i currently live and work out here but my friend is looking at moving over here with me....he works in construction,qualified upto site manager can anybody help? what are his chances of getting a job etc if he just moves here and starts to look when he gets here?!

Welcome s.j.m

Your question is vague, void of important information.

You: Based on your profile, a GB national. Not married to him.

He: Nationality, visiting CH or coming under a permit ? Approximate age ? Languages spoken ?

In building work, he'll need to deal with the tradesmen of all levels, so at least competent German would be a must.

However, none of his qualifications are valid here, so getting a job will be difficult in his profession.

hes my partner and hes british.he doesnt know any german hardly but is willing to learn.if he cant get work in construction hes willing to give other work ago and is keen to learn

It's very unlikely he'll be able to find work in Switzerland in building.
Simple as.

Swiss have no jobs , and if he's not speaking german , maybe he wont find ''THAT JOB''! the most British cant speak any lang.. unless the banks will take him.. SOORRY !life is'nt so easy in CH. AND CHEAP ITS IS'NT EITHER..
GOOD LUCK!

Welcome SJM!

You know, everything is possible in this life. If he can stay with you for time being, why not just give it a go and he won't be long finding out if it is possible or not.

The more he hunts the better chances he'll have. He could try pounding the pavements and eventually he may well find something somewhere

Regards

As the trailing spouse with good qualifications facing a lot of employment barriers, I would suggest IF he does come, that you put some boundaries around what that will look like:

-how many months should he try looking for work? What is reasonable?
-if he becomes depressed, what will be the action plan?
-will you include some time for language learning? How much time? How fluent does he really need to be to do his job? Is it worth the time it would take?
-how important is his career to him? Is he willing to do other types of jobs or would he feel like he is giving up his passion?

Also, can you do some research before he gives it all up to get a better idea of what his chances are like here. ie:
-is there a governing body of some sort that needs to recognize his prior training/experience? Will they recognize it? Can he apply for that before he comes?
-what is the market like right now for his line of work in Switzerland? Can you contact some companies and ask?


It is great to be together, but the challenges a trailing spouse faces can be very hard on the relationship. It is the number one reason that ex-pat experiences fail, not because the trailing spouse is weak or bad at it, but because it is harder for them. Give this some serious thought with your partner and try to answer as many of these questions before you make decisions.

Very true. The first 6 months are the worst.
That said, I know many trailing spouses, me being one of them, and all are doing ok. Not everyone is working though, so the spectre of living off one salary is very real.

If you are adaptable and willing, for sure at some time you will find work.
However for this couple, there is a 3 month tourist visa limit that will be applied, even though it's very easy to stay here longer illegally.

Personally, I think he should go for it. Come over in the spring or summer, try. 3 months should be long enough to find something, even though it's likely not to be ideal, if it gets a toe hold it may be enough.

The 'two career' couples I know have all made great sacrifices to stay here.

Speak to Chrisso.

Unskilled Jobs Switzerland

A friend who is a quantity surveyor looked for a role in Switzerland within the construction industry but it is impossible if you cannot speak Germand and don't have qualifications. Even the manual works have qualifications too so if you failed at school then it is very hard to get an apprenticeship.

However my friend got lucky as a English subcontractor had a construction project in CH and managed to get a role through them. I would suggest looking for a subcontractor like Taylor Woodrow, Balfour Beattie, etc.

I would advise that he does quite a bit of research first. Send a few applications out, learn a bit about the swiss job market especially in his sector before coming here. If he comes here without having a job lined up then he needs to think long and hard beforehand if he is prepared to deal with the consequences of things not working out.

Anyone in principle can find a job here. You don't need to know the language (fluently) but if you do it drastically widens your options. Likewise having a good network of people here can only be beneficial. If your skills are very niche then that can pose a big problem if there aren't the corresponding vacancies in the area of switzerland where you're going to be living. One final thing, my understanding is companies will prefer to hire a swiss person unless there's an outstanding candidate from abroad.

So these general points are worth bearing in mind. Overall, I don't think it's an easy place to immigrate to and there are many things to be wary of, but it's not impossible.

And exactly what use is a site manager who cannot communicate with the ground force then ?

In these types of jobs, constructiuon, industry etc you need basic/reasonable local language in order to communicate as without this very basic skill you are about as much use as a vegiterian tiger !

Especially when there are lots of other qualified peole who can speak the language, fluently