Want to build your Swedish network? Here's where to start

Local Sweden

7 days ago

Sweden is not always an easy country to network in, but there are strategies that work. James Savage, who has been here more than twenty years, says the key is to get organized.
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Finding friends in a new country is tough. Building a network that advances your career or your life goals is even tougher.
In Sweden it's particularly hard: this country is tiny and incestuous; the people in the networks you're trying to break into, whether they're business-focused or connected to other interests, often met over student drinking sessions. When you dig beneath the surface you'll find a seething mess of old relationships, professional rivalries or joint youthful indiscretions, even within some large, formal organizations.
Swedish political parties, for instance, are famously riven by internecine intrigues, friendships and relationships dating back to student politics days (the Moderate Party is particularly notorious for this); but plenty of lowlier Swedish networks, professional ones included, are similarly tight-knit and messy.
In a country this small, people who work in a particular sector often studied on the same courses and their paths have kept on crossing ever since. Even Stockholm, by far the largest city, is small enough for everyone in a particular walk of life to seemingly know everyone else. For newcomers, especially if you're a foreigner, figuring out the dynamics can be the work of a lifetime.
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Nordic reserve doesn't help things either - Swedes' well-documented aversion to small-talk with strangers is not helpful when you're the newbie.
But it's not hopeless. One big advantage is that this is a country that loves organizations, committees and meetings. Put a group of more than ten Swedes on a desert island and within hours they'll have started a committee, elected a chairman and held their first (meticulously minuted) meeting. For foreigners looking to break in, this tendency to organize is a gift, as it gives a formal way in to networks that might otherwise feel quite closed to outsiders.
So how to get in there?
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1. Show up.
I had a simple rule at the start: if I got invited to something in my professional capacity - accept. A seminar, a 'mingel' (Swedish for a drinks-networking event) or anything else. Then go out there and introduce yourself to as many people as possible.
But what if the right invitations aren't arriving? I made a point of going to events that were even vaguely relevant to my career or life aims. If you're in Stockholm, try joining your country's chamber of commerce: many offer personal membership as well as corporate membership, and they organize events that bring together foreign-linked businesses and interested Swedes. I found these invaluable - they gave a chance to meet Swedes who have an interest in your country, and who might be interested in getting to know you. The worst that can happen is that you'll learn something new.
Other organizations to consider are unions, which sometimes organize professional networks, or your employer's industry organization ('branschorganisation'), which might offer events open to employees of member companies.
It's also worth looking at think tanks like Timbro (centre-right) and Arena Idé (centre-left) which organize seminars on subjects relevant to them. Maybe some of those subjects will be at least tangentially relevant to you and your job — if so, turn up and listen (turning up doesn't mean you've subscribed to the think tank's ideology). Even if the subject's not particularly relevant to your job but you think it's interesting, consider going anyway. If you're feeling confident, ask a question. And linger at the end: you might meet someone interesting. And don't wait until your Swedish is perfect: even if you don't understand everything, just listening will help you improve.
Locate the organizations that are relevant to you, follow them on social media, find their websites and find out when they're holding events.
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2. Reach out.
Meet someone interesting at an event? Add them on LinkedIn and follow up with a message. Many events are digital these days, which blunts their effect as networking opportunities, but maybe you see someone there who looks interesting — a panelist or someone who asks a question, for instance. If they seem fairly open and friendly, find a pretext to suggest lunch or a coffee: the pretext can be as simple as 'I'm new here and want to meet people in my sector'. Many people will be flattered to be asked, and maybe they can learn something from you too.
If you're trying to penetrate a particular network, try and identify individuals within it who can help you get inside. When you've got their trust, try gently to probe them for bits of information so you can build a picture of how the organization works.
3. Help out.
If you've identified a more formal network that you think could be particularly useful, try seeing if you could get more involved. Ask if there's any way you can help out, try to bring new people to their events, talk positively about them on social media. If you make yourself well-known there and give a good impression, you might even get a chance to join the board or some kind of committee — for some more prestigious organizations getting on the board is a prized honour, but other organizations are just desperate for people willing to help out.
This can be a great way to create deeper networks. Try to identify who's on the nomination committee for the board (the 'valberedning') and see if you can collar them. Beware — if you volunteer for this kind of role, be prepared to offer a good chunk of your time, but if you choose your organization carefully you might find some great contacts.
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4. Learn good-enough Swedish. You can get by in English in lots of contexts in Sweden, but your opportunities to network will be greater if you can get by when other people are speaking Swedish. But if your Swedish isn't there yet, don't let that delay you starting to build your network. Be brave, go out there armed with English and deploy whatever fragments of Swedish you have. And networking with Swedes will have the added advantage of giving you new opportunities to practice.
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