hello all, i am new and hope someone can help! we are currently living in London and my husband just had a very promising interview with a swiss company based in zurich. we were initially quite excited at the idea of relocating but now i am a bit panicky- lots of questions!

how easy would it be for me to find a job? and a part-time job? i work in finance but speak no german (although i speak v good french and italian)

how hard is it to learn german, and do i need to learn swiss german too?

i have two daughters under 3- what childcare options are there? i'd like my eldest to go to nursery soon- i know the state kindergarten doesn't start until much later but what about private ones? how much do they cost and are there huge waiting lists? how easy is it to hire a nanny/au pair/mother's help?

what would be the best areas in downtown zurich for a young family, in terms of schools, green spaces, activities, public transport?

can anyone explain what a 3.5 or 4.5 or 5.5 flat is made of? how many bedrooms and what is the half room?

i am sure i have more questions but here's my starter for ten
thanks in advance!

lots to read in those forums marked, you'll find that if you search withn the forums you will gain pretty much all the answers you are looking for.

heres another couple that I am sure will keep you occupied for a few evenings :

Resources for those living in or moving to CH...

http://www.englishforum.ch/adverts-h...partments.html

get clicky & good luck with the move

thank you for your swift reply. seems that there is a LOT on here and i better get searching.

i guess apart from the basic info- i would love to hear from working women (and working mums in particular) who have relocated because of their partners' jobs, what has been their experience, how did they cope, did they find work easily etc. i have read (on here) that childcare is an issue in CH but i am not clear whether it is scarce or "just" very expensive.

PS of course if there are any dads who have relocated because of their partners' jobs, i would love to hear from them too!

oh and one last question- is it in theory possible to live in ZUrich and work in Basel? i think i could have more chances there, but it seems kind of far...

Correct me if I'm wrong but you said you work in finance? Surely if you work in finance then Zurich is where you want to be? Basel is mainly pharma firms.....

I also work in finance and speak no German... there are jobs there if you look for them

try the following:

www.jobpilot.ch

www.efinancialcareers.ch

www.michaelpage.ch

thats just a start there are plenty of other recruitment firms and job sites you can also try company websites as lots of them recruit direct and advertise jobs on their own sites.

thanks for your answer, i will check out those websites!