Nordic jobs

For couple of years, working in another Nordic country has been an opportunity for young people. In Sweden it's been the greater city areas such as Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö which have been the main targets. Since the summer 2005, the possibility also exists in Norrtälje, a small town 70 km north of Stockholm.

Nordic jobs are for people between 18-28 years of age. They work in a Nordic country and pay tax and are paid for the work normal wages so they can pay their living costs. The matching of employers and employees are made by a secretariat which is located in Malmö, Sweden. They also help the students find a place to live. To the secretariat come 8000 applications between January 1 and May 31 to be matched up with different companies. Applicants from all the Nordic countries and the Faeroe Islands and Greenland are welcome to apply. The companies are presented with a couple of interested people who they can choose from. All the administrative work is done by the secretariat.

In Norrtälje, it all began with a meeting where the secretariat had announced that they were in great need of companies that wanted to hire youth from the Nordic countries during the summer. Over 8000 applications come yearly to the secretariat and only 600 jobs are available. The possibility of offering the company places and a good living environment is the reason why Norrtälje saw a possibility to try to bring the programme to Norrtälje. Also the location, close to Stockholm and ?land made the decision easy.

The cooperation began with a possibility to have Anna Bäcklund later also the project leader to start looking for possible companies. The municipality gave a list of possible locations and Anna started calling around. She was also greatly supported by the local organization of "Norden". She found many interested companies and it turned out to be 13 persons who later came to Norrtälje and worked from 8-10 weeks during the summer of 2005. The companies were both from the public and private sectors. Students stayed on Campus Roslagen, university college of Norrtälje town and worked with companies in the area. In the spare time there were many activities organized both a trip to Aland and a traditional Swedish cray fish party.

The project in Norrtälje has been very successful and the preparations are under way for summer of 2006. There are also suggestions that there will be an extension to include the Baltic States and Russia. The secretariat in Malmö is applying for financing from the Nordic Council of Ministers. Hopefully, such a programme can be operational by the summer of 2006. Decision will be taken in December 2005.