Working part-time while studying is not only a practical way to ease the economic limitations of life as a student, but also an ideal way to gain work experience, meet people and, for international students, become more familiar with Swedish society.

According to a 2009 report (Saco and Svenskt Näringsliv), six out of ten university students work part-time in Sweden. There are currently about 320,000 students enrolled in higher education.

International students are allowed to work part-time while studying in Sweden and recent changes in legislation have made it easier for non-EU students to remain and work in Sweden after graduation.

Apply before your permit expires

According to the Swedish migration authority, in order to remain and work in Sweden after your studies, you must have a student residence permit and have completed at least 30 ECTS credits or one semester/term of postgraduate studies in Sweden. You must also apply for a combined residence and work permit before your student residence permit expires.

Working in Sweden can be highly rewarding and an excellent way to spark your career. “Sweden is a great place to work, especially in comparison with the US,” says American Rachel Weiner. “You get treated, in my opinion, much better by your employer, and the work-life balance is much stronger.”

Rachel Weiner appreciates the life-work balance in Sweden. Photo: Rachel herself

Weiner, who started working at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies, after studying at Uppsala University, says searching for a job is difficult, especially for young people with not much work experience. “Like everywhere right now, the job market is not the best, especially for new graduates. I actually got my job the ‘normal’ way, through applying and being interviewed,” she says, adding that a recommendation from an internship in Sweden was certainly helpful.

Being able to speak Swedish is also valuable for getting a job, she adds.

Talar du svenska?

Mert Kartal, who graduated from Lund University with a Master’s in European Affairs, found this out the hard way when he got a job interview. “Compared to the interviews I experienced in my home country (Turkey), this one was much easier,” he says. “People were easy-going and they just wanted to see if I was the right match for the vacancy.” However, although the interview was conducted in English, and the company required someone who could also speak Turkish, he soon discovered that Swedish was another requirement, and since he lacked that, Kartal didn’t get the job.

Mert Kartal advises foreign students to learn some Swedish before venturing out in the job market. Photo: Ceyda Onaran Kartal

“I would advise other foreign students looking for jobs in Sweden to seriously consider taking some Swedish classes offered by their university long before they graduate,” Mert says. “I believe this would probably be the only obstacle to getting a job in Sweden, since the education received at Swedish universities is more than enough to qualify for many jobs.”

Competition for part-time work

Political studies student Anton Serko from Belarus also found himself at a disadvantage without any Swedish, as he walked up and down the main streets of Lund looking for a part-time job. “I wanted to get a job mostly for the experience and to put myself in the shoes of working Swedes,” he says. “I had also worked as an exchange student in the US before visiting Sweden and I wanted to compare job conditions in those two countries.”

Anton Serko found himself competing with too many students for too few jobs. Photo: Uliana Evseeva

After going door-to-door to shops and cafes in central Lund, he gave up. “It’s pretty hard to find a job when half of the city consists of students seeking a part-time job,” he says. He advises other students to look for work in August instead. “This is the best time to get employment. Students usually go home for vacation and quit their jobs, so that is a good time to replace them.”

Chalmers MSc graduate Yoana Dimitrova says she was surprised and pleased to be offered a summer job in the R&D department at the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company, where she had applied many months earlier.

“I had been told by many people that jobs in Sweden don’t come about through applications but are normally distributed through recommendations so I was very pleased to get a job so closely related to my Master’s degree,” says the Bulgarian, who graduated in Bioinformatics. “I was very happy with my work and the relationship I had with my immediate supervisor.”

Yet despite her success with a summer job, Yoana still believes that it is hard for foreigners to get jobs in Sweden and says that it was with sadness that she and her international friends left Göteborg in the search for jobs and PhD positions elsewhere in Europe.

Building trust

Foreign students may need to work extra hard at building a relationship with potential employers.

As Canadian Shawn Mendes, who now works full-time at the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket), and studied political science in Sweden a number of years ago says: “I think that building trust with Swedes is more important than your knowledge, skills and experience. This is especially important for immigrants as we do not typically have well-developed networks in our sectors and do not naturally engender the same level of social trust as Swedish candidates for the same position.”

Facts about working in Sweden

• Guest students with residence permits, who are enrolled at Swedish universities or colleges and postgraduate students, are allowed to work in Sweden while studying and do not require a separate work permit.
• If you are a student and you have a job or have been offered employment in Sweden, you may apply for a combined residence and work permit if you plan on ending your studies and working instead.
• You must have a student residence permit and you must have completed at least 30 ECTS credits or one semester/term of postgraduate education in Sweden. You must apply before your student residence permit expires. (Nordic, EU and EEA students do not require a residence permit, but they do need to register at the Swedish Migration Board.)
• Further information about living and working in Sweden is available at www.studyinsweden.se/living-in-sweden and www.workinginsweden.se.
  
  

Cari Simmons

Swedish employees have it good! After various full-time jobs, Stockholm-based Canadian Cari Simmons went freelance, giving up comfort, security, team-building conferences and mandatory coffee breaks for the uncertainties of life in the freelance lane. She still believes that Sweden is a great place to work.