Latvian Woman Lands Job 15 Minutes After Sending CV – Swedish Language Skills Made the Difference

A Latvian resident has shared on the social network Threads that an employer contacted her just 15 minutes after she sent in her CV. She believes the deciding factor was her knowledge of Swedish. The post sparked a debate about what is most valuable in Latvia's labour market today: an impressive CV, experience, or a rarer skill.

The woman wrote that she had never found a job so quickly, that no references were requested, and that the interview was easy. By her account, about 99% of the success was down to Swedish: without it her CV is good but faces more competition. The new job is at a transport group; she did not disclose her exact position. While searching, she deliberately looked for a place where she could use Swedish daily. Where that is not possible, she recommends keeping the language up with books, films and podcasts.

Commenters agreed that rarer languages reduce competition, and one said Finnish and Norwegian speakers are also being sought. Others were sceptical, noting that such a quick response is not typical. The author replied that she was describing only her own experience, adding that when she lived in Sweden, finding her first job took her a year and a half.

What the statistics show

At the State Employment Agency (NVA), 40,049 unemployed people were registered on 30 September 2026, a rate of 4.5%, alongside 11,857 vacancies. A year earlier there were 41,108 (4.7%). According to the Central Statistical Bureau, Latvia had 66,200 unemployed people aged 15–74 in the second quarter of 2026, an unemployment rate of 7%.

Regional gaps are large: registered unemployment was 3.6% in the Riga region and 9.2% in Latgale. An OECD study indicates that roughly 25% of employed people in Latvia are overqualified for their jobs, 9% are underqualified, and 41% work in a field unrelated to their education. Among workers who feel they lack skills, 46% cite foreign languages and 40% cite computer skills.