SWEDEN, a country of 10 million inhabitants, is in need of 30,000 Filipino software engineers, according to Swedish Ambassador to the Philippines Harald Fries.
Fries said he came to know about this following a dialogue with some local companies that would help recruit qualified professionals. The envoy said Swedish firms have shown interest in recruiting Filipino engineers “because there’s a big shortage in Sweden.”
“I was told we have a shortage of 30,000 engineers and that’s a lot for a small country. We need it to continue with our innovative engineering industry,” he said during an interview over breakfast at his Forbes Park residence in Makati.
Fries said he had been in touch with some local companies that will help recruit qualified professionals from the Philippines: “I connected them to Swedish companies that also work with recruiting primarily engineers from other countries.”
“Sweden has recruited thousands of Indians for the IT [information- technology] sector,” he added.
The capital of Sweden, Stockholm, is a city built on 14 islands. The Scandinavian nation has a per capita GDP of $54,112 in 2018, according to data from the World Bank.
Fries said Filipino software engineers who will be allowed to work in Sweden can bring their family and spouse, who will automatically be given a work permit.
“So you don’t have the typical challenge of an OFW [overseas Filipino worker] leaving the family at home,” he said.
Fries said those accepted to work in Sweden can stay for a few years, “leave the country and move back a few years [later].”
The envoy, who is married to a Filipina, said some Filipinos are working in Sweden’s health-care industry. He said nurses applying for a job in his country should learn how to speak Swedish, “for how can you be a caregiver if you don’t speak our language?”
Fries said he does not see the need to sign a memorandum of agreement with Philippine labor agencies as “these recruiting companies have dealt with each other. The rules are there already.”
The envoy noted that the demand for more IT and software engineers is a recent development.
“This is very recent, I’ve met them [recruiting companies] two months ago and I connected them with their Swedish counterparts, [but] I don’t know how far they have come. This is just the start,” he said.
1 comment
i am interested in applying but was not able to find any other reference. Is there somewhere i can apply for these open jobs?