It can be very difficult to find a job that pays enough to support yourself. The cost of living in Sweden is quite high. To find out more you can follow the link below to the Student Union's guide to the cost of living in Sweden.
Read more about the cost of living
You should note that the Migration Board stipulates that students should have access to 7300 Swedish crowns per month for the duration of their time in Sweden. Make sure that you really DO have access to these funds! That said, most people at some stage will want to supplement their income by getting a job.
There are two main barriers to getting part-time work in Uppsala
1) It is a small town (180 000 people) with many students (30 000), which means that competition is quite high for such jobs.
2) Many jobs require a working knowledge of Swedish. While most Swedish people speak very good English there are not that many jobs that one can get speaking only English.
Some times you can find jobs at the Student Nations. However, it is important that you know that these jobs are more of a volontary kind and pay very little. You can find out more about student nations in the following article
These are student organisations that are run entirely by students. You might find work in their cafés or restaurants or pubs. Most pay around 200 crowns for a night's work and include free food and drink, although some of the smaller nations don't pay any money, just food and drink. You should undertake this work mostly because it is fun, not for the money! It is also a fantastic way to make new friends. If you work at one nation regularly you can make really good friends and have some fun parties. Note: if you do the maths on this it means that it is hard to make a living from working at the nations. If you can find work every single day of the week at the nations you will still only earn around 6000 crowns per month, and you will be working approximately 70-80 hours per week, which is simply not possible to do.
The official place for jobseekers is called AMS - you can follow the link below to their website
If you click on "E-Guide" a window will pop up. Up the top you will be able to change the language from "svenska" to "english". You may find it easier to speak to someone about job seeking in person. In Uppsala you can find their office at Bangårdsg. 9 Here is a link to a map.
Map showing AMS office in Uppsala
There are even recruitment agencies that can help you find jobs.
Manpower
S:t Persgatan 17, 753 20 Uppsala
018-18 59 70
Adecco
Svartbäcksg. 8, 75320 Uppsala
018-65 33 00
114 28 Stockholm
Drottning Kristinas väg 25
114 28 Stockholm
08-562 467 00
asking if they are seeking waiters, dishwashers, bartenders or
whatever, or to post signs at supermarkets and whatever saying that you
are available as a babysitter, or that you can teach a language or
whatever skill you might have... these sort of things - be creative and
see what turns up!
A proper career
You may of course be interested in work that is more than just a temporary thing. Of course, all of the above recruitment agencies are good for finding "real jobs" but you can even get help from other sources:
The EU has a created a helpful career advice document called "Euro Guidance".
You can find a pdf of it here.
You can even get help from your study counsellor at your department (studievägledning in Swedish) or even from the University's own Career Advice service called "Studenter och Arbetsmarknad". Their site is in Swedish, but you can follow "länkar" to see a number of good links or "kontakta" to contact them and ask for help.
Studenter och Arbetsmarknad's website
If you are interested in voluntary work, you can contact Volontärbyrån
