Dear englishforum.ch experts

Very recently, I have been offered a job opportunity in Switzerland within the IT industry. As a subsequence hereof, I would be interested in broadening my horizon, clarifying some of the following questions.

So, in consequence, could someone answer the following questions or simply link to sources of answers;

1.) Salary ranges for IT jobs like: IT Test Manager/IT Project Manager, IT Consultant in Geneva/Zurich.
2.) Where and how to calculate taxes for the various cities.
3.) Insurances, what to get and the cost associated with them (family of 3).
4.) 3-4 room flats, approx. 100m~2, Prices, general legal terms.
5.) Cars, prices for an e.g. VW Golf/BMW (low end).
6.) Any other hard/soft lessons learned which could reduce the risk of relocating.

Thank you

Hi AGA,

Welcome to the forum. Firstly I am moving your message to help and tips. It's not a request for a job. Please check the description of a forum area to see if your message is in the right place before posting.

Secondly, you have raised a lot of questions, most of them interesting and important. However, these topics have already been raised in other threads on this forum and discussed sometimes at great length. If you are moving to Switzerland you would find it very beneficial to invest some time reading through some of these discussions and posting any individual questions directly onto these threads so that these discussions can continue.

If you have questions which have not been covered before (hint: use the search function) then please start a new thread about this topic, but limiting threads to a single topic will make life easier for people who come later searching for answers on a particular subject area. Try to be more specific and supply more information if you want people to help. For example you asked about accomodation, but failed to say where in Switzerland your job was.

Thank you for your understanding.

Mark

Hi Mark.

I guess a 3xMy Bad is in order

Would you consider a Sticky for the most general Q/A then?

yes I am thinking about creating a resource thread that points to the most freqently asked questions. Just hesitating a little bit about it because it will make me even more frustrated when people ignore it and post the same questions anyway But I suppose I have to try. I'll try and work on something today. I guess the best place for the stick would be in help and tips, so that assumes that someone must actually come to the help and tips section to read it.

Order the book Living and Working in Switzerland 10th ed. from Amazon.

Read it fully, then probably 60% of your above questions will be answered, and about 300% of questions you were not yet aware of.

Seriously, it is the best investment, especially if you are not yet here.

Hello,
I have been through the same problem. But in the end I came in ( 6 months ago) and answered most of my questions. But since it was a difficult process I decided to share what I learned in my blog. http://altaninzurich.blogspot.com It might be helpful. All feedbacks are welcome.

Nice blog, useful links there Altan.

Hi AGA,

Whereabouts in Switzerland have you been offered the job?

I live in the French part - Vevey (between Lausanne and Montreux) and give free advice to people on their health insurance.

Health insurance is compulsory over here (very different from the UK system) and there are currently 94 companies all offering various products at very different prices! I help people find the best deal.
(N.B. I do not sell insurance, I work with all 94 companies)

Just a note. Beware of people (usually your employer!) telling you that you HAVE to go with a certain company. THIS IS NOT TRUE though many companies do it. There is very often cheaper elsewhere for exactly the same cover (or even better cover).

My number is in my signature. Feel free to call me whenever you like.

I'm here to help!

Jenny

Hi AGA,

1.) Salary ranges for IT jobs like: IT Test Manager/IT Project Manager, IT Consultant in Geneva/Zurich.

Unlike in other countries, it's notoriously hard to get at the salary information - it's not legal (? or at least not done) to publish salaries in the want-ads, but it's allowed to discriminate against you on the base of gender, age, etc. ("Female Software Engineers wanted"... I'm not making this up). I have a set of books at my office which outline salary for various job types in various parts of the country - maybe e-mail me so that I remember to dredge them out.

2.) Where and how to calculate taxes for the various cities.

Most Cantons have tax informations on their web sites. Here's a link to part of the Zürich site which might get you started. In the German part of Switzerland, maybe google up "Steuern" (Taxes). http://www.steueramt.zh.ch/html/steu...euerfuesse.htm



3.) Insurances, what to get and the cost associated with them (family of 3).

An additional note to the last post: Health insurance is mandatory here, but all of the companies are consequently obligated to provide you a base set of health insurance at controlled rates. Beyond that, each company has varied offerings. For family rates (especially for larger families), I've been very happy with CSS. They have discounts past the second child, if I remember correctly.

4.) 3-4 room flats, approx. 100m~2, Prices, general legal terms.

There are several online sites to help you look. Check out http://www.immostreet.ch, http://www.immoscout.ch, http://www.homegate.ch, etc.

5.) Cars, prices for an e.g. VW Golf/BMW (low end).

Similarly: http://www.autoscout.ch, etc.

6.) Any other hard/soft lessons learned which could reduce the risk of relocating.

One little tip: be careful what you write down on any official forms as your religion. If you say you're "Protestant" or "Catholic", you'll often find yourself liable for church taxes, which you then can't get out from under until you apply to "leave" the church. Found out about this one the hard way...

Hope this helps...

D.

very helpful