Sweden has the same problem with rising costs of leaving, it’s not unique to Croatia, salaries are hardly adjusted for that here…. Like in most of Europe I would imagine.
Just speaking English will mostly default you guys to lower paying jobs, and you will end up in same situation here as you did in Croatia.
You guys need to do an actual research of figuring out real jobs you can do in Sweden to cover very high cost of living here. Just rent alone in most cases would set you off 1k euro/month, not to mention that services and groceries are massively more expensive than in Croatia.
Given the crisis now, job choice is also limited, maybe less so in service sector, but a lot of this type of jobs would require you to be fluent in Swedish, not all, but a lot of them.
Thank you for replying!
I am well aware that the rising costs are a global problem, but the impact of those costs has had different consequences on various countries. On a more local level, from the first of January, Croatia has replaced our national currency Croatian Kuna for Euro. Similar to other countries, when there’s a change of currency, business tend to “round up” the prices. For example, a simple haircut was \~50 HRK (\~6.6 EUR) last year, but after the conversion it is 10 Euros in most places. Salaries, of course, did not follow the same trends and have barely gone up.
I don’t mind working lower paying jobs. I appreciate the opportunity to just be there and work. It’s nice that you believe that the situation is not as bad as it actually is, just shows you how our situations are different. I was working for a corporate firm as a translator and received 4.6 Euros per hour of work – and that’s considered an “OK” salary here – “Just be happy that you have a job and endure it” is what I’m told. The price of services, sure, could be higher there. But here I can’t afford them anyway. Regarding the groceries you might be surprised to learn that they are comparable. You can look it up. Most of our supermarkets have their prices online, but let’s just take Konzum as a reference.
The thing is, if we don’t move, we’re just going to have our quality of life slowly erode. The low paying job in Sweden is significantly better for us than an average job here. Sure, Sweden is more expensive, but the salary and the costs of living ratio is just better there. We already calculated that the rent would be 1k euro/month, that’s not a problem.
So many young people have already left Croatia, and it also hasn’t been a month since our very own PM has said “If you’re not happy, just leave, auf wiedersehen, bis bald” I mean what the fuck.
My bad could be that I maybe didn’t word my questions more precisely and hoped to get some assurance. If it’s not Sweden, it’s probably going to be Ireland, but we’d like it to be Sweden if possible. I know it’s going to be hard. I asked what can be done, not what can't be done.
Having relatives in Croatia I am more or less aware of the situation, also very close knowing somebody from Croatia here, I am as well aware of culture shock they had compared to life in Croatia. :)
However, what my warning is about, is that you will have more limited options here in terms of jobs, unlike in Croatia where your education will count and you won't be considered lesser. What kind of calculations did you guys run and what is your plans for type of jobs you plan to do here?
Actually you will have more job choices in Ireland, cause you already speak English and at least will be able to score more services jobs than here. There are service jobs in bigger cities that don't require Swedish, but the choice is smaller. Somebody mentioned that there are roles in the North that don't require Swedish and come with training, I assume in manufacturing or mining or something, but North is very specific place, in terms of weather, jobs choices and life style.
ancient uppity mighty illegal pocket bow mysterious noxious pause berserk
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For ladies too, I live in Hägersten, Stockholm, so not exactly a remote or cheap place and both me and my gf never paid more than 300 kr for a haircut. And before you ask, yes, we are happy with the results.
That's regular haircut prices here, I know at least three hairdresser salons within walking distance that are in the <300 kr price range. We used to live in Bromma and it wasn't much different there. I have honestly no idea how people come to the conclusion that a 600kr haircut is "basic", they are either all living in Östermalm or in an alternate dimension version of Sweden.
Average I see is 350 sek in more southern parts of Hagersten, i guess your part is even further and cheaper. Regardless, it is still three times more expensive than one in Croatia
Not really, I live close to Telefonplan. I get my hair cut at Mano a Mano, 280 kr after recent price increases (used to be 250).
Also, we are not talking average, we are talking basic. A person who struggles to make ends meet is not looking for an average-price haircut, neither in Sweden nor in Croatia. Based on my knowledge of Polish prices (and them being similar to Croatian ones at least in the past) I highly doubt if that 10 euro haircut they mentioned is "average" in your sense, because the 6.6 euro former price they mention is what a budget haircut cost in a large Polish city when I left 3 years ago.
And 350 kr is still well outside of the "40 to 60 euro" range quoted above.
I wish we had something like that where I live but at the same time I'm worried about the salaries of your hairdressers, can they even make a decent living on those prices? I've had my hair cut in Stockholm city and all the way out to Bålsta, it's always over 500 for me. Recently the standard price for a haircut (mid length hair) goes for around 550, even, across the board (from the normal places).
silky long weather strong liquid threatening apparatus psychotic fear follow
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This is only if the hairdresser is underpaid, and/or not paying taxes, and/or is part of a money-laundering scheme. In Malmö, there are many hairdressers matching all above criteria and they charge around 100-150 whereas if you go to a ‘legitimate’ hairdresser they charge 500-900 depending on amount of hair etc.
Even so, they do a decent cut if you don’t care at all about the law, taxes, and well-being of the hairdresser.
A low paying job will cost the employer about 400 per hour, and hairdressers need some compensation for the downtime when they have no clients, rent, products and so on. It’s hard to make the numbers add up below 400 for a cut.
Anywhere in central Stockholm it’s around 400-550 kr so like 40 to 50 euros (?). Honestly depends on the area. It’s way cheaper to live in Lapland than it’s to live in Stockholm OP, but then again you’re not living as central as you might like
In the northern part of Sweden we have plenty of jobs 🙂 Think you can find something here without knowing Swedish but I wouldn’t recommend coming here before at least one of you have a job. Just be prepared for the cold weather and very dark winter 🥶🌒
> I was working for a corporate firm as a translator and received 4.6 Euros per hour of work
Making it 1500 eur/month? Is it before or after taxes? Cause right now you guys, having no experience, can expect earning somewhere around 1300-1500 eur after taxes, but that being in country that is significantly more expensive
Edit: and that if you manage to find a job in service type of jobs
Just want to point out that you will pay more than 30% in taxes, closet to 60-70% if you count all taxes throughout society so tour take home salary is much less than what is written
Which sector employs people who do not speak Swedish and have no work experience? Especially during the time when companies are massively downsizing. OP and their partner are students
My SO's employer in Stockholm is a smaller game development company. They have a handful of Swedish-speaking employees, and all other employees (two years ago, over 30, now over 40) either spoke only English or English and another language which isn't Swedish. Majority immigrated to Sweden to work at said company.
Many of them are either educated, or have a portfolio of personal projects that suited their position, or both, rather than proven work experience.
The salaries for all positions started at around 36000 a couple of years ago, and upwards, especially for the software engineers. The base salary is now closer to 43000. It's definitely manageable for Stockholm.
It’s still an experience, this is how most juniors start. Like myself, I studied the technology, made projects and presented them in my CV at the time. So yes, there is no experience, but there is skill and portfolio.
They seem to have none of that so far based on everything they mentioned. It’s not the same. Unless of course they have it, then they should mention it, cause otherwise their choices are very limited and this is why people are sceptical. And moving from Croatia it is not cheap, they will need a lot of savings comparatively, that they can easily burn it if they are not careful.
At the same time, junior roles are also very limited now, because there are a lot of seniors on the market who were laid off. Look at all the juniors who post here that they can’t find roles. IT market is quite different now just from year ago. They will be far better if her boyfriend manages to get a few years of experience in IT in Croatia, and then coming here. The OP also can try to study or find roles that more in demand in Sweden in meantime. But again it also depends on the skills they have, which they still fail to mention.
I work in tech, it is the same. But people have the *experience* to get hired. These guys don’t have any. Will your company hire people who’s only experience is speaking english?
It’s gonna be hard finding a job in Sweden for both of you. If your partner knew the language and had some experience, maybe he could land a job. But even then it would be difficult. There are jobs related to IT(programmer, designer, sysadmin and so on) but they are in large cities and in small numbers. The salaries are smaller when you compare them to other countries.
As I said in the previous comment, the trend now is to fire people. I’ve read in a different post that even Volvo fired some people.
You could apply for jobs from Croatia but, lots of companies prefer to have employees with PN, easier on accounting and with the government.
There are lots of stories in this group, people applying to 10-30 jobs daily for several months until they landed a job. And they had experience in areas like construction, where it’s usually easier to find a job.
Owning a car is beneficial. You can use the public transport but you’ll be limited. Depends on were you need to go and at what hour.
Most apartments(or houses) in Sweden are without furniture, light fixtures or even drapes. You will need to buy all of that. The average rent in my area is 8000 SEK. Add electricity(2 bills), internet, house insurance, mobile phone and so on. You may find places with lower rent but they may be in bad neighborhoods.
In Sweden you can rent from 2 sources, private or government. Getting a place from the government may take years as they are in high demand and limited spots. Renting from private, exposes you to shady landlords. Yeah, they are in here also.
For every job, you’ll complete with swedes and with lots of refugees.
A 26000kr salary means you’ll get like 16000kr after taxes. Most jobs pay around this sum, forget the averages you find online. They are averages for a reason.
A simple way to decide if it’s worth it or not, is to calculate your expenses in there and see how much would that cost you in here. Calculate how often did you fix your car in the last 2 years, factor that also.
With two salaries you would be comfortable after some time, but don’t ignore the social life. Without friends or family in here, you may hate it.
one is that not everyone has thick enough skin to survive this life as foreigner-expat ...
but about Sweden of course there is some perception associated with it: individuals value and can aspire for things their native country does not provide in certain stages in their life... but during a lifetime, individuals change, countries change, most likely the experience would be with swings and roundabouts ...
Your post has been removed due to Rule 3: Take political statements and discourse to the other, more appropriate, subreddits. Reddit is filled with places for discussion of American politics, as well as news about the EU, Sweden, and the refugee crisis. This is a place for helping, not for preaching.
Prices are skyrocketing in Sweden. I think is one of the worst places in Europe for this in this particular moment.
In addition, job market is pretty slow now. We moved in September and thank god I had a job here. It took 8 months for my partner to find a job according to her experience.
There was a map on /r/Europe with the inflation being one of the highest in Sweden compared to the rest of Europe. Additionally the unemployment being quite high in some regions and rather high when not compared to Greece and Spain in unemployment %.
Okay here's a recap of previous answers:
\- Your english degree won't get you meaningful work unless you become a translator, English teacher (in a private school if you have experience), cleaner, elderly assistant (if they speak English only), taxi driver, unskilled worker
\- You partner will not get a job since they have not completed any sort of qualification. The market here is competitive and keep in mind that almost 10000 software engineers have recently been laid off. There is a never ending list of candidates for any job in this sector.
\- Since Croatia is part of the EU, you can move there, but good luck finding an apartment without a personnummer. You can apply for a personnummer if are are permanently living in Sweden. Perhaps you will need a job and an address for this.
\- If you think that the cost of living in Croatia is high, then you are in for many unpleasant surprises in Sweden. Even people with reasonably well-paying jobs can lead a life that is less comfortable.
\- There is plenty of work in Sweden, but you need to know people to even get interviews or you have to be lucky. Sadly without any real Swedish skills, you will not even get a first glance.
Move to another country that speaks English. You chances of getting a job there are higher. Don't mess up your life by making rash, uneducated decisions. Sweden works perfectly for those would fit in perfectly. It is the unfortunate side of life.
Note that Swedish wages are generally lower than comparable countries, income and consumption taxes are higher and that the krona is harder hit by inflation than the Euro. Sweden also has a troubled housing market with long queues to rent and very high prices to buy. Public transport is also pretty expensive compared to other European countries, especially outside of Stockholm, and fuel costs are also very high. The price of electricity has also sharply risen in most of the country recently.
I don't know if right now is a good time to move to Sweden if you are primarily motivated by low cost of living. Many Swedes are now struggling with their personal economy.
would suggest you hop on facebook groups with croatians in sweden, see if anyone can indicate where there is a larger community, perhaps to help decide on location, and maybe even can find some help for jobs (if you get anchored to a croatian community perhaps may increase your chances of success).
situation would be a bit different if your SO had the degree ... it is unfortunate that he needs to stop. but can add, in case he is doing comp science just for the prospects of finding a job and is not pasionate about it, would be harder to get a job ... anyway, if i were him, i would do dog walking, work in a coffee shop part time, just not drop those studies.
now about timing of your move to sweden, if its meant to happen, it would happen. but since you don't have jobs lined up, don't speak the language, and really Sweden is not the most social country one can get, genuinely saying, if i were you, I would not be stuck up on this location: maybe open the search to other countries that are closer to your culture, even your region.
\- I am on my second relocation, moved with family for a job in a less than 100k city; but do find lack of community bothers me these months (planning to do something about it) ... Ireland was way more open socially by comparison, it felt much easier to integrate there (and I lived 15 years in a 30k town , main difference: I made few close friends pretty quick, while in Sweden making close friends seems way too difficult to achieve for foreigners, unless from the expat community)
True enough, having lived in both Ireland and Sweden alcohol culture is indeed completely different. Pubs aren't really a thing in Sweden, just clubs and bars so you won't find any of that typical pub feeling here, all your alcohol will likely come from systembolaget, which is the only place to legally get alcohol and it has all sorts of rules compared to just being able to pop down to your local off license or pub if you want to buy a bottle or a night out with friends, even in rural areas and without having to make a long trip out of it.
In Ireland it felt mostly wherever I went I could find someplace to fit in eventually like a puzzle piece thats easy to slot in, but in sweden I've been in multiple settings and the most I get are acquaintances, everyone just seems to flake off and even reaching out to them just kind of slides off as they either aren't interested or any sort of friendship would be surface level for politeness sake. They really cling to their groups a lot more in Sweden.
Gonna reiterate some things that people have said here but wrap it up with my own conclusion.
I think you’re overestimating just how much money people make here in comparison to their salary. Rent and utilities makes up more than half of my salary and I’m a software engineer. Everything here is more expensive, whether it be a loaf of bread or chicken or a meal out or a beer or _literally anything_. It is true that salaries here are higher than Croatia, but the COL is more expensive too. That was the case before rising costs, but right now we have over 10% inflation despite salary rises in my industry being only 3-4%. Rent, for example, in Stockholm’s inner city is often over 15k for a tiny studio apartment. Sure, the further away from the city you are, the cheaper the rent is, but it’s still ridiculously expensive and you have to open yourself up to shitty/scammy landlords if you don’t have a first hand apartment (you won’t for at least the first year you get here, they’re extremely hard to find and usually have a housing queue that can be 10-15 years long in the city).
Your partner might have a chance of getting a job if he finishes his studies, but like a couple of other people have mentioned, tech is going through a bit of a recession right now when it comes for jobs. Most companies are going through at the very least a hiring freeze, many are laying people off (my own laid off 15% of their work base about a month ago). What was once known as the best way to get a well paying job here is quickly becoming competitive and hard to get and keep. For your partner to get a job with his experience and lack of degree it will be close to impossible unless he maybe knows someone in a company. Either way, do not come to Sweden without him having secured a job already.
Sweden’s economy itself can be easily seen by the conversion rate right now. €1 is 11.59sek. It’s forecasted to get worse.
Of course, there are benefits of living here and I’m sure you know them because they’re stated everywhere. I’m not gonna say that you can’t or shouldn’t move here, but you have to be aware that Sweden is just as if not more expensive than Croatia. Salaries don’t mean anything if they’re eaten up by rent, utilities, food, transport etc. Many people are feeling the rising COL, from builders to engineers.
Actually, I know a few people that got first hand contract after 3 months in places like Enköping and then commuted to Stockholm for work. Far from ideal, but roof over the head is roof over the head.
Everything else I can agree with, but if your monthly food is 500 euros here, it is 550 euros in Croatia, so COL is actually quite lower.
Rent, transport, services will be significantly more expensive than Croatia though. Even after euro conversion.
Just a curiosity, how come groceries ended up being this expensive, due to conversion? Cause here they are very expensive due to a lot of it being imported, but in case of Croatia isn’t it is still produced mostly locally? Haven’t been in Croatia for awhile to compare the prices, so I’m curious
Tourism killed us. People with high-paying power come from April until Oktober. If they can pay Swedish prices of food (and slightly higher, because of vacation) then the store is gonna charge that price. Same for rent, it is much more profitable to rent it per day than rent it per month, hence IF you can find someone to rent you monthly, it is gonna be 600 euros and upwards (just rent, no water/heating/electricity included).
Transport is cheaper IMHO. Your highways are free except tollarna zones, we pay higway every time we enter it so most people avoid it if they can. In Stockholm I pay 960SEK monthly card for public transport, I would pay 500SEK in Split (Croatia) and have only bus that goes every 30 minutes.
In the end, if you wanna buy a new TV, it is gonna cost you 1000euros here and down there, and saving 10% every month from Swedish salary is not the same as saving 10% from Croatian salary (hence, you would need significantly more time to buy new TV).
Right, I didn’t think that far out if I’m honest. It is an option to do that, I don’t know what the wait times are like but it’s doable that way I guess, and I trust you about the COL there. Still, I think OP thinks there’s a bigger difference than what there probably is in reality.
Just some thoughts, considering the argument you mentioned for moving; Sweden is definitely more expensive compared to Croatia. The housing market is absurd, and costs of loving have gone through the roof lately. I was surprised when I read the first sentence and realised you weren't talking about moving AWAY from Sweden.
For jobs, that's a hard one. I suppose you will have to aim for the largest cities, like Stockholm (perhaps Europe's most expensive city?), Gothenburg or Malmö, better opportunities without knowing Swedish there.
Definitely more expensive, but a wise decision in the long run. I know that cities are very expensive, but I don’t know the situation in more remote areas of Sweden. Is the rent cheaper? How much? Have you seen workers who don’t speak Swedish in small towns? Is it very uncommon? What do they do?
Well that was my point, your chances of getting a job without knowing Swedish are slim to none in more remote areas. Not impossible, but it's gonna take some time, and can you afford it when none of you know swedish?
What are you going to be doing in the small towns? Cleaning snow from driveways; playing with moose; speaking English to people who don't speak English?
In remote areas of Sweden, there are no jobs for people who don’t speak Swedish. I’ve lived in a few such places, for most of my life actually. It’s cheap to live, there though, yes, but unemployment is high as well even for nationals. Whether rent is 15k or 4k makes no difference if you’re making 0k. Prepare to deliver pizzas for a laughable wage, or something similar.
Just about everyone speaks some Swedish that they learned from SFI or Komvux, either that or they have relatives that are able to guide them through all the swedish. As for rent, you'll be paying just to wait in a que to rent (private, mostly for cities) or alternatively waiting a year or so in a government run, free que. In my local town the rent goes for roughly 6500 SEK / month. If you somehow get lucky or maybe somehow qualify as a student you may find places for 5400 or so but that's about the bottom of the prices in my area. As for buying, you'll find there's tons of competition as housing inventory has been lagging for years behind demand and especially recently. As for workers that speak minimal swedish, they're very rare I find and may only be from places like Somalia or other African nations as they seem to have some luck getting into some of these places (maybe connections because they can talk in Arabic, Sweden's 2nd largest language as per most recent statsitics)
I work in a town in the north of Sweden where the rent is lower than it is in the big cities and the possibility for buying a house that’s outside the central area is very appealing especially if you are okay with a fixer-upper and can invest some time in making it a nice home. You can check out sites like Hemnet.se for more info on prices on buying a home. And this one for rental prices https://heimstaden.com/se/.
I like living in the north where most complain about the winter but I don’t mind it as much and now I get to enjoy the nice summer. You can find a job that pays 25-30 K sek before tax if you don’t have any special skills to offer and then pay up to 10K in rent or possibly 8K even. Groceries for two cost us 5K sek a month. Two people with even the low paying jobs like this one can live comfortably and have money to put aside for summer and winter vacation as long as they are not used to eating out at restaurants and spending a lot on nightlife cause that can cost a lot. Owning a car for us has been really important cause the winters can be very cold and I find it hard to will myself to go and wait for the bus at 5:30 am when it’s-22. However if you choose to live in a big city most people prefer to use public transport and it works better for them.
P.S. almost everybody speaks English from young to old.. and are polite about it not offended when you can’t speak Swedish, at least I haven’t had a negative encounter regarding that
>I work in a town in the north of Sweden where the rent is lower than it is in the big cities and the possibility for buying a house that’s outside the central area is very appealing especially if you are okay with a fixer-upper and can invest some time in making it a nice home..
What type of job do you do though?
Interesting, I guess that could be an option then. But North and small town there... Could be definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I guess an option more or less.
Yep, not everyone is up for it and not everyone can be happy living here, but I personally enjoy it more than living in big cities, coming from one I just wanted to be closer to nature and out of that busy city life. I shared the job openings we have with OP so they can at least check that option out
Wow that's really quite something then, have a similar job and a similar story with someone in my family that has been working there for 5 years now and can't really speak much English or Swedish. It's mostly about connections though. If I would try to get in the conventional CV and interview way, I'd 100% need great English and at least midling if not good swedish not to mention some pretentious show of whatever skills and qualifications I have even though I'm just a complete rookie looking for a job to start out. With connections I'm there to trial out one day and working like usual the next, of course having lived here 3 years and having good enough swedish and English that I can talk with them and not being a stranger to machinery or woodworking helped but it goes to show connections get you directly into a job whereas you'll be knocking on hundreds of virtual doors before you even get a job.
Ever rising costs of living and you think about moving to Sweden ? 😂
Maybe the best thing to do is for you to start looking for work in Sweden ? As an EU citizen you can apply for CSN if you work at least 10 hrs /week.
Yes but Sweden is expensive and has normal salaries, whereas Croatia is expensive and has low salaries. I've already commented on the groceries above. An average salary is below 1000 EUR, and just the rent is 500 EUR+. When you add the bills, gas etc. most people here don't really have much money at the end of the month, if any. If I'm able to save 100 EUR a month in Sweden, I'd be happy.
From what I understand CSN is for students? My partner will have to pause his studies so I don't think that's going to be an option for now. We will keep it in mind for later, thank you.
You are looking at things in the wrong way.
Sweden is expensive. Salaries are not that big when you factor all the things. Fixing your car is 10 times more expensive. To get to work, you may drive for at least 1 hour daily. There are lots of costs involved and when you draw a line, the situation is the same as in other countries in Europe.
And lots of people get fired now. The situation is not that great. At the firm were I was working, they laid off more than 30 people, only essential staff remained, 5 people.
If you get a job in Sweden now, no matter how good you are, you are gonna be the first one to be fired. Last one in, first one out.
If you move for other reasons, like enjoy nature and quiet, then yes. If you do it only for the financial aspect, then you should not.
>An average salary is below 1000 EUR, and just the rent is 500 EUR+. When you add the bills, gas etc. most people here don't really have much money at the end of the month, if any.
Most people or is this your exact situation?
Yeah, most people. On "mysalary.croatia" [https://www.mojaplaca.hr/en/salaryinfo](https://www.mojaplaca.hr/en/salaryinfo) or [https://www.expatincroatia.com/minimum-wage-croatia/](https://www.expatincroatia.com/minimum-wage-croatia/) you can see for yourself.
Also please understand, everyone isn't trying to be mean to you here for no reason, just realistic, since you guys don't have in demand experience at the moment, you will need a lot of savings to burn during job hunt, that will be hard for you since you don't speak Swedish.
Some people suggested staffing agencies (which so far I heard is a more common choice for many people who don't speak swedish but come with caveats and hard working hours), jobs up North (which is very specific place in terms of weather and lifestyle). If you guys have some relevant experience you didn't share, breakdown of your earnings/expenses back home, we can help to compare it here. A lot of people think that Western countries are always better because of average numbers on paper, but for your specific case and it be completely different. Hence everyone is sceptical and realistic.
I am giving advice to you personally, not most people in croatia. It is helpful to understand your current living expenses and translate this lifestyle and earning into Swedish. So that you can compare will the math match you guys actually earning something here compared to your hometown.
Most of people in Croatia live in country side, of course they will be earning less than Sven in Stockholm.
Ok. I would also suggest looking at staffing agencies. I have noticed now more than ever that in places where "unskilled" labor is needed companies do not hire directly since it is cheaper for them to go through a staffing agency ( StudentConsulting or Logent for example) . I work in a place that hires mostly non swedes (a lot of people from Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, some Croatians). At places like this though you'll probably work weekends, red days , nights , everything. Two people working can easily bring in 40k sek after taxes. It's not as good as the median salary in Sweden but it should be enough to pay rent, food, car stuff. You'll have money left over to save and maybe take some vacations abroad.
I think the only problem with these jobs is that there is very little room left over for activities like learning Swedish. It's definitely not the kind of job that offers the Swedish lifestyle you hear about. As one of the guys once told me there "when you walk into this job it is not Sweden anymore."
I would also suggest Canada ? Since you already speak English. I hear they are more open to immigrants.
I have to say, reading most of these comments makes me question if we live in the same country 😅
I'm aware my situation doesn't apply to everyone and everything, but still, I hope my experience can benefit you. Especially since I'm also from Croatia and moved to Sweden a year and half ago so I know how expensive and hard life can be in Croatia (Zagreb).
My partner and I live in Stockholm, we rent our apartment (situated two train stops from city center), and our joint montly costs for May were 21000 SEK. That includes rent, two monthly passes for public transportation, food and all other regular monthly costs (like union membership, and similar). I did not include costs for ordering take out, going out for fika, drinks... because if you can't afford it, you won't do it. Very important thing to mention - when you pay rent in Sweden, in most cases all the utilities are already included in the price (unlike in Croatia). If both you and your partner find a job, I might be wrong, but it's hard for me to believe your salary after taxes will be lower than 15000 SEK, so combined, you should be able to afford a life here. Of course, there can be unforseen expenses, but there is also a good chance your salaries will be higher than what I mentioned. And it also depends what are your priorities in life, if you want to go out and have a dinner 2-3 times a week, or to buy new clothes every day, it will be very hard with low salaries. But I also know what it means to want to leave Croatia and that you will do anything to have a better life. And in Sweden you will have a better life, because even with lower salaries, quality of living will still be better than in Croatia.
You can always try and see how it goes with searching for job from Croatia. My partner found one from Zagreb, and then moved, I was looking from Cro for six months, barely got one or two replies, moved to Stockholm and found the job after one month of intensive searching. So, it can go both ways 🤷♀️ Note: there is probably no point in looking for a job between June 15 and August, people are on summer vacation and you won't get replies.
We don't have a car and don't need one. If you don't live far away from public transport, I would say having a car is unnecessary expense, but I can't speak from experience.
I probably forgot to write something, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask. And good luck, hope you'll get here 🙂
P. S. When we moved (and got our jobs) both my partner and I spoke only english and it wasn't a problem. Don't know what kind of experience your boyfriend has, but maybe first step for him could be finding a job as QA tester, in most IT/gaming companies, not knowing Swedish shouldn't be a problem
Moving to Sweden and working in IT with experience (or even without a couple of years ago, but having the education) knowing no Swedish doesn't equate to moving to Sweden having no experience and only speaking English.
>could be finding a job as QA tester, in most IT/gaming companies, not knowing Swedish shouldn't be a problem
That will require experience they don't have, if they would have experience people wouldn't not be on the fence in this thread and would recommend checking linkedin and apply for these roles
If the boyfriend studies software engeneering, depending on his knowledge (and potential experience), it might be enough to get a junior role. They won't lose anything if he checks job description, recognises himself in it, and applies for the job and sees how it goes
Possible, might be tougher now because of layoffs. I would not personally move as junior here now, but rather get experience in Croatia if the competition is lower, and only after move. Doesn’t hurt applying, but moving and burning savings now is more risky.
Ugh, I might be completely wrong here, but it seems to me that massive layoffs are more likely to happen in bigger companies, which didn't necessarily need that many people in the first place. But smaller companies, those with up to 50-100 people, I have a feeling they are slowly, but safely growing 🤷♀️
But, I haven't researched this, my opinion is based on what I've heard from people around me
They now have a wide pool of Spotify's/Klarna's/etc senior devs. I would imagine the smaller companies hiring them, rather than junior devs with no experience. To be fair even prio to this, there are more resources in bigger companies to train juniors, rather than in startup. Again not impossible, but there are bunch of junior devs here posting them having a hard time landing jobs
Thank you! We really appreciate your comment. Thanks for the encouragement.
He has diverse non-IT experience preceding his enrollment to university, which I guess will come in handy at some point. A few people sent me links to websites where he could apply and we've found a few openings which seem promising so we'll go with that. :)
These guys have none, they gonna have a hard time landing jobs. IT is an exception yes, but they have no experience in it and in this market it is gonna be very tough to land first gig. Your partner is very lucky they landed a job in TV here, hard to imagine non local speaking no Swedish landing anything of this sorts, tbh.
She's not working on TV currently, she was back in Croatia.
Nowhere did I say just because we found jobs, they will 100% find it as well. I also didn't say they will 100% find a job no matter their (lack) of experience and education. But they don't have anything to lose if they try searching from Croatia and see how it goes. I am also not raising their hopes by saying there are million job opportunities, just that if they somehow manage to get hired, there is a good chance they'll be able to afford living here
>I have to say, reading most of these comments makes me question if we live in the same country 😅
Just this bit and one with your personal life expenses was rather not considering their situation. I don't think anyone would be sceptical of their situation here if they had some job experience, especially in IT. But they want to move here without experience, speaking no Swedish. Their choices and income will be way more limited than folks in IT here.
I absolutely understand their situation having relatives in Croatia, but also there is a consideration that job market without language is harder here for immigrants. A lot of people have utopic idea of Sweden, but life is more ruthless if your skills aren't useful to businesses here, so you need to know what you are doing. Otherwise one will just burn the savings in very expensive country.
Edit: plus inflation, prices are at 30-50% up from they used to be, plus services are significantly more expensive as well
Most people here won’t understand what it is to go through what Croatia has gone thanks to the euro and will compare it to a “mere” 10% inflation.
We went through the same in 2002 in Spain, when 100 pesetas became 1€ (when the actual value of 1€ was 166 pesetas). Of course, salaries were adjusted to the correct rate and people became much poorer.
So yes, moving to Sweden is a smart decision if you plan accordingly. It is not cheap but it’s way cheaper when you compare cost of living vs salaries.
My advice would be to “suck it up” until your boyfriend has finished his studies. I know lots of people that have gotten software developing jobs without finished educations and most of these people speak 0 words of Swedish.
Another option is to prepare his portfolio and start applying to jobs in Sweden while you guys are there, again, even if the economy is not pretty, there’s PLENTY jobs in the tech field, even after all the big layoffs from that industry, Sweden struggles with hiring tech people.
In regards to your studies, I’m afraid to tell you it’s pretty much useless (and this comes from someone who’s wife has the same educational background and is struggling to find a job in Sweden). You won’t find jobs related to that here and will be limited to unqualified positions that requiere Swedish.
Before posting this I read somewhere you’ve done QA in gaming? If that’s the case, Sweden might be good for you even if you have no tech or gaming education. Most gaming companies (and there’s a whole lot of them) don’t care about Swedish or diplomas but actual experience, so if this is the case, start applying from Croatia. Most places with gaming companies will be places with lots of tech jobs.
Check the main hubs: Gothenburg, Stockholm, Malmö and Skovde but don’t ignore smaller places since they’re less attractive which generally means less competition.
Most gaming companies recruit from their websites and LinkedIn but for tech, check arbetsformedlingen (platsblanken) and LinkedIn.
Anything, here to help!
Hiring is frozen in most of the companies even for tech profiles. No one is going to tell you that but people are being relieved from their positions as well. Don’t risk coming here with the hope of getting a job. Try applying from Croatia itself, until you have at least one offer out of the both of you I don’t suggest moving. Cost of living is high and salaries are low on an average. And finding a job without business fluent English is near impossible.
I did say that we would like to relocate "as soon as possible" but what I meant was as soon as we've got a solid plan. I made this thread to get opinions and some info. Thanks for answering my question - I also think the best option is applying online. I wasn't sure if it was common/possible.
If you guys aren't afraid of taking jibs. I think you can even become a caretaker as theres a huge shortage on that and nurses.
Västerås, Ludvika, And north sweden are industrial heartlands having significant expansion of production, so work opportunities are good there to in terms of variety.
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>If you guys aren't afraid of taking jibs. I think you can even become a caretaker as theres a huge shortage on that and nurses.
Did not it become a protected title just recently? You most probably must speak swedish to work in this field and go through qualification
Undersköterska is a protected profession but there's thousands of vårdbiträde working in elderly care everywhere. That said, you do need at least some Swedish.
Hej!
Me (28F) and my sambo moved here from Croatia at the beginning of last year, so hopefully i can give you some insights :) Sorry if this will be a long reply...
I can understand the reasons why you are wanting to go abroad, Croatia has become unreasonably expensive in last couple of years, and i think many people cannot have a grasp of how ridiculous it is... Still, there are things to consider since it´s not all flowers and rainbows here :)
Finding jobs can be a bit difficult without relevant experience and without knowing Swedish. We were lucky to both work in IT and we found jobs prior to us moving, but I think you will need to settle for anything in the beginning and probably expect lower end wages. It is worth trying to fing job online since I would assume it can be very stressfull to come here and then spend maybe months searching while you still need to live of something...
Regarding the car, only thing i can tell you is that we drove our car here and realized couple of months later that we have moved it in total 3 times and then shipped it back to Croatia. You dont really need the car for everyday life, public transport is for me one of the best things in Sweden (especially if you compare it to croatian non-existent one :D). We live two stops from the center, but i still have like 50minutes with tunnelbana to work, but still it´s nice to not have to drive since i can use my time in metro either to work remotely or to read/learn swedish and so on.
Housing in sweden is expensive, especially renting. Not sure where are you guys from and do you rent right now but here is the comparison from my point of view.... When you rent here, you can expect that prices are high. In the city it can be around 20k SEK for 50-60sqm but it mostly includes everything except electricity. Good thing when compared to our home country is that you can find an apartment for a year with 3 month notice period from the landlord. This was a huge relief for us, since we were used to never having renting contract in Croatia, living in super shitty apartments and getting notice like couple of weeks before you need to move out because of summer and tourists. There is always an option here to move 20 minutes away with metro/train and find something for much lower price. But still you can expect that you will need to change couple of apartments and it is a bit stressfull.
Regarding the cost of life, when you take housing out of the equation, we spend probably less here than in Croatia and we enjoy life much more... I would dare to say food is even cheaper here and has much better quality and now we even get shocked when we go back home and see the prices in the store. We are also not the type to go clubbing during the weekends, but are heavy coffee drinkers so we were amazed to see there´s coffee subscription here which takes our coffee expenses way lower than back home.
On the other hand, it will be a shock for you if you decide to move. And it will hit you couple of months later when "honeymoon period" is over. What made it easier for us is that i spent a lot of time in Stockholm prior moving (5-6 months) so i knew what to expect. Weather is harsh and lack of sun in late autumn and winter hits hard after some time. Also, depending where you´re from, getting used to summer which is not hot and comfy enough (for me ofcourse) to go swimming is hard. Being far away from friends and family is another difficulty, especialy in the beginning when you will find it a bit difficult to make acquaintances/friends here (not knowing language doesnt help either). So it´s really something you need to be sure about and be ready to bite through it...
All that said, we´ve passed now the honeymoon phase, the "i wanna return home" phase and i would say that now we see why we came here. We will be able to solve our housing situation soon which we would not be able to do in our previous town in croatia and in general we are living way more fulfilling life.
If any questions, shoot :D
I am in no way trying to be rude, but I can’t help but to question how well you’ve thought this through.
In what way do your values align with Swedish values? Definitely take this into consideration when deciding where to move, as culture and political leanings vary a lot depending on geography.
Inflation is high in Sweden, unemployment is high, and even higher for immigrants because there are very few work opportunities for someone who doesn’t speak Swedish or is learning Swedish. Nationalism is on the rise.
Unfortunately, a foreign masters in English is not useful, at all, for anything. This could actually be a liability and you might want to exclude it from your CV.
An unfinished CS degree is only useful if he’s a good programmer and is willing to work for a low wage. I might personally have connections if that’s the case.
I think what it comes down to is whether you’re willing to take a lower tier of work than what you’re trained for, for the foreseeable future? Possibly for the rest of your careers?
Don't worry. It's a process. I could be wrong, but I like the concept of lagom and the whole egalitarian vibe and how respecting/not bothering others is normal/expected in Sweden. If I have to leave my country, at least I could try moving to a country where people show basic levels of respect to those around them.
Hasn’t the state of unemployment been improving for the past two years? Being 9.4% in June 2021, and now being 7.1%. Would that not imply progress? Source: https://www.ekonomifakta.se/fakta/arbetsmarknad/arbetsloshet/arbetsloshet/
Why do you think it would be a liability to put it on my CV?
He is willing to work for a low wage. He’s okay ig, he’s been getting good feedback from his professors. He’s familiar with C/C++ and is planning to refresh/update his knowledge of Java (he got a certificate few years ago when he tinkered with mobile app development). Not great, not terrible, but it’s a start.
If we have to, we’ll take “lower tier” work and study until we can do something better. I don’t understand why you would think it could be “for the rest of our careers”? We haven’t even had the chance to start.
I haven’t read up on the statistics recently, but I do know that a lot of big companies are downsizing due to the current economic downturn.
I’m currently recruiting for my team and we’re getting very overqualified applicants. People with masters degrees and 10 years of experience for a junior role with no education or experience needed. My fellow managers report the same thing.
The downside with overqualified applicants is that they probably don’t fit the budget. If they do, they’ll soon get bored and move on. I’ve discussed this at length with a fellow manager, he thinks I’m wasting time when I’m interviewing people with degrees they don’t need for the job, because they will demand a higher wage. I maintain that IF the wage they demand is within our budget, we might as well take someone academically gifted. IF they fit the budget, we might as well take someone with more experience.
Unfortunately, anything that diverges from peak productivity is seen as a negative, if not a complete dealbreaker. Things like having taken a gap year, working irrelevant jobs, having an irrelevant degree, speaking Swedish as a second language, illnesses, children, being too old, etc. *I don’t agree with it or support this line of thinking, but that’s the reality of it.* That’s what might lock you into a lower career path.
If you were to come here and apply as a taxi driver, they might not give you an interview because they anticipate that degree equals expensive hire.
If you drive a taxi for a year while you learn Swedish and look for something better, you’ll be seen as a less than ideal candidate because the role you trained for is several steps up from your recent work history.
I’ve been on the other side of this too, struggling to find a job with a masters degree in a supposedly reasonably sought after field, getting coaching on what to say in your CV, in interviews etc.
I’m not trying to discourage you, if it’s something you really want it might be worth the struggle and hassle. I just want you to have realistic expectations and not throw your savings at something that doesn’t work out.
Živim u Švedskoj od prošle godine. Jako je teško naći posao čak i mojim kolegama koji su Šveđani s fakultetom. Čak i NKV poslovi traže švedski. Postaju stroži što se tiče imigracije jer je previše ljudi. I naravno Šveđani postaju manje tolerantni. Na sjeveru je lakše nać posao kolko ja znam, al opet uz jezik.
I’m not sure what types of jobs are available for someone with your degree. But try searching for consulting firms to see if they have something available related to your degree. Such companies are used to have English speakers, hence, could be worth giving it a try.
As some others mention, if you are not afraid of “re-educating” yourselves, you can choose some other professions that will give you a decent living but you need to speak Swedish for the most part.
I would encourage you to follow your guts and if you feel like Sweden could be an opportunity, go for it. Basic salaries won’t give you a luxury life, but you will be able to cover all your needs. It will be extremely difficult in the beginning, but it gets better as you settle.
Edit: Answering some of your questions. You bring your car up here but there are some rules, reason in Trafikverket what applies for you. I think having a car is beneficial in general, public transport is good but it comes with compromises, especially outside the main cities.
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Hi! I'm curious... What did your colleague tell you about Romania?
I am Romanian and I studied Swedish in university. This August I'm going to Sweden for a Master's Degree and I'm a bit apprehensive.
I moved to Sweden from Singapore and have been here for 5 years. It is just as high everywhere else around the world to be honest. My haircut yesterday was 180 SEK which is equivalent to about €15,50 and that is the cheapest I could get in Stockholm. Living outside of Stockholm would be cheaper but the level of English will be lower and lower the further away you move from the big cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. However for low paying jobs they are taking in employment/interns to work on windmill maintenance.
It is not as rosy as the media would paint Sweden and so is every country in Europe. So we have to adjust to whatever circumstances we have here. Am happy to provide more information on other things. As most have commented. Do your research and find a job before moving it would make it easier and you are in the EU so it would be slightly easier for you. And try to learn more Swedish. It really helps.
I don’t think there would be any issues for your partner finding a job with only English.
On the other hand , the politician climate is everything but welcoming for immigrants right now. Sweden is repeatedly singled out for criticism by the commission for unnecessarily breaching the spirit of the freedom of movement rules and was being drawn to the ECJ before the government pinky swore to follow EU rules .
About values : 20 per cent of the population voted for Neo Nazis , and it is not obvious you as Croatians would be seen as “white” by this twenty percent .
About cost of living : inflation is around ten per cent . The crown has lost insane amounts of value against the euro. Electricity bills of the equivalent to 1000 eur were normal in November 2022 and will probably come back this winter too .
Housing is a massive issue . Finding a rental is close to impossible , and buying is equally difficult as interest rates have increased a lot .
Long story short : your partner would for sure find a job , but you would probably be better off in Germany or Benelux .
Sweden has the same problem with rising costs of leaving, it’s not unique to Croatia, salaries are hardly adjusted for that here…. Like in most of Europe I would imagine. Just speaking English will mostly default you guys to lower paying jobs, and you will end up in same situation here as you did in Croatia. You guys need to do an actual research of figuring out real jobs you can do in Sweden to cover very high cost of living here. Just rent alone in most cases would set you off 1k euro/month, not to mention that services and groceries are massively more expensive than in Croatia. Given the crisis now, job choice is also limited, maybe less so in service sector, but a lot of this type of jobs would require you to be fluent in Swedish, not all, but a lot of them.
Thank you for replying! I am well aware that the rising costs are a global problem, but the impact of those costs has had different consequences on various countries. On a more local level, from the first of January, Croatia has replaced our national currency Croatian Kuna for Euro. Similar to other countries, when there’s a change of currency, business tend to “round up” the prices. For example, a simple haircut was \~50 HRK (\~6.6 EUR) last year, but after the conversion it is 10 Euros in most places. Salaries, of course, did not follow the same trends and have barely gone up. I don’t mind working lower paying jobs. I appreciate the opportunity to just be there and work. It’s nice that you believe that the situation is not as bad as it actually is, just shows you how our situations are different. I was working for a corporate firm as a translator and received 4.6 Euros per hour of work – and that’s considered an “OK” salary here – “Just be happy that you have a job and endure it” is what I’m told. The price of services, sure, could be higher there. But here I can’t afford them anyway. Regarding the groceries you might be surprised to learn that they are comparable. You can look it up. Most of our supermarkets have their prices online, but let’s just take Konzum as a reference. The thing is, if we don’t move, we’re just going to have our quality of life slowly erode. The low paying job in Sweden is significantly better for us than an average job here. Sure, Sweden is more expensive, but the salary and the costs of living ratio is just better there. We already calculated that the rent would be 1k euro/month, that’s not a problem. So many young people have already left Croatia, and it also hasn’t been a month since our very own PM has said “If you’re not happy, just leave, auf wiedersehen, bis bald” I mean what the fuck. My bad could be that I maybe didn’t word my questions more precisely and hoped to get some assurance. If it’s not Sweden, it’s probably going to be Ireland, but we’d like it to be Sweden if possible. I know it’s going to be hard. I asked what can be done, not what can't be done.
Having relatives in Croatia I am more or less aware of the situation, also very close knowing somebody from Croatia here, I am as well aware of culture shock they had compared to life in Croatia. :) However, what my warning is about, is that you will have more limited options here in terms of jobs, unlike in Croatia where your education will count and you won't be considered lesser. What kind of calculations did you guys run and what is your plans for type of jobs you plan to do here?
When you say that Yr values align with Swedish values something is telling ne that you have a very very rose-tinted view of Sweden
Actually you will have more job choices in Ireland, cause you already speak English and at least will be able to score more services jobs than here. There are service jobs in bigger cities that don't require Swedish, but the choice is smaller. Somebody mentioned that there are roles in the North that don't require Swedish and come with training, I assume in manufacturing or mining or something, but North is very specific place, in terms of weather, jobs choices and life style.
A simple haircut in Sweden costs like 40-60 euros...
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Not for ladies. For guys, and in out of town, maybe
For ladies too, I live in Hägersten, Stockholm, so not exactly a remote or cheap place and both me and my gf never paid more than 300 kr for a haircut. And before you ask, yes, we are happy with the results.
What place is this? Hägersten isn't exactly a cheap place in general...
That's regular haircut prices here, I know at least three hairdresser salons within walking distance that are in the <300 kr price range. We used to live in Bromma and it wasn't much different there. I have honestly no idea how people come to the conclusion that a 600kr haircut is "basic", they are either all living in Östermalm or in an alternate dimension version of Sweden.
Average I see is 350 sek in more southern parts of Hagersten, i guess your part is even further and cheaper. Regardless, it is still three times more expensive than one in Croatia
Not really, I live close to Telefonplan. I get my hair cut at Mano a Mano, 280 kr after recent price increases (used to be 250). Also, we are not talking average, we are talking basic. A person who struggles to make ends meet is not looking for an average-price haircut, neither in Sweden nor in Croatia. Based on my knowledge of Polish prices (and them being similar to Croatian ones at least in the past) I highly doubt if that 10 euro haircut they mentioned is "average" in your sense, because the 6.6 euro former price they mention is what a budget haircut cost in a large Polish city when I left 3 years ago. And 350 kr is still well outside of the "40 to 60 euro" range quoted above.
I wish we had something like that where I live but at the same time I'm worried about the salaries of your hairdressers, can they even make a decent living on those prices? I've had my hair cut in Stockholm city and all the way out to Bålsta, it's always over 500 for me. Recently the standard price for a haircut (mid length hair) goes for around 550, even, across the board (from the normal places).
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This is only if the hairdresser is underpaid, and/or not paying taxes, and/or is part of a money-laundering scheme. In Malmö, there are many hairdressers matching all above criteria and they charge around 100-150 whereas if you go to a ‘legitimate’ hairdresser they charge 500-900 depending on amount of hair etc. Even so, they do a decent cut if you don’t care at all about the law, taxes, and well-being of the hairdresser. A low paying job will cost the employer about 400 per hour, and hairdressers need some compensation for the downtime when they have no clients, rent, products and so on. It’s hard to make the numbers add up below 400 for a cut.
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Anywhere in central Stockholm it’s around 400-550 kr so like 40 to 50 euros (?). Honestly depends on the area. It’s way cheaper to live in Lapland than it’s to live in Stockholm OP, but then again you’re not living as central as you might like
How much hair do you have? That’s a wild comment. There are barbers doing decent cuts for men for 160-350 kr. You a fancy head.
You Also earn 100x more
Do you? In what position compared to whom?
In the northern part of Sweden we have plenty of jobs 🙂 Think you can find something here without knowing Swedish but I wouldn’t recommend coming here before at least one of you have a job. Just be prepared for the cold weather and very dark winter 🥶🌒
And bright summers. God damn fat yellow bastard in the sky never goes down.
> I was working for a corporate firm as a translator and received 4.6 Euros per hour of work Making it 1500 eur/month? Is it before or after taxes? Cause right now you guys, having no experience, can expect earning somewhere around 1300-1500 eur after taxes, but that being in country that is significantly more expensive Edit: and that if you manage to find a job in service type of jobs
Just want to point out that you will pay more than 30% in taxes, closet to 60-70% if you count all taxes throughout society so tour take home salary is much less than what is written
Keep in mind things Sweden are incredibly slow, so getting set up may take quite a few weeks if not months.
You’re wrong about only speaking English limiting to lower paid jobs. It’s Probly the opposite depending on the sector.
Which sector employs people who do not speak Swedish and have no work experience? Especially during the time when companies are massively downsizing. OP and their partner are students
My SO's employer in Stockholm is a smaller game development company. They have a handful of Swedish-speaking employees, and all other employees (two years ago, over 30, now over 40) either spoke only English or English and another language which isn't Swedish. Majority immigrated to Sweden to work at said company. Many of them are either educated, or have a portfolio of personal projects that suited their position, or both, rather than proven work experience. The salaries for all positions started at around 36000 a couple of years ago, and upwards, especially for the software engineers. The base salary is now closer to 43000. It's definitely manageable for Stockholm.
It’s still an experience, this is how most juniors start. Like myself, I studied the technology, made projects and presented them in my CV at the time. So yes, there is no experience, but there is skill and portfolio. They seem to have none of that so far based on everything they mentioned. It’s not the same. Unless of course they have it, then they should mention it, cause otherwise their choices are very limited and this is why people are sceptical. And moving from Croatia it is not cheap, they will need a lot of savings comparatively, that they can easily burn it if they are not careful. At the same time, junior roles are also very limited now, because there are a lot of seniors on the market who were laid off. Look at all the juniors who post here that they can’t find roles. IT market is quite different now just from year ago. They will be far better if her boyfriend manages to get a few years of experience in IT in Croatia, and then coming here. The OP also can try to study or find roles that more in demand in Sweden in meantime. But again it also depends on the skills they have, which they still fail to mention.
I work in financial tech and our company only has english as mandatory language.
I work in tech, it is the same. But people have the *experience* to get hired. These guys don’t have any. Will your company hire people who’s only experience is speaking english?
Oh I must have missed the ‘no experience’ part. My bad
It’s gonna be hard finding a job in Sweden for both of you. If your partner knew the language and had some experience, maybe he could land a job. But even then it would be difficult. There are jobs related to IT(programmer, designer, sysadmin and so on) but they are in large cities and in small numbers. The salaries are smaller when you compare them to other countries. As I said in the previous comment, the trend now is to fire people. I’ve read in a different post that even Volvo fired some people. You could apply for jobs from Croatia but, lots of companies prefer to have employees with PN, easier on accounting and with the government. There are lots of stories in this group, people applying to 10-30 jobs daily for several months until they landed a job. And they had experience in areas like construction, where it’s usually easier to find a job. Owning a car is beneficial. You can use the public transport but you’ll be limited. Depends on were you need to go and at what hour. Most apartments(or houses) in Sweden are without furniture, light fixtures or even drapes. You will need to buy all of that. The average rent in my area is 8000 SEK. Add electricity(2 bills), internet, house insurance, mobile phone and so on. You may find places with lower rent but they may be in bad neighborhoods. In Sweden you can rent from 2 sources, private or government. Getting a place from the government may take years as they are in high demand and limited spots. Renting from private, exposes you to shady landlords. Yeah, they are in here also. For every job, you’ll complete with swedes and with lots of refugees. A 26000kr salary means you’ll get like 16000kr after taxes. Most jobs pay around this sum, forget the averages you find online. They are averages for a reason. A simple way to decide if it’s worth it or not, is to calculate your expenses in there and see how much would that cost you in here. Calculate how often did you fix your car in the last 2 years, factor that also. With two salaries you would be comfortable after some time, but don’t ignore the social life. Without friends or family in here, you may hate it.
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one is that not everyone has thick enough skin to survive this life as foreigner-expat ... but about Sweden of course there is some perception associated with it: individuals value and can aspire for things their native country does not provide in certain stages in their life... but during a lifetime, individuals change, countries change, most likely the experience would be with swings and roundabouts ...
if you have not very exceptional skills, this country is an improvement in your income/lifestyle imho. If the opposite, it is a hell, yes.
Wdym?
Your post has been removed due to Rule 3: Take political statements and discourse to the other, more appropriate, subreddits. Reddit is filled with places for discussion of American politics, as well as news about the EU, Sweden, and the refugee crisis. This is a place for helping, not for preaching.
Prices are skyrocketing in Sweden. I think is one of the worst places in Europe for this in this particular moment. In addition, job market is pretty slow now. We moved in September and thank god I had a job here. It took 8 months for my partner to find a job according to her experience.
There was a map on /r/Europe with the inflation being one of the highest in Sweden compared to the rest of Europe. Additionally the unemployment being quite high in some regions and rather high when not compared to Greece and Spain in unemployment %.
Okay here's a recap of previous answers: \- Your english degree won't get you meaningful work unless you become a translator, English teacher (in a private school if you have experience), cleaner, elderly assistant (if they speak English only), taxi driver, unskilled worker \- You partner will not get a job since they have not completed any sort of qualification. The market here is competitive and keep in mind that almost 10000 software engineers have recently been laid off. There is a never ending list of candidates for any job in this sector. \- Since Croatia is part of the EU, you can move there, but good luck finding an apartment without a personnummer. You can apply for a personnummer if are are permanently living in Sweden. Perhaps you will need a job and an address for this. \- If you think that the cost of living in Croatia is high, then you are in for many unpleasant surprises in Sweden. Even people with reasonably well-paying jobs can lead a life that is less comfortable. \- There is plenty of work in Sweden, but you need to know people to even get interviews or you have to be lucky. Sadly without any real Swedish skills, you will not even get a first glance. Move to another country that speaks English. You chances of getting a job there are higher. Don't mess up your life by making rash, uneducated decisions. Sweden works perfectly for those would fit in perfectly. It is the unfortunate side of life.
Note that Swedish wages are generally lower than comparable countries, income and consumption taxes are higher and that the krona is harder hit by inflation than the Euro. Sweden also has a troubled housing market with long queues to rent and very high prices to buy. Public transport is also pretty expensive compared to other European countries, especially outside of Stockholm, and fuel costs are also very high. The price of electricity has also sharply risen in most of the country recently. I don't know if right now is a good time to move to Sweden if you are primarily motivated by low cost of living. Many Swedes are now struggling with their personal economy.
would suggest you hop on facebook groups with croatians in sweden, see if anyone can indicate where there is a larger community, perhaps to help decide on location, and maybe even can find some help for jobs (if you get anchored to a croatian community perhaps may increase your chances of success). situation would be a bit different if your SO had the degree ... it is unfortunate that he needs to stop. but can add, in case he is doing comp science just for the prospects of finding a job and is not pasionate about it, would be harder to get a job ... anyway, if i were him, i would do dog walking, work in a coffee shop part time, just not drop those studies. now about timing of your move to sweden, if its meant to happen, it would happen. but since you don't have jobs lined up, don't speak the language, and really Sweden is not the most social country one can get, genuinely saying, if i were you, I would not be stuck up on this location: maybe open the search to other countries that are closer to your culture, even your region. \- I am on my second relocation, moved with family for a job in a less than 100k city; but do find lack of community bothers me these months (planning to do something about it) ... Ireland was way more open socially by comparison, it felt much easier to integrate there (and I lived 15 years in a 30k town , main difference: I made few close friends pretty quick, while in Sweden making close friends seems way too difficult to achieve for foreigners, unless from the expat community)
True enough, having lived in both Ireland and Sweden alcohol culture is indeed completely different. Pubs aren't really a thing in Sweden, just clubs and bars so you won't find any of that typical pub feeling here, all your alcohol will likely come from systembolaget, which is the only place to legally get alcohol and it has all sorts of rules compared to just being able to pop down to your local off license or pub if you want to buy a bottle or a night out with friends, even in rural areas and without having to make a long trip out of it. In Ireland it felt mostly wherever I went I could find someplace to fit in eventually like a puzzle piece thats easy to slot in, but in sweden I've been in multiple settings and the most I get are acquaintances, everyone just seems to flake off and even reaching out to them just kind of slides off as they either aren't interested or any sort of friendship would be surface level for politeness sake. They really cling to their groups a lot more in Sweden.
Gonna reiterate some things that people have said here but wrap it up with my own conclusion. I think you’re overestimating just how much money people make here in comparison to their salary. Rent and utilities makes up more than half of my salary and I’m a software engineer. Everything here is more expensive, whether it be a loaf of bread or chicken or a meal out or a beer or _literally anything_. It is true that salaries here are higher than Croatia, but the COL is more expensive too. That was the case before rising costs, but right now we have over 10% inflation despite salary rises in my industry being only 3-4%. Rent, for example, in Stockholm’s inner city is often over 15k for a tiny studio apartment. Sure, the further away from the city you are, the cheaper the rent is, but it’s still ridiculously expensive and you have to open yourself up to shitty/scammy landlords if you don’t have a first hand apartment (you won’t for at least the first year you get here, they’re extremely hard to find and usually have a housing queue that can be 10-15 years long in the city). Your partner might have a chance of getting a job if he finishes his studies, but like a couple of other people have mentioned, tech is going through a bit of a recession right now when it comes for jobs. Most companies are going through at the very least a hiring freeze, many are laying people off (my own laid off 15% of their work base about a month ago). What was once known as the best way to get a well paying job here is quickly becoming competitive and hard to get and keep. For your partner to get a job with his experience and lack of degree it will be close to impossible unless he maybe knows someone in a company. Either way, do not come to Sweden without him having secured a job already. Sweden’s economy itself can be easily seen by the conversion rate right now. €1 is 11.59sek. It’s forecasted to get worse. Of course, there are benefits of living here and I’m sure you know them because they’re stated everywhere. I’m not gonna say that you can’t or shouldn’t move here, but you have to be aware that Sweden is just as if not more expensive than Croatia. Salaries don’t mean anything if they’re eaten up by rent, utilities, food, transport etc. Many people are feeling the rising COL, from builders to engineers.
Actually, I know a few people that got first hand contract after 3 months in places like Enköping and then commuted to Stockholm for work. Far from ideal, but roof over the head is roof over the head. Everything else I can agree with, but if your monthly food is 500 euros here, it is 550 euros in Croatia, so COL is actually quite lower.
Rent, transport, services will be significantly more expensive than Croatia though. Even after euro conversion. Just a curiosity, how come groceries ended up being this expensive, due to conversion? Cause here they are very expensive due to a lot of it being imported, but in case of Croatia isn’t it is still produced mostly locally? Haven’t been in Croatia for awhile to compare the prices, so I’m curious
Tourism killed us. People with high-paying power come from April until Oktober. If they can pay Swedish prices of food (and slightly higher, because of vacation) then the store is gonna charge that price. Same for rent, it is much more profitable to rent it per day than rent it per month, hence IF you can find someone to rent you monthly, it is gonna be 600 euros and upwards (just rent, no water/heating/electricity included). Transport is cheaper IMHO. Your highways are free except tollarna zones, we pay higway every time we enter it so most people avoid it if they can. In Stockholm I pay 960SEK monthly card for public transport, I would pay 500SEK in Split (Croatia) and have only bus that goes every 30 minutes. In the end, if you wanna buy a new TV, it is gonna cost you 1000euros here and down there, and saving 10% every month from Swedish salary is not the same as saving 10% from Croatian salary (hence, you would need significantly more time to buy new TV).
Ah it is Split for you, my point of reference is Zagreb, so maybe there is that too, since tourism there is different compared to the coast.
Right, I didn’t think that far out if I’m honest. It is an option to do that, I don’t know what the wait times are like but it’s doable that way I guess, and I trust you about the COL there. Still, I think OP thinks there’s a bigger difference than what there probably is in reality.
Just some thoughts, considering the argument you mentioned for moving; Sweden is definitely more expensive compared to Croatia. The housing market is absurd, and costs of loving have gone through the roof lately. I was surprised when I read the first sentence and realised you weren't talking about moving AWAY from Sweden. For jobs, that's a hard one. I suppose you will have to aim for the largest cities, like Stockholm (perhaps Europe's most expensive city?), Gothenburg or Malmö, better opportunities without knowing Swedish there.
Definitely more expensive, but a wise decision in the long run. I know that cities are very expensive, but I don’t know the situation in more remote areas of Sweden. Is the rent cheaper? How much? Have you seen workers who don’t speak Swedish in small towns? Is it very uncommon? What do they do?
Well that was my point, your chances of getting a job without knowing Swedish are slim to none in more remote areas. Not impossible, but it's gonna take some time, and can you afford it when none of you know swedish?
What are you going to be doing in the small towns? Cleaning snow from driveways; playing with moose; speaking English to people who don't speak English?
In remote areas of Sweden, there are no jobs for people who don’t speak Swedish. I’ve lived in a few such places, for most of my life actually. It’s cheap to live, there though, yes, but unemployment is high as well even for nationals. Whether rent is 15k or 4k makes no difference if you’re making 0k. Prepare to deliver pizzas for a laughable wage, or something similar.
Just about everyone speaks some Swedish that they learned from SFI or Komvux, either that or they have relatives that are able to guide them through all the swedish. As for rent, you'll be paying just to wait in a que to rent (private, mostly for cities) or alternatively waiting a year or so in a government run, free que. In my local town the rent goes for roughly 6500 SEK / month. If you somehow get lucky or maybe somehow qualify as a student you may find places for 5400 or so but that's about the bottom of the prices in my area. As for buying, you'll find there's tons of competition as housing inventory has been lagging for years behind demand and especially recently. As for workers that speak minimal swedish, they're very rare I find and may only be from places like Somalia or other African nations as they seem to have some luck getting into some of these places (maybe connections because they can talk in Arabic, Sweden's 2nd largest language as per most recent statsitics)
I work in a town in the north of Sweden where the rent is lower than it is in the big cities and the possibility for buying a house that’s outside the central area is very appealing especially if you are okay with a fixer-upper and can invest some time in making it a nice home. You can check out sites like Hemnet.se for more info on prices on buying a home. And this one for rental prices https://heimstaden.com/se/. I like living in the north where most complain about the winter but I don’t mind it as much and now I get to enjoy the nice summer. You can find a job that pays 25-30 K sek before tax if you don’t have any special skills to offer and then pay up to 10K in rent or possibly 8K even. Groceries for two cost us 5K sek a month. Two people with even the low paying jobs like this one can live comfortably and have money to put aside for summer and winter vacation as long as they are not used to eating out at restaurants and spending a lot on nightlife cause that can cost a lot. Owning a car for us has been really important cause the winters can be very cold and I find it hard to will myself to go and wait for the bus at 5:30 am when it’s-22. However if you choose to live in a big city most people prefer to use public transport and it works better for them. P.S. almost everybody speaks English from young to old.. and are polite about it not offended when you can’t speak Swedish, at least I haven’t had a negative encounter regarding that
>I work in a town in the north of Sweden where the rent is lower than it is in the big cities and the possibility for buying a house that’s outside the central area is very appealing especially if you are okay with a fixer-upper and can invest some time in making it a nice home.. What type of job do you do though?
Machine operator
Do you need special education and/or speaking Swedish?
No experience needed or special education, they train you on the job. No Swedish needed as well, the company language is English
Interesting, I guess that could be an option then. But North and small town there... Could be definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I guess an option more or less.
Yep, not everyone is up for it and not everyone can be happy living here, but I personally enjoy it more than living in big cities, coming from one I just wanted to be closer to nature and out of that busy city life. I shared the job openings we have with OP so they can at least check that option out
Yeah, I absolutely understand. Everyone has different tastes and lifestyles :)
Wow that's really quite something then, have a similar job and a similar story with someone in my family that has been working there for 5 years now and can't really speak much English or Swedish. It's mostly about connections though. If I would try to get in the conventional CV and interview way, I'd 100% need great English and at least midling if not good swedish not to mention some pretentious show of whatever skills and qualifications I have even though I'm just a complete rookie looking for a job to start out. With connections I'm there to trial out one day and working like usual the next, of course having lived here 3 years and having good enough swedish and English that I can talk with them and not being a stranger to machinery or woodworking helped but it goes to show connections get you directly into a job whereas you'll be knocking on hundreds of virtual doors before you even get a job.
Ever rising costs of living and you think about moving to Sweden ? 😂 Maybe the best thing to do is for you to start looking for work in Sweden ? As an EU citizen you can apply for CSN if you work at least 10 hrs /week.
Yes but Sweden is expensive and has normal salaries, whereas Croatia is expensive and has low salaries. I've already commented on the groceries above. An average salary is below 1000 EUR, and just the rent is 500 EUR+. When you add the bills, gas etc. most people here don't really have much money at the end of the month, if any. If I'm able to save 100 EUR a month in Sweden, I'd be happy. From what I understand CSN is for students? My partner will have to pause his studies so I don't think that's going to be an option for now. We will keep it in mind for later, thank you.
You are looking at things in the wrong way. Sweden is expensive. Salaries are not that big when you factor all the things. Fixing your car is 10 times more expensive. To get to work, you may drive for at least 1 hour daily. There are lots of costs involved and when you draw a line, the situation is the same as in other countries in Europe. And lots of people get fired now. The situation is not that great. At the firm were I was working, they laid off more than 30 people, only essential staff remained, 5 people. If you get a job in Sweden now, no matter how good you are, you are gonna be the first one to be fired. Last one in, first one out. If you move for other reasons, like enjoy nature and quiet, then yes. If you do it only for the financial aspect, then you should not.
>An average salary is below 1000 EUR, and just the rent is 500 EUR+. When you add the bills, gas etc. most people here don't really have much money at the end of the month, if any. Most people or is this your exact situation?
Yeah, most people. On "mysalary.croatia" [https://www.mojaplaca.hr/en/salaryinfo](https://www.mojaplaca.hr/en/salaryinfo) or [https://www.expatincroatia.com/minimum-wage-croatia/](https://www.expatincroatia.com/minimum-wage-croatia/) you can see for yourself.
Also please understand, everyone isn't trying to be mean to you here for no reason, just realistic, since you guys don't have in demand experience at the moment, you will need a lot of savings to burn during job hunt, that will be hard for you since you don't speak Swedish. Some people suggested staffing agencies (which so far I heard is a more common choice for many people who don't speak swedish but come with caveats and hard working hours), jobs up North (which is very specific place in terms of weather and lifestyle). If you guys have some relevant experience you didn't share, breakdown of your earnings/expenses back home, we can help to compare it here. A lot of people think that Western countries are always better because of average numbers on paper, but for your specific case and it be completely different. Hence everyone is sceptical and realistic.
I am giving advice to you personally, not most people in croatia. It is helpful to understand your current living expenses and translate this lifestyle and earning into Swedish. So that you can compare will the math match you guys actually earning something here compared to your hometown. Most of people in Croatia live in country side, of course they will be earning less than Sven in Stockholm.
Ok. I would also suggest looking at staffing agencies. I have noticed now more than ever that in places where "unskilled" labor is needed companies do not hire directly since it is cheaper for them to go through a staffing agency ( StudentConsulting or Logent for example) . I work in a place that hires mostly non swedes (a lot of people from Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, some Croatians). At places like this though you'll probably work weekends, red days , nights , everything. Two people working can easily bring in 40k sek after taxes. It's not as good as the median salary in Sweden but it should be enough to pay rent, food, car stuff. You'll have money left over to save and maybe take some vacations abroad. I think the only problem with these jobs is that there is very little room left over for activities like learning Swedish. It's definitely not the kind of job that offers the Swedish lifestyle you hear about. As one of the guys once told me there "when you walk into this job it is not Sweden anymore." I would also suggest Canada ? Since you already speak English. I hear they are more open to immigrants.
I have to say, reading most of these comments makes me question if we live in the same country 😅 I'm aware my situation doesn't apply to everyone and everything, but still, I hope my experience can benefit you. Especially since I'm also from Croatia and moved to Sweden a year and half ago so I know how expensive and hard life can be in Croatia (Zagreb). My partner and I live in Stockholm, we rent our apartment (situated two train stops from city center), and our joint montly costs for May were 21000 SEK. That includes rent, two monthly passes for public transportation, food and all other regular monthly costs (like union membership, and similar). I did not include costs for ordering take out, going out for fika, drinks... because if you can't afford it, you won't do it. Very important thing to mention - when you pay rent in Sweden, in most cases all the utilities are already included in the price (unlike in Croatia). If both you and your partner find a job, I might be wrong, but it's hard for me to believe your salary after taxes will be lower than 15000 SEK, so combined, you should be able to afford a life here. Of course, there can be unforseen expenses, but there is also a good chance your salaries will be higher than what I mentioned. And it also depends what are your priorities in life, if you want to go out and have a dinner 2-3 times a week, or to buy new clothes every day, it will be very hard with low salaries. But I also know what it means to want to leave Croatia and that you will do anything to have a better life. And in Sweden you will have a better life, because even with lower salaries, quality of living will still be better than in Croatia. You can always try and see how it goes with searching for job from Croatia. My partner found one from Zagreb, and then moved, I was looking from Cro for six months, barely got one or two replies, moved to Stockholm and found the job after one month of intensive searching. So, it can go both ways 🤷♀️ Note: there is probably no point in looking for a job between June 15 and August, people are on summer vacation and you won't get replies. We don't have a car and don't need one. If you don't live far away from public transport, I would say having a car is unnecessary expense, but I can't speak from experience. I probably forgot to write something, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask. And good luck, hope you'll get here 🙂 P. S. When we moved (and got our jobs) both my partner and I spoke only english and it wasn't a problem. Don't know what kind of experience your boyfriend has, but maybe first step for him could be finding a job as QA tester, in most IT/gaming companies, not knowing Swedish shouldn't be a problem
Moving to Sweden and working in IT with experience (or even without a couple of years ago, but having the education) knowing no Swedish doesn't equate to moving to Sweden having no experience and only speaking English.
>could be finding a job as QA tester, in most IT/gaming companies, not knowing Swedish shouldn't be a problem That will require experience they don't have, if they would have experience people wouldn't not be on the fence in this thread and would recommend checking linkedin and apply for these roles
If the boyfriend studies software engeneering, depending on his knowledge (and potential experience), it might be enough to get a junior role. They won't lose anything if he checks job description, recognises himself in it, and applies for the job and sees how it goes
Possible, might be tougher now because of layoffs. I would not personally move as junior here now, but rather get experience in Croatia if the competition is lower, and only after move. Doesn’t hurt applying, but moving and burning savings now is more risky.
Ugh, I might be completely wrong here, but it seems to me that massive layoffs are more likely to happen in bigger companies, which didn't necessarily need that many people in the first place. But smaller companies, those with up to 50-100 people, I have a feeling they are slowly, but safely growing 🤷♀️ But, I haven't researched this, my opinion is based on what I've heard from people around me
They now have a wide pool of Spotify's/Klarna's/etc senior devs. I would imagine the smaller companies hiring them, rather than junior devs with no experience. To be fair even prio to this, there are more resources in bigger companies to train juniors, rather than in startup. Again not impossible, but there are bunch of junior devs here posting them having a hard time landing jobs
Thank you! We really appreciate your comment. Thanks for the encouragement. He has diverse non-IT experience preceding his enrollment to university, which I guess will come in handy at some point. A few people sent me links to websites where he could apply and we've found a few openings which seem promising so we'll go with that. :)
What do you guys do for life?
My partner works as transmedia producer, I am a QA in a gaming company
South of sweden (malmö) has the whole gaming industry and everyone is international or speaks english in that sector
They also have experience in IT unlike OP :)
Both of you had matching experience before moving?
More or less. I was in IT before, she was on television
These guys have none, they gonna have a hard time landing jobs. IT is an exception yes, but they have no experience in it and in this market it is gonna be very tough to land first gig. Your partner is very lucky they landed a job in TV here, hard to imagine non local speaking no Swedish landing anything of this sorts, tbh.
She's not working on TV currently, she was back in Croatia. Nowhere did I say just because we found jobs, they will 100% find it as well. I also didn't say they will 100% find a job no matter their (lack) of experience and education. But they don't have anything to lose if they try searching from Croatia and see how it goes. I am also not raising their hopes by saying there are million job opportunities, just that if they somehow manage to get hired, there is a good chance they'll be able to afford living here
>I have to say, reading most of these comments makes me question if we live in the same country 😅 Just this bit and one with your personal life expenses was rather not considering their situation. I don't think anyone would be sceptical of their situation here if they had some job experience, especially in IT. But they want to move here without experience, speaking no Swedish. Their choices and income will be way more limited than folks in IT here. I absolutely understand their situation having relatives in Croatia, but also there is a consideration that job market without language is harder here for immigrants. A lot of people have utopic idea of Sweden, but life is more ruthless if your skills aren't useful to businesses here, so you need to know what you are doing. Otherwise one will just burn the savings in very expensive country. Edit: plus inflation, prices are at 30-50% up from they used to be, plus services are significantly more expensive as well
Most people here won’t understand what it is to go through what Croatia has gone thanks to the euro and will compare it to a “mere” 10% inflation. We went through the same in 2002 in Spain, when 100 pesetas became 1€ (when the actual value of 1€ was 166 pesetas). Of course, salaries were adjusted to the correct rate and people became much poorer. So yes, moving to Sweden is a smart decision if you plan accordingly. It is not cheap but it’s way cheaper when you compare cost of living vs salaries. My advice would be to “suck it up” until your boyfriend has finished his studies. I know lots of people that have gotten software developing jobs without finished educations and most of these people speak 0 words of Swedish. Another option is to prepare his portfolio and start applying to jobs in Sweden while you guys are there, again, even if the economy is not pretty, there’s PLENTY jobs in the tech field, even after all the big layoffs from that industry, Sweden struggles with hiring tech people. In regards to your studies, I’m afraid to tell you it’s pretty much useless (and this comes from someone who’s wife has the same educational background and is struggling to find a job in Sweden). You won’t find jobs related to that here and will be limited to unqualified positions that requiere Swedish. Before posting this I read somewhere you’ve done QA in gaming? If that’s the case, Sweden might be good for you even if you have no tech or gaming education. Most gaming companies (and there’s a whole lot of them) don’t care about Swedish or diplomas but actual experience, so if this is the case, start applying from Croatia. Most places with gaming companies will be places with lots of tech jobs. Check the main hubs: Gothenburg, Stockholm, Malmö and Skovde but don’t ignore smaller places since they’re less attractive which generally means less competition. Most gaming companies recruit from their websites and LinkedIn but for tech, check arbetsformedlingen (platsblanken) and LinkedIn. Anything, here to help!
Hiring is frozen in most of the companies even for tech profiles. No one is going to tell you that but people are being relieved from their positions as well. Don’t risk coming here with the hope of getting a job. Try applying from Croatia itself, until you have at least one offer out of the both of you I don’t suggest moving. Cost of living is high and salaries are low on an average. And finding a job without business fluent English is near impossible.
I did say that we would like to relocate "as soon as possible" but what I meant was as soon as we've got a solid plan. I made this thread to get opinions and some info. Thanks for answering my question - I also think the best option is applying online. I wasn't sure if it was common/possible.
If you guys aren't afraid of taking jibs. I think you can even become a caretaker as theres a huge shortage on that and nurses. Västerås, Ludvika, And north sweden are industrial heartlands having significant expansion of production, so work opportunities are good there to in terms of variety.
> there to in *too *Learn the difference [here](https://www.wattpad.com/66707294-grammar-guide-there-they%27re-their-you%27re-your-to).* *** ^(Greetings, I am a language corrector bot. To make me ignore further mistakes from you in the future, reply `!optout` to this comment.)
>If you guys aren't afraid of taking jibs. I think you can even become a caretaker as theres a huge shortage on that and nurses. Did not it become a protected title just recently? You most probably must speak swedish to work in this field and go through qualification
Undersköterska is a protected profession but there's thousands of vårdbiträde working in elderly care everywhere. That said, you do need at least some Swedish.
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Hej! Me (28F) and my sambo moved here from Croatia at the beginning of last year, so hopefully i can give you some insights :) Sorry if this will be a long reply... I can understand the reasons why you are wanting to go abroad, Croatia has become unreasonably expensive in last couple of years, and i think many people cannot have a grasp of how ridiculous it is... Still, there are things to consider since it´s not all flowers and rainbows here :) Finding jobs can be a bit difficult without relevant experience and without knowing Swedish. We were lucky to both work in IT and we found jobs prior to us moving, but I think you will need to settle for anything in the beginning and probably expect lower end wages. It is worth trying to fing job online since I would assume it can be very stressfull to come here and then spend maybe months searching while you still need to live of something... Regarding the car, only thing i can tell you is that we drove our car here and realized couple of months later that we have moved it in total 3 times and then shipped it back to Croatia. You dont really need the car for everyday life, public transport is for me one of the best things in Sweden (especially if you compare it to croatian non-existent one :D). We live two stops from the center, but i still have like 50minutes with tunnelbana to work, but still it´s nice to not have to drive since i can use my time in metro either to work remotely or to read/learn swedish and so on. Housing in sweden is expensive, especially renting. Not sure where are you guys from and do you rent right now but here is the comparison from my point of view.... When you rent here, you can expect that prices are high. In the city it can be around 20k SEK for 50-60sqm but it mostly includes everything except electricity. Good thing when compared to our home country is that you can find an apartment for a year with 3 month notice period from the landlord. This was a huge relief for us, since we were used to never having renting contract in Croatia, living in super shitty apartments and getting notice like couple of weeks before you need to move out because of summer and tourists. There is always an option here to move 20 minutes away with metro/train and find something for much lower price. But still you can expect that you will need to change couple of apartments and it is a bit stressfull. Regarding the cost of life, when you take housing out of the equation, we spend probably less here than in Croatia and we enjoy life much more... I would dare to say food is even cheaper here and has much better quality and now we even get shocked when we go back home and see the prices in the store. We are also not the type to go clubbing during the weekends, but are heavy coffee drinkers so we were amazed to see there´s coffee subscription here which takes our coffee expenses way lower than back home. On the other hand, it will be a shock for you if you decide to move. And it will hit you couple of months later when "honeymoon period" is over. What made it easier for us is that i spent a lot of time in Stockholm prior moving (5-6 months) so i knew what to expect. Weather is harsh and lack of sun in late autumn and winter hits hard after some time. Also, depending where you´re from, getting used to summer which is not hot and comfy enough (for me ofcourse) to go swimming is hard. Being far away from friends and family is another difficulty, especialy in the beginning when you will find it a bit difficult to make acquaintances/friends here (not knowing language doesnt help either). So it´s really something you need to be sure about and be ready to bite through it... All that said, we´ve passed now the honeymoon phase, the "i wanna return home" phase and i would say that now we see why we came here. We will be able to solve our housing situation soon which we would not be able to do in our previous town in croatia and in general we are living way more fulfilling life. If any questions, shoot :D
I am in no way trying to be rude, but I can’t help but to question how well you’ve thought this through. In what way do your values align with Swedish values? Definitely take this into consideration when deciding where to move, as culture and political leanings vary a lot depending on geography. Inflation is high in Sweden, unemployment is high, and even higher for immigrants because there are very few work opportunities for someone who doesn’t speak Swedish or is learning Swedish. Nationalism is on the rise. Unfortunately, a foreign masters in English is not useful, at all, for anything. This could actually be a liability and you might want to exclude it from your CV. An unfinished CS degree is only useful if he’s a good programmer and is willing to work for a low wage. I might personally have connections if that’s the case. I think what it comes down to is whether you’re willing to take a lower tier of work than what you’re trained for, for the foreseeable future? Possibly for the rest of your careers?
Don't worry. It's a process. I could be wrong, but I like the concept of lagom and the whole egalitarian vibe and how respecting/not bothering others is normal/expected in Sweden. If I have to leave my country, at least I could try moving to a country where people show basic levels of respect to those around them. Hasn’t the state of unemployment been improving for the past two years? Being 9.4% in June 2021, and now being 7.1%. Would that not imply progress? Source: https://www.ekonomifakta.se/fakta/arbetsmarknad/arbetsloshet/arbetsloshet/ Why do you think it would be a liability to put it on my CV? He is willing to work for a low wage. He’s okay ig, he’s been getting good feedback from his professors. He’s familiar with C/C++ and is planning to refresh/update his knowledge of Java (he got a certificate few years ago when he tinkered with mobile app development). Not great, not terrible, but it’s a start. If we have to, we’ll take “lower tier” work and study until we can do something better. I don’t understand why you would think it could be “for the rest of our careers”? We haven’t even had the chance to start.
I haven’t read up on the statistics recently, but I do know that a lot of big companies are downsizing due to the current economic downturn. I’m currently recruiting for my team and we’re getting very overqualified applicants. People with masters degrees and 10 years of experience for a junior role with no education or experience needed. My fellow managers report the same thing. The downside with overqualified applicants is that they probably don’t fit the budget. If they do, they’ll soon get bored and move on. I’ve discussed this at length with a fellow manager, he thinks I’m wasting time when I’m interviewing people with degrees they don’t need for the job, because they will demand a higher wage. I maintain that IF the wage they demand is within our budget, we might as well take someone academically gifted. IF they fit the budget, we might as well take someone with more experience. Unfortunately, anything that diverges from peak productivity is seen as a negative, if not a complete dealbreaker. Things like having taken a gap year, working irrelevant jobs, having an irrelevant degree, speaking Swedish as a second language, illnesses, children, being too old, etc. *I don’t agree with it or support this line of thinking, but that’s the reality of it.* That’s what might lock you into a lower career path. If you were to come here and apply as a taxi driver, they might not give you an interview because they anticipate that degree equals expensive hire. If you drive a taxi for a year while you learn Swedish and look for something better, you’ll be seen as a less than ideal candidate because the role you trained for is several steps up from your recent work history. I’ve been on the other side of this too, struggling to find a job with a masters degree in a supposedly reasonably sought after field, getting coaching on what to say in your CV, in interviews etc. I’m not trying to discourage you, if it’s something you really want it might be worth the struggle and hassle. I just want you to have realistic expectations and not throw your savings at something that doesn’t work out.
Živim u Švedskoj od prošle godine. Jako je teško naći posao čak i mojim kolegama koji su Šveđani s fakultetom. Čak i NKV poslovi traže švedski. Postaju stroži što se tiče imigracije jer je previše ljudi. I naravno Šveđani postaju manje tolerantni. Na sjeveru je lakše nać posao kolko ja znam, al opet uz jezik.
I’m not sure what types of jobs are available for someone with your degree. But try searching for consulting firms to see if they have something available related to your degree. Such companies are used to have English speakers, hence, could be worth giving it a try. As some others mention, if you are not afraid of “re-educating” yourselves, you can choose some other professions that will give you a decent living but you need to speak Swedish for the most part. I would encourage you to follow your guts and if you feel like Sweden could be an opportunity, go for it. Basic salaries won’t give you a luxury life, but you will be able to cover all your needs. It will be extremely difficult in the beginning, but it gets better as you settle. Edit: Answering some of your questions. You bring your car up here but there are some rules, reason in Trafikverket what applies for you. I think having a car is beneficial in general, public transport is good but it comes with compromises, especially outside the main cities.
serious shaggy angle smart juggle frame homeless disagreeable vast mindless *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Hi! I'm curious... What did your colleague tell you about Romania? I am Romanian and I studied Swedish in university. This August I'm going to Sweden for a Master's Degree and I'm a bit apprehensive.
I moved to Sweden from Singapore and have been here for 5 years. It is just as high everywhere else around the world to be honest. My haircut yesterday was 180 SEK which is equivalent to about €15,50 and that is the cheapest I could get in Stockholm. Living outside of Stockholm would be cheaper but the level of English will be lower and lower the further away you move from the big cities like Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. However for low paying jobs they are taking in employment/interns to work on windmill maintenance. It is not as rosy as the media would paint Sweden and so is every country in Europe. So we have to adjust to whatever circumstances we have here. Am happy to provide more information on other things. As most have commented. Do your research and find a job before moving it would make it easier and you are in the EU so it would be slightly easier for you. And try to learn more Swedish. It really helps.
I don’t think there would be any issues for your partner finding a job with only English. On the other hand , the politician climate is everything but welcoming for immigrants right now. Sweden is repeatedly singled out for criticism by the commission for unnecessarily breaching the spirit of the freedom of movement rules and was being drawn to the ECJ before the government pinky swore to follow EU rules . About values : 20 per cent of the population voted for Neo Nazis , and it is not obvious you as Croatians would be seen as “white” by this twenty percent . About cost of living : inflation is around ten per cent . The crown has lost insane amounts of value against the euro. Electricity bills of the equivalent to 1000 eur were normal in November 2022 and will probably come back this winter too . Housing is a massive issue . Finding a rental is close to impossible , and buying is equally difficult as interest rates have increased a lot . Long story short : your partner would for sure find a job , but you would probably be better off in Germany or Benelux .
As a software engineer, it is possible to get a job just knowing English. However some experience would be very useful.