Hello everybody,

I am thinking about the possibility of taking up a job
close to Zurich. I am a Chemical Engineer by
profession, currently reading towards a PhD in the
Netherlands.

I do not have much clue about the starting salaries I
can expect in Switzerland. I'd like to prepare myself
before being confronted with this situation when my
employer would bring up this issue ;-)
If anybody has any info to share with me, that'd be great.

I am curious as well with regards to any special benefits/facilities I can expect from a Swiss employer...is there anything in
particular I should negotiate with my job contract ?

I'd love to hear from anyone in this group on these
issues...some pointers would be very helpful for me to
get an idea about what it is like to work and live in
Switzerland..

cheers
-abhilash.

We discussed a lot of salary related points in this thread:

Swiss salaries

You might want to check this first, as well as using the search function for other threads that mention salary or salaries. You'll learn useful info and probably be able to ask some more targetted questions.

Mark

Salaries and conditions here can be very occupation/industry specific. It all depends on how much the company needs you vs. how many others are prepared to do it cheaper. Usual suppy/demand stuff.

Salaries are a very sensitive topic, at least amongst the natives. My recommendation is try to find someone who has already jumped through the hoops and pick their brains.

Its a bit like playing "The new price is right". You have to try and bid as close as you can to the "magic figure", but without going over it. Bid too low and you will kick yourself later.

Thanks, Mark. I did go through the archives before posting my message. But, I could not get any info close to my occupation (Chemical Engineer).

cheers
-abhilash.

there are more [and larger] pharma firms around Basel so more choice.

having said that, I don't have a chuffin' clue as to what you could expect - I assume you want to work in business [R&D] rather than educational? I would assume R&D would be quite rewarding?