Progress this week

Although I'm still without a solid job I feel like I've been making some progress in the past couple of weeks. Maybe my job hunting skills are improving, but I've found some more suitable options to apply for, and I feel optimistic that something will come up. I think it's easy to feel negative, and seeing people describe their difficult experiences with job hunting here on forums etc is not very encouraging. I'm doing my best to keep in mind that although those experiences are totally valid and good to be aware of, there are also non-Swedish people who come here and succeed, but they're less likely to be discussing it online. I remember when I lived in Turku I saw many discussions about the attitudes of Finnish people that were so different to my own experience, so I've learned to have a balanced view. Generally I think a positive attitude helps anyway.
The other encouraging thing is that I had another job interview earlier this morning! It turns out that my previous post, which mentioned a job I interviewed for being re-advertised, was actually incorrect. Sure enough, a day later the recruitment agency called to let me know I had not been successful, but they also told me that an almost identical job was available in a different department of the same organisation, and asked if I'd like to apply for that one instead. Obviously I said yes, was called for an interview again, and I feel that things went much better for me today. As I'd been there before and already met two of the interviewers I felt more comfortable. Last time it really threw me because the questions they asked were not what I had been expecting from an interview here, and it was nothing like an interview in England either. As I knew what they were likely to ask I thought about it more this time, and definitely feel like I was better prepared. I don't want to make assumptions or get my hopes up, but I feel far more optimistic than I did after my last interview.
After that I met Kai and we went to Bazaren job fair in Kulturhuset, which was actually a bit of a disappointment. I thought it was going to be a lot bigger than it actually was, and their website mentioned that it was possible to apply for jobs there and then. However, the only jobs that seemed to be available were sales jobs, and a lady from one of the stands who we were talking to even told us that mainly sales jobs were being offered at the fair. I've worked in sales previously, but it's not something I enjoy or want to do again.
Bazaren was advertised as helping non-Swedish people find work here, so we thought there would probably be employers working in other languages. This didn't seem to be the case at all - I noticed one single stand actively looking for English speaking people, Kai has very little knowledge of Swedish and was quite confused about why everything was in Swedish. Although my ability is more advanced, and I know I'm getting better and growing in confidence, I don't feel able to work in Swedish yet, which I know puts me at a disadvantage, and this also meant there wasn't much for me there. I also thought that the emphasis would be on employers rather than training or mentoring services, but this wasn't the case either.
That being said, we spoke to one recruitment agency and the lady working there was really positive, it's definitely something for me to look into. A couple of other people there also gave us suggestions of things to look into, so I do feel that we've come away with a few more options. However, generally I'd say that Bazaren was unfortunately not for me.
The other positive news is that I've got involved with a newly established advertising and branding agency. Unfortunately they're not yet able to offer paid employment, but I'm able to do some voluntary work with them, with the aim being that when there is a regular revenue this will turn into full time employment for all staff. That's still some time into the future, but until then the amount of work they expect is really manageable. This would also give me a chance to do something creative, and maybe move into a more creative day job in the future. I had a really positive conversation with the director and we're arranging a meeting. The previous job I mentioned within media may also still be an option a couple of months from now, depending on what they're doing and what I'm doing.
This week I've also started to look more into art opportunities and spaces in Stockholm. Whilst I need a stable job and income, I also really want to continue concentrating on developing my art career. That's the most important thing - the stable day job is just to enable me to do that, and hopefully will no longer be needed one day. I've found some cool small spaces that I'm keen to explore - Kai and I are planning a little wander to visit various exhibitions tomorrow, and we are actually going to a private view tonight. I hope this will be a good opportunity to meet new people who are involved with art here. I'm used to having a lot of friends and contacts within contemporary art in London, and I'd really like to have that here too.
The other exciting news is that I arranged to volunteer at Supermarket, Stockholm's international art fair, in April of this year! I'm really exciting to get first-hand experience of how exhibitions work in this country. It's a while into the future, but hopefully it'll give me another chance to meet people who are involved with art here, and get some more connections. I'm starting to feel like I'm making progress and have some options here. We've still got a long way to go before we're totally stable, I'm sure there are problems to come, but we'll get there.