Hi all,

I have been invited for an interview at one of the largest international banks in Geneva for an entry-level role in operations. I was wondering what kind of salary I should be aiming for - I have an offer at a comparable firm in London and it starts at around £30k+, but I have no idea what to expect in Switzerland. Thanks for the replies!

Roger

Please consider posting an introduction and spending some time viewing the sticky threads for the "Employment" forum section. That will be a good start for getting your question answered.

In my opinion, £30k GBP in London will require 90k CHF in Geneva to generate an equal standard of living.

Seriously? I am floored by this! Can anyone else confirm?

Yup, I'd agree, pretty much. Though with the weird and wacky happenings on the forex scene these days, maybe CHF 120,000 would be more like it. Or CHF 52,000. Depends, really.

To emulate a £30,000 lifestyle in, say, Norfolk, CHF 90,000 in Geneva seems eminently reasonable to me. If you're getting by on £30,000 in London, then maybe you'd manage on CHF 70,000 in Geneva. But the bottom line is that you need to ignore the exchange rate when calculating your required salary in Switzerland. And once you're here, don't even think of comparing prices to the UK by working out the GBP equivalent at the current exchange rate!

I don't have the relevant knowledge to confirm either way but you might find this excellent EF resource FAQ: A brief guide to salaries in Switzerland of some help in determining this for yourself.

Hope it helps.

dont know much about london.....i am a bit taken aback too..i guess was a joke ?

[i guess forex doesnot come into this..just comparing the cost of living in the two cities..]

Thanks Isha, yes I've seen that. What shocked me was the comparison between 30K London and 90K Geneve. 30K London is a flat share, a meal out twice a month if you're luckly and not much left over.

30k in London, depending on location is an 800 per month studio or 1 bedroom flat, bills, clothes, 50 quid a week groceries and eating out twice a week at 25 quid a head. Easy.

Here - go to leshop.ch and do tour weekly shop. Then go to ASDA and do the same. Compare.

I bought a 200 gram steak in my local supermarket yesterday for 15 pounds. A big mac meal here costs 9 pounds. Any other questions?

Over the weekend I shopped for meat, veg and drinks (no alcohol) for two barbecues for two adults and one three-year-old. Basically, there was no need to buy anything for the littl'un -- he got bits of our food. The meat was two lamb fillets, two T-bone steaks and four large pork sausages. (They just don't understand real barbecue sausages here.)

Total cost for meat, veg, desserts and drinks, CHF 174. That's around £140. Eye-watering stuff. And you won't live like that (consistently) on CHF 90k in Geneva, unless you shop in France.

A forum member, friend of mine, had a spot of good news and wanted to treat himself. He went into Jelmoli and bought two t bone steaks. 135 chuffs. He nearly too them back but was too embarrassed.

CHF 70 - 100K, base salary + bonus - depending on the company and role.

If you provide some more details we may give you a more precise answer.

I guess I'm just shocked that almost six figures in Geneve equates to an entry level salary for graduates in most firms in London. Really is quite scary.

Yes. Very. But there are benefits of living in Switzerland too. Low crime rate, quaint architecture, beautiful scenery, clean water...of course you won't get to experience any of these things in Geneva....

I reckon GBP 30,000 in London is the same as about CHF 70,000 for the same lifestyle in Geneva. Certainly, CHF 60,000 would be less than GBP 30,000 in London.

CHF 90,000 seems a bit steep, but this is not an exact science, and Economisto normally knows what he is talking about...

Would you say it's similar west (Zurich/Zug), and do the figures stay constant throughout salary ranges? So 140 CHF = 60 GBP?

Thanks! But actually we're all right, it depends on your lifestyle choices. I was going for a typical London lifestyle of eating out and drinking out a lot and trying to replicate that in Geneva. Clearly if you're living a Swiss lifestyle in London with a lot of hiking and skiing and eating at home, you're going to have an easier time of it in Geneva (although, god help you, please don't live in the city itself).

Zurich and Zug are east, but are also expensive, although the taxes are less especially in Zug. And no, it's people in the middle who are squeezed most. Although 60k to 140k is the middle (junior lawyer, accountant etc). People on the bottom (anything under 60k chf) and top (more than 150k chf) benefit most from their increased relative wages.

I'm going to have another glass of wine and go to bed I think.

I find that if you are single and no kids, you can manage on 6k (and im not even in a big city....) otherwise you need much more to live without thinking bout what you are spending every damned second