I don’t know why, but I like Norway very much. Do you think I can find a job there?

Your feeling is quite spread and was even studied :

Good luck.

Hi,
When you are talking about white collar, 95% of the jobs are in English. Your comment could be true as a general comment however it does not apply to white collar or to Norway: Norway is a different animal and foreigners have way less chances to penetrate the white collar market in Norway than in other countries. Going in a country without knowing the language is not an issue for white collar job if you speak English ( at least based on my experience/the persons I know in the finance industry in France/ Germany/ Portugal/ Spain / Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg /Denmark/Sweden …. )

If you don’t trust me , maybe trust the studies prepared by Norwegian on this matter for the financial market . They even considered in the study as « non Norwegian » the children of immigrant (so they actually are Norwegian and speak Norwegian fluently and went to school in Norway) but still… they don’t make it …

I put you the conclusion ( in bokmal … ) « Norge er et ganske homogent og lukket land. Folk generelt er uvant med å omgås mennesker fra andre land. Det eksisterer en tendens til å velge det man er kjent med. Dermed kreves det mot å ansette noen fra utlandet. Det kan være helt ubevisst, en såkalt “implisitt bias”.

Seems that you think you are the best. Congrats!

Would I have any luck if I arrived in London only speaking Norwegian? Or in Lisbon? First rule, learn the language.

Second rule, start to network. Online applications do not work.

Third rule, get a job. Any job. Go to second rule.

White-colar work is a lot harder to obtain and in such areas language is vital. Unless the working language is English, working proficiency within the Norwegian language is a must have.

Blue-collar work is far more simple. Take your pick and then go for it, there is a shortage of solid, good workers across all trades.

I can’t say i agreed with all you wrote but the vast majority did make me smile and reminisce.

The point that I found is far from impossible is:

“Norwegian labour laws make it almost impossible to let someone go if you’ve hired them;”

There are mechanisms in place where any company can lay you off if they prove that they don’t have a money to run the show for the role. Now, the trick question is: do they? Sometimes it’s not easy to know that for sure and companies can take advantage of it. They can also offer you benefits in the contract that they can pull off anytime if they “don’t have the money” again, if they craft it carefully in the contract. And I’ve checked this with the lawyer.

Unless you are in a public sector, you can lose your job almost as easily as anywhere else, it’s just the process is going to be a little bit slower and you may get away with some severance package (but employers are not obliged by law to give you anything).

Norway is not even a pale comparison to bigger markets such as Germany, UK, USA, Canada. It’s a 5 million people country and the opportunities are pretty much in direct proportion with that number.