – and even more so when Covid-19 restrictions make face-to-face networking impossible.
Here we offer a simple guide to some of the key steps you can take to boost your job prospects in your adopted home.
Finding work in Stockholm
Stockholm has an exciting start-up scene and is recognized as one of the most innovative cities in the world. Finding a job can be tricky, however, if you move to the city without an offer.
One site specifically for English-speaking jobseekers is www.jobsinstockholm.com, which also includes professional jobs in other parts of Sweden and useful tips for English-speaking job-hunters. Many jobs with start-ups appear in forums and networks, including Startupjobs.se and The Hub.
The Swedish Migration Agency and the Public Employment Agency regularly put together a labour shortage list (PDF, in Swedish) of occupations in high demand. If you’re offered a job on the list, you can then apply for a work permit from Sweden without following the usual requirement to apply from your home country.
Finally, what if you're ready to start your own business? It’s straightforward in Stockholm, especially if you choose to register as a “sole trader”. Could this be the time to challenge yourself by going it alone as a freelancer?
Employment sites
Major international sites with listings across industries include Monster, Indeed and Glassdoor (where you’ll also find reviews of companies by current or previous employees). Want to focus on jobs where you can work in English? The Local's job site is Europe's foremost hub for English-language jobs, reaching 50,000 jobseekers across Europe every week.
Keen to impress with your language skills and international experience? You could try Europe Language Jobs, which specializes in matching multilingual candidates with multinational companies and has job offers in more than 40 languages.
You may also want to look at job listings and support from public employment agencies. EURES is an EU agency set up specifically to help jobseekers find work and employers to recruit across Europe. It aims to ensure career opportunities for European citizens aren’t held back by issues such as language barriers, bureaucratic challenges, and local employment laws.
On the site, you’ll find jobs from public employment agencies in EU and EEA countries, as well as Switzerland, and as of January 2021, more than 2.3 million jobs are listed. Companies in Germany place the most adverts, followed by the Netherlands and France.
You'll find a wide range of job sites to search wherever you are. But sometimes the choice can prove confusing. Narrowing the search by focusing on specialist sites related to your industry may work for some. Stack Overflow, for example, is one of the world’s largest communities for programmers.
Digital networking: Be confident in what you can offer
You’re in an exciting new European city. But you’ve barely left home for weeks due to the pandemic and you don’t know how or where to begin your job search.
All is not lost. The opportunities for digital networking are greater than ever. Now is the ideal time to make new connections online – and the contacts, skills and confidence you develop could prove vital long after the pandemic is over.
Networking – in person or online – can be a “scary” process, says Shaena Harrison, Executive Assistant to the Director at LinkedIn Nordics. But you should take confidence from your willingness to switch country in the first place, Harrison advises. Finding a supportive ‘team-mate’ can also be vital to keeping you going.
“We’re ready for adventure when we move abroad, so we shouldn’t be afraid to tap someone on the shoulder – or to do the digital equivalent,” Harrison says. “With physical events, you can take a ‘wing person’. Even if you’re networking digitally, you could find someone to work with as a team.
“The most important thing is to ask yourself ‘why do I want to reach out to these people?’ Frame the answer in terms of what you can offer, rather than what you’re looking for.” To learn more about the Stockholm approach to networking, click here.
The tools to open up opportunities
So, what tools can you use to build your digital connections? Social media is likely to be key, of course, whether your preference is Facebook, Twitter, a younger rival or a dedicated professional network like LinkedIn.
Last year LinkedIn introduced an “Open to Work” setting. This means you can easily show on your profile page that you’re job-hunting – sharing this either with recruiters only or with all members. Those able and willing to pay a monthly subscription for LinkedIn Premium can also gain access to LinkedIn Learning, which offers a vast range of courses to help users upskill or reskill.
If you're not sure what you want to do next, many websites and apps offer personality tests that will offer quick advice on your aptitude for different careers. And don't forget to Google yourself and look at the results with the critical eye of an employer!
What if you're moving because your spouse or partner has landed a new job? Many major cities offer support networks for people in this situation, so it's worth doing a search. If this applies to you and you're new in Stockholm, click here to find out how the non-profit Stockholm Dual Career Network could help you.
Other employment websites are:
Jobbsafari, Beyondo, Monster, Medrek, Stepstone, Academic Search, BlocketJobb, Manpower, AcademicWork, Randstad, Graduateland, Neuvoo, Multimind, Incluso, Genvalues.