I'm moving to Zurich in August and in order to get a job as quickly as possible, my plan is to send my CV/covering letter/references to each potential employer on the off chance that they either have a job or that they will keep my details on file.

Is this common practice in Switzlerand? If so would it be better to email or post the CV etc?

Any help/advice would be much appreciated!

Spontaneous application ( Spontanbewerbung ) - a CV with a cover letter, usually without any further document / attachment ( an invitation to treat ).

Some links that might be useful to you:

http://www.manpower.ch/en/advice/the...e-striking-cv/

http://www.manpower.ch/en/advice/the...s-application/

A PDF in DE:

http://www.hobsons.ch/de/publikation...wirtschaft.pdf

It has previously worked for me. I made sure my cover letter was written specifically for that company and why I felt I would be a good fit, and I cited examples so they knew I had done my research. I would recommend mailing your dossier. Perhaps you'll have no competition and the employer won't want to advertise if they've already got a viable candidate.

Good luck on your search.

I have a related question - do people here usually address spontaneous applications to a specific person or do you not bother? Often it is recommended to address them to a particular named head of department (e.g. Mr Smith in the Finance dept) rather than to "Mr Human Resources" or "Dear Sir/Madam".

I am finding that it's not so easy to find the name of the most relevant person (I thought LinkedIn would have provided more names than it does). I hate cold calling at the best of times and since I don't speak German I don't fancy phoning the company to find out.

So does anyone have any advice about what works in practice rather than the theory? I much prefer to respond to advertised jobs but the RAV may not agree.

In the end it has never got me a job but I did tried a few 'spontaneous application'.

Yes, applying to advertised jobs are much more straight forward (i.e. higher chance) but my advisor at ORP (or RAV) told me I should try.

All I can say is that you should address it to the real person whenever you can (by using your personal connection or even Linkedin) to maximise the chance of your application is actually examined rather than is thrown in the bin.

A head of department is a best bet but I once tried to send it to a staff level person (got to know from my friend's connection) and ask him to pass it to his boss (he did replied to me with sorry).

During my days of unemployment (23 months!), I did send some addressed to HR with nearly no response. But the ones addressed to a head of department (with or w/o real name) did result in a few responses.

Of course some people might just pushed it back to HR to let them say no to you but at least the fact that someone got noticed your application is not a bad thing at all.

Any advice given to you may all sound like 'theory' but there's no silver bullet on job hunting. Addressing to HR or even cold call may lead you a job you want. You never know until you try and you just need to keep trying.....

Good luck.