Hello Everyone,
I'm looking for ideas and advice about a new career in Switzerland. I earned a sociology and criminal justice degree from Purdue University. I never worked in my degree field, had the luck to play professional basketball all around the world. Worked as a professional basketball coach and sports teacher as well. I met my wife while playing in Switzerland and the time came to settle down, build a family and give up all the travelling and moving around. We are residing in the Jura-Basel canton area.

Thank you for the ideas and advice.

Intersoccer are looking for coaches if you can turn your hand to that. You are obvs sporty.
http://www.intersoccer.ch/coaching-opportunities/

Wife is Swiss? EU? Non-EU? The type of permit she/you has makes a difference in your work opportunities. How old are you (roughly if you like)? Again age can be a factor in getting a job or starting a new career.

Given your previous career you might want to contact the Swiss Basketball Federation and see if they have any advice/suggestions for you.

http://www.swissbasketball.ch/fr

Wife is Swiss and I am holding a B permit. I am 35 and looking for a job outside of sports.

Job or career? A job doing something should be easy enough to find, a new career more difficult. Swiss employers like university degrees and for people to work in professions related to those degrees. If you don't want to use that or your basketball skills/experience then you might get a job flipping burgers in McDonald's, work on a construction site, etc. But a new career as a Marketing Manager for example, forget it. You don't have the relevant degree and no experience. Might be able to work your way up to manager at McD's, but you'd still start with the flipping burgers part of the business first.

This is all a generalisation, but you get what I'm saying I hope.

A career of course.
I understood your example and I hope it won't be that hard to find a new career. Thank you for your reply

Don't get your hopes up, it's indeed extremely difficult.

You need to narrow this down a little. When you say "outside sports", what do you mean? Not teaching/coaching anymore or is anything remotely connected to sports out of question? If the latter, you better rethink it cause you're not necessarily in a position to be overly picky.

You must have some ideas or done some research. You can't just ask what it is you should do with your life without giving any pointers whatsoever.

I really see very few options with this type of history/background and I doubt you will build some awesome career anywhere else any time soon. One option could be to try to get into teaching regardless and then move on from there.

You also have to understand that Switzerland has a largely high-skilled, extremely competitive labor market. This is not a country where people give others "a chance" at something random.

Also, do you speak any local languages?

Another way to look at this is is to first take Switzerland out of the frame:

If you were standing at the same crossroads back home, what career options would you have? What steps would you take to enter another field?

Once you focus on what careers/fields/jobs might be within your reach given your education, experiences, and skills, then the forum can be of more help. If you first define the goal(s), we can perhaps then help you to map out the way there from a Swiss perspective.



(Btw, given your username: Howdy and welcome, from an honorary Hoosier. )

I am not that much into the segment of It.


however I do have a friend woring as a IT ingeneer, creating apps for various companies.


He tells me that there is a big demand for software testers. From what he told you can take a short course like 2-3 months and then with some luck you should be able to land a job.


I totally forgot the name of the course he was refering to, but maybe some of the IT people on EF can kick in with some more info.


Anyway thats my not so concrete 50 cents

If you can tell me more about software tester info, It will be very helpful..
Because I am struggling find a job in Switzerland.
I have computer science major....
Please help me...

I meant outside of professional sports. Teaching and coaching would be an option to think about and build on it. I am fluent in German, French average knowledge and Russian basic knowledge. Holding the B permit.

I meant outside of professional sports. Teaching and coaching would be an option to think about and build on it. I am fluent in German, French average knowledge and Russian basic knowledge. Holding the B permit.

what about getting the necessary degree? (once you have decided which direction you want to go). There are plenty of adult schools which offer all degrees that you can dream of. You will have to do your own research though in finding the best school with the right accreditation for the path you want to go.
re sports: i have friends that work(ed) for Iron Man, Ochsner sport etc. so you can check out the 'sporty' companies and see if there are options there

Would you perhaps have an interest as a sports coach at an international school?

My home is Switzerland now for the last year. I met my wife here and we decided to stayed and build our future here. Originally I am from Serbia. The field I would love to work for is Law enforcement, interior affairs and government work. I think under Swiss law it's impossible for me to work in Law enforcement and similar fields.

( To a Hoosier I am doing well. How are you? Did you follow up on the last Purdue vs IU basketball game? Boiler Up! )

That's one more option to receive another degree. Is there any adult school in the Basel area? Thank you for the advice.

I would be very interested in that position.

There are a couple international schools in or around Basel. It could be worth checking their websites for vacancies?

Or contacting their HR dept with letter and CV. You never know. Best of luck.

Thank you.

Hi, why not check out opportunities in the international sports administration, ie. with the international sports federations and organizations etc. (your language skills are certainly an asset)? Many of them are in/around Lausanne (http://www.lausanne.ch/en/thematique...ationales.html)...

I have sent you a PM about a potential job opportunity along these lines.