Realistically how likely is it to find a job in Norway prior to moving

Hi Ajscishear! Welcome on Expat-blog! Well, for a job search in Norway, i would suggest you to have a look at this article:

Work in Norway

You might view the Norway classifieds > job section and post an ad there as well.

Good luck and hope you'll receive lot of replies soon.
Christine

Thank you! So far I've had a bit of a look at Eures and I've been pointed in the way of NAV... I've heard NAV are a bit useless though.

Hi

I have been living in Norway since February last and even though I have pretty good qualifications, I have still not been able to find a decent job. I think unless you are qualified in specific skills related to engineering and/or the oil or fishing industries, it would be nearly inpossible to find a job before you come here and when you get here, your Norwegian skills are really important. Jobs are advertised more by word of mouth here than in other places but there are still quite a few on NAV and you could also try finn.no. I am not living in a big city so it could be easier to find work without proper Norwegian if you move to Oslo or Bergen for example but it is also very expensive to live in these places. My best advice is to really really focus on the Norwegian to give yourself the best chance when you get here.
I hope that helps and best of luck with it.

Hi,

I totally agree with the response above. I also underestimated the difficulty in finding a job here without fluent Norwegian. A lot of the advertised jobs for English speakers also want another Scandinavian language. There are some big companies, like Statoil that operate with English as the business language though, so it's worth checking those out.

Although I'm still applying for jobs I've also enrolled in a language course as that seems to be the main hurdle when applying.

Good luck!

Ta for your responses! I've been hunting around for a bit regarding language courses from where I live, there aren't any - it is a bit of a pain. My partner is Norwegian so I've been learning tidbits of the language from him & I've been watching movies with Norsk subtitles where possible, so I can kinda get use to reading it... I just really need to work on my spoken Norsk.. which will happen!

I will check out Statoil, that sounds like a good kinda thing while I learn the language!

It is difficult, unless you have some highly marketable skill.

Most of the jobs requiring no education requires being able to talk to customers, and ones requiring neither skills nor language tend to be competed for by incredibly motivated refugees. Exceptions exist.

Norwegian jobs have very strong protectins from unfair dismissal, and that makes employers more cautious when hiring. That makes references far more important.
Recently graduated Norwegians compensate by starting out in remote places that have a recruitment problem or applying for temporary positions when someone goes on maternity leave.

Also, rumour has it that Norwegian employer's are a bit weary fo hiring people and worked abroad in fear they might find their new position dull and boring. Self depricating in other words. Good luck anyway..Might be worth registering with some of the employment agencies, the private ones.

Hi all,

Im moving to stavanger in March, are you all still out of a job? im really worried im not going to be able to find a job. i dont have any uni qualifications and have only worked in retail and admin :-S

Hi - sorry to report this but I didn't find a job in Norway after 6 months of trying, so have moved (with my Norwegian partner) to Australia. I had a time limit as I only had a 'highly skilled jobseeker' visa which lasted for 6 months, and didn't get an interview, let alone a job in that time. I work in PR though so I think working in communications in a country where you don't speak the language is a tough ask - even in an international/English speaking company.

Don't be too discouraged though, there are foreigners working in Oslo, and not just in Engineering roles. I think that networking is really key, as is learning the language, and a bit of luck.

I hope it works out for you.

Hi! It depends on the job you're qualified. For instance, I know cleaning ladies who don't speak Norwegian and they are accepted on lower payment. But usually Norwegians want to speak Norwegian. I've got that chance (1 in a million) to find a job before coming in Norway, that's because the climate there were extreme and there were not so many people who want that job. But anyway, don't give up. If you really want Norway, go for it!