Real life experience

Hi Yazzi,

You said in the other thread that you have a Norwegian girlfriend.  That should make everything a little bit easier, especially when it comes to getting accommodation.  At first, you should let her handle everything that isn't to do with your own registration in Norway (Norwegian NI number, police/community registration).  Let her take care of finding a flat, have the electricity bill in her name, and use her personnummer to register your new Norwegian sim card.

She can't help you find a job, however!  You said you wanted to work as an accountant.  An employer is not allowed to discriminate against you if you don't speak Norwegian unless they can show that Norwegian is a requirement for the job.  Most companies will be happy enough to hire a native English speaker, seeing it as a benefit to the company.  This doesn't mean that they won't expect you to learn Norwegian, however.

Try, try, try, really try, try as much as you love your girlfriend to learn as much Norwegian as possible, and as good as possible before coming to Norway.  Very very important.  Yes, Norwegians have good English, and yes you don't 'need' Norwegian to get around, but you're going to wish you could speak Norwegian when you realise just how much of society revolves around language and the use of language.  One day you will realise that you're expected to function as an adult, but you can't even read the headline of a newspaper, or write a birthday card.

Try to move at the beginning of the year (January-February).  The earlier in the year the better.  The first six months are the hardest, and if move at the beginning of the year, then the days are getting longer, the weather is getting better, and it's a much nicer environment.  You don't want to compound your struggle by adding in the eternal darkness of the winter months.  Even now the sun sets at quarter-to-five.  In a fortnight, my work day will be longer than the actual day.

Do you have any more specific questions, because I feel like I'm just rambling now :-).

Many thanks for your time and your reply. It has given a few hints of what to expect and what to do in my plans. As you said I will try to learn Norwegian.

Pleas allow me to contact you if I have got any specific questions.

Many thanks again

Any tips of the best places to visit on the net or else ware to look for jobs. I have been visting NAV, Eures, Stat oil and some other websites, but they do not seem to advertise a lot of Accounting jobs, I am starting to think that I might be looking at the wrong places.

Please advise if you know any places or things that I have to do to look for Accounting jobs.

Or what do you think if I started looking for any type of work until I settle down and then move into Accounting sector.

Cheers

Yazzi:

Getting a job in Norway (or looking for work in Norway) is much the same as anywhere else.  If there weren't many accounting jobs advertised in the UK, what would you do to get a job?

Are you searching in Norwegian?  Try finn.no, zett.no, and sign up for the various agencies, especially Manpower.  Manpower are excellent.

When I moved to Norway I had no job, no work experience, and no money.  What I did have was a university degree and the determination to find not just any work, but the work I wanted.  I found a job within two weeks.

What I did was I made a list of every company in Bergen beginning with 'A', and prioritised the list based on how much I wanted to work for the company (for example, top priority would go to web design/development houses, lesser priority to general programming houses, all the way down to being web-admin for larger companies).  I removed all the other companies.  If I wouldn't do that job in the UK, I'm not going to do it Norway.  I then researched each of the companies online, and sent a unique opening letter and CV directly to a relevant person in the company, by e-mail.  I wrote an eye-catching e-mail subject line, opened the letter with a glimmering quote from my university superviser, explained what experience I had, and why I wanted to work for their company.  I finished the letter with a PS, telling them that I will phone them on such and such a date at such and such a time to tell them about (for example) how I developed wiki software for a team project, and if that date and time wasn't convenient, then they should send me an e-mail, and we can organise a more convenient time.

I sent out about ten of these "packs" to companies beginning with 'A'.  A few of the companies replied immediately, thanking me for the letter and CV, and explaining that they didn't have any positions, but that they would keep me on file.  Most of the companies didn't reply at all.  So I phoned them on the date and at the time I said I would, and some of them said that they were sorry but there wasn't anything open at the moment, etc.  Two asked me in for an interview.  One company replied to me immediately and said they wanted to meet me.  That is the company that I now work for.  They hired me on the day of the interview, and actually created a position for me.

If I were to do it again, I wouldn't start with 'A', I'd start with the yellow pages, and find the companies in town which are in the sector I'm most interested in.  I would then apply to those in a similar manner.

Like I say, finding a job in Norway isn't all that different to finding a job in the UK.  The only difference I can think of is that in Norway, being English is a unique selling point.  In fact, I used my Scottish nationality to my advantage when applying for jobs, highlighting the different perspective I could bring.

sctld wrote:

Manpower.  Manpower are excellent.

I'd have to disagree with you there. I filled out their forms and registered with their system etc and I've never heard from them once, even for temping stuff.

Maybe i'm just not man enough for Manpower?

godsavetheking wrote:

sctld wrote:

Manpower.  Manpower are excellent.

I'd have to disagree with you there. I filled out their forms and registered with their system etc and I've never heard from them once, even for temping stuff.

Maybe i'm just not man enough for Manpower?

It's fine to disagree (but don't make a habit of it!), since excellent is of course relative to other agencies.  One agency I signed up for didn't get back to me for six months.  Another didn't even get back to me at all when I sent my feelers their way.  Manpower, on the other hand, offered me a range of jobs (none of which I was particularly interested in, but I appreciate the effort), and also gave me some advice for my CV/Résumé, and advice about Norwegian workplaces and what I might need to do in order to adjust to the Norwegian way of doing things.  Quite useful, I thought.

Maybe it's Oslo Manpower that's been the problem?!

Hi sctld,

You gave a very detailed and helpful tips.

I appreciate such generosity. Keep it up!

Hello, guys
Could you please tell me whether it is possible to find a job in Norway in Education sector: Teaching English, since I don't have any other qualifications.
Thank you all!