The Danish job market: Proactiveness, possibilities and language

After graduating in Brazil and working a bit there, followed by 2 years in Australia, improving her English language skills and having new experiences living abroad, Juliana headed to Denmark in order to continue her education with a master degree in International Marketing at AAU.

She started researching about Denmark and the job market in Denmark:

“I found out that lots of students work in restaurants and bars as a student job and not in their study area. My dream was to arrive here and start working in a place that would allow me to develop competencies related with International Marketing.”

"I think that the work possibilities in Denmark are really interesting, with lots of different and promising areas to work in!"

One of the things Juliana had found out during her initial research of the job market in Denmark was the importance of Danish language skills.

“Now I know that yes, it definitely would help me if I knew how to speak Danish, but there are possibilities for English speaking people too.”

“I was lucky enough to get a job in a company where the official language is English. I also have friends that got English speaking jobs in marketing. Danish language skills aren’t needed in my job since our clients are mostly international. But even though this is the case for other companies, the language barrier is still strong.”

 

Career fairs and LinkedIn - valuable networking tools

Career fairs were one of the tools Juliana used in her search for a student job.

“It was an interesting opportunity to see some of the companies that exist in Denmark and talk with the people that work there to find out what they expect from candidates.”

Before attending a fair, she prepared well:

“I prepared my elevator pitch, highlighting my biggest accomplishments from recent times; I printed my CV and went to the career fair website to see which companies were going to be there.”

Juliana also updated her LinkedIn profile and used it actively:

“I used LinkedIn as a networking tool by adding HR managers and relevant people. I reached out to people I thought would be relevant professionally at some point. I am constantly interacting with these people's posts.”

 

Researching, taking risks and preparing was the key

Juliana didn’t get to apply for that many jobs before she got a job: She had only been 3 months in Denmark when she went to her first interview – and she got the job.

“I found the company I am working for at a company database. There, I saw that Create it REAL had just received an investment, and it was one of the top growing companies in Aalborg. I went to their website and I saw they were looking for a digital marketing intern.”

“It wasn’t my intention to get an internship at that point since I was just finalising my first semester, but I wanted a student job, so I decided to send my CV anyway. I didn’t have any job experience in this field prior, but I did have a blog before, so I had some experience with Wordpress and creating graphics, as well as taking pictures and videos.”

“I went to the interview prepared, I created an initial digital marketing plan for them and I also printed the graphics I created for my blog. They asked me to send them a more elaborate digital marketing plan now that I knew who their target group was, and I did create one.”

So why did they hire Juliana in a student job instead of keep looking for an intern?

“I believe that I got the student job, even though they were looking for an intern, because I was prepared and I put the effort into creating the digital marketing plan even before the interview.

 
Juliana's advice for you: Explain how your experience is useful

Juliana has two pieces of advice for you as an international looking for a student job in Denmark: