The short story is that I have a girlfriend was St. Gallen and we want to be together. I'm a 33 year old American male who has a background, mostly in technical writing (a couple of years experience) and Information Technology support (mostly database support 10 years experience). I have been to St Gallen and Zurich once, but I speak no German or French. I am willing to learn German (including the local dialect), but that takes time. My girlfriend and I are not ready to get married, but I'm more than willing to move to Switzerland but I'm not sure how to go about looking for a job or what I can possibly do with my limited language ability. Please advise...

Oh yeah, I've lived and worked abroad before, but in East Asia.

Language would not be a huge hindrance for you in the banking sector or larger firms. However, with the current economic climate and the job situation, it is difficult for non-Euro citizens to obtain work visas these days.

Check on Monster.ch and Careerjet.ch

efinancial careers will also be a good place to look for jobs in your field and in English... Good luck!

I was wondering if there have been any improvements in the overall job market or in IT related work.

I'm thinking about going to Switzerland for 3 months, staying with my girlfriend and looking for work between St. Gallen and Zurich, maybe from Oct -January...

Okay, lets try another question. If I quit my job here took my savings, lived with my girlfriend and looked for a job there for 3 months, what do people who live in in-country think my chases are of finding a low end, English speaking IT job anywhere in Romande or the German speaking areas?

It is not impossible. Most employers will see that you have
no work permit and put your resume in File 13.

If you have special skills like Java, SAP, or something pretty hot, it
might be a different question.

The job market is tough in Switzerland as well, but it has gotten
a bit better.

the only real programming I have is some limited Java and SQL. I've mostly done support work for Sybase and Oracle databases.


I was wondering if anyone has any potential recruiters in mind. I will be in the Zurich area for 3 months, beginning in January. The purpose of my trip is strictly job hunting.

Any other tips would be appreciated.

If by support , you mean being a DBA, then you might find luck in the Zurich banking scene... always work around for a good DBA.

Don't for God's sake let the girlfriend know you only came for job hunting otherwise i fear it may be a wasted trip.

NO that is the idea, so that we can live in the same place. She knows? Is the market still that bad?

our place used to always advertise in english and have german as a nice to have, now all job ad's are in german and english is a nice to have (german is a must)

companies can still be very very picky at the moment.

Well I know a couple of companies looking for SQL and SAP experts but the fact that you are non EU and living outside CH makes your chances lower

Give it a shot, but don't get your hopes up. Since you don't speak the language or have a residency permit, you're going to need a highly sought-after skill for any employer to consider you. Your employer will have to justify (for your work permit) that he advertised locally in Switzerland and couldn't find any competent person here. The language issue could be a factor as well, but may be overlooked in leiu of a much-needed, specifically skilled person. Or, find work with an international company with a branch in CH and transfer. Or just marry your girlfriend, which is probably the easiest of all the variants

The employment market has picked up considerably, but it is much easier if you have some kind of special skill to get you a job.

Surely you mean tourism? Job seeking would require a visa .

Swissbob should be working not on the forum

Well...this sounds depressing. I"m taking a beginning level German class with Berlitz now, but since I"m not independently wealthy but have a lot of money saved, I figured I would keep my place here, and go there for three months (quitting my job here) and trying to find work. I figure if I can't find anything I can go back and survive a couple of months until I find temp work...

I don't really have any "special" job skill, I just do database support with SQL...that's about it.