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November 9th, 2014

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Pursuing a career abroad can feel like trying to plug in a USB stick upside down. Or hammering a three-pin UK plug into a two-pin Euro socket. It takes more than persistence.

Sometimes it takes knowledge – someone telling you to flip that flash drive. Other times, you need something more: a power adaptor.

Tap on the shoulder
At the Weekly Post, we aim to provide a steady stream of people to come along and tap you on the shoulder, before you break all of your electrical appliances and wall sockets.

Each week, two of our business columnists provide insights into the business culture in Denmark, from the outside in and the inside out.

On the Workplace (see page 26), we introduce international employees at some of the country’s biggest employers. Some of them have a successful career despite moving to Denmark and others precisely because they moved here.

Often the most reassuring proof that something’s possible is knowing someone’s done it before.

Professional U-turn
For me, moving to Denmark was anything but a career move. I came here a week after my last exam at university. I’d done an Erasmus exchange the year before and become a member of generation EU, having fallen hopelessly in love with a girl from another member state.

I spent the first five years trying to do something ‘relevant’ to my studies. It wasn’t until the end of last year that I made a professional U-turn. And it led me here.

I sometimes think about whether I would have made this U-turn if I hadn’t been living abroad. There would have been a much more obvious option – to continue on autopilot.

Complicatedly straightforward
As a foreigner on the work market, even the straightforward option can be complicated – having your qualifications recognised and further study and language requirements are just a few of the hurdles we come across.

So you start thinking outside of the box. You consider things that wouldn’t otherwise be an option.