News from Central Denmark

Polish Aleksandra Gudwicz travelled with her husband to the eastern part of Central Denmark, when he landed a job in Danish Crown in Randers. With help from the Accompanying Spouse Initiative, Alexandra landed her dream job in the region too.

Aleksandra Gudwicz and the couple’s two kids left Poland when her husband landed a job as Export Manager in Danish Crown. Aleksandra has a university degree in economics and owned her own company in Poland. It was really important for her to put her skills to use in the job market she moved to.

“But it wasn’t easy to enter East Jutland’s job market. Actually, it was so hard that I was close to giving up. I don’t thrive without working, and we were discussing whether we should move back to Poland,” explains Aleksandra Gudwicz.

The family had moved to Hadsten with their two kids and had quickly made good Danish friends. One of them encouraged Aleksandra to contact the job center in Favrskov Municipality.

Collaborating across municipalities to expand the job market

Favrskov Municipality is part of Business Region Aarhus, a partnership that unites 12 municipalities in the region around common goals. One of them, the Accompanying Partner Initiative, was started by Business Region Aarhus to help internationals who move to the region without a job opportunity at hand. The job market gets 12 times larger for accompanying partners when the 12 municipalities in East Jutland work together. That’s what Aleksandra discovered when she was introduced to the initiative.

At seminars and workshops, she learned how to build a professional network, how LinkedIn is a great tool for job seekers and a ton of other useful information and insights into the local job market. Later, Aleksandra also started learning Danish to improve her resumé.

A local company spotted her talent

After participating in the initiative, Aleksandra was offered a job in Danish Crown, where she now works full-time as coordinator for their employee courses. She had been in contact with the company, which was impressed with her resumé and ambitions.

Three weeks after Aleksandra was hired, Denmark was shut down due to COVID-19. Her tasks quickly changed, but despite working from home and the language barrier, Aleksandra says she got off to a flying start in Danish Crown.

Her manager, Birgit Frederiksen, is very aware of the value Aleksandra contributes to their department.

“We hired Aleksandra due to her mindset, her high ambitions and her work ethic. She is social and very good at reading situations and fitting in – even though she has landed in a department where all meetings are in Danish and not everyone speaks English. Aleksandra and her colleagues all want to make it work, and I can only say that it goes extraordinarily well,” says Birgit Frederiksen.

We’re staying in Denmark

The job at Danish Crown made a difference. The family is staying in East Jutland and has now bought a house in Hadsten.

“I am so thankful for landing my dream job with the help from a great team and an amazing leader in an international company with many opportunities. We have good friends and are both working in an international company that truly cares for their employees. Now, we’re staying in East Jutland,” says Aleksandra with a big smile.

Get in touch with the initiative

Contact project coordinator, Camilla Johansen, cgj@aarhus.dk and learn more.