Here are four interviews with people with different experiences of living and working in Denmark. Read about their strategies for creating networks both at work and at home, and the influence their stay in Denmark has on careers and family life.
Damian Claassens, 27 years old, Australia
Senior Art Director at Framfab
Lives with his girlfriend Sorcha in Copenhagen
Has been in Denmark for a year and a half
International experience and network
Working in Denmark is my opportunity to work with the major international clients. When you have lived and worked in e.g. London, as I have, you know that competition for the major international clients is very tough. In my job at Fremfab I now get to work for some of the clients that are most attractive for an art director. I have exciting tasks and the opportunity to create innovative solutions that are used internationally. But best of all, the references look great on my CV and are sure to benefit my future career.
Living in Denmark gives me international experience and a personal network. One day, when I return to Sydney, I am probably going to take a chance and start my own web agency. But that might take a few more years.
I was on the dotcom rollercoaster. When I was 23 I was Creative Manager at a web agency in Australia and made a lot of money. Way out there for a 23-year-old. But I was still in the dotcom business when the bubble burst. It was a terrible time, when practically everyone was fired. Even I turned freelance for a while, but I missed being a part of a company and having colleagues around me.
Greener pastures
I applied for the job as Senior Art Director at Fremfab, but figured I did not have a chance. I figured that they would prefer a Scandinavian. It turned out they were very interested - and quite serious about it. Particularly the seriousness is typical of Danish companies. There is no unnecessary waste of time - they get straight to the point.
I thought it would be a problem that I only spoke English, but I get by just fine. A lot of Fremfab's clients are international with English as their corporate language. And although many Danes speak English really well, I often have an advantage at large and important presentations. Many Danes tend to get nervous and mix up the languages.
Excellent career opportunities
There are excellent opportunities to make a career in Denmark, depending on who you are as a person and which line of business you are in. You have to be quite outgoing, open and not be afraid to speak your mind. You also have to like to work and create good results. These things pay off. But the possibility of a career also depends a great deal on what business you are in. IT e.g. is a business with flat hierarchies and short reporting lines. For a foreigner who only works in Denmark for a short period of time, it will not be possible to make a career in a profession with more lengthy processes.
Family is important too
In Denmark it is not difficult to impress people with how much you work. For the average Dane a workday is rarely longer than eight hours. Lots of people, particularly those with young children, tend to go to work between eight a.m. and nine a.m. and go home at about four or five in the afternoon. In Australia I would have been fired for that kind of behaviour! There you do not go home before seven or eight o'clock in the evening. In Denmark many employees are allowed a great deal of flexibility regarding their working hours. For people like us - with no children - it may seem almost too flexible. But it makes it easier for a family with both parents working fulltime - which is often the case in Denmark - to cope with everything in a sensible way.
Jennifer Gloerstad, 33, USA
Housewife, mother of an 18 months old girl and with another baby on its way. Educated as a speech therapist
Married to Terje Gloerstad, Norway
Lives in Aalborg
Has been in Denmark for six months
Freedom and time for the family
Denmarki s a good place for families with children. There is lots of spare time to spend together as a family. When we were living in the United States Terje worked long hours every day - even on weekends. For many years, Terje did not even have any vacation. Here we have more time together - to enjoy ourselves and go on exiting trips. And best of all: Terje has got six weeks of vacation, which we are very much looking forward to.
We have an 18 months old daughter, whom I take care of at home. And like the rest of the family she is doing really well. The circumstances for families with children are very favourable. Just think that you can take a year's maternity leave and that the father gets two weeks paid leave and the option to take an even longer leave of absence if he wants to! My family in the United States cannot understand that this is possible. So right according to schedule we are expecting our next baby this summer.
Warm welcome
I am very pleased with our life and situation in Denmark. Our neighbours have given us such a warm welcome. One of them has invited us to his home to welcome us while another put a small welcome note on our front door. A third neighbour went to the local tourist office to get pamphlets for us all on his own initiative so that we could settle in quickly. It was an overwhelming welcome.
Although I am a housewife and could easily feel isolated, I have actually managed to build up quite a network. Four days a week I take my daughter to a day nursery. There she can play with other children and learn Danish (at home we speak Norwegian and English). The day care nurses who use the day nursery are very nice to me - they often invite me to come along on their weekly excursions. They have sort of taken me under their wings. I have also found an international day nursery, where I meet people from all over the world. It is nice to talk to people who have been through the same things I have.
Crazy about Denmark
There are lots of good things about Denmark. Of course I am homesick and it is always difficult at first when you do not know the system. It takes a while to figure out how things work. Now that I am pregnant I have been assigned to a midwife, for instance. This is not the way it works in the United States.
A word of advice to other foreigners who are on their way to Denmark, is to apply for their CPR number well in advance before departure. We had to come to Denmark with relatively short warning and did not apply in time. It can complicate matters when you need to go to the doctor or the dentist. The Danish authorities have been very understanding of our situation and have helped us as best they could.
Furthermore, you will need your CPR number when you need to attend public Danish language classes. I am surprised how well Danes speak English, but some find it more natural than others, so I want to learn Danish. I speak a little bit of Norwegian, which helps me read Danish, but I want to learn to pronounce it properly too.
We are probably going to consider staying here for more than the three years we planned for. Terje is very fond of his job and at the same time we are close to his parents in Norway. They are both getting old and not too keen on the long flight to the United States. Terje's father saw our daughter - his grandchild - for the first time this Christmas. It was a moving experience seeing them together. The only hurdle is the taxes, which are not insignificant after the first three years but let us see if it does not work itself out somehow.
Naomi Ofuji, 31, Japan
Housewife
Fabio Macchi, 31, Italy
Product manager, Beltone, GN ReSoundGroup
Naomi and Fabio live in Copenhagen. They have been in Denmark for 8 months.
Things take time
Naomi:
We were quite excited to see how it would be to live in Denmark - very far from my home country, Japan, and quite far from my husband's home country, Italy. But the distance is not a problem, and we do not find it difficult to keep in touch with our families. My parents came over in October, and I am going back next month. I hope to go back to Japan once a year. And we have been to Italy twice since we came. If we want news from home, we can read the papers on the Internet, and we get news from our families, of course.
I also keep in touch with my former colleagues and my boss. My boss even tried to find a job for me in the Danish subsidiary of the company I worked for in Japan, but unfortunately there was no vacant position. I am planning on looking for a job in the same industry, the medico industry. I do not regret having given up my job, but I do want to work again - to meet other people and keep developing myself professionally.
Building a network in Denmark has been quite difficult. Most Danes are working, so for me there is little chance of meeting them. It is easier to get to know other foreigners.
I just started taking Danish classes at a very intensive language school. There I meet many other foreigners. I have also started volunteering for the Japanese Association. I help out with their magazine. Most of the people there have been living in Denmark for many years and are married to Danes, so their lives are very different from mine. But it is very helpful to me because I can socialise and get practical information about living in Denmark - about where to buy what and how to get to places etc.
Two separate worlds
Fabio:
I thought it was going to be easier to socialise with the colleagues outside work, because they are people my age, but they mainly socialise at work. On Fridays, we have breakfast together, and in the afternoon we often have a beer or enjoy a piece of cake. So we are on very good terms, we get along well at work, but it is difficult to bring it to the next level. We have had some people over for our house warming party, and we have gone out with some of them for a beer a couple of times. I have a Dutch colleague whom we see quite often. But other than that, we have not really got to know a lot of people. I hope it will be easier in the summer - when you can have a barbecue or go to the park. In winter you have to invite people to your home, and maybe that is more cumbersome.
In Japan, where we lived before, it is not common to invite friends to your home. It is much more common to meet at a restaurant or go to a bar - colleagues often go out several times a week. There, work is a more integrated part of your life. The drawback is that very often your colleagues become your family in the sense that you spend most of your time and energy at work and go home late, only to eat and sleep.
Here, work and family are clearly separated. You work, you go home and spend the evening with your family. You have another life apart from work. As a European I prefer this - I like having a life besides work. But it does mean that people tend to leave work early.
In the summer Danish people say: "We don't work late because we like to enjoy the summer." In the winter they say: "Its so dark outside, let's go home." So at 4 or 5 pm there are not many people around at the office. My guess is that there will still be people in the office in Tokyo when the Danes go home - in spite of the 7 hours time difference.
Denmark is a good choice if you want to have a career and still have time for your family. Financially, our standard of living has gone down compared to Japan, but our quality of life has gone up. We spend more time together and are more flexible doing things and going places.
Anwar Altmulaq, 32, Kuwait
Assistant Project Manager at Q8
Lives with his American wife in Hellerup
Has been in Denmark for four years
Settling is easy - integrating can be a challenge
When I was offered the job in Denmark, I had no idea whatsoever what living here would be like. To be honest, I did not know much about the country - how big it was or what language was spoken. My wife and I thought about it and decided to take the challenge since we are both fond of exploring new cultures. We learned a bit about Denmark through our Danish teacher in Kuwait and a Swedish friend and by reading tourist guidebooks. All information about the country was positive - the only thing that was not praised was the weather.
Honesty, efficiency and cosiness
There are many good things about Denmark. In particular, we enjoy the security and safety very much. I am amazed that if you forget your mobile somewhere you can go back several hours later and it will still be there. People are so honest - if you lose your gloves, for example, someone will find them, pick them up and hang them in a tree so you can see them when going back to look for them.
Organisation is fantastic. The taxes may be high, but everything works - from public transportation to the Internet which enables you to handle a lot of administrative matters online. In this respect, Denmark is a very uncomplicated country to settle in.
Having lived in the US, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and in Egypt, but never in Europe, we have also been pleased with all the small cafes and restaurants with candles in the windows. This creates a nice atmosphere during the long and dark winter days. The cosiness is definitely something we will miss when leaving Denmark later this year.
Socialising can be a challenge
I must say, though, that we have been surprised how hard it has been to integrate with Danes. Danes are very private and quite closed so it has not been easy to find friends. We have mostly socialised with other foreigners or with mixed couples that we have met mainly through the Embassy or the International Women's Club.
In Kuwait we were used to going out a lot, but in Denmark people tend to stay at home more. My colleagues are all friendly and nice, but I do not see them that much outside working hours. It takes an effort to build up a social life here, and you have to be open minded and proactive.
It is even harder to integrate if you do not speak the language. My wife holds a degree from the US in sales and marketing. Today, she works part time on the Internet for an American company, but she would have preferred to get a full time job. Although she has tried hard this has not been possible, and I believe it is because she is not fluent in Danish. Even if the working environment is English and everyone in Denmark speaks English, speaking Danish will still help you a lot in getting a job.
Gained a good experience
Altogether, on the professional level, I have gained a very good experience during my four years in Denmark. People at work have been helpful and supportive. Danes are very straightforward. This is something I really appreciate as it corresponds very well to my own mentality.
All four interviews are available at www.workindenmark.dk
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