Melkam took the shortcut to a job in construction with Korta vägen

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Jimmy Bysell:
When Melkam Tebeje came to Sweden in 2018, she was a trained civil engineer and had already worked for a few years. However, it was difficult for her to find a job in Sweden. She wasn't even invited to any interviews. But thanks to Swedish for Engineers and the Korta vägen program, she is now employed as a site manager at a large construction company.

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Jimmy:
Hello and welcome, Melkam.

Melkam Tebeje:
Thank you. Hi.

Jimmy:
Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your background?

Melkam:
Yes. My name is Melkam Tebeje. I am from Ethiopia. I now live in Sweden, and I have been here for six years. And my family, I'm married. There’s my husband, Niklas, and my two kids.

Jimmy:
Okay, so Sweden, six years and from Ethiopia. Did you work there as well?

Melkam:
Yes. I worked in Ethiopia. My profession was civil engineer. I worked in Ethiopia for about two years before I moved here.

Jimmy:
And where did you get your education?

Melkam:
In Ethiopia, also. So, I have my bachelor’s from Ethiopia, civil engineer.

Jimmy:
What's the difference between working in Ethiopia compared to Sweden?

Melkam:
The biggest difference is language. It’s easier to work in your own mother tongue. And the working environment, how we think. There’s a big difference. I prefer the Swedish way.

Jimmy:
What is the Swedish way?

Melkam:
It’s equality between all people that are working. So, we feel safe. Everybody feels safe. Anyway, that's how I feel. And then the working environment out in the construction site. It's much safer. We have protections. Helmets and reflection jackets, and shoes. It’s not that often that you have that in my home country.

Jimmy:
Okay. If we go back a bit in time… What was your plan when you came to Sweden?

Melkam:
I basically didn't have that much of a plan when I moved here because I came here pregnant. So, I was more focused on having my first child. And then after that, I knew that the Swedish language was very important. And then I knew I wanted to work with something. But I was not sure if I was going to work in construction, because I was a bit fed up with it when I was in Ethiopia. I didn't feel safe and respected and equal. And then, I don't know how, but I thought I would give it a chance again, and I did.

Jimmy:
So you gave it a chance. And what did you do next when you decided to go back to construction, in Sweden?

Melkam:
The first was, of course, Swedish. I worked on my Swedish. I studied one year at Swedish for Engineers. It's a one-year intensive course. And then at that time, just before we finished in the classroom, there was someone saying that there's an opportunity to join the Korta vägen program. I was interested because I wanted to get a job. It was very hard to get a job for me. I have applied to many companies, but I never heard from them. While I was in the Swedish education, I contacted Arbetsförmedlingen, and I told them that I wanted to join the Korta vägen program. And they said, okay. I went to Korta vägen. They gave me education and taught me how the working environment is, how the Swedish labour law is. Through that, I got this internship at the Veidekke. It's a construction company.

Jimmy:
So when did you start Korta vägen?

Melkam:
I started Korta vägen in 2020. So, during Covid time.

Jimmy:
Okay. And then you got the internship. And what happened after that?

Melkam:
After that, I got the internship. I got to be out on the site and working. And then after that, I got an employment at Veidekke.

Jimmy:
Nice. And you said something about work environment, that you learned about the culture and everything. Can you tell me a bit more about the working environment?

Melkam:
It could be small things. I didn't know about fika, the Swedish traditional thing. It’s important for the group mood that you sit together. It sounds like a small thing, but it's very nice and a big thing that I learned about before I went in. I learned about the trade unions, that they’re all different, that there are many, and how to apply to them.

Jimmy:
What do you think about fika?

Melkam:
It’s so nice. It’s a way to get closer to your colleagues.

Jimmy:
Nice. How was it in the beginning when you got your internship? How did it feel? What did you think?

Melkam:
It was it was very tiring, mentally, for me, because I had to think of my Swedish because it was around there when I started speaking Swedish. And it takes a lot of energy. And I had to learn a lot regarding how to work. Everything was new and I was new to the country. And I was a new mother also. So, it was tiring mentally, but it was very rewarding, and I was very happy each day.

Jimmy:
And then you became a supervisor, is that correct?

Melkam:
Yes, supervisor engineer.

Jimmy:
Okay. Can you tell us a little bit more about your role as a supervisor?

Melkam:
Yes. As a supervisor I have the responsibility to coordinate in the project site. I’m always out, working in the physical environment where we are building and organizing. My biggest responsibility is to make the project as effective as possible.

Jimmy:
Does everything always go as planned?

Melkam:
It depends. We have a lot of people involved in a project. Often, it doesn't go as planned, but it's just a process. You learn every day, and then you try to plan it better the next time. So, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work.

Jimmy:
What's your biggest challenge within your work?

Melkam:
My biggest challenge... [laughs] Sometimes if I am tired and didn’t sleep well that night, it might be difficult with the language, because it's not my mother tongue.

Jimmy:
And how does that work? Is it okay that you're not fluent in Swedish?

Melkam:
It's absolutely okay if I'm not fluent in Swedish. Another challenge could be that you don't have the patience for all the new things that happens if you're tired. So maybe I feel like that sometimes.

Jimmy:
Okay, we’ve talked about the challenges, but what is the best part of your job?

Melkam:
The best part is almost the same thing. I am a person that has a lot of energy. I like to hang out with people and meet a lot of people. It’s nice to be on the project site.

Jimmy:
And you actually get to build stuff? From nothing to something?

Melkam:
Yes. And then on the construction site and the results… Speaking of results, I like that we establish something that's an object that we can see. It's visible. So that's nice also.

Jimmy:
That you were a part of building that object?

Melkam:
Yeah. Yeah.

Jimmy:
You told me about Korta vägen. But what do you think would have happened if you wouldn't have had the opportunity to try Korta vägen?

Melkam:
It would have taken me a very long time to get a job, because I got this job about two years after I moved to Sweden. I didn't get any replies from companies during the second year when I applied to a lot of companies. So maybe it would have taken a longer time. But I wouldn't have stopped, so I would have gotten something. [laughing]

Jimmy:
That's good. And tell us a bit more about what happens when you get into Korta vägen. What's the next step?

Melkam:
I registered in Korta vägen, and then… I guess it was around three months that we had to be there. It's a full-time education. We learned academic Swedish. We learned about the unions. We learned the Swedish law, workers law… Practical things. They have a module. So, we learned.

Jimmy:
And how did you find the internship?

Melkam:
The internship was very rewarding. Maybe it's different from company to company because Korta vägen was not really involved in the internship part. They handed me over to Veidekke.

Jimmy:
Did Korta vägen help you find the internship?

Melkam:
Yes. Of course.

Jimmy:
How did that work?

Melkam:
One thing I missed is that during the three months when we were in Korta vägen, they helped us find out which company we would like to work in. And then they helped us write our CV in Swedish and the motivational letters. And then they went further and contacted the companies where we would like to work. They contacted them and presented us for this three-month internship program.

Jimmy:
So Korta vägen have contact with companies out in Sweden?

Melkam:
Yes, exactly. But we choose those ten companies, and then they guarantee us somehow that we are going to get an interview, which we did, which I did. Around three interviews is what I got. And then I chose Veidekke.

Jimmy:
What’s your thoughts going forward? What's your future plans?

Melkam:
My future plans are to just continue doing what I do, because I like what I do. And maybe trying… For construction in general, there are different rules one could try. So, I would like to try other parts, maybe not only on site, maybe helping the construction in the beginning.

Jimmy:
So there are opportunities to stay within the industry and company and still try new things.

Melkam:
Yes, exactly.

Jimmy:
Do you have anything else that you want to share with us?

Melkam:
I'm happy that I'm here. Thank you, guys. And then I would like to say, to all persons coming to Sweden, especially those who have professional education from their home countries, it is possible to work with what you like. You don't really need to look for another profession. It's possible. And the Swedish language is of course challenging, but it's possible to learn.

Jimmy:
Amazing, Melkam. Thank you very much for joining us today.

Melkam:
Thank you.

speaker:
You have been listening to the New in Sweden podcast by Arbetsförmedlingen. You can find all previous episodes at arbetsformedlingen.se/play. If you have any questions, tips, or ideas, please email us at podcast@arbetsformedlingen.se. This episode was produced in the winter of 2024.

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