Finding a well-paying, interesting job suited to your qualifications and skill-set is no easy feat regardless of where you live. When you move to a new country, and may not even know the language, it presents even greater challenges. Throw in a hint of recession-speak, and it may seem nearly impossible.

Work-eligible people in Stavanger may have it easier than the rest of Norway, and even Europe, as there are still thousands of jobs available. From the looks of it there just aren’t enough people to do all of the jobs that need doing around here. For those with driving and cleaning skills, you can get a job driving a bus or cleaning houses (both in demand fields!), working in a café or restaurant (which could be a great job to have while learning the language), and other service-industry area jobs that are readily available in Norway.

Volunteering is another good way to make new contacts and get involved in the local community. Once you make enough connections, get started on learning the language, and are willing to try at an entry level position, you can get your foot in the door and start working your way up the employment ladder.

Legal Stuff

For the latest official  information on working in Norway, visit the UDI homepage. Most of the information is available in English, and where it is not, use the Google Translate tool to translate the information into your native language. They have an FAQ about getting a work permit that answers many common questions.

In general, once you are granted a residence permit, you have the right to work in Norway. This may not apply to all residency permits, but it most certainly applies to expat spouses regardless of their nationality.

For a good, general overview of getting a job in Norway, visit the norway.org website. While geared towards Americans in the US, it is a good resource for other non-Europeans, as the advice commonly applies to others also outside the EU (Schengen) rules. Of course, always check with the Norwegian Embassy in your home country for the rules applicable to you.

The Reality

The reality is that it is harder to find work in a new place. Starting from scratch takes time and determination and can be overwhelming when you are finding your feet in your new home country. You don’t need me to tell you how difficult this makes the transition for you, your spouse, and your family. But for many people it is worth the effort, because if you aren’t integrated into Norway through work, it can be hard to ever really feel settled.

As you might expect, understanding Norwegian is a huge help to the job-seeker in Stavanger.  Yes, almost everyone here speaks English, but unless you work for Statoilhydro or another large energy firm with English as the working language, the market is mostly in Norwegian. Even those working for big firms feel they need at least some Norsk to communicate with colleagues.

I have heard from expatriate spouses that were told by their company’s HR department that they would easily find jobs in Norway due to the country’s low unemployment rate, only to find that without speaking the language, a comparable job to their home-country career was very difficult to find. For expat spouses, male and female alike, this is too often the experience. Expat Focus (http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-norway-employment) offers a view of the work market in Norway worth checking out.

That doesn’t mean you should give up if you want to work! Many immigrants and expat spouses take jobs in their industry of choice, but just below their skill-sets to get their foot in the door. Once their colleagues and managers have gotten to know them and see they are going to stick around for a while, they were promoted into positions equivalent to their education levels. Check out other Expat Blogs takes on the different experiences with the job market in Norway.

Those looking for service jobs not requiring excellent Norwegian will find many opportunities open to them. Look in the classifieds of the local newspaper or advertisements at local shops for positions such as “dagmamma”, “vasker”, “handyman”, and so on. If you are a talented driver but don’t speak Norwegian, check out the employment listings with the local bus company, Veolia, as well.

Get yourself out there both in “real life” and virtually.

Like in most places, you need to meet people and network to hear about job opportunities and be considered for interesting positions. Many jobs are posted online and through company homepages, but so many are not. Linkedin is a popular and well-used professional networking site. Nettverk Stavanger is a networking group that hosts regular events such as meetings, receptions and seminars throughout the year – they are connected with the Norway/Norge linkedin group (which is currently the most active linkedin group in Norway). There is an established group for Professionals in Norway,  a new group for foreigners working in Norway, and groups specific to your profession. Get your profile up there, join the Norway group, and start making connections in your industry. Same goes with popular social networking sites, such as Facebook.

Etiquette

It is quite normal in Norway to make a phone call to the person listed in the job advert before sending in your application. It is also common to receive no response to a job application you submit, so do follow up with a call. For whatever reason, Norwegians are more responsive to phone calls than emails. Which can be more difficult for a newcomer to make- but try it.  It gets easier and you will find people are more helpful if they speak with you rather than just exchange replies through cyberspace.

Headhunters There are many headhunters in Stavanger and if they find your CV/resumé interesting, will help place you. This is especially useful for those interested in working  in the Energy and Accounting industries.

Corporate websites are a good place to start if there is a particular place you are interested in working. The Næringsforening in Stavanger offers a company search feature which is useful for identifying local firms.

This surprised even me, but looking through the online phone book, called Nettkatalogen, is useful as well! It allows you to search by service, industry, and directly by firm name. There are links to websites and it may give you a better idea of possible employers.

EURES If you are from a European country, the job listings and employment search services with Eures can get you up-to-speed with the Norwegian job market fast. Eures in Norway is a part of NAV (see below) and works closely with headhunters in the region. Make an appointment to talk to the EURES advisor at NAV if you qualify!

NAV is the Norwegian Government’s employment agency. They have a database of open jobs, and you can register your CV with them if you have your Norwegian “personal number”.

Finn.no is owned by Schibsted, Norway’s largest publisher, and is a giant online classified website. Besides job listings, there are links to real estate, cars, furniture, baby items, clothes, etc. Many jobs posted on public and internal websites are posted on finn.no as well, so make it a daily stop.

CareerJet is a search engine that churns out job search results from all of the big temp agencies, online listings, and even allows you to search jobs by firm.

The University of Stavanger has a career service centre. The Career Center (Karrieresenteret) provides information on jobs for students: full time, part-time and summer jobs. The Karrieresenteret also has their own web-pages for trainee (stagiaire/intern/practikant) schemes aimed at graduating students.

Employment Network Norway is a Yahoo group for job networking among Expats in Norway. It is a good place to ask questions and sometimes jobs targeted towards people with a lack of Norwegian are posted here.

The non-profit organisation Atlantis Youth runs a programme called Working Guest which can help finding summer and seasonal jobs. www.atlantis-u.no

Temporary Jobs can be a good strategy if your work permit is already in order. Temporary work, or “vikarbyrÃ¥” as it is known in Norwegian, is a common way of hiring in the larger companies in the Stavanger region.

Greater Stavanger and-Skape * are worthwhile for those wanting to start their own business. For tips, links, a complimentary appointment with a consultant or other information on working for yourself, visit the Greater Stavanger website.

*”Skape” means “create” in Norwegian. Skape.no is a centre for information, competence and guidance aimed at new businesses.