Arun's way to a job in Denmark

Arun Suryanarayanan

Engineer at NNE Pharmaplan
From Canada

1. Why did you choose Denmark as your career destination?
My wife is Danish however coming from Canada where we hear a lot of Denmark’s work life balance, work culture. The fact that I could venture into the ever growing Pharma sector was also a key motivating factor

2. How did you find your current job?
Workindenmark’s website was a key tool that I used for looking up career opportunities, through which I found my current job with NNE (Novo Nordisk Engineering)

3. Was it difficult or easy to land a job in Denmark?
It is a hard question to answer. There are a lot of jobs however it is important to network, talk to the hiring manager and follow up. If these few basic rules are adhered to, it is easy to land at the least a job interview.

4. What surprised you the most about job search in Denmark?
It was the number of ever-growing new job openings and the volume of highly skilled applicants that the organizations were looking for. Coming from Canada it was unusual to see Masters being almost considered as pre req and PhD, Post Docs being very common as well.

5. What surprised you the most about Danish workplace culture?
What surprised me the most in a positive way is the importance given to work life balance and the productivity of fellow colleagues.

6. What was the main factor that helped you get a job in Denmark?
The main factor that helped me getting a job was attending the Workindenmark-workshop (Now a job search webinar) as well as following through on what was communicated about Danish work culture.

7. If you could give one tip to others looking for a job in Denmark, what would that be?
I highly encourage every applicant to pick up the phone and call the hiring manager before you send in your resume. Your chances almost are quadrupled if you do so.

8. How did you create a social network in Denmark?
I am currently taking Danish classes as well as joining expat groups to create a social network in Denmark.