Hi -

I am currently job hunting in the Zurich area. I'm finding it frustrating to find much in my industry! My German is far from perfect which makes it even more difficult.

I was wondering - How did you (meaning anyone reading this post!) find your job in Switzerland? Did a recruitment agency contact you? Did you make a transfer? Did you find a job on craigslist? I would love to hear about your successful job hunting experience as a foreigner looking for a job.

Thanks!

I was at Stansted airport on my way to Spain to get very drunk and play PS2 games (sad but true). I got a call from an agent (in the UK) who wanted to know if I wanted to work in Zürich.

BeastOfBodmin and I are both IT wallahs... there is a market for that...

SWMBO got her job through www.xpatxchange.ch

I got my IT job through Euro London in Zürich.

I'd used them before in Frankfurt and they were brilliant.

I think they do banking and financial jobs as well.

I think you have to look in publications that specialize in your industry and see if anything is advertised in Switzerland, or hope you know enough people to network a job. I was contacted by my employers but after working in my industry for 18 years I do know a few people around the world, Remember it does not pay to upset to many people because what goes around comes around.

DC

Hi Megsf, here's my story..

My boyfriend was offered a job in Lausanne (IT again) and after surprisingly little discussion we decided to pack-up/sell-off our lives in the UK to move here. That meant me coming without a job... scary stuff for someone who had always left one job for another in the past.

I had worked in recruitment for several years after graduating, so I knew that it was important to get in touch with as many agencies as possible, get a CV written in the local language and be able to communicate in the local language (at least to be able to deal with the agencies who might be able to find me work in an English-speaking organisation, but who wouldn't necessarily speak English themselves).

Other things I did were:

• buy (or read in cafés) a copy of the local paper on the day that jobs are advertised, in order to make direct applications.
• used the internet to research which large organisations were within commutable distance (and were likely to be English-speaking) in order to make direct applications.
• kept a note of all possible leads and bookmarked the websites of any potential employers (I visited their websites once a week to see whether any new roles had been posted.)
• badgered all the friends I made, and my OH's new colleagues, to find out where they/their partners worked etc so that I could check to see whether they had anything available.
• kept my mind open as to what it was I was going to do/what type of organisation I was going to work for and on what type of basis (contract/permanent)

I took advantage of the kindness of the my OH's new colleagues and got them to help me with checking and correcting my efforts at writing a CV and covering letter in French. We didn't have much cash, so I couldn't afford to undertake an expensive language course, so we ordered materials from Amazon and used some websites to try to get ahead with the language. Despite all the above, it was not easy and I had some low moments and more than a few tears, but I knew that if I was going to make it work, I would have to just swallow my pride and go for it, mistakes and all!

About a month into the job search, for the first time, an agency invited me to come in and meet them. I had emailed them my CV a few weeks earlier but heard nothing back, so I hadn't been expecting much. It turns out that they wanted to meet me and find out my intentions and expectations, however they didn't have any specific jobs at that time to talk to me about. I walked out feeling a bit disappointed. I had been so excited about the meeting that I think I had gotten a bit ahead of myself and thought that all my problems were going to be solved in that one meeting.... silly me... Still, a couple of weeks later, with very little movement on any of my other applications, they called to say that they had an interview for me for a temporary post. It wasn't my ideal role and involved a much longer commute than I had really wanted to do, but I jumped at the chance to go for the interview since nothing else had come up. If it got it, it was only a short-term role, so I wouldn't have to do the commute for long, and if i didn't get it, well, it would be good interview practice! Turns out that they called to offer me the job while I was on the train home! I said yes immediately and arranged to start the next Monday. I was so excited and pleased to finally be back in the working world that I jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately I started the job and found out that really, it wasn't for me. The commute was long, the hours were long and I wasn't enjoying it. Oh, and they had forgotten to tell me during the interview that they would be moving to new premises in a month's time that would add another 30 mins to my exsisting 1 1/2 hour commute.... I quit after two months; a tired and emotional wreck...

So, my advice is DON'T jump for the first thing that you find... be patient, hold out and make sure it is really the job for you!

After that experience, I went back to my job-searching ways again and filled my days looking for another job, studying my french books and once again, trying to stay positive! This time I was much more focused and resisted the temptation to take any old job. Several agencies proposed work that I wasn't too sure about, and I was strong and said no if I didn't think it was going to suit. After two and a half long, slow, winter months, I was lucky enough to find an interesting job, in my neighbourhood, that matched my skills perfectly. I have been there for over two years now. It is a small Swiss organisation which does lots of work in english, although we speak in french around the office. I am considered by my colleagues to be the expert on english and hardly a day goes by without me hearing the words "une petite question d'anglais.. comment est-ce que je dis xxx ...." or "est-ce que tu peut corriger/traduire ce texte pour moi". It was hard work and a long wait, but it is great to be working again, and better still to be able to give something back. (I had never realised before how lucky I was to be of English mother tongue.)

As you are finding, it is really frustrating, but hang in there.. you *will* find something!

From London I used jobserve and got the first job I applied for. It's IT related and ended up going through swisslinx.

If your still in the U.S. You might try adecco, man power,vedior or the other hundreds or so job agencies.Im sure theyll put you in the right direction...good luck

Hi I'm Nuket,just joined Forum so i want to say hello to everyone.I live in Zürich and looking for a job too.

Hi there,

I posted how I got my job on my blog and also give some tips.

Check it out if you are interested:

http://onebigyodel.blogspot.com/2008...itzerland.html

Hi,

I can understand you. I have spend a month on everyday sending dosen od CVs.
With the time being I noticed that I can improve my cv and it became more and more succesful.
And finally I got it.
You have to look for english-speaking companies.

Good luck,

karin

By cold calling once I got here.I had my C.V, translated into German. I found it a little difficult as I could,nt speak much German(and still can,t) , but I,ve done this in other countries too. It,s interesting to see where you end up sometimes.I took the 1st job I got (as I was on an hourly rate)and intended to look for something better(?) but my pay went up , the conditions improved and the job became permanent.
I,m in engineering , not I.T.

Which industry?

I worked for a branch of a Swiss company. Their internal vacancies were posted on the intranet.
I got an interview for a management position so they flew me over. I interviewed with the CIO and HR.
Then I was asked if I had time for a quick chat with the CFO.
I spent the weekend here looking around and when I got back I was called in the office and was told that they's like to offer me a job i.e. not the job I applied for.
It was nice to see that they thought out of the box. So maybe you could focus on companies in your field and keep an eye on their vacancies.

You'll have a better chance of finding employment here if you are in certain key Zurich employment fields. Banking, Insurance, IT, Finance etc. There's not so much traditional industry here eg manufacturing / engineering compared to the previously mentioned areas.

Here's a list of agencies:

The main one :
http://tagesanzeiger.jobwinner.ch

Others worth a look :

www.topjobs.ch
www.stellen.ch
www.jobs.ch
www.monster.ch / www.jobpilot.ch
www.edvjobs.ch
www.jobclick.ch
www.jobserve.com use Zurich as a keyword

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Agencies
________

Accounting & Finance :

Micahel Page : www.michaelpage.ch

Swisslinx www.swisslinx.ch
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Banking : Bank intranet sites especially UBS and Credit Suisse
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Insurance : Company websites : Swiss Re, Zurich ...others???
--------------------------------------------------------------------
IT :

Elan www.elan.ch

Harvey Nash www.harveynash.ch

Swisslinx www.swisslinx.ch

Here's a list of major Swiss employers from another website:
(I hope this long list doesn't break any EF posting giudelines / rules. Mod please deleteor move if it does)
List of International Companies in and around Zurich as per a Sept 2006 Conversation thread :
Cisco Systems
Microsoft
Thomson
Nextira One
Equant
Orange
Tele Denmark Corp. ( Sunrise)
Tata ( in Geneva)
Siemens AG
Philips
Unaxis
Leica Geosystems
Novartis
Roche
Nestle
Alstom
Google
IBM
Credit Suisse
Gate Gourmet
ABB


American Companies in Zürich (posted by someone else Nov 4, 2005)
GE Capital Bank www.gecapitalbank.ch
Oprandi has an in with them
Accenture www.accenture.ch they likely require German for consulting positions
Futurecom Interactive AG www.futurecom.ch
AIG Private Bank www.aigprivatebank.com
Amazys Holding AG www.amazys.com
Attachmante Sales AG www.ch.attachmate.com
Audatex Holding GmbH www.audatex.ch
Bank Morgan Stanley AG www.morganstanley.com
Berlitz www.berlitz.com
Brinks Switzerland www.brinks.com
Carlson Wagonlit Travel www.carlsonwagonlit.ch
Citibank Switzerland www.citigroup.com
Deloitte www.deloitte.ch
EDS AG www.eds.ch
EMC Computer Systems AG switzerland.emc.com/index.jsp
Epiphany Schweiz GmbH www.epiphany.com
Equant Communciations Service www.equant.com
Estee Lauder GmbH www.elcompanies.com
Gate Gourmet Switzerland www.gategourmet.com (airline catering)
GMO Switzerland GmbH www.gmo.com
Goldman Sachs & Co Bank www.gs.com
Google Switzerland www.google.com
Grey Worldwide AG www.grey.ch
Hotel Hilton Zurich Airport www.hilton.de
Hyperion Solutions Schweiz AG www.hyperion.ch (business intelligence software - hot stuff)
IBM Schweiz www.ibm.com/ch
IDG Communications AG www.idg.ch
JP Morgan Chase Bank www.jpmorganchase.com
JP Morgan Swiss www.jpmorgan.com
JWT + Hostettler + Fabrikant Werbeagentur AG www.jwthf.ch (advertising firm)
Kraft Foods Schweiz AG www.kraftfoods.ch
Lexmark Schweiz AG www.lexmark.ch
Maag Pump Systems Textron AG www.maag.ch
Mercer HR Consulting SA www.mercerHR.com
McCann Erickson www.mccann.ch advertising firm
MCI Worldcom AG www.mci.com/ch
McKinsey & Company www.mckinsey.ch management consultants
Merrill Lynch Capital Markets AG www.ml.com
NFR Security Inc. www.nfr.com IT instrusion detection products
Novell Schweiz AG www.novell.com
Perot Systems Schweiz AG www.perotsystems.com
Pfizer AG www.pfizer.ch
Rational Software Schweiz GmbH www.rational.ch
Refco Switzerland AG www.refco.com
Ruesch International LLC www.ruesch.com international payments as drafts, electronic transfers, etc.
SAS Institute AG www.sas.com/switzerland

Siebel Systems Schweiz GmbH www.siebel.com
Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett AG Werbeagentur - advertising firm, no web site given Aemtlerstrasse 201, Postfach 8040 Zurich PHone

I'm in pharma - also started my job hunt from the US and my method was to contact recruiters. There were plenty (of recruiters and jobs) when I started looking (March '08), they lined up several phone interviews for me right away, I had 2 face-to-face interviews in April, accepted an offer in May and started current position in August.
I'd be happy to share recruiters' names and contacts with anyone who wants, I don't really want to post them on EF. I had some awesome recruiters who were a great help.

Hi Kirsty,

I've just come here in Zurich as my Husband is working with a Company as an IT professional... As he intend to stay here for more than 2 years for his project, I want to look out for a job for myself here. I was earlier working in banking opeartions (back office)/sales.

It would be a definitely Great help if you can share the consultants Id's / addresses which you are talking about, as after reading many post I've come to know that its not easy to get the job here in switzerland for an English speaking person...

If anybody else can also help me out in my job search that would be really a great help.. I'm looking for any kind of job in Banking opeartions (back office)/sales/Custome care/Recruitment.....Thanks in anticipation

Divya

For chemistry-related jobs, here are some sites that cover Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland

http://www.analytik-news.de/Jobs/ (where i found my job in Basel)
http://www.chemiekarriere.net/
http://www.gdch.de/ks/stellen.htm

Don't forget the application process. When you send your CV, you should include a cover letter, photograph, ALL previous references from employers (if you don't have them, get them), and any copies of and educational diplomas. Remember - we are in Switzerland. Documentation rules!

I found this thread very helpful, thank you everyone.

I was an English teacher and met future Swiss husband whilst trying to get to grips with the second conditional........love at first sight!!

So decided (eventually!) to come here, join forces, and offer my linguistic talents to the wider Swiss audience - worked well!!