The job hunt in Denmark

Or job hunting in Copenhagen. Finding work in Copenhagen. Working in Denmark. However you want to describe it, the job hunt here is a tough old game, no matter whether you are a new graduate or, like me, an experienced professional. I have networked effectively and applied to as many jobs as possible but still no luck. I'm not giving up hope, I have had enough interviews to know that I am not unemployable. The websites and other resources I have utilised are the following:

LinkedIn
Used this to extend my network, research like-minded professionals in the same field as me and see what companies they work for. Look up said company's website, apply for any jobs they have or send in a speculative application.

Jobindex
Standard jobsite

Jobzonen
Standard jobsite - have not found anything on here however that I haven't found on jobindex

Jobs In Copenhagen
Jobsite apparently for English speaking professionals however more often than not, a lot of the jobs require English and another European language. I haven't been able to apply for any jobs here.

I also apply to jobs that 'require' higher education such as a Masters (I'm educated to Bachelor level only). Having spoken to a lot of recruiters, you will be seen if you have the relevant experience - don't not apply because you don't have a Masters as I have been assured that skillset and mindset will win over this.

Still, with all the above combined I am still sitting here, having lived here for three months, a marketer with almost 8 years experience and still unemployed. Is it a cultural thing? Do I need to learn how to speak business in a Danish sense, and not in the linguistic sense? Perhaps. Well, I stumbled across the Worktrotter initiative, which is an incredibly helpful resource for the expat here in Denmark. Dagmar Fink, the founder, has written two books which look to be just what I, and many an expat, are crying out for. They've both been reviewed favourably by both expats and Danes alike.

The Worktrotter's Guide To Denmark

Business Dances With Danes

Let me know what you think, I know I will!

Eat well on a budget

Philip and I are not actively budgeting however we are both quite frugal by nature and this serves as well at the moment, seeing that we are living on one income and no financial benefits whilst I job hunt and learn Danish. We also love cooking and food - combine this with our frugality and hey presto, cheap and healthy meals which last.

I'm a member of a few internet forums where the European economic crisis is always called to topic; I was shocked on a recent thread on one forum where a few members had admitted that they had gone without meals in order to feed their children due to income issues.

All of which inspired this post. I'm not suggesting that one should be donning Masterchef whites and knocking up a mushroom ravioli with shaved truffles with a celeriac puree, I am saying that it is far easier to eat healthily and well on a budget than one would think.With this simple recipe, you'll find that you have both time AND money. Eating well doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming.

Pepper and tomato sauce - serves 4 adults and can be frozen
Ingredients
3 medium peppers of any colour
2 medium red onions or 1 large
1 can or carton chopped tomatoes
1 tsp tomato puree
Couple of rosemary sprigs
Squeeze lemon juice (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

What you'll need
Hand held electric blender (Wilkinson do a basic one for £4.79 or a set for £15)
Large saucepan

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Dice the peppers and peel & dice the onions. Arrange on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil so that the vegetables are covered, but not soaked. Place the rosemary sprigs on top. Place in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

2. When the vegetables have been roasting for 20 minutes, place the chopped tomatoes in a saucepan and heat gently. Do not bring to the boil.

3. Take the vegetables out of the oven and stir into the tomatoes. If you like, you can tear of the roasted rosemary leaves and mix them in. When fully mixed, take off the heat and blend with an electric blender to the consistency you prefer, being careful not to splatter yourself with warm vegetable juice! To get it smooth should take approx. 3 minutes. When you have it to the consistency you like, return to the heat and stir in the puree. Season to taste and add the lemon juice now, if you are using.


This sauce is perfect for:
Pasta - with a sprinkling of parmesan
Base for a classic bolognaise sauce
Chicken
Prawns (recommend adding the lemon juice for this)
Quorn

Ta-da! You have now made a homemade sauce which will serve four adults, though if you don't like much sauce it'll last you even longer. That's half an hour out of your day and can be made the night before. I'm planning to double the quantities above so I can freeze half of it in the freezer.

Total cost:
3 medium peppers - £1.65 (Tesco mixed peppers @ £1.65 for 3 pack)
Chopped tomatoes - £0.35 (Tesco value chopped tomatoes @ £0.35 per tin)
2 red onions - £0.40 approx (Tesco red onions loose @ £0.19 each but will depend on weight)
Tomato puree -  £0.29 (Tesco Tomato puree 142g @ £0.29 per tin)
Rosemary - £0.80 (Tesco fresh rosemary 30g @ £0.80 per packet)

Per person:
£0.90 maximum. That's £3.60 for four adults.
£0.97 max per adult portion if you add pasta - based on Tesco value pasta costing £0.39 for 500g and the average adult pasta serving being 100g.
£1.50 max per adult portion if you add pasta and bolognaise - based on Tesco value minced beef costing £2.34 for 750g

The per person is a back of a fag packet calculation as I haven't taken into account that you wouldn't use all the rosemary and tomato puree; taking this into account would make it even cheaper. To make the basic sauce is 30 minutes out of your day. If you have gotten to the bottom of this post and are thinking that you don't have 30 minutes then I challenge that - you've had time to read this, you probably have a programme that you don't know why you watch ... so why not put those minutes into cooking? Yes, straight out of a jar sauce is easier but it's not cheaper in the long run and not half as satisfying. Yes, ready meals are easier but, seeing as a ready meal seems to cost £3.50 per portion (again, based on Tesco prices), it definitely isn't cheaper. Plus, you have the satisfaction of knowing exactly what you have put into this sauce.

If you're still doubtful, just try it. I would welcome any feedback. But I will refuse to believe anyone that claims eating healthy is expensive.

And ... we're done. Registering yourself in Denmark.

After a month of silence where I was sorting everything out pre-move, I am now proud to declare that I am officially a resident of Denmark. Was it easy? Well ... yes. But I was very lucky as I have a Danish fiancé that is able to vouch for me in terms of funding until I get on my own two feet which, realistically, I don't think will happen until January at absolute earliest. So, this is how I/we did it.

Getting the CPR number was easier than I thought and took just three hours; however as I say I was very lucky. If you are considering moving here with no significant ties to Denmark such as Danish family/fiancé/etc., then I suspect it will be more difficult. Let me go through what I did and what the more difficult parts were, step-by-step.

Your first port of call should be Borgerservice (here), which I guess translates as Citizen Service. The international Services desk however is only open on Wednesdays and Thursdays at certain times - see this link for opening times and what you'll need to bring. My one tip is to get there as close to opening time as you can with all the documents you can possibly arm yourself with - when I got there an hour after the international desk opened there was already a fairly lengthy queue.

Documents I took with me that were needed:

• Passport
• A complete registration permit form - this is needed before you get the CPR number, even if you are EU - the application form is here
• My fiancé with his bank statements - as I am now unemployed I came here under 'sufficient funds', which means I have to prove that I or someone can fund me during my stay in Denmark, which my fiancé can. I imagine that this would be absolutely vital if you are self-employed.
• Two passport pictures - they provide this at Borgerservice but you will need these before you queue up at International Citizens Service so perhaps get there before the International Citizen desk opens in order to get these done (fee applies)
• Handwritten and signed letter from the person responsible for loaning me the flat (happens to be my fiancé in this case)

Documents that I didn't need but if you are not moving under 'sufficient funds' they might be useful (though obviously I would advise you to contact Borgerservice if you are unsure):

• Full driving licence with paper counterpart
• Proof of residency in Denmark such as rental agreement
• Letter from employer

Once your residents permit has been approved by somebody in this department, you will then be asked to fill in an application form for the CPR number which you can complete at the office and then see somebody about straight afterwards.

I must reiterate again that I was very lucky in that I have a Danish fiancé who is familiar with the Danish systems and is able to vouch for me; therefore before going to the Borgerservice office I would most definitely recommend giving them a call to see exactly what documents you need before you visit them in person. There's little point filling out the application forms before you leave for Denmark as this will not save any time however it would definitely be worth collating all documentation such as the above (plus anything else you feel would be useful) prior to departure, to save hunting for it when you get here.

The relocation to Denmark is going surprisingly smoothly so far ...

It's been busy - hence the gap between posts - but the pre-relocation steps have been surprisingly easy so far. Not sure if I'd be saying that about the US or Australia but my experience so far is all good. For those of you that are thinking about or about to relocate within the EU, here's an update on my previous post - hopefully somebody will find this useful.


1. Sort out clothes/towels/bed linen
DONE - was tough to throw out clothes, even the ones I didn't wear anymore, but I had to be ruthless. As a result, the clothes in my (massive) suitcase I know I will wear again and I only have to ship one box over, which will be summer clothes. No danger of needing those in Scandinavia during the autumn months.

2. Find a shipping company
I have to admit that Philip, my fiancée, took care of this one. Luckily, he knew someone that knew someone who has been able to help us out. The company we have settled for is called Quebix and the lady that's handling our move is able to do everything in one day. Once we have moved and gotten the TV back intact I'll write a short review.

3. Call the 'officials'
This has been easier than I thought! I always fear that dealing with these sorts of companies would be headaches but not at all. A lot, if not all, of this will be obvious but when you're relocating abroad I've found that it's so easy to overthink things and forget that it's just a case of being organised rather than things being overwhelming.

• Bank - I'm keeping my UK account open even though there is no Danish branch. I'm allowed to do so as my mum's address will be the correspondence address. I'm pleased about that. Although whilst on the phone to HMRC, they warned me that any savings in my account would be cut by 20% automatically so that's another call to HSBC, I think ..
• HMRC - all I need to do is complete a P85 form and attach it to the P45 given to me by my former employer, which can be downloaded off the website. Then just give HMRC a forwarding address and ... done (apparently).
• Orange - they'll send me a PAYG SIM card which effectively ends my contract as soon as that's put in. EASY.
• Orange home broadband - just need to call them on the day where I don't need the internet anymore so an automatic disconnection. EASIER. Need to call them back about what I do with the router, though ..
• Energy companies - same old, same old. Contact them with meter readings, transfer the account to the estate agent as per their instructions. Done.
• Still to contact: DVLA, Pensions and the council. Will do that today though, since I'm off sick.

4. Sort out DVDs, books, CDs
See clothes

5. Serve notice to my landlord
Done. Always make sure you check your contract before agreeing to a move to ensure you're keeping in line with the agreement. Obvious, but when one is overwhelmed it might be easy to forget.

6. Sell and/or give away furniture
Fold away chairs sold, still have a coffee table, chest of drawers and shoe rack to clear. We've set a date with my parents who are helping us move everything to the tip on 14th October - so if we don't have it away by then, off to the tip it goes.


So there you go - that's where we are so far. The flat is looking relatively bare at the moment and will look even stranger once the furniture goes. I'm quite an emotional person anyway but it's getting slightly more difficult. Still, that's a whole other post. I'm sick right now and am in desperate need of some chicken soup.

Moving to Copenhagen, part 1: The (pre move) To Do List

So as you know I'm moving to Copenhagen with my fiancé at the end of October. Up until very recently it was just something that we were going to do eventually; however within the last month I have handed my notice in at work and we've booked our one way ticket on 25th October. It's all VERY real now. 2-and-a-bit months seems like a lot of time but there is a LOT that needs sorting out. So I am making a To Do List. If you've read my very first post, you'll know that I'm aiming to document things related to the move, marriage etc., so I'm sharing my To Do List. Hopefully it'll be a handy reference for people considering to move to Copenhagen in the future. There are loads of websites with what to do in terms of bank accounts, CPR number etc but all the bitty things beforehand I think could quite easily be overlooked in terms of the prep. So here we go.

1. Sort out clothes/towels/bed linen
I have loads of clothes. In a box under the bed, in the wardrobe, in bags at my mum's place ... too many. I need to be ruthless, which will be difficult for a natural hoarder like myself.

2. Find a shipping company
I have no idea what I'm doing in this regard. I'm always wary of anyone I find on Google as I have no idea whether I'll be able to trust them (yes, I'm paranoid). So I need to ask my expat friends scattered around Europe and UAE for their recommendations. I'll of course post who I used, complete with review.

3. Call the 'officials'
By this I mean companies like Inland Revenue, DSS, pension companies, DVLA, my bank etc etc.

4. Sort out DVDs, books, CDs
See clothes

5. Serve notice to my landlord
Sounds like a really obvious point but I have it on my list as it's pretty damn vital.

6. Sell and/or give away furniture
I don't have that much as our flat was furnished but what I do have needs to be out of the flat by 20th October.

Other stuff we've taken care of already - booked the coach tickets to the airport, booked the plane tickets and checked our respective apartment contracts to make sure that we're not breaching agreements.

It's also worth mentioning at this point that there's no point me applying for a bank account or CPR number in Copenhagen right now - it won't save me any time so there's little point worrying about that before I move.

So, yeah, it's all good fun - planning a wedding and a move abroad at the same time is pretty epic ...