Getting a job in Norway

I`ll make this one short, but I`ll definitely post more in the topic later. 

Norway has lots of jobs to offer, from well paid oil industry, through management and leader positions, to simple cleaning jobs. When you go through job offers on e.g. www.finn.no, you may easily get the impression that Norway is the Promised Land. In some way it is, but only in some way...

In order to easily get a job in Norway you must:
1) be born under the lucky star, or
2) be a male human being (sorry ladies, men first in this case), or
3) have a skill that they are looking for, or
4) SPEAK NORWEGIAN, at least communicatively, or
5) have a friend who will help you, or
6) be a Norwegian citizen.

Ad1)
A lot here depends on  good luck. I know people who have been looking for job for weeks and weeks and, even being not particularly picky,  they just cannot get one. But I also know people, who came to Norway and got a job the very next day. I think a lot depends on being in the right place at the right time. A lot also depends on 2-6 ;)

Ad 2)
It`s just much easier for a representative of the male "race" to get a job here. It`s probably because Norway needs skilled, physical workers, such as builders or mechanics. A lot of Norwegian women do "male jobs", but this tendency is hard to observe in other countries of the world, so there aren`t too many foreign women who could do these jobs here. If you are a skilled female car mechanic- you have nothing to worry about,  you`ll get a job. It isn`t necessary for a man to speak Norwegian, as long as he`s got skills (that only sometimes applies to women). Unfortunately, if you are a lady and you only speak English, you will most likely get a part-time or so-called "extra help"* contract as a cleaner or hotel staff. If you don`t speak Norwegian or English- I don`t think there is any sense in coming here at all, unless you believe in miracles or- look 1 :)

* "extra help" jobs suck! If you are an extra-helper, you employer calls you whenever they need you. You have no schedule, so you can`t plan anything. They can call you today and ask if you can work tomorrow, or they can call you at 6 in the morning and ask if you can come to work NOW, because someone is sick or they are busy. Also, you are not entitled to many social welfare services, for example if you get sick you stay at home for free, while fixed-contract employees are paid. 

Ad 3) 
If you are skilled in the field that is in need of working power (in Norway this usually means "technical engineer") you should get a job without a problem, even if you speak only English. 

Ad 4)
If you speak Norwegian, you will get some job sooner or later. The better Norwegian you speak, the better chances you have to get the job you want. 

Ad 5)
Friends, friends, friends! ALL my closest female friends got jobs through friends, I also got a job through a friend. Having friends who can recommend you makes it just so much easier! One of my male friends got a job the day he came to Norway, with only VERY BASIC English, being a carpenter, through my other friend`s recommendation. 

Ad 6)
I think this one is clear. Norwegians speak Norwegian. And surely they will employ their own citizens first, and foreigners only if they are significantly better than Norwegians, or for the kind of jobs the Norwegians don`t want to do. We can`t blame them for that, we would probably do the same in our own countries.

Weather in Norway

You could write a book about the Norwegian weather :) 

The general image of the Norwegian weather in most of the people`s heads is: 

COLD, COLD, COLD, like... polar bear COLD! 

Well, that isn`t completely true :) Sure, it IS cold all year round up north, behind the polar circle area, but the more to the south, the more bearable it gets. 

Cities such as Oslo or Stavanger enjoy weather similar to that you can see on the British Islands or Denmark. That means it can get quite hot in the summer, even 30 degrees, but mostly up to 25, and pretty cold during the winter (minus 5-10, sometimes more). 

In Bergen, the city where I live, the weather changes rapidly. You can experience beautiful, sunny, warm weather and tropical-like rain in one day. Sometimes we have hailstones falling and the Sun shining during one hour. Bergen is famous from being one of the rainiest cities in the world, on average getting about 235 precipitation days a year. It is also quite windy, but thanks to the Gulf Stream its climate is particularly mild. The hottest I`ve experienced here was in May 2012 with the temperature above 30 degrees, and the coldest probably this winter- around minus 10. Usually, we get around zero degrees in winter with some snow and 15-20 in the summer. Springs and autumns are wet and chilly.

This year I`ve planted some things on my balcony, easy to grow vegetables. Everything is growing soooooo sloooooow, due to the weather I guess. 

I`ve heard that they used to have vending machines with umbrellas in Bergen (!), but I`ve never seen any.

If you come to Norway, you have to be prepared for every weather, no matter the season. And don`t be surprised if you experience 4 seasons in one day, that`s just normal here :)

Introduction

Norway is a specific country. 

Why?

Because it may make you experience totally opposite feelings and emotions within an hour, it may make you feel like the King of the World now and like a piece of sh*t just a second later. 

That is why I started this blog. I want to share my emotions with these who are already here, with those who want to come, and the Norwegians, to show them and make them realize some of their national  features, both good and bad ones :)

I would like to state clearly that 

EVERYTHING I AM TO WRITE HERE ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND EXPERIENCES, 

they have nothing to do with official stuff and you`ve got every right not to agree with me.

All rights to the pictures published on this blog are retained by me.

Please, view my photoblog about Bergen with hundreds of photos from this amazing city!

http://www.photosbergen.blogspot.no/