Since turning his passion for mechanics into a professional career, Grzegorz Osóbka had gained over six years of experience working with bikes. Despite this, he struggled to find a suitable job in his home country of Poland, so began widening his search and looking for opportunities abroad. That’s where the EURES network, and its promotion of a diverse range of job opportunities across the EU, came in.
“I was always up to date with new job offers,” Grzegorz explains. “When I saw some offers to work abroad, I thought ‘why not?’ I wanted to try something new. I looked up the Bike Brothers company online and found that they looked like a serious and stable company.”
The position that Grzegorz applied was sent to EURES Poland by EURES Norway, and promoted across Poland (and the wider EU), after Bike Brothers approached the network. “We were looking for good mechanics and we have had good experience with mechanics from Europe in the past,” a representative from the company explains.
“It is important to have good bike mechanics,” he continues, “and the demand for good, qualified bike mechanics is high. Norwegians use their bikes more these days, for travelling to work, to school, to grocery stores, etc.”
The reason that Bike Brothers was looking beyond Norway’s borders is that while Poland lacks opportunities for bike mechanics, Norway has the opposite problem. “It is almost impossible to find good bike mechanics in Norway. The few good candidates are hired by other companies.”
This provided Grzegorz with the opportunity that he had been looking for. He submitted a job application to the Regional Labour Office in Bialystok and a few months later, Bike Brothers got in contact and offered him a trial period as a bike mechanic.
Making the decision to move to Norway to work at Bike Brothers has been a positive experience for Grzegorz. “Now I've got better working conditions and I do a job that I’ve always liked. I also feel good among my new workmates. I repair bikes and talk with customers.”
He has also settled into his new life in Norway. “What I've noticed the most is that life is much calmer and slower in Norway. People are very polite. As customers, they expect the best quality and not the lowest price. Almost everyone speaks English – for me it's very helpful. There’s also clean air and beautiful nature!”
EURES Norway and the wider EURES network are a great platform for companies like Bike Brothers who want to attract skilled workers from across the EU. “The collaboration has been very good,” the company representative shares. “We have been well supported by EURES ever since we submitted the job advertisement. We will definitely use EURES again in the future.”
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Details
- Publication date
- 13 June 2019
- Authors
- European Labour Authority | Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
- Topics
- EURES best practice
- External stakeholders
- Internal EURES news
- Success stories
- Youth
- Related section(s)
- Sector
- Accomodation and food service activities
- Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies
- Activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods- and services
- Administrative and support service activities
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing
- Arts, entertainment and recreation
- Construction
- Education
- Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
- Financial and insurance activities
- Human health and social work activities
- Information and communication
- Manufacturing
- Mining and quarrying
- Other service activities
- Professional, scientific and technical activities
- Public administration and defence; compulsory social security
- Real estate activities
- Transportation and storage
- Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
- Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles