A quick update just to keep in the habit of blogging, as I've found it's way too easy to think, "oh I'll write something this week", and never get around to it.
My major news is that my bad luck with employment in Sweden has struck again. I've been working, very happily, for a global IT company as a consultant software developer down in Gävle for the last five months. In Sweden the first six months of any new job is essentially an extended trial. It's called a provanställning and allows both parties, although mostly your employer, to work out if you're still who they thought they hired and not an incompetent oaf or a dangerous lunatic. The consultancy arm of the company I was working for essentially acts as a skills bank, and consultants are matched to clients and prospective client's resource / recruitment needs. I was informed last week that due to the state of their current order book (totally empty) for application development work and their disappointing general financial state for the past year they couldn't justify the cost of keeping me on past my six month probation.
This sadly is the downside of working for a consultancy company and the disadvantage of being the last person through the door during tough times. They told me that they were very happy with the job I'd been doing, and will contact me as soon as anything new shows up, but the reality of the situation is that the economy of the region is very reliant on several very large global companies and those companies are looking to drastically reduce their costs. I was and am still very disappointed. It was a great company to work for and was staffed by very pleasant highly able colleagues.
Shitty timing, and once again it's back to the job market. It's all to easy to get caught up in the disappointment and wallow, but I can see that they are struggling at the moment. The few positives I've tried to draw out are that:
1. I have a great employer's name and despite the short period of employment, a glowing reference for my CV
2. I have an up to date CV ready to be sent out (something we needed to have kept current as a consultant)
3. I have a much better understanding of the local labour market and what sort of commutes are viable from my home
4. I'll be home to help my wife through a tough time managing our two girls (aged 2 and a half and seven months)
5. I've proved to myself that my language skills are up to the task of working in an all Swedish language environment
6. Should they receive something suitable and I don't have a new job they'll contact me and propose me as a sub consultant.
