Getting a Job in Stockholm, Sweden for a foreigner

So you want to move to Sweden to work! Beautiful fit Nordic women, the pleasant sounding sing-songy language and a high standard of living tend to bring lots of people to Sweden.  However in fact so does the old love refugee story where a partner of non Swedish origin follows the Swedish partner back to his/her home country temporarily or permanently to live. 

The good news is that the Swedish economy and currency, although technically part of the Euro has held up well against all the problems associated with the rest of Euro and the 'Euro-Crisis' that has effected mainly the southern parts of the union.  Another advantage to working in Sweden is that unlike the Danish krona, the Swedish Krona is not linked to a standard exchange to the Euro meaning that it has not lost its value like the Euro has and is generally more stable then the Euro.

If you are thinking of moving to Sweden to work and are from outside the EU, be aware that before you arrive here, you will need to have already applied for and been granted a work permit in your home country.  Unless you have special circumstances, it does not work to move to Sweden first and then apply for a work permit.  The process is made much easier for those that are within the EU as you are technically allowed to reside in Sweden and work immediately but if you are from outside the EU the rules are quite a bit different and should be investigated at Migrationsverket's Homepage.  My circumstances were such that, i came to sweden to study as an international exchange student (from Canada) and people part of this program are allowed to work here on that study permit.  Also to convert a study permit to a work permit, you simply have to show that you have completed 35 credits of schooling before your permit expires thereby allowing you to work here permanently.

Thats the good news, now the bad news.

If you have anything foreign sounding about your name, think twice about coming here.  

Although it is not really talked about here in Sweden, the general attitude for short listing candidates for job positions in the country generally starts with a look at the persons name.  Anything with Mohammed or foreign sounding will get binned first and from there they follow the regular sorting process based on qualifications.  This has been tested several times by the news agencies by performing undercover tests to local companies and Sven Svensson was always chosen over Akbar Ahmed although the CV's were identical   

The other opportunity you have is to be overly qualified for the position you are applying for and willing to accept much less then you were earning back home (with my frame of reference being Canada).  I am making approximately half of what i took home monthly when compared to the level i was at back in 2007 when i moved to Sweden from Canada.  In fact it would surely be higher today if i were still in Canada, how much higher, i can only guess. 

The benefits here are many such as great child care, if you have children, a pleasant working environment, job security, and generally a more relaxed attitude towards work.  I can confirm first hand that given the choice to do what i was doing in Canada (Project manager) and working here in a similar position, i would pick Sweden hands down.  Life is too short to be pulling your hair out on the commute to work, stressful working environment, and stressful commute home.  As Sweden's public transport system is so well developed, you never need to be cut off by that rusty jalopy again.  You never have to stress at work about your assignment as you will generally get help from your co workers and the fikas are-a-plenty throughout the day.

One of the things you must get used to when working here is not to expect to save too much money every month.  The average Swedish Salary is around 20,000 SEK per month which works out to about 14,000 after taxes and remember you still have to pay your rent, food, electric, etc.....Foreigners generally earn more money because they are used to earning more money in their home countries.  Im not making a fortune but its over double the average and im happy with that.

Questions? Comments? Please post, i will help where i can!

The Swedish word of the day is: samarbeta which means to cooperate

Taxi's in Sweden: The Perfect Crime

Generally thought of as one of the least dishonest professions in the world, Taxi's have always bugged me.  Its fairly rare that i find a taxi driver that is not out to squeeze ever last öre out of your wallet and this is exceptionally true here in Stockholm. 

There are several taxi companies in the market and every so often the newspaper does a story on which is the cheapest taxi company out there with a few driving tests just to make the population feel better about how much they are getting screwed.

I have found that there are few if any 'Swedish' taxi drivers left out there, most of the drivers are immigrants to Sweden and couldn't care less about getting you to your destination on time or saving you any money.

For example: its normal here in Sweden to have a 'framkörs avgif't which basically is an extra cost on them having to come out to pick you up if your not living a hair away from the central station.  There is also 'vänta tids avgift' which replaces the framkörs avigft with one where the second that they start waiting outside of your door for you they start billing you.  This particular fee averages out to about 1 euro per minute, so about 60 euros per hour.  Even doctors don't make that kinda dough, figuring in that the 'time' of these members of society is worth about 10 euros per hour (a typical MacDonald's job) this fee is grossly unreasonable. 

Then comes the actual drive where the majority of the cost adds up.  This varies greatly with some dishonest taxis that peg the meter to the number of seconds in a minute meaning that the meter counts 60 SEK / 6 Euros no matter how far or fast your driving.  Your generally safer with Taxi Stockholm or Taxi 020 or Sverige Taxi but you can have bad experiences with these guys as well depending on who is behind the wheel.

The majority of people use taxis over the weekend when they are out partying with their friends to either get to or from the party.  And this is normally after a pre-party at home and here is where Taxi drivers take advantage of Swedes general nature not to cause conflict.  They will drive around in circles and take the most indirect route possible to a location just to run up the meter and when questioned will claim ignorance and state they have been driving for years yadda yadda yadda......

Not only that but with all the inebriated scantily clad swedish girls that are on their way home from the nightclub, its not entirely uncommon for sexual assaults by Taxi drivers which unfortunately happened to a friend of mine a year ago.  Its become such a culture of mistrust that the guards at nightclubs will even take down the liscense plate information about a taxi they put a girl in to ensure that nothing happens to her on her way home (which is how that particular taxi driver was caught and charged).

This culture of overpriced taxis have opened up an underground taxi industry which is unfortunately hundreds of times more dangerous then licensed taxi drivers.  It will always be non-swedish immigrants standing outside the closest food joint (McDonalds, etc) whispering out taxi, taxi.... hoping to get a bite and once you are in one of these 'Svart Taxi's' (quite literally black taxi's), who knows what will happen to you.  I have had a friend that was robbed at knifepoint for his bank card and pin number, i have had other friends sexually abused, the list goes on and on.

Tips and Tricks with Taxis in Stockholm (and Sweden for that matter):

• Speak swedish to the driver if possible, english speakers normally get a 'special rate' or route.
• Travel only with the above mentioned taxi companies (be careful, a lot of companies try to trick you with logos, names or cab coloring to make their vehicles look like one of the above companies
• Travel in small groups is possible, dont travel alone
• Know the route you want to take and the fastest way to get there before getting into a cab, google maps works great for this and with the advent of the smart phone you can access this information anywhere
• ALWAYS use the meter, some will try to convince you to use a 'fast pris' or fixed price rate

And if your open to it, USE THE DAMN PUBLIC TRANSPORT SYSTEM!  It runs 24 hours during the weekend and its quite fast and costs you next to nothing if you compare it with taxis!

The word of the day is 'Fuskar' which means cheat in Swedish

The Swedish banking system: wins & fails

One of the more evolved aspects of Sweden and Europe as a whole is the banking system here.  Gone are the days of cheques (or checks if your american).  As most people here bank over the internet, transferring payments between accounts and/or paying invoices is a piece of cake. 

In fact, once micro payments become more common place I see this system of electronic transfers a possible replacement for cash entirely.  Unsurprisingly, this was discussed in sweden a few years ago where the thought was that the entire country should switch entirely to a cashless (read: paper currency) based economy.  Such a move would be a boon to Skatteverket (the tax authority) here as a lot of transactions do occur 'black' otherwise known as untaxed here in the country.  Such a move would also reduce money laundering as funds could be tracked as they flowed through the system.

But what happens when electronic transfers go wrong? This was the case for me a few weeks ago as I had deregistered my vehicle and was expecting my road tax from the traffic authority back.  Now this should not be such a difficult thing to accomplish, one would think, however getting my funds back were more challenging then i could have imagined.

When i first moved here i opened up an account with SwedBank.  After picking up the language, i decided that i would switch to an internet based bank such as the one i use in Canada.  Skandiabanken was my choice and i went down to a local SwedBank branch and requested to close off my account.  Foolishly i figured that when I closed my account with SwedBank that my account would actually be closed.  Traffikverket uses Swedbank as the company to handle refunds of payments made to their organization.  I dont understand how it is so hard for them to type a few numbers in a form on the computer in order to refund people but whatever, so they use SwedBank.  When they received the funds, they saw that i had an account (which has laid dorment for almost 3 years) and thought great we can put the money in there and promptly sent me a letter that they had done this.

The frustration started when i tried to even contact Swedbank!, i have no account with them, no pin code no way to actually talk to a live person using their customer support line which asks you to key in your customer number and passcode and hangs up on you when you dont put in this information. 

After months of asking why they had put the money into an account that was obviously dormant,  i had to physically go to a branch and fill out paperwork to close my closed account again. 

The swedish word of the day is: Jobbigt which means annoying in english.

How did Americans get so fat???

why walk when you can Segway?

Vacation: Sun, Sand, New York Shopping Sprees......Jumbo Sized portions and even more Jumbo Sized people. I have been living in Sweden for 4 years now. I suppose that i might have a distorted perspective of the typical 'look' of a person when it comes physique. We have all heard the reports of how Americans are the most overweight people in the world. This is distorted however as whenever you see programming from the US, its full of good looking slim people.

Its not until traveling here that you see the truth.

If you can believe it, this picture below is actually true, and it gets worse then this. I was at a Subway in uptown Manhattan and two kids came in, they couldn't have been more then 6 and 8 ...they already looked like they were going to burst out of their skin. While waiting for their mom to come in they pulled up a couple of seats in front of the ordering counter and sat down. What is our world coming to?? The 8 year old polished off a full 12'' sub on his own...one that i, a 105kg adult felt sick after finishing. There were of course no veggies on his sub, only meat and cheese.


The 'burger queen' at Burger King.

Just as you get used to seeing healthy looking people in Sweden, you quickly come to the opposite realization here in the States. Huge portion sizes, cheap fast food, high fructose corn syrup in everything.

I went over to a hotel close to time square around 10pm one night to ask the person behind the counter if he knew of any good places to go to clubbing. he mentioned one to me and gave me the address. He then said it could be a bit of a walk but you can easily catch a cab out in front of the hotel.

The place was all of 4 blocks away!

I walked from the top of central park to time square on my first day in NY (around 60 blocks), to get a feeling for the city and see the sights. This is something i guess no one does here.

I think for the most part that people try to assimilate to their environment and try to match their surroundings. I think that this probably applies as well to ones weight. If you continually see fat people around, you are not going to think twice if your 8 year old weights 50kg.

I think that i prefer to see healthy people around me. I live a few minutes walk from a running/walking trail and people in Sweden are always active, ensuring that they stay fit and in good shape. It has shaped my action as well and im a lot more active in Sweden then i was while living in Canada. This is clearly visible when you look at photos of me before moving there.

The Swedish word of the day is 'träna' which means working out.

Trip to Iceland

It was time for the yearly vacation (not often enough-considering that when working in sweden you are entitled to 5 wks or more of vacation a year, compared to canada's 2) and this time i wanted it to be a longer vacation as i had not done anything outside of sweden this year.

I love NY: the sights the shopping and just the general business that you get there. I would compare it to bangkok or tokyo for the hustle and bustle that you see daily on the streets. Definitely nothing like Calgary, or Edmonton, Alberta where i had the fortune of living for the first 27 odd years of life. As i am on my last pair of jeans that has not entirely disintegrated on my body, I decided that it would be a great time to visit NY again.

Living in sweden gives one a multitude of choice when it comes to air carriers that can take you to the US of A. Fortunately this creates a bit of competition and round trip flights can be had for 500 € or less generally during anytime of the year. Based on the excellent service i received from them last time I decided that I would once again fly with Iceland Air. This gives you an advantage that you are not only getting a great price to your destination with them however you are also able to stop off Iceland for up to 3 months with no extra charge on your ticket. SOLD!

So I decided to do the entire icelandic experience this time and rented a 4x4 for some serious off-roading in order to see as much of the sights as possible. It was me and an Irish that on arrival were on a mission: drive the entire island and visit everyplace imaginable on the tourist map that is provided at the airport.

The result was good and bad. Turns out

Iceland, though it looks very small on a map, is crazy effin big! The roads are not straight nor are they level and driving on them tests the muscles in your neck as well as your rump. That being said, we decided that the best course of action was to see as much as we could along the southern cost and keep the traveling realistic. On returning the vehicle we had driven almost 2000km and visited all the major sights such as (MOUNTAIN THAT ERRUPTED), Several Glaciers and seen the dramatic change in not only landscape but weather patterns that occurred on the island. We even had the opportunity to high to a mountain hot spring and take a dip and to clime inside a once active volcano.

Icelandic people are smart. They know that their country (although for the most part self sufficient) is in the middle of nowhere and if it were not for their spoke like reach to several major cities in Europe and North America, tourism would not really be an industry anyone really depended on around here. to get people to come to Iceland they have excellent, roomy well equipped airplanes and friendly staff. There is no reason not to do a lay over in Iceland right now as their currency is currently in the buckets due to the financial crises caused by their banking sector a few years ago.

Not only are the Icelanders smart, they are equally (if not more-so) friendly. They speak perfect english and they seek out to help you if they see that your somewhat lost or unsure about a way to move forward. while i write this i have just seen an icelandic store attendant running out to catch an american customer who did not receive the proper documentation to receive their VAT refund.

Truly an honest and helpful people.

The Swedish Word of the day is: 'hjälpsam' which means Helpful.

Censorship in Sweden

Age appropriate entertainment

From my perspective there seems to be a disconnect in how the swedish people have decided to handle censorship. Growing up in Canada we have fairly strict regulations as to what is broadcast over the airwaves and a keen eye on how this material could be received by those that are not old enough to understand or interpret its meaning.

There is also a a lot of unrealistic censorship in sweden when the content could shed a negative light on decisions the countries leaders are making in the running of the country.

For example with the prevalence of english in the swedish media, one would expect that material is age appropriate considering the audience, time of day, and subject matter however, there seems to be nothing that prevents broadcasters from using 'vulgar' language such as the F word, S word, or any other word that would not be used in Canada. I have on several occasions seen this type of material being used in give away papers, radio, tv, etc. Could it be that the goal of the media is to alter the connotations of such language and to remove the stigma associated with it?

there was a mega hit single here by an artist called Eric Amarillo this year (2011) called 'Om Sanningen Ska Fram' which translates loosely to 'If the truth comes forward' and the entire song's about wanting to get laid. A catchy tune with a pretty suggestive music video however is this type of song appropriate for children? It would seem that the media here thinks so as he played this single at a children's amusement park called Skansen in Stockholm in front of hundreds of children and teenagers. During his performance, even I could sense that even he was not 100% when singing. Maybe the thought is that by continually bombarding people with sex that the taboo erases itself and it becomes nothing special.

In another example Veronicca Maggio a pop artist here has also released a single called 'Jag Kommer' which translates to 'Im Coming' but throughout the video the suggestion is not to arriving somewhere but instead to the sexual act of orgasim. It was even discussed with her during an interview where she played innocent and insisted that it did in fact mean the former. Once again, a very popular song, played all over the media but perhaps not totally appropriate to all audiences.

There was also the gay pride parade here in Stockholm which happens every Summer. There are always tons of people out for the parade and a number of very interesting themed vehicles which drive through the center of the city. This year i noticed some very racy, bordering on pornographic displays where in some cases people were completely naked on vehicles, in plane site of every spectator on the side of the road. Suggestions of saddo massicicism, sexual domination and the like. What sort of message does this send to children watching the parade and is it something they will understand or is it just a way to shock spectators?

Censorship on the reporting of crime is common practice here in Sweden as well. If a crime is committed by someone, you will not be given any information as to the name of the person or their original nationality if not of Swedish ancestry. As the government wants people to accept multiculturalism: if it is shown that a majority of criminal activities are being committed by non-swedes this would cause people to question how the government is going about immigration and integration in general. A number of independent people are reporting complete details about high profile cases but you will never see the same information information in the mainstream media. In canada there are regulations on what information is released but this is based on the age of the people involved, not their nationality. If tried in adult court, full name details are given so as to inform the public. Its somewhat confusing that in Sweden you can get anyones name, address, social security number, how much they made last year, and a bunch of other information on anyone with a simple search online but not information about who is committing crimes in the country.

The question then is: Why are people in Sweden putting up with the propaganda that is being sold to them by their own elected officials? Is it apathy, naïvety or ignorance? From my perspective the entire scandinavian culture is based on honesty and openness. Can Sweden keep this culture of openness in the 21st century and how will multiculturalism effect its outcome? Will Sweden have to abandon openness in order to be more like Canada, England, the USA etc. with strong privacy laws?

One thing is for sure, there is a conflicting message that is being sent out where on one hand you have sexuality and age inappropriate material being broadcast freely but a lack of transparency from a criminality standpoint. Is it wrong to shame those that commit crimes so that people realize there are consequences to their actions? Why protect the criminals and not the victims?

The Swedish word of the day is 'Sanning' which means truth.

Why do Swedish Airlines Suck and Keep going Bankrupt

On a flight with swiss airlines today to prague.
This is a short haul flight within the eu. i didn't pay much for the ticket and on the way back i will be flying with SAS / Cimber Airlines.

Onboard i have to compliment the airline, what a refreshing change to typical scandinavian air hospitality. Not only did i receive a hot meal (without having to pay extra for it) but on top of that, i could have had a beer to drink! imagine that, beer, on an airline for brunch. With the bargin basement fairs that are available now a days it seems that people have come to expect that everything on a flight (except for the oxygen) is going to eventually cost extra…It was Ryan air that was experimenting with charging for the toilets and even standing only seating for shot haul flights. For the sake of a kronor people are putting up with more and more to get less and less. It's kinda unfortunate. What is the limit? Will it be like a NY City subway in the summer with no AC and packed wall to wall seating?

I remember flying with Virgin a couple of years ago from dk to UK. onboard you were also served something to eat and drink. IM sure that 99% of the people on board were swedish and as such, they all requested just coffee or juice to drink. I requested something alcoholic and yes it was available and included. Later i asks the flight attendants how many of the passengers had requested something alcoholic to drink, i was the only one.

It seem that whatever sweden is doing to prevent alcohol consumption unless its during a friday or saturday seems to be working.

Im not sure about the state of financial affairs of Swiss airlines but I do know that SAS is always losing money, this despite the fact that they offer nothing in the way of extras like food or water. This primarily because they can't compete with airlines like Ryan air and Norwegian which offer the same in the lack of extras.

One thing that is quite different is the pay that these flight attendants and pilots receive. Seniority is key in Scandinavia, you can tell that with the flight attendants which on average are double the average drinking age. Don't expect to see any dazzling swedish blondes on the flights, unless you flew 20 years ago (the same ones are on current flights)

So what can be done to improve service quality and enable SAS to actually turn a profit? Firstly, get rid of all the highly paid employees which are sinking the company, start fresh by incorporating the company outside of sweden (if you don't do it, it will happen when SAS goes bankrupt and is sold to some other company outside of scandinavia).

I realize this is harsh and people will think that this is ultimately going to lead to the destruction of Swedish companies but if you look at whats been happening over the years, as companies grew large and successful they were sold off, it happened with Volvo, SABB, Absolut Vodka, the list continues….

One company I am very impressed with that is actually incorporated in Sweden and runs with Swedish employees is Malmö Aviation. They have managed to keep the prices low and the service level high. They saved my sanity during the 1.2 million seconds I was living in malmö with cheap air fairs to Stockholm that even included something to eat. I have noticed over the last year that the meals portions have started to get smaller and one less coffee round near the end of the flight but they are still bucking the normal Swedish trend.

Oh another flight attendant just came by, he brought me a piece of Swiss Chocolate, i think ill be flying with this airline more often.

The swedish word of the day is 'Kundtjänst' which means customer service.