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How to find work and reside in Switzerland

Besides the employers and recruiters shown below, you should also consult our page dealing with jobs in the international (often Europe, Africa and the Middle East regional HQ's) headquarters, located in Switzerland. There is also a page that deals with companies which recruit on an international basis, wherever their headquarter is.

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About Work and Residence Permits

See also The Type of Work and Residence Permits issued in Switzerland

Switzerland is not part of the European Union, but is linked to it by a large number of "Bilateral Agreements" and the "Schengen Agreements". As a consequence, people from the EU and the much smaller EFTA, to which Switzerland was a founder member, can be employed and can find a job and live in the country without much bureaucracy.

That does not apply for citizens from outside the EU/EFTA. If you hold a passport from the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ or any other country outside the EU/EFTA, getting a work and residence permit is difficult, and you have to be well qualified and offer skills and education for which there is a shortage in Switzerland. In addition, except for a few job areas, you have to know at least one of the national languages with reasonable fluency.

Switzerland has 7.6 million people, is densely populated on just under 16,000 square miles, much of which, such as the Alps, is uninhabitable. Its foreign population, i.e. people not holding Swiss nationality is over 21% and the largest groups are Italians and Germans, followed by people from former Yugoslavia, the Portuguese and Spaniards.

The workforce in Switzerland is highly educated and many people are bi- and multi-lingual.The official languages in Switzerland are German (the spoken language throughout all social classes, is Swiss German with lots of variations - about 63%), French (20%), Italian (7%). and Romantsch (1% or less). In addition, about 9% of the population speaks other languages. English is widely used, especially in banking, business and, obviously, in the tourist industry, science, research and engineering. Despite this openness, except for very few areas (e.g. nurses, IT, some PhD level research jobs), solid knowledge of one of the official languages is essential, if you want to find a job and work in Switzerland.

If you are not from the EU/EFTA, it is very difficult to get a work/residence permit for Switzerland. There are some exceptions for people who have very special and rare skills, for which there is a shortage in Switzerland (nurses, IT and telecom specialists, programmers, secondary school teachers, the latter only from the EU, life science researchers).

Another exception to this rule could be, if you are an executive transferee (i.e. a person sent by the parent company to do a management or higher technical job in the Swiss subsidiary). Foreign, especially American companies, in the past, often circumvent the difficulties of getting local work permits, by employing transferees in their home country, and then having them work 6 to 12 months in Switzerland.

Employment possibilities, such as seasonal workers in the hotel industry and agriculture, and stagiaire jobs (time limited training jobs, au-pairs) are now also covered by the L-Permit.

The Swiss education system has changed significantly during the last few years with the Bologna Reform. Besides the two highly acclaimed federal universities (ETH in Zurich and EPUL in Lausanne), there are excellent cantonal universities in St. Gallen, Basle (one of the oldest Universities in Europe), Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich, Bern, Neuchatel and the two new ones in Luzern and Lugano. Besides that, there are Paedagogische Hochschulen (Advanced Teacher Training Universities) in many Cantons across the country. But the largest change has come with the creation of a number of Applied Science and Commercial Universities, the Fachhochschulen, that can award University Bachelors and Masters degrees in a number of subjects.

In this highly diversified dual education system, there is, additionally, the Swiss apprenticeship system, where young people, at the age of 16, enter a three or four year apprenticeship with an employer. They will be trained on the job, while at the same time attending classes in special schools. The result will be a State Diploma in professions and trades that range from secretaries, administrative clerks, bookkeepers to car mechanics, the building trades, carpenters, hairdressers and many more. Without that State Diploma, or its foreign equivalent, it is difficult for the Swiss to get a job. Despite a shortage of suitably qualified employees and relatively low unemployment, even under the present tight economic conditions, applicants from countries that do not have similar apprenticeship programs, have almost no chance of getting jobs in these sectors.

Additionally, the Swiss travel a lot and it is not uncommon to meet a secretary who speaks and writes three languages and has traveled all around the world.

Housing and Working Hours in Switzerland

Because of the shortage of land, most Swiss are renters of their housing. Housing costs in Switzerland are extremely high and comparatively few people own their own home. During the last few years condominium purchases have increased. But in most cities, especially Geneva and Zurich, it is very difficult to find good and reasonably priced apartments. As a general rule, you have to expect to pay about 25-30% of your gross salary for your apartment.

By comparison, the Swiss work longer hours than the rest of Europe, usually about between 40 and 45 hours a week. They also have less paid vacation, four weeks per year for the first five years of a working relationship and, in most cases, five thereafter. Though the legal requirement is four weeks only.

Help and Programms to Find a Job in Switzerland

For a long time we have provided free information about jobs and job searches in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and France. However, the current economic climate has resulted in a true surge of requests. We now receive between 150 and 200 serious requests per day. In order to deal with these inquiries in a realistic, but also, professional manner, jobs4work, together with JobLine International, formed a team of experts that can deal with these inquiries and respond properly. Unfortunately, this cannot be done for free, but we have tried to offer programs which are affordable to anyone contemplating to go to Switzerland (or also Germany, France and Austria).

The consultants who deal with the problems of getting jobs in Switzerland (as well as Germany and France) have all lived and worked in the country. Some are dual nationals (Swiss and USA, Canada, Australia or Britain) that have experience of the systems in either country. They all speak the languages and most of them have homes in the country, about which they give advice.

If you like help with your job search in Switzerland click on the programs above. Send us an e-mail .

Corporations in Life Science with large Production and Research Facilities

Engineering and other Manufacturing Companies

Switzerland like Germany and Austria, has a long mechanical and electrical engineering tradition and large numbers of engineering companies. Most of them are heavily export oriented with Germany, the USA and now increasingly China, Russia and India as their major markets. In addition, there is a precision mechanical engineering sector (Feinmechanik) which had its origin in the watch (in the Cantons of Neuchatel, Vaud and Bern) and sewing machine industry and is now increasingly involved in robotics. Machinetools and sophisticated textile machinery manufacturing is still important, though Italy and Japan are strong competitors in these fields

Selected Small and Medium sized Privately Held Companies

Besides some industrial giants, Switzerland, like Germany and Austria has a large number of highly innovative, privately held companies that are often the international leaders in their field. They usually range in size from 100 to 2,000 employees and within the German language area are generally known as KMU's, an acronym for "Kleine und Mittlere Unternehmen. (Small and Medium sized companies). There are obviously hundreds of these companies and they often form the backbone of innovation and progress in Swiss industry. We have only included a few here.

Web Address	Type of Link	Main Language	Remarks
Zühlke Engineering AG Wiesenstrasse 10a 8952 Schlieren (Zürich) Switzerland Ph +41 44 733 6611 Fx +41 44 733 6612	Corporate Site with Job Site and Job Searches	Switzerland German, English, Nationwide and some International	An independent technology and consulting firm. Zühlke stands for bespoke software solutions and product innovation.An internationally acclaimed solution supplier with development centres in Austria, Germany, United Kingdom and Switzerland.
Bühler AG 9240 Uzwil Switzerland Ph:+4171 955 11 11 Fx:+4171 955 33 79	Corporate Site with job page	Switzerland German, French, English	Large international leader and engineering technology partner for the food industry, chemical processing and die casting. Leaders in the basic technologies of grinding, blending & mixing, bulk handling, thermal treatment, and shaping for processing cereal grains and foods, producing and upgrading engineering materials, and die casting. 6900 worldwide employees. Privately held.
Bossard Group Steinhauserstrasse 70 6301 Zug Switzerland Ph: +41 41 749 66 11 Fx: +41 41 749 66 22	Corporate Site with job page	Switzerland French, German, English	Worldwide manufacturer and specialist in fastening technology, engineering etc 1800 employees. (publicly held SMX quoted)
Rohner AG, Gempenstrasse 6 4133 Pratteln, Switzerland Ph: +41 61 825 11 11 Fx: +41 61 825 12 71	Corporate Site with job page	Switzerland German, French, English	The only independent TMC manufacturer in the world. Contract Manufacturer for the Chemical and Pharmaceutical industry. 200 employees.
MPS Micro Precision Systems AG Eckweg 8, PO Box 6069 CH-2500 Biel-Bienne 6 Ph:+41 32 344 43 00 Fx: +41 32 344 43 01	Corporate Site with job Page	Switzerland French, German, English	Designers and producers of micro electronic motors and drives (Faulhaber) for the medical and other industries, robotics, aerospace, industrial tools optical equipment etc.
Bernina Naehmaschinen BERNINA International AG Seestrasse, CH-8266 Steckborn Tel. +41/(0)52 762 15 74	Corporate Site with job page	Switzerland German, French	One of the worlds largest Sewing and embroydery Machine Manufacturers
Management Technology AG CH-9470 Buchs, SG, Gewerbestrasse 8, Ph:+41 81 750 06 40	Corporate Site with Jobs	Switzerland German, English	Smallish engineering company. Integration of highly specialized domains including software and hardware engineering, system development and system integration
Glutz AG Swiss Access Systems Industrial Components Segetzstr. 13 4502 Solothurn +41 32 625 65 20 +41 32 625 65 35	Corporate Site with Jobs	Switzerland English, French, German, Italien,	Glutz has been marketing high-quality Swiss products since 1863. High security (Eypos, biometry) locks, hardware hinges. Exports worldwide
Strelsson Menswear AG Sonnenwiesenstrasse 21 CH-8280 Kreuzlingen Switzerland Ph: +41 71 686 3333	Corporate Site with Jobs	Switzerland German English, French,	Founded by the two brothers who inherited Hugo Boss (later sold) , Strelsson has become a major supplier of high quality menswear. It also owns the German company Joop, Windsor and produces Tony Hilfiger under license in Europe. Privately held, about 350 employees.

The Type of Work and Residence Permits issued in Switzerland

The important permits for people looking for a job are show in stronger green. The other permit are just there for completeness. You should not that you cannot simply go to Switzerland and then apply for a work/residence permit. You have to be (1) offered a job in writing with an employment contract and then (2) when you accept it by signing the contract , the prospective employer (3) has to apply for a Permit B work permit.

Manufacturing, Mining and Commodity Trading

Besides the giants of mining and commodity trading, Switzerland is the home of a large number of small and medium sized commodity traders. They trade in almost any commodity on all the trading floors of the world. Many of them are located along lake Geneva (in the Lavaux) between Montreux and Geneva and in the Canton of Zug (about 30 minutes from Zurich) in the towns of Baar and Zug and Cham.

Banks and Financial Institutions

Switzerland has hundreds of banks and financial institutions all across the country. They range from Savings and Loan institutions (Raiffeissenkassen and savings banks), to the large Cantonal Banks, owned at least partially by the state (Canton), Private Banks to the large multinationally operating corporations, like BUS and Credit Swiss, Zurich Financial Services or the Swiss Reinsurance company. We have just mentioned a few that might be of interest to international job seekers.

Some help in your general Job Search

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There are a large number of executive recruiters and headhunters operating in Switzerland. Besides the large international ones, which you can find in our special international executive recruiters pages we show some below that should be of interest.

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