From Denmark, Andrea tells us about his internship and the country

Andrea is biotechnologist and in December he decided to move to Denmark for a training period. We from ErasmusVox asked him to tell us about how is going and give us his own opinion on the difficulties encountered during the transfer, and his first impressions.

What’s your name? What do you do now?

My name is Andrea Contarini, 26 years. Biotechnologist intern at Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine, Bioinformatics Laboratory. I am doing a research project in silico (with computational tools) of patients with mental illness (schizophrenia).

How long have you been working abroad?

Three months (from December 2015).

Why did you choose not to work in your own country? What led you to choose Denmark?

To have an experience of working abroad in an international context, because it is really appreciate nowadays in order to find a job, improve my English and learn new work skills (and not only). I chose Denmark because I consider interesting the proposed project and the University.

What are the main differences that between the host country and your country, about working?

They provide all the necessary tools to be able to work at the best, not only for quantity but also for quality. The working environment is much more relaxed and you have maximum autonomy on the conduct of your work. There is total availability of the structure to accommodate business needs and assistance (also bureaucratic).

What were the main difficulties, at the bureaucratic level, related to the transfer to another country? Do you think that you had some facilities, given by the fact that Denmark is part of the European Community such as Italy?

In the case of Denmark, get the residence permit. Because of the current national immigration law, I had to prove to have an income and / or be independently wealthy to take advantage of the Danish welfare state.

However, I must say that the Danish bureaucracy is very lean and fast, everything has settled down in a matter of weeks, and when issuing the residence permit you assign tax code, primary care physician and all the services in one solution. Another difficulty may be finding a house (it was not my case because I found it with the university).

Yes, there have been improvements, since their legislation transposes the European directive on free movement of workers and citizens within the EU: the application for a residence permit was much slimmer, compared to that of a citizen from other countries, and it can remain in Denmark for the first 3 months with no obligation to register, enjoying free health coverage.

Did you use the European format for your resume? Did you find it helpful?

No, I used a custom format that allowed better bring out my working skills. I find the European format dispersed and difficult to read (and less personal).

What good practices at a working level, based on your experience, your country of origin could learn from the country where you work now?

Meritocracy, optimization and management of available resources, services to the employee, the work environment management

What could teach your country of origin to the country of your travel?

I do not know, maybe the elasticity, the ability to adapt. I mean: in Italy we get the same results they get here in Denmark with 1/10 of the tools, working definitively more. Instead, they are a bit rigid, as well as on the level of relations, also mentally on labor management. They works from 9 to 17: at 17.01 there is no one at working place (when we basically have no timetables). I do not know if our approach is right and their wrong, but this and is the most significant difference.

Garanzia Giovani: do you know what is it? Have you used it? Do you think it helps to reduce youth unemployment in your country?

Yes I know what it is. No I have not used yet. Yes it might be a useful tool.

Tell us your own observation about the relationship between costs and quality of life in the country where you are?

The cost of living in this country is higher than the Italian, in part because they haven’t euro, but also because the incomes are higher than ours. They have a high percentage of taxes, but are repaid by the services offered, which are of better quality and quantity compared to those offered in Italy. In short, their system works much better than ours.

Let’s talk about the future: do you think you would work in Italy or in another country?

I hope to work in Italy and be able to apply in my country what I have learned from the Danish system, but I do not rule out the possibility of working abroad in the future.

Do you have any advice to give to those who are undecided whether groped to seek work abroad?

Have experience of working abroad is essential, and I think it is very much demanded in the business world nowadays. An advice is to observe and learn as much as possible from the different realities from the Italian one, and look for a place that can give you a good assistance during the arrival and insertion time (because do all by yourself can be a little bit complicated and frustrating).