[ANNOUNCEMENT] Sweden Hiring Residents & Young Specialists

We noticed a big change in the job postings made by Scandinavian hospitals in the first 6 months of 2024. 

Up until now, hospitals gave an advantage to more experienced specialists. Now, however, it seems like they prefer residents in their last years of training and specialists with less than 5 years of experience.

Our colleagues from HR explained the reason for this is that younger staff members adjust better to a new system.

We’ll talk more about what residents and young specialists can expect from working in the Scandinavian healthcare system, as well as the benefits of completing specialist training in Scandinavia.

How To: Start Working In the Scandinavian Healthcare System

Here’s how resident doctors and young specialists can start working in the Scandinavian healthcare system:

• The first step is going through an equivalence process during which the specialization or a part of specialization is compared to the Swedish model.
• After that, a specialist/resident is assigned a mentor who guides him through the specialization or the part of the specialization that is missing. 

Note that there are no specialist exams in Scandinavia.

The doctor is ready to start working as a specialist after he has done all the necessary work in specialist departments, attended all classes and compulsory courses, and completed the compulsory practical part with patients in the home health center.   

Learn more about what it looks like to undergo specialist training in Sweden. 

The Benefits of Specialist Training in Scandinavia

Here, we’ll mainly focus on how specialist training in Scandinavia differs from other countries. We’ll take Croatia as an example.

In Croatia, residents take a final exam upon completion of their specialist training program. There is no such exam in Scandinavia.

The training program in Scandinavia is also more comprehensive and completed in full.

Let’s take family medicine specialists as an example. According to the program, they develop not just general practice competencies, but also competencies in:

• primary gynecology,
• primary pediatrics,
• primary otorinolaringology, and
• primary psychiatry.

So, family medicine specialists in Scandinavia (as well as Portugal) have a wider set of competencies and can offer basic healthcare services from these specializations, which is not the case in most other EU member states.

Finally, it shouldn’t be overlooked that, in this case, specialist training is done in one of the most advanced countries in the world.

This gives you an opportunity to perfect your skills, make more money, work fewer hours, and have more time for your personal life.

In short, the main three advantages of specialist training in Scandinavia are: (1) no final exam, (2) a more comprehensive set of competencies, and (3) more opportunities.

Two Types of Recruitment – National and Foreign

It’s also good to know that there are two recruitment models in Scandinavia: national and foreign. 

Foreign Recruitment

Foreign recruitment implies that the governments of Sweden, Denmark, or Norway allocate funds for hiring in-demand professionals. In this case, new workers don’t have to pay for the language course or cover the relocation costs themselves.

However, this recruitment model also has two flaws:

• Firstly, it implies you need to wait for the governments to open new positions and allocate funds. This may not be the best option if you want to decide for yourself when you’ll move and start working.

• The second flaw is that you can only apply for the position that’s being advertised. In other words, your choice of hospitals and job positions is limited.

National Recruitment

As an example of a national requirement, we can take doctors who complete their Swedish language courses in Zrinka’s Swedish school, obtain a license, and get a job. 

The biggest advantage of national recruitment is that it allows you to apply for all open positions.

Learn Swedish in Zrinka’s Swedish School

As opposed to many other courses, Zrinka’s Swedish school puts emphasis on the practical use of language and an individual approach to every student.

Zrinka has 13+ years of tutoring experience and has courses for every language level. You get a certificate upon completion.

Get more information about Zrinka’s Swedish school.

Did you know that Swedish can be an adequate replacement for Norweigan and Danish?

With You, Every Step of the Way

To help you get a job and move to Scandinavia in the easiest way possible, our consultants will gladly walk you through the entire process and help you with all the necessary steps – from finding a job and applying to moving. Contact us!