by Iris Uellendahl

A network is a wonderful thing – as long as you have one. When I lost my job last summer and started out to find a new one, I experienced something interesting. Whenever I told Danes about my new situation I got on top of the expressed sympathy immediately a question: „Do you have a network?“ Good question. Did I? I soon found out that presumably 60 percent of all open job positions in Denmark are being filled via someone-knows-someone-who-knows-someone. It obviously makes sense to be part of a group of like-minded people or people with similar goals and interests.

Find an overview of the Worktrotter newsletters covering important aspects of life in Denmark, hints and tips for work in Denmark and also regarding opening a business in Copenhagen / Denmark.

Latest Newsletter

January 31: Traffic fines / Inexpensive housing / International Citizen Service

December 5, 2011: Sales jobs in Copenhagen / All about Danish Christmas and New Year's
November 3, 2011: Career and work events in Copenhagen
October 6, 2011: Trade unions. Unemployment insurance funds. Fun events in Denmark
August 16, 2011: Jobs in Denmark / Student housing
July 19, 2011: Fun stuff in Denmark in summer 2011
June 22, 2011: Sankt Hans / Activities for kids in Denmark
June 1, 2011: Avoid fines in the Danish traffic
May 3, 2011: Costs of living in Denmark
April 13, 2011: Who is "safe" in Denmark?
March 21, 2011: Tax in Denmark.
February 23, 2011: When do you get free days?
February 7, 2011: Minimum salary in Denmark
January 12, 2011: New fees for Denmark

Download the final survey report

In the many discussions I have had with foreigners as part of my role in leading activities aimed at cultural integration in Denmark, I got the impression more and more that certain challenges have not really been explored yet. It is often the case that well-educated foreigners leave Denmark due to not being fully capable of settling properly. The reason usually mentioned is that they have a strong difficulty in becoming a part of the community, and building a social network. Families become isolated and are unable to find their “place” here.

However, many people mentioned that not only do they struggle with integrating they also feel that they are not wanted in the country. That was the trigger to look more closely into this topic and served as the motivation for conducting this survey and to determine if the related experiences of not feeling welcome were singular and only the experience of a few or if it is the experience of many. By examining the experience of a large number of people it is my hope that problems can be identified and solutions found to help bridge the gap between Danes and the international community.

Find here hints and tips for finding work in Denmark.
It will be done as a series. So, stay tuned and check in regularly. 
We'll have information which will help you to increase your chances of finding work or to have better results at work.

• CV samples for work in Denmark
• Make your application and CV targetted
• The main characteristics of a Danish CV
• General info about a Danish application
• Get information about the hiring company
• New approach for your applications: "Sell" yourself into a job
• How to build a professional network?

Danes will tell you that they are laid-back and you will notice this in many areas.
However, you will find strong “rules” in the social interaction. During my first months in Denmark I always wondered how anybody can be laid back if you had to know and consider so many things. A complete Web of rules.

 
Thinking of the challenges in a new country, a picture came to my mind:
an iceberg. As I call it, the cultural iceberg

This term feels so right when talking about culture. As you know icebergs have the largest part below the surface. All the common knowledge, norms, etiquette are part of our cultural background and are “below the surface”. They are something we never think about, almost like reflexes. If somebody sneezes in many cultures, you’d automatically say something, like: “Bless you”, “Gesundheit”, etc.

Asked by a foreigner something about our country, we usually explain the “above surface” aspects and maybe refer to some from “below”, but probably not too many, as we consider them common knowledge – however, they often are common knowledge only in our own culture.


I came to realize that in Denmark the “below surface” part must be tremendously large. Denmark is a geographically small country and thus the traditions didn’t develop to be very different from one area to the other. There haven’t been large cultural minorities and Danes were not confronted with foreign cultures until recent years. Thus, the Danish values and ways of doing things remained basically untouched over centuries. They sank “below the surface” and are taken as common knowledge.

Probably for this reason you will find a lot of built-in information: e.g. if you are invited to a Danish party, invitations for 6pm mean that dinner is served, whereas at 8pm there’ll be only snacks. If you didn’t know this rule and served only crackers at 6pm, you might never see your Danish guests again. When you go shopping, it is expected that you use a separator between your items and that of the next customer. Not doing so, will be met with a very direct indication of what the right behavior is. You will also find that a lot of information is written from the Danish angle and often only the “above the surface” aspects are described.

Stepping out of the “cultural” filter isn’t easy, but I am sure the growing international population in Denmark will have its influence on what is considered implicit knowledge and we are playing a role in this change.

For now, get to know the Danish etiquette and the social "rules". Don't be the next TITANIC!