In this audiobook chapter, the speaker provides a step‑by‑step guide for job seekers targeting the Danish market. The advice covers how to write a concise, three‑paragraph Danish‑style cover letter that contextualises a candidate’s experience, why a flawless letter matters, and how to tailor it for newcomers, graduates, or career changers. It then explains the strategic advantage of calling the hiring manager directly, offering a polite script and tips for asking intelligent, job‑relevant questions, and stresses sending the application within 24 hours of the call. The bulk of the chapter focuses on optimizing a LinkedIn profile for Danish recruiters: a professional photo, a keyword‑rich headline, detailed project‑oriented experience entries, portfolio items, regular value‑adding posts, and video updates. Finally, the speaker reveals the “2 magic words” – the first and last name of a current employee who can act as a referral – and cautions on permission and relevance. Throughout, cultural nuances such as Danish pride, modesty, and the importance of quality and thoroughness are highlighted.
Chapters
Chapter 4: Your Danish Cover Letter and LinkedIn Profile, Plus 2 Magic Words. In the era of online applications, face-to-face networking, and LinkedIn profiles, the Danish cover letter is a bit of a lost art. It's likely that your future employer will meet you via one of these other channels before they ever read the letter that is supposedly introducing you. But a good cover letter is still worth writing because it's a chance to set the experience on your CV into the context of the job on offer. For example, I met a woman who had spent her entire career in the telecom industry and really wanted to try something else. Although her CV showed one telecom job after the other, her cover letter was a great place to explain why she was applying for a job in a different industry and how her experience could be useful there. A good cover letter is especially useful if you're a new arrival in Denmark, a new graduate, or going for a job that isn't an obvious fit with what you've already done. It's also a good place to explain how your particular education and experience would be a good match for this particular job. Your letter should be short, direct, and with no mistakes in grammar and spelling. Even if your future job is not in the communications industry, a flawless cover letter gives you a chance to show you care About thoroughness and quality, both of which are points of pride in Denmark. 3 short paragraphs should be enough to describe who you are and why you want this job with this company. If you're newly arrived in Denmark, you can also use your cover letter to explain why you chose this country over others. Danes love their country and are proud of it. It certainly won't hurt to show that you like it too. Men are not just an opportunist who will take a job anywhere as long as it offers a good paycheck. And if you're willing to relocate within Denmark for the job, say so. Not everybody is. The traditional Danish letter style dispenses with annoying salutations like Dear Sirs. Instead, it has a subject line on top, a bit like an email. You can use this to your advantage. A subject line like Experienced Social Media Copywriter with Proven High Conversion Rates is certainly a more eye-catching start to a letter than the old-fashioned, to whom it may concern. Let's scroll back for a minute, though. As I said, the COVID letter is probably not your first encounter with an employer. Many Danish job ads contain the phone number of the hiring manager, who is often the exact person you will be working for if you get the job. This is an opportunity for you to call. Introduce yourself and ask an intelligent question about the job. Yeah, an intelligent question. Nothing that's already in the job description or something you can find out from the company's website. Please, please, please find a quiet room where your future employer can hear what you are saying. I have had people call me from train stations with trains whizzing by or from coffee shops with the latest Justin Bieber hit song pumping in the background. Approach the hiring manager along these lines: This is your name here. I understand that you're the hiring manager for job name, and I'm interested, but I have a couple of questions. Is now a good time? Assuming the hiring manager is not halfway through her lunch or on her way to a meeting, you can then take 5 or 10 minutes of her time to ask a few questions that are directly relevant to the position. Such as the team structure, travel requirements, or management responsibilities. Please ask about things that directly relate to the work, not whether you can get off early on Fridays because you play tennis, or if it's okay that you already have a long vacation planned for the company's busiest season. If these answers, and the boss, are to your liking, you can reference the conversation in the first paragraph of your cover letter. Just to make sure the contact is fresh in her memory, I recommend sending your application within 24 hours of having spoken to the hiring manager. But before your cover letter, and before you approach a hiring manager, you should have your LinkedIn profile in order. When it comes to social media, Danes use Instagram and Facebook mostly for social purposes and are indifferent about Twitter. But they love LinkedIn. Anyone who is serious about doing business and finding a job in Denmark should polish his or her LinkedIn profile like a diamond. An excellent business profile picture is a must, and then your headline— the job title that goes right below your name— should be packed full of the kind of search words that recruiters will type in when they're looking for someone like you. The more specific, the better. I get so mad when I see someone who's just written engineer in the headline field. No, you're an environmental engineer specializing in wastewater purification. On the other hand, don't throw a bunch of unrelated job concepts in the headline. I've seen stuff like copywriter/marketer/SEO expert/videographer/drone pilot/tango dancer/cook. This makes it look like you'll do anything for money. But aren't especially strong at any specific skill. When it comes to your previous jobs, don't just list your title and dates of employment. Go into details about the projects you've worked on and the products, materials, and teams you've worked with. Tell a little story about your time on the job and what you learned there. LinkedIn profiles don't have to be a dry collection of bullet points. LinkedIn even has a great portfolio feature to put up documentation of some of the work you've already done. Photos, articles that you've written or have been written about you, videos, short project summaries, charts— anything colorful or visual. This helps make your work experience come alive and seem more concrete, especially if most of it consists of work done outside Denmark. LinkedIn also allows you to post short updates, which you can use to share information about what's going on in your field. These posts put your name in the newsfeeds of all the great new industry contacts you'll build up during the first phase of your job search. They keep your name fresh in their minds for when they need to fill a job. If you're a gifted writer, you can even write a longer LinkedIn post about some topic of interest in your business. This helps establish you as a local expert. I also recommend video updates, just you speaking directly into your phone. About whatever is going on in your field. Videos give you a chance to show off your personality and also confirm that your spoken English is clear and understandable, something Danes worry about when they hire from outside Denmark. Make sure to deliver valuable information to your readers or viewers. I frequently see people post scans of their new educational certificates on LinkedIn or post low-res photos of the back of the audience's heads at a presentation they recently delivered. Don't do this. Your business contacts want to know about new products, new companies, new methods, new ideas. Asking a question at the end of your post— what's your best tip for improving conversion rates?— can produce comments that will bump you up in the algorithm and show your update to more people. Bottom line, there's a good chance your future Danish employers will find you via your LinkedIn profile. Even if they don't, the hiring manager will probably look at your profile after he or she reviews your CV and cover letter. When I give presentations to job hunters in Denmark, I tell them there are 2 words you can add to your cover letter that will guarantee it will be carefully read. What are those 2 words? The first and last name of someone you know who already works at the company. Of course, you should only use a current employee's name with his or her permission, and ask each time you use it. There's always a chance that your contact and this particular hiring manager may be bitter enemies, or that the company is so vast that a recommendation from a scientist won't have much impact on the hiring of an accountant. But if your contact is working in the same or a similar department, knows the company's culture and priorities, and thinks you're a good fit, the hiring manager will at least take the time to look through your application and see if she agrees. At the very least, she'll feel she might have to explain to her colleague why she doesn't agree. Denmark is a small job market, so people are careful not to offend their business contacts. That means your letter and CV will get a little extra attention.
