Five reasons why international workers are important in Stockholm
Publish date: 11 July 2023
The world is a big place, and through technology, it becomes limitless. Companies are no longer reaching just within their local market for growth.
Globalization is happening with lifestyles, products, and adopting international strategies. A company can’t have its feet on the ground in all the new markets it looks to take on, so what is the solution? Simple, hire international employees that have cultural understandings of the outside world so you can achieve your goals more successfully.
These are the top five reasons why international workers are important to Stockholm businesses looking to advance outside of Sweden.
1. A more open recruitment pool
Many of the tech companies over the last ten years in Sweden have switched to having their office language as English instead of Swedish. This is excellent news for those looking to move to Stockholm to start their careers and a new life. While this removes the language barrier, there are still positions out there mentioning Swedish as a ‘good to have’ skill to land a position. As a job seeker, it is important to ask a recruiter if the Swedish language is necessary for success in the role.
By opening recruitment to a larger, global talent pool, companies will have more opportunities to find talented and productive team mates.
With the information technology industry accounting for 42% of Sweden’s production growth between 2005-2015, it is important that the talent pool extends beyond its borders to continue growth. According to SITTI/ IT & Telekomföretagen, Sweden’s IT sector will be lacking more than 70,000 IT professionals in 2022, unless foreign talent is attracted. Stockholm’s tech sector is brimming with startups and new businesses and one of the biggest challenges is finding local software engineers and other IT professionals to fill positions.
By opening recruitment to a larger, global talent pool, companies will have more opportunities to find talented and productive team mates.
This means that foreign professionals in the IT industry should be looking at Sweden as their next move in their career. Not only is the country offering excellent positions, but Stockholm produces more billion-dollar companies per capita than any other region in the world, after Silicon Valley.
2. Enriching your company culture
Call yourself a tiny United Nations, because your company culture shouldn’t be filled with homogenous attitudes. Similar thoughts and ideas stifle creativity and don't allow for a diverse workforce. Many companies are now looking into diversity and inclusion strategies to make their workforce more attractive, competitive, and worldly.
3. Being modern and progressive
Companies only hiring locals may seem old-fashioned in today’s society. With diversity knocking on everyone’s door, it is a race to make sure the hiring process is gender equal and sprinkled with international diversity. For smaller companies, hiring foreign workers may be a more difficult task. However more companies are setting HR goals to increase the diversity of their workforce.
4. Diverse worldly views
When we meet others from another country, it is quickly apparent that their views of the world might differ from our own due to cultural upbringing, language, education, and opportunities. Having various viewpoints can help your company leap over challenges and solve problems in a different way. For example, employees that grew up in the same country with similar traditions, protocols, and education may think more similarly, while the person brought in from half an ocean away could bring an opposing opinion.
5. Cultural relations
When doing business outside of Sweden, many big companies try to see if there might be a representative who can find common ground with a new client. For example, if the company has a Japanese salesman on their team and is looking to do new business deals in Japan, this opportunity will help develop relationships with high ranking executives by eliminating cultural and language barriers.
Hiring international talent will also help propel the company into new markets. If a company’s focus in Q2 is to expand to new regions, having a consultant or full-time employee from that region will give more insight for business goals. It may be helpful to also understand specific business customs that will make or break a deal.
Moving to a new country and pursuing a job in unfamiliar territory can be nerve wracking. However, with more companies in Stockholm accepting international talent from around the world, this makes the city all the more attractive for a new life abroad.