"The study equipped me for the labour market"

International students are a win for Danish society, especially if they stay in Denmark after graduation and get a job. This was highlighted at KEA's event Made@KEA on Wednesday 11 November, where eight international alumni talked about their path from KEA to landing a job in Denmark.

While tone, manner, work culture and social and professional expectations can be a bit of an upheaval for foreigners, the panel, in turn, found that their studies at KEA have equipped them for the tasks and projects in their current workplace.

"The projects we did at KEA were by far the same type of projects that I do in my company now. The difference lies in the time available to do the project. It all has to go a little faster now than at KEA," said Luke Boschoff, co-founder of Arcana ApS and a Production Technology and Product Development and Integrative Technology graduate from KEA.

This was supported by Polly Bosworth, who works as Senior Brand Designer at Trustpilot.

"KEA prepares us for the job market. I worked for B&O while studying at KEA, and in the study context we had to do a project for B&O. What we did in teaching was very similar to what I actually did at my work."

And it is not only the academic aspects in the projects that help prepare students for working life:

"KEA prepares us to work with many different people in our group projects," says Herine Tsui, Regional Manager at Trollbeads, which is an advantage in a labour market driven by teams and collaboration.

Competences, networks and portfolios are the way forward

Getting prepared for the job market isn’t something that just happens by itself. So, the panellists also came up with their suggestions to what has been most important – and less important – on their way to work in Denmark.

The important thing has been their skills, their networks and not least their portfolio when they have applied for a job in Denmark. And they all agree on one thing: marks mean nothing to the job search.

"My parents were proud when I got high marks, but nobody has ever asked me about them since I graduated," says Lau Pop, Senior Frontend Developer at Nordea Markets.

"People have only ever referred to my portfolio," says Polly Bosworth, who is backed by Herine Tsui, who adds:

"Networking and participating in case competitions landed me the job I have today."

Matthew Thomson agrees. He got the dream job at BIG by daring to reach out to a presenter from BIG, whom he had only met briefly:

"As a foreigner in Denmark, it's about not being afraid to ask and reach out. They will say no if they don't have time or aren't interested," said Matthew, who studied Architectural Technology and Construction Management at KEA.