Because?... Go on I dare you.

Swiss in general.

My wife goes to Zurich, and speaks Italian. In her mind: I am Swiss, Italian is a Swiss language, so I'm going to speak Italian.

This works fine until she runs into low cost German crossboarder workers who only speak German.

So she goes to the next shop where they employ Swiss people.

BTDT.

Tom

Obviously, because they have to speak that God awful High German with them! I’m with them on that one BTW.

I think it really depends if the company needs staff for the position for which you want to apply, and off-course your skills and english level (an advantage would be german speaker)
Sure, they might look the other way if you are russian, but still, if they need you, I don't think they give a shit if they hire Hans Thornsten or Yuri (both names are made up )

OP, don't despair, you'll find a job sooner or later if your skills match the ones some companies are looking for. Changing your name is a bit weird, you should be proud of your name.. Unless of course you have sentimental reasons do adopt your maternal grandfather's name.
It takes a while to find a job here..be patient. More for some than for others, that's for sure, but still.
Work on your CV, upgrade your language skills etc. In the end that's what it counts...Good luck.

I am from Asia, kept my last name as it is.

Anyway my first name shows I'm not from here and anyway I would not want to work somewhere that discriminate me for it.

I'm a Business Analyst and changed my job 3 times and didn't have a problem with job search.

I did hear that the chances can be lower but anyhow

One of my colleagues did this - but just so he wouldn't continually have his name mispronounced or asked how to spell it.

Or Ben Dover.

If someone wants to judge me on my name, then I dont want to work with them.
Period.
Will save both of us a lot of pain and disappointment.
:-)

First remember that Switzerland has 3 main national languages. It's very common for people to have a combination of a common name in one language and a family name in another one.

That was for work colleagues. In my case, I don't give a single **** about it. To start with, there' the cultural issue of two last names (from dad and mom families). Then, my parents chose a rather peculiar name for me. At some point in childhood I had to choose between "not belonging", or totally own it. Did the latter. Anyway I present myself to people with a simpler name, not out of fear but because strangers don't need to suffer with bad decisions from parents

My wife changed hers when she married me, as mine is far simpler than her German Swiss surname of Polish origin!

She had also changed it when she married her Vietnamese ex!

Tom

I have a very Swiss name because I married one - this hasn't made one difference in my employment. My current Swiss boss chuckled during our interview because she was expecting a local, but she still hired me anyway and I'm the complete opposite of one. All of my previous bosses were mainly immigrants too with an assortment of nationalities and names.

Any company worth working for has HR and hiring managers that look at experience and location - a local address would help you more than a local name. Nobody wants to pay for relocation unless you are really worth it.

I think I saw an article once stating that according to a research resumes with foreign sounding names did stand lesser chances in Switzerland, you can try to look it up.

Also, to be honest, although I'd rather think of it as of a pure coincidence but my colleagues from the Central Europe did tend to have German surnames.

And, one more remark, even if this kind of bias is true, beware that Swiss are capable of recognizing specifically Swiss German, Swiss French and Swiss Italian last names quite often

Are you applying for jobs from abroad? If yes but you are having no luck it could depend on the level of position you are applying for. For specialist positions companies cast their nets fairly wide as it's very important to find the best candidate possible.

If you are applying for lower-level jobs or even entry-level technical ones I think many employers by default reject any applicants that would have to relocate for the position, even if they are EU and a work permit would be a formality. The reason is that for any position there is always a risk things won't work out. If things aren't working out but the person in question has upturned their entire life to move to Switzerland (often incurring significant expenses along the way) there is some pressure to keep the person on, as their entire reason for moving to CH was the job. If they have no job, they have nothing, and would not even be in CH for long enough to claim unemployment benefits. The employer does not want to be made to feel responsible for someone ending up in such a difficult personal situation in a foreign country. (I think there is also some cynicism from HR about the true intentions of foreign applicants: are they interested in the specific job, or are they simply using the employer to gain a foothold in CH?)

Maybe not what you want to hear, but this is certainly my experience after having lived here for 17 years. I am not sure if the family name makes a difference, but your physical location would definitely be a negative for you unless your skills are seriously in demand. Being located in CH and having a Swiss residence permit in your hand could significantly increase your chances.

There's a difference between the name screened by a robot and a junior HR and the name of a hired person. In the former names DO matter, in the latter, not the least.

For some jobs, unfortunately, yes - it would be beneficial to have a name that portrays positively to an individual who houses prejudice.

Of course the question would be, will it make any difference if they meet you in person and find out that you are of 'another nationality'.

And furthermore - why would you want to even work there. If there are people who base you on your last name - it hints of super toxic work place.

Personally, my suggestion would be to leave your name as is. You will weed out all the terrible places to work!

To be clear: When British people say "Asian" what they actually mean is not you as a Korean, but Indian sounding names. Because its apparently not politically correct to call a spade a spade.

In all honesty: While I am certainly not a racists might it have happened to me as well: Post an IT job on linkedin, make it extremely clear that I consider only candidates with fluent German and an existing work permit for that particular role... only to wake up to 200 applications from random guys from India and for some reasons Saudi Arabia. Checked the first ten or so CVs and found out that they didnt even have the most basic qualifications for the job... they clearly just blast their CVs to any job posting they can find. Tried to do due diligence, but at CV 140 or 150 does the trigger finger to delete it get a little faster... not sure if I by chance have missed Rajiv or Ahmed from Spreitenbach who was borne here and had a perfect CV by mistake. A CV by a Mr Kim, Tanaka or Li would have easily sticked out and doesnt have the same problem.

No, I am currently a student at HSG.

Ok, so to keep this simple: I am sure you heard some rubbish at HSG, which is frankly the most elitist Swiss institution of all. Anyone not called Reto Bünzli is foreign for them.

There is literally Millions of people with Eastern European names being native to the German speaking part of Europe. From a wave of Polish immigrants during the 1850s industrial revolution over Russians with German heritage migrating to Germany after the iron curtain fell to the wave of "Yugos" arriving in Switzerland during the 90s. Yes, 20 or 30 years ago would a family name ending on -ic be something to (slightly) worry about in Switzerland when applying to a job or a rental flat. These days are gone.