Searching for an engineering job in Norway can be quite a challenge. At first, I thought it would be easy because I got the idea that Norway needed engineers very badly, so this could be a quick process. After 2 months of job searching and dozens of CVs sent, I have learned a little bit about Norway’s job market and its needs. One of the things that surprised me was the possibility of importing your CV from another company’s database. So, instead of filling out forms with the same information over and over again, if you already filled a CV form, depending on the company careers website, you can import this information in a very user friendly way.
When it comes solely to engineering, there is a noticeable need for engineers for the oil and gas business (e.g. mining, ocean structures, hydraulics, etc.). I was surprised to see so many job ads requesting a lot of “senior engineers” and experienced workers. Portugal has the exact same kind of demands for employees (in the job ads). It is not uncommon to find ads requesting the candidate to have 5 years experience this and that, sometimes in a very long list of demands that are almost impossible to fully satisfy. Once, I found a job offering in my University where the “recently graduate candidate” should have at least 5 years of experience in a list of activities to perform that occupied the whole page. In these cases I believe it is important to remember ourselves that experience is not something that we can buy at the store by the kilo. Although it is understandable that an experienced worker has a lower learning curve that an inexperienced one, you eventually learn everything, or complement what you already know, to get the job done. So, if you see a list of required expertise in a job ad of which you have only a few, send your CV anyways because there is a chance of the target company have some realistic people working in their human resources department, and they just might like your motivation.
If possible, learn Norwegian in advance because some companies require the candidate to speak both Norwegian and English fluently. You can also respond to a job ad in Norwegian although I have seen at least a company who specifically mentioned that if the ad was not in English, than it was meant to Norwegians only.
If you are an Engineer, I will give you a list of four sites you can use to try your luck in the lands of the North:
Above all never forget, job searching sometimes may not be easy (a friend of mine spent 6 months sending CVs before she was hired to work in England) but if you keep your spirits high and have some perseverance you might just find your dream job.
As for me, I was hired as a researcher in a portuguese University where I will work while continuing to send CVs to Norway. I will take this opportunity to continue to learn Norwegian and blog some more (and perhaps post some more portuguese cuisine recipies ;) ).
Lykke til! (“Good luck”)
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