How to Work in Denmark (Original version): Tips on finding a job, succeeding at work, and understanding your Danish boss

by Kay Xander Mellish

This is the original 2018 version of "How to Work in Denmark"; a revised version with three additional chapters was published in 2022.With its high salaries and good work-life balance, Denmark is an attractive place to work for professionals from all over the world. But the Danish workplace, like Danish culture as a whole, is built on unwritten rules and unspoken expectations. "How to Work in Denmark" explains some of the rules of the road in Danish working culture, as well as how to find and keep a job in Denmark.

129 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 26, 2018

About the author

Kay Xander Mellish grew up in Wisconsin and graduated magna cum laude from New York University, where she studied journalism and art history. In addition to her non-fiction work, which has appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, Sports Illustrated, Mother Jones, and the Danish tabloid BT, Kay spent many years writing fiction.

Unable to find a publisher, she began flyposting the first page of her short stories on lampposts and construction sidings in New York City, with a voicemail number to call if readers wanted to hear the rest of the story. After a law-and-order mayor cracked down on flyposters, Kay took to the internet, creating in 1995 one of the first fiction sites on the web.

Kay moved to Denmark in 2000, and now runs the KXMGroup, a Copenhagen-based consultancy that helps Danish companies communicate in English.

Reviews

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and highly relevant, made some danes laugh with the quotes from here and also resolved to sign up with a union and A-kasse

[Ana K · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an expat in Denmark, I enjoyed reading this book, and definitely learned a lot from it.

However, to me it felt quite short, and sometimes I would prefer to get a deeper explanation about why this would be considered appropriate, and this -would not, instead of a short "Don't do X, do Y."

To me, this is a must-read book to people, who are planning/just started their expat journey in Denmark, but to a person, who lives here for a longer period of time - this book might not meet the expectations.

Also, I wish to see this book getting an updated version, as there are a lot of "unwritten rules" about how to give negative feedbacks, how to deal with toxic colleagues at work, what to do if you're the only English-speaking colleague, etc.

Overall, I wish I could get back in time and read it before moving to Denmark.

[Andreea Daniela Usurelu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read! I will highly recommend it to any foreigner working amongst Danes, and to any Dane working together with foreigners.

[Sirli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insights of how to survive unwritten rules of Danes.

[Serjious Tsiulinsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but condensed supplement to the main book