Free Education as Social and Healthcare Assistant in Denmark with prospect of permanent employment

Do you like to help others? Do you want to contribute to elderly and healthcare in a welfare state where mutual trust between citizen, employee and manager is paramount, and where your work-life balance will be among the best in the world? Would you like to take a useful and practical training? Then you might be our next social and healthcare assistant apprentice!

We Offer a Meaningful Job and Beautiful Surroundings to Settle in

Monthly salary, free education and the prospect of permanent employment awaits you.

Lolland Municipality is looking for approximately 15 adventurous EU citizens with a desire to establish a life in Denmark, the will and commitment to learn the Danish language and a strong motivation for pursuing an education as social and healthcare assistant.

Lolland is a lovely place to live and work; a scenic island in the south of Denmark, with nature reserves, an active and growing international community, plenty of cultural offerings, and a rich associational life in e.g. sports. With only an hour and a half's drive to Copenhagen, you can easily visit the capital whenever you feel like it - and at the same time enjoy the much lower housing costs on Lolland. Our municipality is rapidly developing, not least because of the construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel to Germany.

Your Seven Step Path

Your path into a healthcare profession in Lolland Municipality involves seven steps:

1. Recruitment, including a three-day visit to Lolland in March 2023
2. Danish language course: 3 months (April-June) online before relocation
3. Danish language course: 3 months (August-October) after relocation
4. Approx. 1 year of work as unskilled labour in the Health and Elderly Care of Lolland Municipality, getting to know the workplace, colleagues and Danish culture and completing your language course with a formal exam (level B2)
5. Half a year with introductory course for newcomers with focus on healthcare and Danish language
6. 3 years and 4 moths of formal training a Social and Healthcare Assistant in order to graduate (European Qualification Framework, EQF: 4) and obtain Danish authorization
7. Start your profession and career with an open-ended contract as skilled Social and Healthcare Assistant in Lolland Municipality

In the Danish Social and Healthcare Vocational Education (Step 6) you will be trained to plan, perform and coordinate complex nursing issues, such as medication administration, giving tube feeding, caring for chronic wounds, etc.

Danish vocational education and training programmes are alternating programmes, which means that the education and training activities alternate between education and training at a school and on-the-job training in an enterprise. The working day is very versatile and may include basic nursing and rehabilitation in the citizen's own home or in the local healthcare system. The training involves training periods in both municipal training centres and training at the hospital in Nykøbing Falster and in either social or regional psychiatry.

In this video you can get an insight into the everyday life of healthcare students in the municipality of Lolland:

Admission requirements

You must meet the requirements below to apply to the Social and Healthcare apprentice programme:

• You must be a citizen of an EU/EEA country, Switzerland or a Nordic country
• You must present your criminal record as certain convictions will disqualify you
• You must have completed at least 11 years of schooling

We expect you to:

• Have strong motivation for pursuing an education as social and healthcare assistant
• Have a desire to establish a life in Denmark
• Be keen to learn the Danish language
• Be smiling, welcoming and flexible
• Be interested in working with people and learning new things
• Have good interpersonal skills
• Be physically and mentally robust

Salary

Salary will be in accordance with pay levels in the applicable collective agreement and the principles of local wage formation. On average you will be working 37 hours per working week, and you will become eligible for public holidays and 6 weeks of vacation with pay.

You’ll be employed and paid from the moment you relocate to Lolland. While you attend the Danish language course (Step 3), work as unskilled labour (Step 4) and attend the introductory course (Step 5) your salary will be defined by pay level 11, which is a net salary of approximately DKK 14,470 per month (about EUR 1,945).

If you are 21 years old or older, you’ll become eligible for pension payment after 5 months of employment. Pension is calculated as 13 percent of your salary.

Relevant prior healthcare education and experience of practical healthcare for elderly people may improve your salary with a personal bonus. Also, working weekends, evenings or nights will trigger extra allowances.

During the training (Step 6) you will receive a student salary. The net salary for students is approximately DKK 9,775 per month (about EUR 1,315) the first year, and DKK 10,945 (EUR 1.470) the year after. (If you are at least 25 years old, you have the possibility to receive adult student salary of approximately DKK 14,470 (about EUR 1,945)).

At Step 7 you’ll start your professional career as authorized Social and Healthcare Assistant at pay level 23 with a net salary of approximately DKK 16,970 per month (about EUR 2,280). The pay will increase with seniority and personal qualifications.

Other Conditions of Employment

Employees in the Elderly and Healthcare Sector must speak and understand Danish. This is because they spend a large part of their time in the homes of citizens, where talking to and guiding the citizens is an integral part of the work. Therefore Lolland Municipality offers initial language training. Employment in Lolland Municipality requires that you participate actively in the language course and demonstrate linguistic progression.

Before arriving in Denmark, you will acquire basic Danish language skills via an online language course. To attend the course, you’ll need a computer and a stable internet connection. We start language courses twice a year; next time in April 2023. Teaching takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 16.30 – 19.00. The course also calls for preparation / homework.

After moving to Denmark, you will continue the language course with intensive Danish lessons during the first three months of your stay. The probationary period of your employment corresponds with the intensive Danish course and thus we assume full participation. During this period, you will also participate in social and professional activities to get to know Lolland and your workplace.

A small apartment in a residential facility for students near the Language Schol will be available for you at a reasonable rent when you arrive. You’ll need a little saving as moving into a rental property in Denmark, normally require you to pay a deposit of three months' rent.

You are very welcome to bring your partner and children to Lolland. There are good job opportunities here and we are happy to advise on job search and settlement options. In case you bring partner and/children a special effort will be made to find suitable housing.

Application

Upload your CV and a motivated application in the recruitment portal of Lolland Municipality. (Please note, that your application should be written in English and must be submitted in the recruitment portal, not sent by email.)

Lolland Municipality recruits after an overall assessment in relation to school education, grade level, education, previous jobs, statements, foreign experience, work as a volunteer, and your motivation for applying.

If you are selected, you will be invited to an online interview where you will have the opportunity to elaborate on your application and choice of training.

The deadline for applications is 20th of January 2023. Interviews are expected to be held on a continuous basis – so don’t hesitate. Send your application as soon as you are ready. We look forward to hearing from you.

Further information

We recommend that you find out more about living in Denmark at www.workindenmark.dk and read more about Lolland at https://newcomers.lolland.dk/

If you would like to know more, please get in touch with our International Relocation Ambassador Martina Mostad at [email protected]