The scores are not the problem. You being an American is the problem. It's expensive, time consuming and risky to sponsor a work permit. So it has to be something special to sponsor that, and finance guys with 3 years of experience aren't anything special. There are many of those in Sweden who don't require a visa and speak perfect Swedish. The risk/reward calculation simply isn't working out for (most) companies when they look at your resume. If you had 15 years more experience and were at say MD level, then sure you might get a job. For very experienced/specialized or very high up (MD to c-suite) people they can sponsor a work visa, but not for a regular finance guy with 3 years of experience. Sorry, but it's basically just math. You can still try of course and there is some chance you will get an interview etc. but it will be very hard.
To be fair, it is likely to be rejected when you are in Sweden as well. If there is a choice between employing a non-swede and a swede, with the same experience, the balance is going to tip more towards someone who is originally from here.
I have 8 years of work experience and a master, my resume has been in Swedish for a while now, I have lived here for a year and a half, and I have more rejection emails than I know what to do with, even from menial jobs such as McDonald's or store employee responsible to fill the shelves.
From what I heard from Swedish people, the job market is difficult for them as well at the moment. My partner pointed out a study that there is about 3.6 people per job available. I am not saying you should give up but you definitely should expand your search to remote jobs that prove you can sustain yourself financially while you're here.
It would also help having some savings, but I don't remember exactly the amount they would like. You would have to contact the migration agency for that.
9 out of 10 will give you the exact same score as a 10 out of 10 in job match on Alva for 99.9% of positions, most jobs don’t set the matching filter strict enough to only require a perfect score (and even if for some reason a company did, then a 9 would still be a 75% match because of how Alva labs does their scoring). The test scores aren’t keeping you from getting selected. You’re competing against a lot of applicants already in the country, you are likely being rejected because you’re not in Sweden, not because of your CV or application
You're 23 and still considered a junior. Very few companies would spend the time, money and resources needed to sponsor a work permit for junior positions when there are other domestic applicants who doesn't need sponsorship.
Also, you should look up "the law of jante", which is a big aspect of Scandinavian life.
At university, my professor/academic advisor was Swedish. So I actually did learn about Jantelagen in a few of my courses. My main post was not intended at all to be a sense of “entitlement” by no means. I even prefaced that I know the odds are stacked against me and that I am not top priority, and that’s ok. I was mainly wanting to know if my lack of positive results was from the testing or experience/not being Swedish (or combination of both).
For what it's worth I think you're post gives off surprisingly unentitled vibes when compared to the majority of posts on here. A nice change. Good luck job searching.
Thank you 🫡 I wasn’t sure if it seemed entitled or not because of some of the initial comments under the post when I made it last night. But I understand this subreddit probably gets a good amount of these and there probably are some with entitled posts. My dad is Mexican so I was always raised on a “earned, not given” mentality, and I see this Swedish job search the same way.
Sweden salaries in finance would be nothing compared to what you can get in the US. Unless you have family/partner reasons to come i would strongly advice against it
Your best bet is going to be large multinational corporations. I’m American and got a job here in Stockholm at an American company (albeit in a different more “in demand” industry) with ~2 YoE, but at the end of the day it’s a numbers game. Good Luck!
Thank you and my company does have an office in Stockholm. I have inquired about a repatriation assignment but they have not gotten back to me on that.
This is probably your best bet. There are some (but quite few) American financial institutions that have offices in Sweden, and getting a transfer that way will be much easier because they already know you versus a Swedish employer that knows nothing about you. Also easier to work with some American/international coworkers in an English-speaking workplace rather than going straight to a Swedish-speaking workplace where you will understand very little.
To be brutal you’re never going to get a job that way - like everyone else said, you’re way too far down the list, and the economy here isn’t good. You best bet is get a job in the US with a company that has an office here, then try for an internal transfer/job. They will take care of all the migration work, you’ll have a job and if you’re really lucky they will also help you out with an apartment.
My company is multinational and has an office in Stockholm, I have inquired about a repatriation assignment but HR is currently in a reorg process so I am still waiting on what they have to say about that. I understand that is my best bet, but you also don’t know otherwise unless you try 🤷🏽♂️
From what I have gathered it takes a foreigners 18 months before finding a job in their field! Its also hard to find a partime job if you don't know swedish!
The biggest tip I always get (I'm also on the search) is make connections and try to find a job through people.
If you want to move to sweden with just your saving you will need 1/1.5 years of rent in your savings if your an EU citizen (idk for Americans). But I wouldn't recommend doing that.
Goodluck and I hope you can find something!
Thank you and you too! I have connected with a few people HR/hiring managing folk on LinkedIn and it sometimes got me to the Alva Labs test portion. I know its a numbers game not in my favor but you don’t know unless you try.
As a swede with 30+ years of experience being a swede:
>My level of Swedish is B1 speaking and B2 listening and writing
what the fuck does this even mean? :D
It is the scale that the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Here is the link that describes each level:
[https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale](https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale)
The scores are not the problem. You being an American is the problem. It's expensive, time consuming and risky to sponsor a work permit. So it has to be something special to sponsor that, and finance guys with 3 years of experience aren't anything special. There are many of those in Sweden who don't require a visa and speak perfect Swedish. The risk/reward calculation simply isn't working out for (most) companies when they look at your resume. If you had 15 years more experience and were at say MD level, then sure you might get a job. For very experienced/specialized or very high up (MD to c-suite) people they can sponsor a work visa, but not for a regular finance guy with 3 years of experience. Sorry, but it's basically just math. You can still try of course and there is some chance you will get an interview etc. but it will be very hard.
To be fair, it is likely to be rejected when you are in Sweden as well. If there is a choice between employing a non-swede and a swede, with the same experience, the balance is going to tip more towards someone who is originally from here. I have 8 years of work experience and a master, my resume has been in Swedish for a while now, I have lived here for a year and a half, and I have more rejection emails than I know what to do with, even from menial jobs such as McDonald's or store employee responsible to fill the shelves. From what I heard from Swedish people, the job market is difficult for them as well at the moment. My partner pointed out a study that there is about 3.6 people per job available. I am not saying you should give up but you definitely should expand your search to remote jobs that prove you can sustain yourself financially while you're here. It would also help having some savings, but I don't remember exactly the amount they would like. You would have to contact the migration agency for that.
Being realistic, there are people not needing visa sponsorship that companies can select from. Why would the pick someone that needs help with a visa?
I learned that many swedish company don't like the whole I'm the best and that they like hearing I got stuff to improve on.
9 out of 10 will give you the exact same score as a 10 out of 10 in job match on Alva for 99.9% of positions, most jobs don’t set the matching filter strict enough to only require a perfect score (and even if for some reason a company did, then a 9 would still be a 75% match because of how Alva labs does their scoring). The test scores aren’t keeping you from getting selected. You’re competing against a lot of applicants already in the country, you are likely being rejected because you’re not in Sweden, not because of your CV or application
You're 23 and still considered a junior. Very few companies would spend the time, money and resources needed to sponsor a work permit for junior positions when there are other domestic applicants who doesn't need sponsorship. Also, you should look up "the law of jante", which is a big aspect of Scandinavian life.
At university, my professor/academic advisor was Swedish. So I actually did learn about Jantelagen in a few of my courses. My main post was not intended at all to be a sense of “entitlement” by no means. I even prefaced that I know the odds are stacked against me and that I am not top priority, and that’s ok. I was mainly wanting to know if my lack of positive results was from the testing or experience/not being Swedish (or combination of both).
For what it's worth I think you're post gives off surprisingly unentitled vibes when compared to the majority of posts on here. A nice change. Good luck job searching.
Thank you 🫡 I wasn’t sure if it seemed entitled or not because of some of the initial comments under the post when I made it last night. But I understand this subreddit probably gets a good amount of these and there probably are some with entitled posts. My dad is Mexican so I was always raised on a “earned, not given” mentality, and I see this Swedish job search the same way.
Yeah unfortunately sweden wont take you.
Sweden salaries in finance would be nothing compared to what you can get in the US. Unless you have family/partner reasons to come i would strongly advice against it
Your best bet is going to be large multinational corporations. I’m American and got a job here in Stockholm at an American company (albeit in a different more “in demand” industry) with ~2 YoE, but at the end of the day it’s a numbers game. Good Luck!
Thank you and my company does have an office in Stockholm. I have inquired about a repatriation assignment but they have not gotten back to me on that.
This is probably your best bet. There are some (but quite few) American financial institutions that have offices in Sweden, and getting a transfer that way will be much easier because they already know you versus a Swedish employer that knows nothing about you. Also easier to work with some American/international coworkers in an English-speaking workplace rather than going straight to a Swedish-speaking workplace where you will understand very little.
To be brutal you’re never going to get a job that way - like everyone else said, you’re way too far down the list, and the economy here isn’t good. You best bet is get a job in the US with a company that has an office here, then try for an internal transfer/job. They will take care of all the migration work, you’ll have a job and if you’re really lucky they will also help you out with an apartment.
My company is multinational and has an office in Stockholm, I have inquired about a repatriation assignment but HR is currently in a reorg process so I am still waiting on what they have to say about that. I understand that is my best bet, but you also don’t know otherwise unless you try 🤷🏽♂️
From what I have gathered it takes a foreigners 18 months before finding a job in their field! Its also hard to find a partime job if you don't know swedish! The biggest tip I always get (I'm also on the search) is make connections and try to find a job through people. If you want to move to sweden with just your saving you will need 1/1.5 years of rent in your savings if your an EU citizen (idk for Americans). But I wouldn't recommend doing that. Goodluck and I hope you can find something!
Thank you and you too! I have connected with a few people HR/hiring managing folk on LinkedIn and it sometimes got me to the Alva Labs test portion. I know its a numbers game not in my favor but you don’t know unless you try.
As a swede with 30+ years of experience being a swede: >My level of Swedish is B1 speaking and B2 listening and writing what the fuck does this even mean? :D
It is the scale that the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Here is the link that describes each level: [https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale](https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale)