Skilled and willing to be used for it

A propósito del artículo del 27 de septiembre 2011, en la columna de Ola Wong en el diario Svenska Dagbladet, comparto mensaje que le envié a Ola y que es la punta del iceberg de los sentimientos y opiniones que despierta el tema de empleo para inmigrantes en países y circunstancias como la mía.


Hej Ola, I just want to thank you.

I feel totally pictured as a foreigner. I moved to Sweden a year ago, and even being highly educated and applying for job vacancies within my expertise, I still can count interviews with one hand, and still haven't received the first job offer.

Before accepting foreigners as good enough resources for their work teams, swedish companies have to start believing that being different doesn't necessarily mean being a harm to their production capacity, rather the opposite. Moving to a new country, voluntarily, means to choose "a better place to live". It means that we come from a ruffer life, were some of us have had the exceptional luck to achieve higher education and/or to finish every day without being robbed or killed. The odds are against us and we overcome them; we are survivers, skilled, focused and trained to persist till we achieve our goals, but above all, we know that a better life is possible and we want it.

I believe in paying a price for moving to the country, we already do it by leaving our comfort zone and trying to learn the language and making our best effort to adapt to the culture and to the weather. So if we don't have the crowns for the income tax, please, use us! Let us in a job where we can help you to make money, like we had been doing in our home countries. Our CV references might not ring a bell to you, but I promise, skills are there . Once receiving an opportunity, we'll learn fast and start delivering to become your strongest resources.

Best regards, I'll keep reading you,

Lorena Sanabria Sankilampi