Maybe it would be better if I was Swedish: En studie av internationella mastersstudenter i Sverige och deras utmaningar och möjligheter på arbetsmarknaden

Abstract

Recent changes in Swedish law suggest new groups of ‘desired’ labor migrants, which international students is an example of. Despite this, international students in Sweden have received little previous attention in the literature. The current study focused on international master students’ experiences of job searching in Sweden and challenges they face in job searching, recruitment, and workplaces. Furthermore, the study sought to understand how international students experience their mobility in the labor market. The results were viewed in relation to a theoretical framework consisting of concepts including the following contexts: individual, employer and national. The study was based on ten semi-structured interviews with graduates from Chalmers University of Technology who later started working in Sweden. The methodological starting point is constructivist Grounded Theory, that also guided an abductive analysis. All data was transcribed and coded in an open coding process. The analysis reveals different patterns, which divided the interviewees into two different groups, non-European and European. The latter group experienced a fairly smooth transition from study to work. The recruitment processes’ focus on “soft skills” led to disadvantages for non-European students. When established in the labor market, interviewees from both groups had experiences of otherness as an obstacle in the workplace. The lack of knowledge of Swedish also led to a shrinking labor market in some respects. However, their current working situations limited their possibilities to learn the language. Besides, non-European students also experienced work permits as a constraint, both due to limited job openings and uncertainty. Despite mentioned limitations the interviewees from both groups experienced good opportunities to change to an equivalent job, when established in the labor market. There were examples of concerns regarding advancement, however the fact that many of the interviewees recently started working after graduation made it hard to draw any conclusions from this.