Working in Zurich

Zurich is one of most attractive destinations for expatriates looking to work in its commercial centre with a renowned reputation as the banking capital of the world. Expats are drawn to the city’s high professional standards and the long-term career opportunities that will potentially arise from a stint in Zurich. As a destination generally, Zurich offers personal safety, good public transport and a great lifestyle with plenty to do after working hours in the way of restaurants, bars and the nightlife.
 

The two most important factors when considering working in Zurich and Switzerland, are nationality and language skills.

If your country of nationality is a member of the EU, then you are automatically entitled to an initial three months during which you can be employed in Switzerland without a working permit. Should you wish to continue working, you will need to acquire one after the end of this period, and most companies will be able to help you do so.

The work permit is usually valid for one year and has to be renewed annually. If you change jobs while living in Zurich, your new employer will have to reapply for a work permit.

If you are of non-Swiss and non-EU nationality, getting a work permit becomes altogether trickier, since a company can only sponsor you if it can prove that the job you are applying for cannot be done by Swiss or EU nationals. Most people from non-EU countries that get employed seem to be able to land a job in Switzerland through contacts back home or overseas opportunities which arise within their own company.
 

 
Expatriates who are looking to work in Zurich, will find that the greatest sector of employment is in finance, whether in banking or wealth management. There are career opportunities for hardworking professionals, although many expatriates who have lived and worked in Zurich do comment on their initial difficulties in getting to know the locals outside the formal working environment.
 

 
These industries are quite English-friendly, and vacancies that are advertised rarely require the applicant to speak German unless some level of customer service is involved. Google has a large office in Zurich which routinely sponsors and employs foreigners, and major banks like UBS, often have vacancies for English speaking professionals. One of the best sites which advertises plenty of vacancies for jobs where only English is required (by selecting the appropriate key words) is www.jobs.ch. Local recruiting centres will tend to dismiss you when you say you don’t speak German.
 

If you would like to teach English in private language schools you will need a minimum of a CELTA certificate and usually also a degree, preferably in English. Very few schools will take you into consideration if you don’t have the former, including the largest language centres, which are your best possibility of getting enough work to earn a proper salary. You’ll also be expected to have a few years experience in teaching exam and business courses. Even if you do have the appropriate qualifications, know that vacancies are few and far between and competition is fierce due to a surplus of language teachers and the high rate/hour offered as compensation. Added to this, full-time contracts are almost unheard of and to make ends meet you will usually have to get lessons from a number of different schools. Seeking private students independently is also an option, although then you will have to go through a rather complicated application and registration process for the status of ‘self-employed/freelancer’.

Alternatively, you could also try to teach English in standard schools, but for this you will need a formal degree in Education. A CELTA or a Master in English is not deemed as an equivalent. Despite their sometimes questionable English competence, it seems that Swiss are often preferred for this kind of post, as it offers full-time employment with excellent salary and benefits. For job opportunities check out the English Teachers Association of Switzerland (www.e-tas.ch), but most schools advertise on their website instead, so a good internet search should come up with a few more vacancies.
 

These kind of jobs are usually advertised in the classified sections of newspapers and expat websites by the individuals involved, so you’ll have to keep an eye for them in the appropriate places. In this case, remember that you will have to take care of your own work permit application, which can be a pain since surprisingly, documents are not usually available in English.
 

 
Any form of assistant, worker in the service industry or customer service representative will be required to speak German, if not also French and Italian, or any other specific language. The principle behind this is that these sort of workers will come in contact with both foreigners and locals and it makes little sense for a company to employ someone who can only speak English when there are plenty of Swiss whose English is of a very high standard. Even an English language bookshop and a call centre will require its staff to be proficient in German so as to be able to help both foreigners and locals alike.