On the other hand, the OP is asking this because he has several interviews and it's looking expensive overall. Now I don't see how this is the individual potential employer's problem?

Depends, if your are the Unique, yes! If you are one with 15 others, nope. Because it means you are not special, many will be happy to go to the interview for free for a chance to get the job.

The job market is wild, people NEED a job. If you don't need one because you have one, you already take time from your work (that you are paid for) to go to meet an other company. If you don't have a job and they run after you, yes they can treat you like a king. If you don't have a job like 15 others, that will be high competition, so don't show yourself as a greedy futur possible employee. It is a turn off.

If it is an interview into an other country or accross a country (when it takes more than few hours by car to cross) they will offer you to pay for it if they believe that you are the candidate for them.

You hope they offer you to pay for your expenses, but you don't ask for it. It is just bad manners in my opinion.

When I was living in the UK and coming over here for interviews, ALL companies i interviewed with (the biggest companies in Switz and pretty much the smallest - 5 man operations etc) all voluntarily paid my travel expenses including flight and hotel.

If you are interviewing with a large company, in the UBS/CS mould, then by all means, mention politely to HR about reimbursement of expenses (if you are travelling Zurich->Geneva for example - this is about 90chf, but not from Wiedikon to Paradeplatz!). The large companies' default policy is that they will pay your travel expenses. For smaller companies, really play it by ear a bit, but i don't think anyone is going to be put out if you politely ask for their policy on travel reimbursements, especially if you ask them when the HR person invites you for a face-to-face interview on the phone.

Remember, you are doing them as much of a favour by filling their vacancy as they are by inviting you to do so.

My experience even when going from Zurich to Bern repeatedly is no. This is sometimes costly when there are 5 interviews. It's usually based on Company Policy. At one time I was "commuting" between Basel and Bern from Zurich for interviews but I was still getting paid.

With a half-fare card a daily pass is 68/58CHF so 100CHF shouldn't come into play unless you need 1st class.

I always consider these things an investment in my career, I once didn't submit my out of pocket expenses for my 1st Swiss interview from London as I decided not to proceed and they had paid for the flight. They subsequently kept in touch for a few years... and the agent seemed to appreciate me distinguishing myself in this way somehow as it was then a shared investment.

Remember you don't have to go. If you choose to, pay up. Companies will generally only refund you once a relationship exists for expenses incurred on their behalf. For now it's on yours. But the expenses are tax-deductible.

Exactly I concur, as I mentioned in my post, the interviewee can choose/prioritize what interviews to attend based on their own constraints be it time or money or another resource in short supply.

Gosh, some people do get on their high horses over trivia - reading some of these responses. He only asked what the norm is for claiming interview expenses. Anyone would think he'd asked about brown sugar.

If you're on the dole or low paid, a train journey or overnight stay somewhere can amount to quite a bit out of your beer money.

In answer to the OP: years ago when I was attending permie job interviews in the UK, it was more or less a given that the company you were visiting paid your travel costs. If you've had to travel from the other end of the country it amounts to a fair whack. Usual etiquette was to have the train ticket ready for them to photocopy for their expense claim admin. This was the case for large and small companies.

For contract positions, the clients never paid expenses; however I normally put my travel costs through my LtdCo, thus reclaiming tax and VAT.

In CH it seems they don't automatically reimburse travel costs - but I guess if you ask politely what their policy when arranging the interview without being pushy about it I don't see why it should count against you if you otherwise interview well.

Cheers,
Nick

__________________

In the past I've had situations where I've taken time off work (which is a cost to yourself as you lose a day's paid leave or have to work overtime to make up the lost hours) and travelled to an interview, only to find out that the agent or the potential employer has misrepresented the job.

I've had no compunction at all about demanding expenses in such cases.

Cheers,
Nick

I am surprised by all the posts here - All the companies I have ever interviewed with have paid all expenses. For me, it was never a question of "If"!
Politely checking with the HR at the end of the interview, or even before you go should be perfectly fine.

Hi,

I found this link [German only] which might be useful:

http://www.ktipp.ch/beratung/1034207...bungsgespraech

Question 3. gives the answer. In short - if you applied for the job then it's up to you to pay the travel costs. If the potential employer initiated the application process, then the legal situation is less clear.

Cheers,
Nick

When I was unemployed 2 years ago, I asked RAV about it, and they advised against it, as it left a bad impression, and reduced your chances of getting the job, but I honestly dont remember, if you are entitled to get a refund or not.

Doc.

The mistake was theirs.

I've observed strong correlation between unwillingness to reimburse the costs and unwillingness to offer a decent compensation package.

Greed begins in small.

Dude you'll give them the impression that you are a hustler trying to get them to pay for your train tickets -I mean it's not even a plane ticket agrrrrr
Who would want to hire a hustler in this day & age??

When they ask you an interview and you live outside Switzerland so you have to got there by plane, do they offer covering of travel expenses, in most cases? Do they mention it by themselves?

Be nice. I think a round trip between Zurich-Geneva can cost over CHF100. For someone who is unemployed, a number of those trips can be a significant hit.

I've had a few interviews recently. Some of the companies reimbursed me, some didn't. They certainly won't change their mind about you if you simply ask if they will do it for you.

Most didn't, by the way.

Probably.
Listen, asking for compensation for transportation -train agrr- has cost me a job at Amazon.com so take my advice.
Should you advance to a second interview then yeah i would be comfortable asking them to cover my train expenses, otherwise No.
Asking them to cover your expenses right off the bat sounds a bit ...Um not right...

$

the Tageskarte costs only 58 chf with a half-price abo

and if you know several days in advance, you can buy a Tageskarte for 45 chf at your Kreisbüro

if it makes you feel any better, Amazon is a terrible employer. they are known for really taking advantage of their employees.

It kinda does now

Most times the company just offered to pay without me asking. A few times I paid for it. It is really a case by case basis. If I was flying to another country for an interview I would expect the company to pay the cost. If travelling in country I would probably just let the company make the offer to pay.