Monday 22 August 2011

Employment Dane-tervention


I am convinced that a new requirement of foreigners applying for a working holiday visa in Denmark should be introduced, and that is to have a thick skin.



Seriously, when you drop off your passport photos, proof of funds and pay the necessary fees, the Danish consular official should just criticize you from head to toe- because trust me, you're going to need a thick skin when it comes to being a non Danish speaking foreigner seeking employment in Copenhagen. 


I am fairly certain the 37 rejection 'we are only considering fluent Danish speaking applicants' emails in my inbox (delete delete delete delete) support this theory. 

If I delete it, I basically never applied and got shafted, right?

As someone who has worked since the age of 13 (yes, when it was illegal) and at many times in my life worked two or even three jobs and gained employment very easily, six weeks of job hunting was fairly brutal. I'm talking, different person moody irrational I'm going to leave this country motherf*&6ka edgy crazy bitch to my wonderful boyfriend, brutal. Oh yeah, the relaxed Aussie Girl disappears when pressure is applied. 

Just for the reader's information- my visa was actually delayed and didn't come until after my arrival in Denmark due to the huge number of Australians applying for the working holiday visa. This is the time when you begin to ask yourself "Where the **** are all these people even working?!" 

You suddenly recall that solicitor you used to live with that job hunted for four months who you just 'ooh'ed and ahh'ed' to and bought a few drinks for occasionally. Suddenly you can start to relate! This is a time when you start to remember all those people who gasped when you told them you were moving overseas for a man (Whhhaaaat? Girl, you're leaving your awesome job? What if you never get something else as good at your age!) 

It's when you start to consider jobs you would never have considered before- yeah sure, I can be an Au Pair for an Iranian family wanting an eighteen year old tri-lingual native English  speaker. I can work on a pig farm outside of Copenhagen and commute. I can be a hotel maid when I have no real experience. I can work one day a week for a Danish charity. I can work in finance here with purely my attitude and what little experience i possess. I can waitress in the airport lounge of a scandinavian airline. It's when you start to ask friends you aren't necessarily that close to yet to talk to their bosses and get you in! It's when you're about to paper a rich neighbourhood with flyers saying you will clean their apartments. I'm here temporarily, there's no shame in doing anything! 

It's when you begin to reek of desperation. 





And, just when you think life is hopeless, you've spent A LOT of money, you snap at your boyfriend and argue that there's no possible way you can stay outside of another month- three employers actually realise "hey this girl waitressed for over 5 years, she knows a bit of Danish, we can take her" and you get three job offers in the space of two days. 


If I believed in God, I would be building all his people on Earth a high five machine right now. 


After choosing a job at an Irish Bar/Restaurant that I REALLY love working at, and watching 10 people hand in their CV's on your second shift in the space of six hours- you start to realize that a lot of those other guys on your type of visa are probably in the same boat. 


The scary thing is that on a working holiday visa, you can only work for a maximum of six months, and for three months at any given job- so it's very likely this entire cycle could begin all over again in three months time. OR I become super disciplined, regain some savings and work for three months then bum all over western Europe, the UK and Scandinavia. 


I want to end with some more funny Danish literal translations I have discovered (I love learning this language)! - Observe



The hair below a man's navel (snail trail) - dick tie
Child labour - Children work
Centipede - Thousand legs
Puppy - dog puppy


And lastly- the way I discovered a centipede was called 'thousand legs'-


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmWADzf5NGs

I hope you enjoyed my pictures, I feel they helped to illustrute my frustration. Until next time-


Loz


PS To my family readers, post 'almost-nervous-breakdown' I am still extremely happy and blissful all the way up in this wonderful city/country - L







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