Starting from this year, young Estonians between the ages of 18 and 28 can look for summer work through the Nordjobb job search portal. In addition to helping them find work, the portal will provide assistance with accommodation and promote recreational activities they can take part in so as to better get to know the culture and language of the countries they are working in.|
Nordjobb offers typical summer jobs such as gardening and farm work, general maintenance, accommodation and service-related work, positions of assistance in nursing home and au pair work. Successful candidates receive the same level of pay as ordinary workers. However, candidates should remember that although the portal will help them find an affordable place to stay as close to their work as possible, they will not pay for it – the candidates have to cover the cost themselves, and usually in advance. Travel costs to the destination are not covered either. In opening up the programme, the Nordic countries see an opportunity to make themselves more visible in an ever more globalising world to the experts and ambassadors of the future. And not only Estonians, but young people from all EU Member States can now start using the Nordjobb portal to seek work on equal terms. Nordjobb is primarily financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. "It's great news, and really chimes with our aim to boost cooperation between the Nordic countries and Estonia," said Carita Pettersson, the director of the Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Estonia. "It also ties in with our intentions of boosting the sense of us all being part of the one thing here in the Baltic Sea region. I'm really pleased that they're targeting young people, because they're the ones we want to focus on and improve cooperation with. They're our future, after all." In 2008 the Nordic Council of Ministers' Office in Estonia and the embassies of the Nordic countries in Estonia worked together to launch an education and career options portal called "Björk – Study in the Nordic Countries!" which provides young people and adults alike with information on opportunities for self-development in the Nordic region. The site also provides useful information about studying and living in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Nordjobb was founded in 1985. Since then it has helped find jobs for around 15,000 young people from the Nordic countries and provided them with work and life experience and impressions they will never forget. Between 1998 and 2000 the Nordic Council of Ministers, in conjunction with Nordic information offices, funded the Östjobb (Eastern Work) programme. This gave young people from the Nordic region between the ages of 18 and 26 the chance to do summer work in the Baltic States or Russia and to get to know the countries they were living and working in. The candidates in this programme needed to be able to speak the local language in everyday communication. |
Summer work opportunities open up to young Estonians in Nordic countries
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The Nordjobb database currently has around 750 vacancies in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, as well as in the autonomous regions of the Åland Islands, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Candidates need to be able to speak Swedish, Danish or Norwegian in everyday conversation. The final choice is made by the employers themselves, which is why candidates not only need language skills but also previous experience and motivation to work in the region. |