Hi guys, soon it will be 6 months since I arrived in CH and like many other cases out there, I haven't been able to find a job. In my Language school I have met a couple of foreigners who don't speak English or German but have found work in Factories.

When I went to the RAV, the advisor suggested I wait and keep on job searching, since the factory jobs are very low skilled and looking at my resume It wouldn't be something for me. But I'm curious to hear is anyone here in EF has any input on them.
Factory jobs (Packing Cheese,Salami,building windows...etc)

I have read some posts and it seems some people just want work no matter what. Maybe this thread could help them?

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It should be our care not so much to live a long life as a satisfactory one.
SENECA

I did that for a while as a summer job when I was 16.
I wanted to shoot myself every day....

I know a job is a job but I will NEVER do that again. you will get evn more depressed from the people working there as all they do is complain about everything.

Id find a job mowing lawns or clean or anything else than that.

I don't know how one would set about finding a job in a factory in Switzerland, but I had many such jobs in England and rather enjoyed some of them.

They can be either tedious or physically demanding, but they give you a great opportunity to think, there is often plenty of entertaining banter (presuming you speak the same language as your colleagues) and, occasionally, you get to do something really fun, like popping the balls into bottles of roll-on deodorant with a rubber hammer.

The downsides, of course, are the dreadful wages (I was worse off than if I'd stayed on the dole) and the fact that factories aren't exactly designed for the pleasure and satisfaction of their employees. Not being able to see sunlight for months on end does take its toll on one's mood somewhat.

Still, any work is better than being unemployed. I hope we get some good suggestions on this thread.

I know Emmi AG employ non-German speaking factory workers & the nearest to you would be:http://maps.google.ch/maps?client=sa...ed=0CCoQtgMwAA

Here are some very good salami factory workers in action>

If in Canton ZH, one might try Erlenhof, Buchs-Dällikon for seasonal employment - one day off a week ( on Sundays ), working on public holidays too from as early as 5am to 6pm daily.

http://www.die-fruechte.ch/8107/25/174448/detail.htm

They have lots of migrant workers - Polish, Eastern Europeans, Eritreans etc. all of whom have permits and have on location single zimmer provided to long term workers ( the rent of CHF 450 a month is taken out of their pay packets automatically ).

Thanks for the tip I have an Eritrean classmate that's is looking for any type of work.

Hi,

I have read with great interest this thread and was wondering if anyone knows of any factories in the French-speaking part that I could apply to.

Seb

Ask at the employment agencies, Kelly, Manpower, etc

I know Chocolat Frey also employs people who speaks basic German. I once contacted them looking for a job as a part of my German course.They came back to me and gave me the agency where they normally get their temporary staff,but didn't bother after that. Send me a PM if you want the agency details

How much could i earn in unskilled factory work?

Not as much as in a job requiring education, but quite a lot in reality. I still remember how, after I dropped out of Matura School (I was quite good but in the lowest 33%) for a while (early July until late October, back in 69) had to take up temporary work through Manpower AG . Got some jobs almost immediately and was fairly well paid. So that I could well afford some nice holidays right before starting my apprenticeship. Alright, as an "unskilled worker" you have no "social prestige", so if this is of concern to you .... well .... !

Are we talking maybe frc4000-4500 a month full time?

Same here...10 months and counting. 12 Years management experience in the Retail sector and 3 years management experience in Food production sector means nothing here because I don't have German proficiency.
I'm now willing to drop my standards and do ANY job, regardless of how sh!tty it might be. I've applied for general cleaning, sewer cleaning and factory work and all my applications have been rejected
All I want to do is earn a salary and help support my family because the pressure on my wife's shoulders is starting to get her down.
It seems RAV has finally decided to send me on a 3 month intensive German course, so that will help me....a bit.
I'll send spontaneous applications to the companies mentioned in this thread, but I'm not gonna hold my breath...

I'd do it .. Who knows where it leads.

Loooong time ago I just finished apprenticeship as an electrician at the tender age of 19. Thinking great, i can rule the world now, the company went bust!

After applying for 978 electrician jobs I gave up, I was too young and inexperienced to be a proper electrician and too old to be a trainee.

I got a job in an IBM factory, folding cardboard boxes at the end of the production line. I went from there to the stores where I introduced myself to computers, the old green text on black screen with clicky keyboard, after a while I suggested a new way of doing things and they moved me to the planning office, taught myself some more... ended up being the local systems and IT expert, a few years later i was a boffin teaching them to secure their infrasture when internets arrived. Which led to a career or playing with IT and looking out of the window in many big names companies.

Ok it's a story of good luck and right place at the right time maybe, but don't knock it.

I have always considered packing the salami a very skillful job.