“New Danes” can secure your next export adventure

Skilled workers with an international background – or “new Danes” - may be the key to the success of Danish companies abroad. They can contribute with special knowledge about their birth country, the culture and the language. Now, Jobindex is launching a job database distinctly for export job.

Growth, growth, growth. Danish companies will need to improve their ability to get into new growth markets in the same manner as e.g. Brazil, Russia, India and China. We can do so by using the resources already at our disposal – the many skilled specialists with an international background. They make up a large untapped potential for the Danish trade and industry, and according to DI, the export to the BRIC countries can potentially be increased by an astounding 25-30 billion Danish Kroner and create 20,000 job. For small and medium sized companies, the growth markets are crucial, and it is at the end of the rainbow in the distant markets that the treasure chest of Danish businesses is hidden.

Christian T. Ingemann is the director of The Danish Chamber of Commerce. He points out that it is all about having the right competencies in a company and employees who hold special knowledge regarding finance, politics and culture predominant in the countries, which are distinctively different from Denmark.

”It will be to our advantage if we can use the knowledge and the skills of new Danes as they have a double background” he says to The Danish Chamber of Commerce.

Skilled international specialists strengthen Danish export

The skilled new Danes are a win-win situation for Danish companies. This view is supported by former Trade and Investment Minister Pia Olsen Dyhr who thinks that hiring a “new Dane” will give companies increased opportunities.

”According to a report ordered by ISS, companies with employ “new Danes” have higher revenues. They make 3.7 % more than companies with no employees of a different background. We should be thrilled that foreigners or people who have an international background want to work here in Denmark. They give us the opportunity to be part of the globalised world where we cannot isolate ourselves. They have skills and educations which we should utilise to a much higher degree” she tells nyhederpaadansk.com (The page is no longer active).

”We have countless examples of competent “new Danes” who are far more than just new employees when they enter an export company – they have a special understanding of cultures and business models” says Pia Olsen Dyhr to Berlingske Business.

Pia Olsen points out that the potential for job in export businesses is big but that the businesses themselves have a hard time gathering the resources to find the right employees.

“We need a bridge between unemployed immigrants and the 30,000 small and medium sized companies that export abroad. They are often so small that when they think of gaining success, they have a hard time imagining hiring a “new Dane”. But when they do so, it becomes far easier for them to get into export markets like China and India” she tells nyhederpaadansk.com.

New database gathers the resources

Jobindex' new database eksportjob.dk serves the purpose of strengthening the ties between Danish companies and skilled workers with the desire to work in Denmark. ”If 12,000 “new Danes” are hired into export businesses, export will increase by 2 billion Danish Kroner. I think that is a definite possibility” Pia Olsen Dyhr tells nyhederpaadansk.com.

She stresses the fact that many people in Denmark are highly educated but remain unemployed. According to Pia Olsen Dyhr, some 20,000 “new Danes” do not use their education. This working capacity should be utilised much better.

It is now possible to find relevant employees using the export job database and hereby create more growth for Danish export businesses and at the same time create job for skilled people with an international background.