International career paths in JYSK: Nikolaj Jensen – From Denmark to Norway

Nikolaj Jensen started as a sales trainee in Aarhus, Denmark.

One week later, after having passed the professional exam, he was sitting on a plane on his way to Norway and a job as Sales Leader in Tromsø. Now he works as Store Manager in Trondheim and dreams about yet another overseas adventure.

Why did you decide to apply for a position overseas? 

“I just wanted to try something new, and then it was a position as sales manager. I thought it was an exciting opportunity.” 

How have you been received in Norway? 

“I have been really well received up here. People talk a little slower to me, so that I can understand them more easily, and then I’m just meeting loads of different people.”

What challenges have there been?

“The language has not been particularly difficult, because it is so similar to Danish, and I have always had a network of Danes up here, who I can turn to if I need anything.”

How has it felt to move away from your family and friends? 

“JYSK pays for flights home twice a year, so I get the chance to go home and spend some time with my family. But there are some long periods sometimes when I don’t see them, although I don’t think that would be much different if I lived in Aarhus in Denmark.”

What experience have you gained from moving to Norway to work? 

“I talk to a lot of people from a slightly different culture, who live in a slightly different way from how we do in Denmark. They keep much more to the traditions up here. For example, they spend a lot of time at their summer houses or “huts”, as they call them. This means that customers come up here on different days than they do in Denmark.

And then I have made a lot of connections and met many different people. The climate and nature up here are also very different, and I just need to get on a bus to go skiing, if I feel like it.” 

What are your plans for the future? 

“I am on the Store Manager Trainee program until June. After that I don’t know yet what will happen. But my goal for the future is that I would like to work myself further up the career ladder in JYSK. I could well imagine trying another new country, and I have already started looking into the possibilities of going to Singapore for a new overseas adventure.” 

What is your advice if other JYSK colleagues dream of going to a new JYSK country to work?

“Just do it. You won’t regret it. You should of course be aware that you will be a long way away from family and friends, but I don’t think that has been a problem. And you quickly get used to another language.”