This lesson is mostly about using the present perfect and adjectives to talk about the past. “Hej! Har du arbetat på restaurang forut?” means “Hi! Have you worked at a restaurant before?”
The present perfect lets us talk about things that happened before now but are still going on now.
The perfect form is marked by the word har, which means “has” or “have,” coming before the main verb. The main verb is in the supine or past form.
The verb ñtit, which means “eaten,” is the supine or past form of att ata, which means “to eat.” When har comes before it, it means that the eating happened before now.
This is the present tense form of the auxiliary verb (har). This is the supine form of the main verb. Lets look at one more example.
In the dialogue, Lennart asks Annie, “Have you worked in a restaurant before?” what this means in English.
This is an example of the present perfect, in Swedish called perfekt, in a question form.
Notice how the structure is “have” har + “you” du + past participle of arbeta. As Lennart asks Annie if she has worked in a restaurant before, the sentence is in the present perfect.
The person has finished eating dinner not too long along ago; therefore, it is connected with the present.
Here, news is being spread about what Elvis did; therefore, it is in the present perfect tense.
The present perfect is used to talk about how many times Angelica has read the book because it is linked to the present.
The act of having the dog has continued up until now; therefore, it is in the present perfect.
When we want to make a stronger Swedish word, we sometimes join two words together. You can get a sense of what the new word means if you learn these base words first.
When you add -tålig to a noun, it means that the person or thing can handle bad things well.
Stryktålig means that someone or something can take a beating without getting hurt too badly.
You can describe who you are in the morning by adding certain words to the word morgon, which means “morning.” You may also use other times of the day.
It’s easy for you to wake up in the morning, and you don’t feel tired when you first wake up. Pigg means “alert” or “lively. “.
The word “evening” can also be put together to make words like “alert in the evening” or “tired in the evening.” “.
You use the word -glad after a noun to describe someone who happily does something or likes something.
We use this word when describing someone who likes talking, and does it a lot. Prat means “chat” or “talk,” and glad means “glad” or “happy. “.
We use this word when describing someone who likes eating, and does it a lot. Mat means “food.”
Interviewing at a Swedish company? The interview process can vary across different Swedish organizations, but there are some common questions that often come up. Doing well on a Swedish job interview requires understanding the cultural approach and demonstrating strengths aligned with Swedish workplace values like teamwork honesty and work-life balance.
There are 25 questions that are most often asked in interviews at Swedish companies like IKEA, Spotify, Ericsson, Volvo, H Come up with strong, culturally aware answers to the most common questions Swedish employers ask. This will help you stand out from other applicants.
Overview of Swedish Interview Style
Some notable aspects of Swedish interviewing style to be aware of:
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Emphasis on collaboration and group consensus – interview may involve multiple stakeholders
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Openness and transparency highly valued
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Discussion rather than interrogative feel
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Avoiding too much self-promotion
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Assessing cultural fit and alignment with company values
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Testing language proficiency in English and/or Swedish
Top 25 Common Swedish Interview Questions and Answers
1. Tell me about yourself
This open-ended question allows you to shape the narrative and highlight strengths fit for the role and company. Keep it concise and focused on your most relevant experience.
Tips: Summarize your background in 2-3 sentences. Emphasize achievements, skills, and experience aligned with the role. Share what motivates you professionally.
2. How would colleagues describe your work style?
Demonstrate self-awareness and willingness to collaborate. Swedish business culture values team players.
Tips: Share positive teamwork examples – facilitating collaboration, being a good listener, providing support, communicating openly. Emphasize desire to operate consensus-oriented.
3. Why do you want to work for our company?
Show you’ve researched the company values, mission and objectives. Express genuine interest.
Tips: Speak to aspects of the company culture and work that excite you. Share specific ways you can contribute to their goals based on your strengths.
4. What motivates you in your career?
Avoid generic answers about money or status. Focus on growth, achievement, responsibility, problem-solving, creativity, etc.
Tips: Align your motivations with the scope of the role. For example, if it’s a team lead position, discuss drive to cultivate talent, enable others’ success, build an inclusive culture, etc.
5. How do you handle working under pressure or strict deadlines?
Demonstrate ability to remain composed under stress. Give examples of successfully managing high pressure situations.
Tips: Share your strategies like staying organized, being proactive, collaborating with your team, compartmentalizing, and keeping perspective. Put emphasis on outcomes, not just efforts.
6. Tell me about a time you needed to be flexible to change priorities and how you handled it.
Change management capability is valued in Swedish work culture. Share examples of readily adapting to shifting circumstances.
Tips: Pick a story demonstrating calm under pressure, open communication, focus on solutions, and achievement of revised goals. Discuss takeaways that make you a better change agent.
7. Describe a time you faced a conflict at work. How did you handle it?
Recruiters look for conflict management ability using open dialogue, tact and level-headedness. Share mature, diplomatic approaches.
Tips: Focus your answer on calming the situation, finding common ground, and achieving a “win-win” resolution. Emphasize team harmony and constructive outcomes.
8. Why are you leaving your current job?
Avoid badmouthing your employer. Keep it positive – discuss seeking new challenges, growth opportunities, using new skills, etc.
Tips: Put a developmental spin on your answer. Share why this new role is the logical next step in your journey based on your goals and strengths.
9. What are your greatest strengths?
Pick strengths directly relevant to the role and provide specific examples that illustrate them in action from your experience.
Tips: Tie strengths like communication, work ethic, problem-solving, collaboration, etc back to tangible results and accomplishments from your career. This adds credibility.
10. What are your weaknesses?
Turn your weakness into a strength. Share areas you have proactively worked to improve and quantify the results achieved.
Tips: Frame your answer around skills you realized are important for success and how you’ve developed them, like public speaking, time management, delegating, etc.
11. Why should we hire you?
Summarize your strongest qualifications matched to the role’s duties and demonstrate how you’ll add value.
Tips: Highlight achievements, expertise, cultural fit, passion, work ethic, and management style if relevant. Quantify accomplishments.
12. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Present an ambitious yet realistic vision for your career growth and development of new capabilities over time.
Tips: Align your 5-year aims with the scope of the role. Discuss continuing to build mastery, lead key initiatives, innovate, expand your skills, etc.
13. How do you evaluate success?
Share measures of success that show your focus on teamwork, ethics, quality, and sustainable outcomes.
Tips: Discuss holistic metrics like completing projects efficiently as a team, morale staying high, achieving goals ethically, satisfied stakeholders, personal growth, work-life balance, etc.
14. How do you stay motivated on routine or repetitive tasks?
Show you can maintain high productivity and quality standards with attention to detail on mundane assignments.
Tips: Share ways you inject variety in routines, make tasks more stimulating, maintain perspective on importance of small tasks, focus on growth opportunities, etc.
15. Are you interviewing with any other companies?
If so, affirm your sincere interest in this role and why it’s your priority. If not, discuss your exclusive interest in this company.
Tips: Avoid naming competitors specifically. Redirect the conversation to your qualifications, passion for the role, and cultural alignment.
16. Are you willing to travel for work?
If the role requires travel, express your openness and ability to travel when needed.
Tips: You can reaffirm your willingness to travel and highlight any past experience traveling extensively for business. If you have limitations, be upfront.
17. Describe your ideal company culture.
Share values aligned with Swedish business culture – transparency, openness, collaboration, work-life balance, lack of hierarchy, innovation.
Tips: Emphasize enjoying supportive team environments, developing strong relationships, constructive feedback, fun team events, flexibility, learning opportunities.
18. Tell me about a time you made a mistake at work. What did you learn?
Demonstrate humility, accountability, and commitment to continuous improvement.
Tips: Choose an example that showcases maturity in the face of failure. Discuss analyzing the situation objectively, owning your mistake, making amends, and implementing lessons learned.
19. Do you have any questions for me?
Always bring at least 2-3 thoughtful questions to demonstrate your engagement and interest in the company’s mission and role specifics.
Tips: Ask smart questions about growth opportunities, challenges ahead, company culture, reasons the position is open, expected training, etc.
20. Are you proficient in any foreign languages?
If the role requires foreign language skills, highlight your level of proficiency and commitment to continuous improvement.
Tips: Outline the languages you speak, your fluency level, and any multicultural experiences that aided your language acquisition. Offer examples if possible.
21. Describe an innovative idea you implemented or proposed in your previous job.
Innovation is highly valued by Swedish employers. Demonstrate how you’ve driven innovation in past roles.
Tips: Outline the problem or need for innovation. Discuss ideation process, testing methods, implementation challenges and measured outcomes of implemented solutions.
22. How would you contribute to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives?
Reflect on how you personally promote inclusive practices and allyship as part of your daily work.
Tips: Share examples like fostering belonging on your teams, advocating for fairness and equality, curating opportunities for diverse groups, educating yourself on unconscious bias, etc.
23. Tell me about a time you persuaded team members to adopt a new policy or process. How did you convinced them?
Recruiters look for tact and diplomacy in leading change. Share examples of overcoming resistance through empathy, logic, piloting, data, etc.
Tips: Discuss your guiding principles for driving change – building consensus slowly, appealing to logic and data, empathizing with concerns, welcoming input, communicating benefits, and celebrating wins.
24. Describe your communication style when collaborating with colleagues.
Demonstrate understanding of clear, open, but culturally-sensitive communication strategies that build trust and understanding among Swedish teams.
Tips: Emphasize
Job interviews in Sweden; What to Expect? (Medical Residency and Internships)
FAQ
How do I prepare for a Swedish interview?
How can I impress a Swedish interview?
What is the etiquette for Swedish interviews?
What is a typical Swedish job interview?
A typical Swedish job interview will start with the hiring manager giving an introduction to the company’s background and outlining the job, after which you’ll get the chance to present yourself. Avoid interrupting to ask questions during the initial presentation of the company – there will be a chance for that later.
What questions should you ask during a Swedish interview?
But again, a Swedish interview is not an exam, it is a dialogue. Good questions can relate to organization topics, such as who you will be working with and what their backgrounds are, as well as more technical questions such as what software and applications they are using for different tasks.
How do I find a job in Sweden?
Glassdoor has millions of jobs plus salary information, company reviews, and interview questions from people on the inside making it easy to find a job that’s right for you. Swedish interview details: 194 interview questions and 177 interview reviews posted anonymously by Swedish interview candidates.
How do you deal with a Swedish digital job interview?
Your Swedish digital job interview There are some obvious cultural differences between Swedish interviewers and those from other countries. For those new to Sweden, Islombek’s tip for dealing with a Swedish interview is to not focus too much on trying to impress Swedish employers. “Be more humble,” he said.
