A guide to interviewing with Danish companies covers cultural norms like janteloven, which discourages self-promotion, alongside practical tactics: prepare three stories (two wins, one failure), arrive early, expect a straffetest criminal record check, and mirror the company's dress code. A brief thank-you email after the interview should highlight your fit without overselling yourself.
Chapters
Chapter 5: The Danish Job Interview. If you've been asked for a job interview at a Danish company, congratulations! Danes don't like to waste time, so they wouldn't be taking time to meet you if they didn't think there was a chance they might hire you. Job interviewing in Denmark is a difficult balance because jenteloven, the unwritten law of equality, makes all forms of bragging or self-promotion distasteful to the Danes. You've got to convince the person interviewing you that you're skilled and capable without sounding like a used car salesman. I tell potential hires to prepare by reviewing their working history and coming up with 3 good stories about projects they've worked on, 2 in which they did well and succeeded, and one that went badly but helped them learn important professional lessons. By admitting to some mistakes in your work life, you'll give yourself a lot more credibility with Danish companies, who are skeptical of anyone presenting themselves as too perfect. Danes like to have fun at work and laugh at themselves. If you seem too uptight, they may think you won't be a good fit on their otherwise cheerful team. Your primary preparation for the interview should be thinking through your career and some of the challenges that you faced, especially the ones that relate to this particular job. Think in terms of projects and of problem-solving. Danish employers want to know how you'll use your independent smarts to tackle challenges, not just wait for a boss to tell you what to do. Details are good, especially if they show your grasp of the nuts and bolts of your industry. It's also a good idea to re-examine the human qualities listed in the job ad— precision, people skills, efficiency, whatever— and arrive at the interview ready to talk about real-life examples that show how you possess these qualities. Danes love punctuality, so do everything you can to be on time for your interview. Danish industrial companies tend to be located on the outskirts of town, And if a bus goes there, it often goes only once every half hour. So for heaven's sake, plan out your route in advance. Better to be 20 minutes early and kill time in reception than be racing through the door 10 minutes late, sweating and swearing. When you meet the hiring manager, shake his hand and make direct eye contact. Should he introduce you to more people, do the same for each of them. Reach out your hand, even if you have to awkwardly reach across the table to do so. Say your name clearly and make eye contact. The Danes see eye contact as a sign of trustworthiness and confidence. The hiring manager will probably offer some tea or coffee. In bigger companies, this might be delivered to the interview room on a tray, but in smaller companies, you may be taken to the group kitchen. And told to pour your own hot beverage out of a machine, just like the current employees do. You can expect some small talk while all this is going on, so if you're not the naturally chatty type, it can be useful to come pre-equipped with some comments about the weather, the difference between Danish weather and your home country's weather, or similar non-controversial topics. Once you sit down, your Danish job interviewer may try to warm up the conversation with a few questions about your family or personal life, mostly to get a sense of you as an individual and gauge how committed you are to staying in Denmark. Stick to brief generalities here. There's no need to disclose any information that's too personal. In particular, women don't need to answer questions about when or whether they plan to have children. This question is illegal. Then comes the main part of the interview, when you will be asked how your qualifications match the job. While you shouldn't be arrogant, you shouldn't have a beggar's mentality either. These people are taking time out of their busy day because they can't run their business without someone like you. Approach the interview like a business deal. Do both parties have something to offer each other? One researcher found that foreign applicants were often rejected for a job because they seemed too submissive in the interview process. The Danish hiring manager didn't think they'd be able to stand up for themselves in a Danish work environment, which requires initiative and independent thinking. The company may also ask you to bring a copy of your straffetest. Which is a document you can get from the Danish police showing that you have never been convicted of a crime in Denmark. This is especially likely if the job will involve dealing with money, confidential information, or children. Don't take this request personally. Every candidate for the job will have to do this, including Danish ones. You can order your straffetest online from the local citizen service. In addition, The Danish employer may ask you to take an online personality test. These popular tests can be your friend because they're designed to highlight personal characteristics that are important on the job. In other words, they counteract the tendency for the hiring manager to just pick someone she went to school with in Denmark and urge her to look seriously at you, a new arrival who may be more qualified. Sometimes the test results will be part of the interview. You and the interviewer may discuss how well your personality matches the job. For example, I see that you are a quiet, introverted personality. Do you think you'll enjoy the sales aspects of this position? Internationals looking for jobs in Denmark tend to be overly formal in both dress and manner, which feeds into the Danish prejudice that some non-Danish workers are stiff. And robot-like. Before the interview, look at the company's website and see what the people pictured are wearing. Then come dressed like that. There's a lot of disagreement about the extent to which you should follow up after a job interview. Personally, I think a brief email the next day is a nice touch, saying "Tak for sist." Thanks for our most recent meeting, and adding a couple of short bullet points about why you are right for the job. Is a way of showing a sincere interest. This is also a good time to supply any additional information the interviewer asked for during your meeting. Then leave it alone. If they're interested, you will hear from them within a couple of weeks, certainly less than a month. And if they do get in touch, you may just be at the beginning of a long hiring process that could include more interviews, more tests, And weird, inexplicable delays. This is standard practice. The hiring process when I joined Danske Bank took more than 3 months, which I later learned was because HR thought I was a poor fit for the job, despite the hiring manager's insistence. The hiring manager won, and I enjoyed working at Danske Bank for many years. If you do get an offer for a job in Denmark, congratulations! Startups will probably want you to begin work immediately. Larger companies may give you a few weeks or even a couple of months to prepare, to get yourself settled and ready, or to go through the work permit process if required. Your company will give you a contract to sign. Keep in mind that if you're a member of a union, you can have the union's legal team review the contract to make sure it's fair to you. Your employer won't be surprised or offended by this. It's standard practice, and it's an especially good idea if you're handed a contract that's all in Danish. Remember that if something goes wrong on the job, it's your union that will have your back. The Danish government rarely gets involved in workplace disputes.
