According to Siw Andersen, chief executive of Oslo Business Region, this puts international workers at a serious disadvantage to the native Norwegian competition.
"Norway is a very network-driven society, so a lot of the jobs you will find, you will get through your network, and of course, internationals don't have the same network as Norwegians," she argues.
This means that unless you have a particular skill which is in very high demand, getting a job in Norway or getting your second job involves putting yourself out there, both physically and digitally, and shaking hands.
So what are the possibilities?
Career Fairs
Oslo Innovation Week is worth attending if you are looking for a tech job or start-up, as it offers a lot of opportunities to network with prospective employers. In the past, the event has hosted an Oslo International Careers Fair, a Speedfriending event, and the Diversity Nordics Summit.
Bergen hosts an International Career Fair every year in late April or early May, drawing about 250 people who get briefings from about 20 companies from industries such as IT, hotels and restaurants, security, and more, with some attendees getting jobs every time.
Stavanger hosts a similar career fair, although it is not only aimed at internationals. It also hosts a career day for students, where people at the start of their careers can meet local employers.
Norway's larger universities all have career departments and host careers events, which are an opportunity not to be missed for international students who want to stay in the country.
EURES, the European Union's job portal, hosts regular online job events, including for employers in Norway, such as this one held for the tourism and hospitality sector in March last year.
Start up hubs for internationals
Mesh, the Danish start-up hub, runs hubs in Oslo and Trondheim, which host start-ups and run events.
The Oslo International Hub, recently bought by Mesh, defines its mission as to "make it easier for international talent (expats+repats) and start-up'ers to make it on the Norwegian professional scene", and also provides office space for start-ups and runs a recruitment site.
Courses for job-seekers
Oslo and the surrounding region has several courses, workshops and programmes aimed at international workers and their spouses.
The Oslo Business Region has a spouse career mentor programme and also a spouse career mentor pool, aimed at helping local employers retain their international hires by finding jobs for their spouses. Events are held in Oslo and also in nearby cities such as Lillestrøm.
Diversify, a platform funded by six Norwegian municipalities, offers programmes to get people from diverse backgrounds into jobs, running programmes like Kraft Lillestrøm, community lunches, and more.
Caritas, the Catholic aid charity, offers a job-seeker course aimed at helping refugees and immigrants working in Norway get into the labour force.
In Stavanger, Karrieresenter Rogaland, the career centre for the local county, offers job and career events hosted in the historic Rosenkildehuset.
Meet up events
The Meetup site is quite popular in Norway, particularly for tech workers, and is a good way to find networking and career and skills development events for programmers. Here are the sites for Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim.
Mesh hosts regular events at Digs in Trondheim and at Nationaltheatret in Oslo, such as Career Matchmaking, the +One Series for spouses and partners. It hosted its first international meetup event in Trondheim, together with Work in Trondheim, the international talent site for Trondheim municipality, in October, with 130 people attending.
Mentoring
Oslo Business Region hosts mentorship events at Mesh Youngstorget, aimed at the spouses or partners of foreigners hired into the tech and startup sectors.
Work in Trondheim has a Ambassadors Programme, which links newcomers to the city with foreign-born people, who are already well established in the city.
Rogaland, the county around Stavanger, runs a mentorship programme called Sammen om en jobb, which links skilled immigrant job seekers with mentors from the local workforce who share a similar industry background.
Social media groups
The Expats in Oslo, Bergen Expats and Expats in Trondheim Facebook groups are very active and are a useful source of job-seeking advice and moral support from internationals who have managed to build a career in the country.
Work in Trondheim, lists events on its Facebook page.
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