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City Cycling....

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:39:00 GMT

or how I get from Bed to Desk.

Job for the Boy

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:04:34 GMT

I have been working from home now for the last two and a half years, and it terms of mixing with Swedes and integrating with the society in which I have chosen to live, that was the worst thing I could do. But when people offer you work, it is hard to turn down.

So anyway, in the meantime, I have been doing things like posting my CV on Swedish job agency websites on a regular basis, and applying online for jobs, Over the past year, I guess I have applied for about fifty. A reasonable effort I would say, but I have not had a single interview. Until a couple of weeks ago....

I was putting some shopping in the car, and my mobile rings. Sounds ordinary doesn't it, but my mobile NEVER rings. It always gives me the willies when it does ring, good news never comes from an infrequently ringing phone. Anyway I had to get my brain in gear as it was a woman from an agency who had stumbled across my CV and she was asking me lots of tricky questions in Swedish. She was saying that she had a job for me that I may be interested in, “..er OK” I said trying to close the close the boot of the car with my chin.

She asked me down to meet with her in Gothenburg, which I duly did, which involved mainly padding out my CV and discussing “what kind of person am I”. It seems she was keen to get me to an interview at the company. So we agreed a date/time over the phone, apart from the oddness that Job Agency Lady (let's call her ”Jal”) was going to go to the interview with me, I really didn't think any more about it.

First thing, on Monday, I drove down to Gothunberg, it takes about an hour and a quarter, for a stress filled day in a real city. Got to the general location of the job agency, no parking places. Tried to phone Jal on her office and mobile, nothing. Great start. Drove to some multi story parking and the mobile rings. Jal tells me to meet her outside and I will follow her in her car. Originally I was going to ride with her in her car, which would have been a lot less stressful than following an ordinary looking Swedish car (a Saab) through a city full of Saabs.

We arrived at the my potential employers' premises without Jal losing her self-imposed tail (me). I shook lots of hands and we sat in a reception area, which turned out to be the precise location of the interview. Jal knew the level of my Swedish, and suggested that we did the interview, half in Swedish, and half in English. The boss suggested we start in Swedish... which tends to mean in my experience that that was the language of choice, and I'll be lucky to hear any English at all. And so it was. But, people nodded at my poorly constructed answers, they didn't laugh at my awful grammar, they seemed to understand what I was saying, even though I could hear mistakes after I said them.

The interview seemed to be over, and the boss showed me around the company, and soon Jal had to go and pick up her young child from day care, so I was left alone, just the boss and me. We discussed what the business did, a little more of my experience, and I think I was offered the job. The offer was lost a little in translation, I though I was being asked what I felt about the company, but what I was really being asked was how would I feel about working there. Well, I kept nodding and smiling, so I got the job.

I don't start for another month, but I am really excited. I have done what none of my peers have done, work for a non-UK company, outside of the UK full time, and I did the interview in a second language. On the way home I was way proud of myself.

I am doubly proud of myself, as often the first job an immigrant secures, is often a low skilled position, even if they have skills and a good education, getting an interview without having fluency is really difficult.

I start in a month, so I have time to learn what I said I knew on my CV.

Joke.

That is all.

LostInTheWoods

In Demand (possibly)

Wed, 16 May 2007 14:47:23 GMT

Just had a guy phone me up about some work in the UK, but he isn't the first. Often, once they understand that my geographic location is, erm... permanently Nordic, they hastily retreat and thank me for my time. This guy launched into a full on telephone interview, and was trying to talk me out of doing part time work and do it full time. I agreed, stating when I would be available.

I understand he has a job to do, he has to match up potential employees with companies, so I am used to these guys talking things up, but this enquiry was different. I am not going to hold my breath, hope requires effort, and I don't have enough energy for that at the moment.

OK, the tally so far:

Jobs Applied For: 4 (yeah I know, need to get going with this....)

Interviews: 1 (I think I will include the phone one as well.)

Job Offered: 0

Rejections: 1 (They placed someone before the application close date. Gits.)

Jobs Accepted: 0

That is all.

LostInTheWoods

New Blog Category, New Start

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 03:42:48 GMT

OK, after living here for nearly two years, it is now time for me to find gainful employment with a Swedish based firm. I have started this category to document how this pans out... I am optimistic, but finding a job here, where I am going to have to flex my new found foreign language skills, is going to be, well, interesting with a dash of scary.

At school I guess I was considered quite bright, I know this because I recently found some old school reports, but the words of praise were often proceeded with the words “Could do better.”. It seemed as though the teachers had a “Could do better.” ink pad and stamp that they passed amongst themselves for my reports.

Anyway, the one subject that I couldn't understand why I was really poor at was German. At that point Germany was a place far off that I had never visited, and learning it seemed like a academic exercise that I was no good at. I remember being kept behind class one day and being given the finger wagging treatment by a diminutive teacher (just Google-stalked her, she is still working as a foreign languages teacher) for handing in really poor homework. Foreign languages just did not stick... anyway I wanted to pursue a career in Science, so I guess you can see which way my brain was wired.

Spin forward about twelve years. I had a Swedish girlfriend and I was making frequent visits here, and don't believe what you've heard, not everyone speaks perfect English here. In the big cities maybe, but I have found people where I am very reluctant at times to speak English (to me anyway, maybe it's me?). So, at an age when it is not normally recommended, I started to re-wire my brain to accommodate a new language....

And it has not been easy so far.. but for the past nine months or so I have been going to school studying “Swedish for Immigrants”, and it has really helped. But I have seen loads of people who have English as a second language, shoot past me in their proficiency of Swedish. Tortoise and the hare-esque.

I am approaching my biggest test. The whole job thing. I am going to have to speak Swedish everyday, probably all day. With some help, I have translated my CV into Swedish, and I have tried (not quite successful yet) to post it online (yup, still a few issues with the lingo...), and Phase 2 of my integration here is about to start. Gulp.

That is all.

LostInTheWoods

Taa Dah! (or How did I get here?)

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:24:29 GMT

It seems to me, anyone who can bash a keyboard is blogging.... so here we go, this is my attempt at this new fangled phenomenon.

First thing you have to do, is select a category for this blog post... seeing as I haven't got a clue what to write about (joining the majority of the blogosphere then), I have gone for 'life', as this might make me sound deep.

As it seems most people have been blogging for what seems forever, I am not sure what to put in my first post... but here goes... the title sums up what is coming.

About two years ago, I didn't make a decision, it kind of crept up on me, and imposed itself on me. The decision was to leave the town, and more substantially, the country of my birth. Lots of things came together at once.... boring but fairly well paid job... even crap accomodation was expensive... learning a language with little opportunity to use it... and my girlfriend was kind of missing her home country.

So I broke the news to all my nearest and dearest that I would be leaving behind, and it was quite a moving experience. For some it was a surprise, for some no suprise at all. I choked up telling my father... and I got very touching messages in my leaving card when I left work. Some people asked me "When are you coming back to the UK?". My answer was truthful, yet sounded odd when I said it out loud: "Erm... based on current plans... never. (gulp)".

So a moving firm was booked, bills paid, plane ticket purchased, most of our worldly goods sold at local car boot sales or on eBay, and we were gone... well nearly.

One of the last things we did before going was to tell my "Nanna", who was in her 94^th year, that we were leaving the country for good. Her hearing was not so good, but I think she understood we were going to live abroad, and not just go on holiday. Sadly, five days after flying to our new home, she died, and we soon were heading back for the funeral. She was my last grandparent to pass away, and I still miss her and the two granddads that my brother and I grew up knowing.

So fast forward eighteen months to now... looking back over the time since then, many of life's frustrations have gone, replaced with just a few minor ones... and life is good. I have now realised, that I do not miss the place of my birth, just the people I know, and have known there.

So in my next post, I'll tell you where we moved too, and some of the the things I have learnt and discovered since getting here.

Thank you for reading this post.
That is all.

LostInTheWoods