Those of you who moved to Norway to be with their Norwegian partners, what jobs do you have?

25 comments

1. Theres hundreds of prosjektleder positions on finn.no and theres probably more elsewhere. Hard to say why you would have a hard time finding a job.

2. Learning a language is really a must to have a work here in Norway. My norwegian language is just average since me and my husband still talking English after 11 yrs eventhoug English is not my primary language.
   I talked 4 languages and its mix all sometimes😆
   Is not so Easy all the time.
   I told him that my norwegian is so poor because of him😆lol
   Working in a health department (caregiver)
   And in the shop before.
   I earn quite good enough specially in health department
   Always need people to work.

3. As a norwegian with a confusing dialect, I definitely advice trying to practice the dialects. this has nothing to do with the post but i see too many people make the mistake that learning bokmål or oslo dialect is enough, ive had a native from oslo not even understand me!!

4. I work in banking compliance which is what I did before I moved here, so i was lucky that I didn’t need to get my education accepted and my working language is English. It still took me more than a year to find a job, which afforded me time to take Norwegian classes and the Sammfunnskunskap course.

5. In that same situation, I studied international relations in another European country and I have a masters in democratic processes and human rights. When I got here, my hands were tied. Without the proper language level it’s hard to get uneducated jobs to get by with, and finding something in the field has been impossible for me. I am studying a second masters’ now in Oslo, to see if I can get started in the field through the internship program, +norwegian. As far as I saw that was my best bet but I did the whole process during COVID and the job market was quite paralyzed, maybe in a couple of years the situation will be different. Best of luck!

6. I found it easier to look for smaller companies as they are struggling for Norwegian candidates as due to the current economic forces people are very risk averse, so the big, stable companies like Equinor are just hoovering everyone up in my industry. I got a job in a green energy technology start up which I’m super excited about. Others in my team are from EU countries, Norwegian and me as a Brit.

   There’s quite a lot of PM jobs in Energy and infrastructure my wife (who’s Norwegian) was looking at. We’re in the process of moving now. Cowi, Holte Consulting are two that spring to mind

7. I landed a software developer position with only a bachelor’s degree and no experience from the UK Post-brexit

8. There is a huge shortage of tech-personnel in Norway, and if you can move into a tech project management role in a large city, you could also use English as your primary language in the workplace.

   Håvard University has an excellent, free online course “Introduction to Computer Science” where you also earn a certificate when you pass. That could be a good compliment to your project management skills: https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x

9. I’m a software engineer with at the time 6 years of experience, job searching was easy as I got 3 interviews after a week of applying. I used Finn and I’m based in Trondheim

10. Im a business mgmt graduate and has been in sales and marketing my whole life. Worked with marketing side of marlboro/philipp morris for 5yrs but now i work for ready made food company i cook and pack finished foods for now. But i hope someday as i learn better norsk (im B1 now) i can get back to marketing again.

11. Graphic Design here 🙂

    I applied for lots of jobs, and ended up getting one in a global company so being English was a benefit as that’s our official language. My Norwegian was rudimentary at best but has improved vastly. Good luck!

12. Three things:
    1.) try to find out if your profession maybe uses a different platform for job listings. This is the case for my profession (architecture). When I started to look for a job I was quite confused as there was not a single listing for my field on finn, but a bit later I found out that all the architecture job listings get published a different platform.

    2.) maybe use open applications – at least this did the trick for me

    3.) depending where you’re going to live: try companies in smaller places where it’s possible for you to commute. E.g. if you live in Oslo, you could check in Asker, Ski, Drammen etc. The competition is a bit less severe, and when you have built up your experience and languages skills, you can always look for something nearer to you.

13. So many tech jobs… and here I am happy I found a full time job as a buttikkarbeider. I don’t have a ton of education. I was just a warehouse supervisor in the US before moving. I got to know the people around my small town and that’s how I landed a part time job. I then got help from people I meet while working that job to help find my full time job. It’s was enough to help me get my permanent residency. It pays the bills so I’m not one to complain.

14. I work in finance now and consulting before that. Didn’t have a career somewhere else before coming here as we met as students and moved to Norway once we graduated. Didn’t speak Norwegian fluently then but was lucky to find English language jobs long enough to learn the language. Now in finance it’s a mix of Norwegian and English. I have also switched over to Norwegian as my primary language with my now wife a while ago. That made a big difference

15. What you could do is contact NAV when you get here. NAV is the norwegian employment office and they usually have tons of help for you, either directly or via a third-party employment-specialist. They can often open a few doors for you.

    What sort of business have you managed projects in?

16. I’m British (although technically also Norwegian now), and I moved 17 years ago (yikes). Before I could speak norwegian I worked in a pub and a couple of orchestras, then once I had the language down I transitioned into archive work for local kommuner, and now finally I am settled in my (first) permanent position as QA and third line tech support for a software development company. So I went through a couple of career changes, and indeed ended up in tech in order to get anything permanent. My degree is from a music conservatoire – I probably could have made something of it here, but no longer wanted to travel so much.

    I was fortunate too to join in the days of EU glory so I had that going for me. Wouldn’t be nearly as easy to do it as a Brit now. Have to admit that before I changed my name to my partner’s surname I had a HARD time getting to even talk to anyone about a job (it is my lived experience that a foreign name – and also foreign education – will sadly hurt you in the job hunt). In the end it came down to years and years of networking to secure a permanent position after a lot of short term temping jobs. It was not easy, but learning the language will help you a lot! My best advice would be to try to get to know people in your field in Norway, they will give you far more of a leg up than any CV you might be able to produce.

17. I am a doctor but through my Norwegian courses I have met 3-4 women who are aiming to have an education as nurses in order to get a job in Norway because it’s very difficult in their current fields.
    Have you tried webrecruiter?

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19. My girlfriend’s from Canada, we met in Oslo as she was employed as a project manager by the EAT Foundation here. Seems like your experience is highly relevant and English is the workday language across the entire organisation. She’s just left her position as we’re moving to Canada so perhaps that’s worth a shot. Best of luck and velkommen til Norge!

20. Got a part time job (zero hours contract) in a store which felt like a setback as i was a graduate engineer with 2 years experience but was invaluable for practicing speaking Norwegian. Then after 9 months a job came along which was very similar to what i had experience with in the UK. Got the job. I think it payed off learning Norwegian and showing my commintment to living here with my partner. Employers are weary of employing foreign people who are not serious and would leave after a few months. In short it varies by career type and location, but investing in language wil always give you an advantage, and be patient 🙂

21. First comes the language. Then worry about jobs opportunities.

22. I work in Demolition in Bergen. 3 years this Month.

23. I work nightshifts as a miljøterapeut. Basically I look after people with special needs that can’t live by themselves. I’m from Denmark, so it’s not too hard to adjust to the language, which is a big help.

    I do plan on switching jobs sometime soon, so I can make better use of my degree, but it can be hard if you sent have prior work experience in whatever field you’re looking to work in.

24. My wife has her degree in public health. Her and almost every person she went to school with has ended up changing careers or becoming stay at home moms because they can’t find any jobs in the field. The only people who get jobs in the medical field here are nurses, physical therapists and doctors. Every joby wife has gone for she’s lost out to a Norwegian nurse or physical therapist who is horribly under qualified but knew someone or has just been there for 20 years.

25. I’m from the USA i work here as a sous chef at a small restaurant. I’m classically french trained and most of the cooks here have only an education from the Norwegian equivalent of a tech school but I still get treated like my education isn’t good enough and my pay reflex that. They say that the pay”is what it is” and that they already “pay more than they should.” But my 17 year old brother in law makes almost as much ase working at a grocery store and it’s hard to not see this as straight up racism.

    Tldr; it’s easy to find work as a chef but you won’t get paid shit.