More than 700 jobseekers living in Gothenburg aka Göteborg attended the fourth successive annual event and had the chance to meet the representatives of 27 companies about the job openings. The event was organised Opportunity Day. Helena Lindahl, the brainchild behind Opportunity Day said, “It is a super busy year, I don’t know what has happened this year we are absolutely stormed by people coming which is extremely frustrating to see that after four years we are still needed, and not more meeting places. But here today it is great energy. It’s a lot of contacts being made and jobs assigned.”
Helena Lindahl said that job openings for immigrants are the doorways and openings into the society, and that is the reason why it means a lot for her to organise the event. She noted, “The city I live, we need more people in the labour market to continue to grow and for the companies to be competitive in the international environment.”
Tim Oleiwi, an employee of FOREX Bank was present at the event, and shared his experiences as how he found himself in the job market. He has been living in Sweden since 2015, and has learned the language. He was present at one of the seminars along with his colleague Anna Philips, she is Rektryteringsansvarig (recruitment officer) for FOREX Ban in West Sweden.
Annie Ohlson Lindén, project manager at Opportunity Day said that magic can happen for job seekers as they have the chance to meet the recruiters.
Charlotte Signahl, a renowned public speaker in Sweden, spoke at the event about Swedish society and the need to overcome those human barriers that human beings had created based on race, gender and sexuality especially the companies. “I think that sometimes we have to acknowledge to ourselves and to others that other people can be different from me and that categories are quite important to understand but don’t see another person as category because we are so much things.”
“It is good to see the structures you know like in Sweden, people of colour have much harder time to get a job, and you have to see the structures sometimes. Women have lesser salary each month that makes you fed up after twenty years,” she observed. “We are equal country but not totally equal … women who migrate to Sweden have harder time.” She noted that it is important to have facts and figures or statistics that shows the society where we stand.
Tove Möller from Swedavia, Sofia Brox and Susanne Bruce from Collector Bank were also present at the Opportunity Day 2019 to share their ideas and vision.
Opportunity Day is supported by several organisations in and around Gothenburg including Business Region Göteborg. Lena Sultanovic Magnusson, projektledare and Helen Bairu, Investment Advisor/Retail, Business Establishment and Investment were also present at the event to share information about businesses and opportunities.
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Opportunity Day: 31 October 2019
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