Dalarna University's logo and link to the university's website

Every 30

th person on earth is living outside her/his home country. People migrate for

different reasons, one of them being studies. Those who leave their home countries to pursue

studies abroad are referred as international students. International students might be valuable for

their host country if they decide to stay there after their studies. Their skills, international

experience and experience of the host country might result very useful in filling the gaps in the

host country’s l

abour market. Therefore, this study aims to understand international student’s

perspectives on post-graduation employment to Sweden. To fulfil the aim, qualitative inductive

approach was followed so the interviewees were not influenced by predetermined questions. Ten

in-depth, unstructured interviews with international students at a Swedish university were

conducted. Interviews were analysed using the method of qualitative content analysis, following

three research questions which lead to five themes

– career advancement, enhanced life quality,

employers’ rejections, lack of soci

al interactions and family role. Based on the findings, a

conceptual framework was developed. The conceptual framework consists of the push and pull

model, national culture, and cognitive dissonance which were found to be useful for the analysis

and interpretation of the findings. Using findings from the interviews and conceptual framework,

the analysis was conducted which was followed by the discussion, where the authors of this

thesis interpreted and discussed the findings from different perspectives. This thesis revealed that

international students are attracted to work in Sweden for different reasons. However, finding a

job in Sweden is a difficult task for them. It has emerged that international students are facing

troubles when looking for employment as well as with communicating with locals. Those

troubles were discussed with the goal to understand why do they come out. Family topic has also

emerged suggesting that it plays an important role when deciding whether to seek employment in

Sweden after the studies or not. As this thesis provides insights into the experiences of

international students, it is beneficial for the companies who are interested in hiring them.

Moreover, companies who have never considered hiring international students could be

encouraged to try a new practice. The stories provided in the thesis might be useful for the

university, when providing assistance for international students as well as for the students

themselves to form a realistic picture of what they might experience in Sweden.