I must admit it: I was very lucky in my adventure. Two days after my arrival in Oslo I found a room to live in. Two weeks later I got my first job in Oslo.
During my first week in Oslo, I applied for jobs online. However, it didn’t work out at all. I rarely got any feedback.
Therefore I decided to knock door-by-door on the main street (Karl Johan) and ask people directly for a job. Cafes, restaurants, bars, anywhere I could actually work. Some of them gave me a polite “NO”, others kicked me out with no mercy, and some others asked me: “Do you have a CV with you? Do you speak Norwegian?”. Yes, I had a CV with me, but I didn’t know a word of Norwegian.
I remember being sad when I went home. All day long I had heard the word “NO”. Most of the people I talked to, smiled at the beginning (while they see you as a regular customer and not as someone who wants a job) and when they realized what I was there for, their facial expression completely changed. Their reaction was pretty much the same that we all have when a beggar approaches us. That “Oh, no, no…”. They made me feel like one.
It was not a happy day. But I was going to continue! It was not supposed to be easy Hugo!
Believe it or not, the next day, while I was knocking other doors my cell phone rang. Who was it? The kitchen manager of a restaurant located on the main street had just read my CV and was interested in an interview. Wooooow!
There were 2 interviews. One with him and the other one with the restaurant manager. After the second interview, on my way down to the city centre, I got a call from the kitchen manager telling me ‘You have got yourself a job in Oslo. I need you tomorrow at 9 AM.’.
