Between lessons, social activities and sports, international students find themselves on a tight budget and securing a paying job becomes almost a necessity. We speak to Don Farooq Azee about the hardships of finding a job in Sweden.
Farooq, founder of Event Masters and now SitterOnSpot, has completed a total of three different Master Programmes and has experienced the hardships of searching for a job in Sweden before starting his personal business endeavours.
“I was desperate- my visa was running out and despite receiving good grades for my masters, I never got shortlisted for any of the many jobs I applied for in Sweden, Denmark or even in France,” says Farooq.
“They would require English speaking personnel but because of my name and nationality, visa becomes an issue.”
It was more of a visa issue than a language issue for Farooq, who does not speak Swedish fluently.
After a total of three years of job-hunting, Farooq entered the Venture Cup, where he received two grants from the Swedish governmental agency, Almi, for his idea on SitterOnSpot.
Now up and running, SitterOnSpot provides jobs for both Swedish and international students around the world.
“I feel that Sweden is the place to be to start something new, rather than to focus on seeking regular jobs,” says Farooq. “Almi is a good way to go to appeal for start-up capital for new companies.”
A tip for international students looking for jobs out there?
“Bringing your culture to Sweden and starting something new and innovative with it here is a good way to go. The mixing of cultures will provide for new business ideas,” says Farooq.
- At the AF-building on Tuesday, a work fair is being organized where students can look for work during their spare-time.
- Read also: The Worklife Coordinator: “We Need More Work Seminars”
6 Comments
KindaSwedish
Or simply learn Swedish and stop complaining about the job market. If he’s been here long enough to complete three Master’s (anywhere between three to six years), then that’s more than enough time to become pretty communicative in Swedish. Laziness gets you nowhere!
Why him?
There are many other international students who try and tried harder to accomplish something in Sweden and who are also more interesting to read and hear about than that guy. He clearly doesn’t want to adjust to the Swedish “way of living” – he doesn’t want to learn the language, adjust to the rules and regulations that are governing our society and so on. He may be smart, but he clearly is just wasting his time here, because having three Master’s clearly doesn’t aid him in finding work. Move on and out!
Truth
I know this guy very well, he is pretty successful with his businesses e and he has two companies running. I think he is smart enough to know that even if he will learn Swedish, he will be in queue of thousands of immigrants who’s applications are being rejected only because of their names. My friend did a research by sending CV from Swedish name with lower qualifications and experience and with a foreign Muslim name with years of experience and advance level Swedish. In results he received 1 reply for foreign application and 33 replies for Swedish.
This guy was my mentor and I have learnt from him and I am starting my company very soon with his help. Moreover you will soon see him in news since he is bringing a green business idea which will help human beings all around the world.
So for me I will say learning Swedish won’t bring him anything special , he will work in a restaurant or maybe in a store but now he is creating ideas. Moreover Swedes never let others in their society very easily. Both of you are very narrow minded to write anything like this for anyone and this kind of behavior only comes with jealousy and hater.
MyTruthIsMoreTrue
Four things to Truth’s comment:
1. If you’ve been living in Sweden for as long as he has been and not having any even faintest grasp of the language, that would mean that something is wrong with you. On the similar note, if he is a tax-payer (since he owns two companies and according to you will soon start a third one, then he must pay taxes – both personal and company ones), then he must fill in the paperwork and all of it is in Swedish.
2. If he finds Sweden so boring, repulsive and soulless to not learn the language and make any attempts to be a part of its society, then why does he want to continue on living here? As one of commentators below said: Move on and out!
3. If he is so successful, then why is he still officially a student and living in a student dorm? That is not jealousy, that’s more of a pity.
4. There is nothing wrong with working as a cleaner, dish-washer or a waiter. Those are honest job and both Swedes and non-Swedes do them. Maybe he just feels that he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty by doing such “low life” jobs. It’s surely better to be in your thirties and organize parties for exchange students.
He may be a good person, but there are surely more interesting, true, honest and hard-working people out there than him.
mademelaugh
this is so funny to see what you guys are writing about farooq. come on he does not want to learn any swedish since as long he is living here he will be living with students and have all of the fun you’ve been missing 🙂 he is a cool guy with a lot of motivation and crazy ideas and his ideas are highly appreciated by investors, government and even he won a lot of competitions. i like him and i loved when i saw his article in other newspaper, he is smart enough to know why he is in sweden so let shut up and be positive
Laughter
this is so funny to see what you guys are writing about farooq. come on he does not want to learn any swedish since as long he is living here he will be living with students and have all of the fun you’ve been missing 🙂 he is a cool guy with a lot of motivation and crazy ideas and his ideas are highly appreciated by investors, government and even he won a lot of competitions. i like him and i loved when i saw his article in other newspaper, he is smart enough to know why he is in sweden. and everyone knows that even by learning swedish its hard to get in to swedish society. i know people who were born here or came here when they were child but all of them complaint that they could never have a single real swedish friend. so things are clear for everyone. i have been here from my childhood but i failed to make any swedish friends and same goes to people i know who can speak swedish but are immigrants, so due to this society no one wants to spend time on language.