I recently moved to Bern. I have my work permit (B) and I'm looking for an IT job. I understand it could take a while.

In the meantime I'm hoping to find temporary work doing just about anything. In the US there are plenty of jobs like this. How do I go about looking for them here? And unfortunately I am still learning Deutsch. Right now I'm at the A2 level.

Many thanks - kenn

Lack of functional German puts you at a disadvantage for many temporary jobs as some employers will not be willing to budget the extra management time necessary to get a non-German speaker up to speed when the job is only temporary.

So the first step is to focus on where your background and experience compensate for that. What sort of jobs have you done in the past? What skills do you have? What kind of experience do you have that would allow you to walk in and be productive on day one, even without functional German?


Perhaps if you gave us a bit more info we could make more targeted suggestions.

I'm an IT specialist. I work primarily with Apple equipment, but I also know Windows very well (especially Windows 10).

I'm a professional musician, singer-songwriter, composer and have worked as a sound engineer for live music.

I owned and managed a small movie theater in Brooklyn, NY.

I've been told by many people that in the IT field they speak English. Although I'm finding that's a bit of an exageration.

Switzerland is not exactly known for having a random-temp-work-or-room-for-low-skilled-jobs work environment. It doesn't work here like it does in the US.

I'm not quite sure what you envisioned when you say you'd go for "any job". Flipping burgers? Cleaning floors? Selling magazines at the kiosk? Something like that? Granted, even for that you need enough German to understand instructions and ask questions in case of an issue. Anything customer-facing and you probably won't get away with A2.

For now, yes, flipping burgers, cleaning floors...

Just to get my foot in the door, so to speak. But you're right, anything customer based would be out of the question right now. I'm at the A2 level and learning more every week. But as I'm sure everyone knows, it takes time.

This link is to a list of job boards published by Canton Bern:

https://www.biz.erz.be.ch/biz_erz/de...m_Internet.pdf

This Canton Aargau link lists about 103 Swiss job boards:

https://www.ag.ch/media/kanton_aarga...lenboersen.pdf

You might focus on search engine job boards such as indeed.ch and jobsuchmaschine.ch, which list job openings from other boards. Search or filter on "English" "Englisch" "Temporary" "Temporär" "Nebenjob" "EDV", "IT", etc.

If you are legally resident in Switzerland, you might wish to consider registering with RAV, the Swiss job service. They might be able to point you in the right direction, possibly provide a code to jobagent.ch (a good job search engine), and also might possibly assist you with a German course. A list of RAV offices is at this link:

http://www.vol.be.ch/vol/de/index/ar...standorte.html

Good luck to you!

Well the good news is that even as a dishwasher you will make more here (even in relative terms) than you would in pretty much any standard temp job in the US.

Summer season is coming up so many restaurants are looking to hire additional staff. Your German isn't good enough for waitressing or bartending, but maybe indeed washing dishes or working as a busboy or something are an option.

It won't be a foot in the door in any way though, just something to do.

Also, this is under the assumption your B permit includes the right to work. You say it does but sometimes the B is just for residence.

You might also want to look at tutti.ch and anibis.ch for temporary jobs in Canton Bern (and beyond):

http://www.tutti.ch/bern/stellen-kurse

http://www.anibis.ch/de/job-job-ange...le&sf=dpo&so=d

Added:
Also see this thread started by an EF member with limited German who accepted a job offer at McDonald's:

https://www.englishforum.ch/employme...-german-2.html

Thanks. That's really helpful. Now I know what I'm doing tomorrow!

kenn

You might also find some useful ideas in this thread:
https://www.englishforum.ch/employme...fications.html

Quickmail.ch.

Hi there,

Try experis.ch, it's a recruitment agency specialised in placing IT people.

Forum members are right, you may struggle a bit without Swiss German or German but there are also some big companies.

Good luck!

Some Swiss farms have seasonal job requirements and openings will start to appear in the coming weeks. Here are two for strawberry pickers:

https://www.job-room.ch/pages/job/jo...8e5c1261e55f52

copy and paste above link or search RAV's job-room.ch for "Pflücker" and "Erntehelfer"

http://wochen-post.ch/landing/

p.97 for ad for "Erbeeren-Pflücker/in"

This is a job board for farm-related jobs:

https://www.agrarjobs.ch/#s=1

You might find a niche in the music/sound engineering field, which might not advertise in the same sort of places as other types of work. With the good weather a lot of outdoor things come up (festivals, etc), maybe finding out about that sort of scene in Bern would help you.

Thanks. As far as the strawberries, I fear I might eat half of the crop.

As for music, I forgot how many outdoor concerts there are in Switzerland. I'll have to look into that.

Get your CV out to all the agencies is a good start. If possible get a meeting with them, or a recommendation from a friend. You may have luck there with a serious job, or also a temp low skilled job.

To fill time, and potentially network and who knows where it leads to, volunteering is a good bet. All the festivals will have a volunteer section where you can apply to do various jobs. They pay in beer and entrance tickets. Also search out sporting events, or anything that interests you and ask if they need any volunteers.

This will fill your time, be enjoyable, practice German, and could lead to full time paid opportunities