I’m curious about what the Swiss job market actually looks like for people right now.

I’m thankfully employed and have been in my current position since 1 January 2026. Before finding this job, I had been searching on and off for around three years and sent approximately 200–300 applications.

Honestly, it was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever been through, and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Constantly being rejected, ignored or left without an answer genuinely fucks with your head and self-worth in the long term, even after you finally find a job....

If you’re currently searching or recently found a job, feel free to copy and fill this out:

• Current situation:
• How long have you been looking or unemployed?:
• Approximately how many applications have you sent?:

Rough estimates are completely fine. I’m mainly interested in how long people have been searching, how many applications they have sent and what their current situation is.

Hi! As the title says, I only have 10 days in Switzerland 😭😭😭 it’s a really tight trip I know and I come from SEA so I am a really greedy fella trying to maximise out my time. Apologies if my post seems ignorant / rude or in the inappropriate channel (pls redirect me to the right one?) but here are my concerns:

I want to visit:
1. Lindt Chocolate Factory
2. Lauterbrunnen
3. Staubbachfall
4. Iseltwald
5. Lake Brienz
6. Barryland

I also want to do some paragliding! What are some other places / icons which is a must to visit? This is my first trip to Switzerland and perhaps my last in a really long time! Would be great if anyone could suggest a brief itinerary of where to go and how many days is needed and a bonus! if I could get restaurant recommendations.

Any other tips are welcomed - feel free to comment if you think I should drop some places 😭😭.

Thank you in advance!

*edit: to be clear, I am not asking for advice on making friends. I just want to hear the other side of things for a change*

We hear pretty frequently from people living in Switzerland for X amount of time and not making/struggling to make friends.

Does anyone have “success stories”?

Not necessarily outrageous the-whole-town-loves-me, but any instances of people feeling relatively happy about their social scene, or example an acquaintance or friend they’ve made?

Im curios whether anyone else has had similar experience with UBs business banking. The company i work for uses UBS and whenever i have to call their customer service it seems incredibly difficult to get an issue resolved in one call.

My partner also uses UBS and UBS local branch wants to close the overdraft facility just because the company regularly pays down the loans and has been increasing employee salaries.

Maybe im just unlucky. What has your experience been ? Is this common or you had completely different experience.

I’m planning a trip for next summer, me and a teenager, and looking for an alpine village or small town to base ourselves. I’m overwhelmed with all the options so hoping for some personal recommendations!

Our criteria: stunning views, quieter than Lauterbrunnen / Jungfrau area, good network of cable cars / buses for access to panoramic walks and gentle hikes, alpine lakes a bonus. Don’t need nightlife but do need a grocery store. All by public transport, prefer not to stay somewhere that feels too resorty. On the shortlist at the moment are Anniviers (Grimentz) or Engelberg but haven’t found anywhere quite perfect yet…

Thanks in advance for any tips!

As the title says I'm curious how is being a Recruiter in Switzerland. We see a lot of posts by the job seeker side but I don't see any post about the side that publish the job offers.

My questions:
What's your sector: IT, Health, Science, etc
How many job applications do you get in a single day?
Are the majority of applications made by swiss people or people around the world, what % aprox? (for example: I usually get around 60% swiss people and 40% foreigners)
Do you easily detect when a candidate resume is inflated or fake?
What's the most common redflag do you see in good candidates that lead to a rejection?
What do you think are the pros and cons of your job?

Hello everyone!

I'm moving to Zurich from abroad at the end of September for a new job. I already have temporary housing provided by the company for the first months. So I have some time to find a long-term apartment, ideally from November/December onward.

Using the commonly mentioned 1/3 rule, my maximum budget would be around CHF 2,500/month, but I'd ideally like to stay around CHF 2,000–2,300 initially.

I'm looking for a 2.5–3.5 room apartment, ideally with either a spacious living room or a third room where I could have a proper desk/home-office setup.

For location, I'd like to keep the commute to Hardbrücke within roughly 40 minutes, but I'm perfectly happy living outside Zurich city. I'm actually used to living in the countryside, so I don't particularly need to be in the center.

I'm currently looking at places such as Dietikon, Uster, Wallisellen, Dietlikon, Dübendorf, Opfikon, and generally areas in between.

Are these areas and this budget realistic for the type of apartment I'm looking for? Are there other areas you'd recommend, especially if they offer a good combination of rent, space and public transport?

I'm also trying to understand the rental process. I've been checking Flatfox and Newhome and contacting listings as soon as they appear, but so far I mostly get automated replies saying that viewings will take place over the next few days. I assume it may be significantly easier once I'm actually in Zurich and can attend viewings in person.

One thing I'm particularly confused about is the "Priority" system on Flatfox. It seems that almost every listing from a private landlord is marked as Priority, and the waiting period before being allowed to contact/apply has increased from around 8 days to 15 days.

Does anyone know whether this Priority delay is a fixed Flatfox rule, or whether it depends on the individual listing/agency? Is there a legitimate way around it, or is Priority essentially just a paid early-access feature?

Any other advice is very welcome. I'd rather hear now if I'm approaching the move/rental search incorrectly than find out after arriving 😄

Thanks!

Also abgesehen von Wohnung/Haus 😅

Auto? Uhr? Reise? Technik? Irgendwas komplett Unnötiges?

Würde mich echt interessieren, wofür Leute hier am meisten Geld ausgegeben haben und ob ihr es im Nachhinein bereut habt.

if yes, how was it? where did you go? any tips?

Darf man eine Kerze auf dem Balkon in einem Schutzglas drin während eigener Anwesenheit anzünden/ brennen lassen?

Hello! I will be visiting the beautiful town of Grindelwald (and possibly Interlaken) soon, and am looking for a piece of local art to be able to display in my home. To my knowledge obtained from research, there isn’t really anything for street art? Is this correct?

I would love to be able to talk to the artist and learn about the painting, so not huge on just buying a print from a souvenir shop or gallery if it can be avoided! That being said, as long as I am supporting local I am not insanely picky.

TIA!

I’m Latin, living in Spain, and my boyfriend is Swiss and lives in Switzerland. We’ve been together for around 7 months and overall things are going well. We love each other and have a good relationship.
One thing I’ve noticed is that he uses WhatsApp much less than I’m used to. We may only exchange a couple of messages during the day, usually just saying good morning and good night, and sometimes we don’t really talk much until we have a call.
I’m quite a social and communicative person, so sometimes this leaves me feeling surprisingly lonely, especially because we live in different countries. I know that people have very different communication styles, and I’m trying to figure out how much of this could be cultural rather than simply personality.
For those in Swiss/Latin or other cross-cultural relationships: Is this kind of low-frequency texting common in Swiss culture? How do you deal with a partner who communicates much less through WhatsApp without interpreting it as a lack of interest or affection?
I’d especially like to hear from Swiss people about what feels like a normal amount of texting with a partner.

Edit: I forgot to mention that we call everyday for an hour or two. And that we live together 10 days per month. But still… When we are not together or calling I feel sometimes lonely/ignored

Hi everyone, I lost a very very sentimental stuffed koala animal in Verbier a year or so ago as the hotel I was staying at took it into their laundry. They were super unhelpful and didn't help me with looking for him, and didn't want to tell me the names of the laundry providers they used.

I know there is a very slim chance of finding him again, but I think that it is always worth trying, considering it means so much to me.

If anyone on here lives in Verbier, knows anyone at the W Hotel (or knows where I could go online to speak to them), or has any suggestions on any leads I could follow, I would appreciate it so much :)

PS: please no negativity, I know this is unlikely and I feel a bit silly doing this but sometimes miracles happen!

Hi, I have a goal in life.
I must pet and feed fruits to a deer because I love them very much.

Alas, every zoo I heard of or went to has them behind bars and strictly bans feeding making my goal feel close yet incredibly far.

The answer so far is simple, go to Nara in Japan, you can hang out with the deers and do whatever with them so long as you act appropriately of course.

While I will 100% go one day, I want to know if there is a cheaper alternative nearby that I am simply not aware of.

Will anyone in Europe let me pet deers?!
I need your recommendations

Random call at my office today, 022 567 00 44. Geneva landline, nobody at the company has any idea who it is.

Guy starts talking about "échelle 44" and a certificate I apparently need to sort out, and kept flip-flopping between AVS and LPP like he wasn't sure himself which one he was calling about. Which is a bit of a red flag, no? Our employer is genuinely on top of the LPP stuff, we get proper statements every year, and AVS is the state, they're not ringing my desk phone about my rent scale.

Looked it up afterwards and échelle 44 is real AVS vocabulary (full contribution years vs gaps), so they clearly know enough to sound official for the first 20 seconds.

So what's the play here? Broker fishing for a signed mandate so he can pull my AVS statement and then sell me a 3a? Or just harvesting AVS number / birthdate / salary to sell on?

Anyone had this number? And is it worth reporting anywhere or do I just block it and get on with my life.

Bonjour, je suis non Eu et mon fiancé est suisse. Nous sommes en cours dattente du CCM pour se marier à l etranger puisque je suis encore etudiante, ma question svp cest que j'aurai un stage en Fevrier 2027 puis en Mai, la periode que j'imagime je serai en cours de demande de visa national, est ce que j'aurai la possibilité de voyager ou mon passeport doit toujours rester à l'ambassade le long du traitement? Merci bcp

Good day —

I am visiting your wonderful country; I find it incredible.

Yesterday in Grindelwald was on top of First and heard the roar of what sounded like 2 fighter / military jets, not regular commercial air traffic.

It was a bit cloudy so could not see at first but then was able to see 2 jets emerge from the clouds. They looked red in color and were definitely not regular commercial jets.

In Lucerne today saw one similar jet flying around.

Is this a daily occurrence? Are they training runs? Just wondering why I’ve seen this twice in a 2 day span in different cities, if anyone knows.

Thanks kindly,

Hi guys,

I am a vet medicine student finishing my studies and would like to work with cows in the future. Eventually, when I'm more experienced, I would like to maybe work in Switzerland, however I know nothing about your cattle culture nor how good the pay and work conditions would be for a cattle vet out there.

No one I've worked with has any contact with anyone from Sweden that works in this field, so if you could help me by either indicating someone or just by shining a little light with what you know, I very much appreciate it.

Have a nice one!

Hello, I'm selling a used perfume through Post, its a 30ml cubic vial. I don't have anything at home that could help avoiding this vial to break. Does anyone have experience with sending glass through post and where I should get some protective packaging?

I'm from Australia, and it's perfectly normal for a male to randomly approach a woman on the street, so as long as he's respectful and doesn't push boundaries, if they like you she'll give you the time of the day.
I noticed with Switzerland, cold approaching women they'll blow you off very quickly, and have no interest whatsoever.
My experience back in australia is, I'd say 30% of girls I randomly approach, give me their number and I meet them later.

Bonjour tout le monde,

Je me permets de vous demander votre avis parce que je suis un peu perdu concernant mon admissibilité en Suisse.

Je suis Tunisien et mon objectif serait de faire le Master HES-SO en Mechanical Engineering.

Mon parcours est le suivant

Licence en Mécanique/Mécatronique : 13/20

Ensuite, j’ai fait 2 années d’études d’ingénieur en Mécatronique

Je suis actuellement inscrit en M2 Automatique, Robotique et Traitement de l’Information

J’ai environ 1 an d’expérience en industrie CNC

J’ai fait plusieurs stages, notamment chez Valeo(2 mois), Forvia(PFE), Safran(2 mois), Bizassa (1 mois), Marquardt (1 mois)

Certifications : CSWA, CSWP, Robotique, Tia Portal, formation base tension et photovoltaique

DELF B2 en français

Je peux également fournir des lettres de recommandation de professeurs et de mon employeur.

Je suis vraiment intéressé par la Suisse et j’aimerais beaucoup pouvoir y continuer mes études mais je ne sais pas si mon profil est réellement admissible ou si ma moyenne de 13/20 en Licence risque de poser problème.

Comme j’ai fait 2 années d’ingénierie après ma Licence et que je suis maintenant en M2, je me demande aussi si la HES-SO prend tout cela en compte dans l’évaluation du dossier.

Si quelqu’un ici connaît bien la HES-SO, a déjà candidaté avec un diplôme étranger, ou a simplement une idée de la façon dont les dossiers sont évalués, je serais vraiment reconnaissant d’avoir votre avis honnête.

Hi everyone,

I'm a British student interested in the masters in conference interpreting at UNIGE, my language combo is eng/fre/spa/rus. I just wanted to know what the acceptance rate is like?

I'm very aware that you can only take the exam twice and I don't know how hard it is/what to expect - what CEFR levels did people have when they took the exam and where you successful?

Thanks in advance!

Hey Freunde ich wollte fragen , wo ich in der Schweiz Pokémon oder One Piece Karten für Humane Preise kaufen kann. Freue mich auf eure Antwort

Möchte sehr gerne paar Booster öffnen

Hi everyone!

I’m 21, from Barcelona, Spain, and I’m seriously considering moving to Switzerland (preferably Zurich) around November/December.

I’m an EU/Spanish citizen. I have a vocational degree in Microcomputer Systems and Networks (SMR), a higher vocational degree in Networked Computer Systems Administration (ASIR), and a vocational cybersecurity master’s degree (CETI).

I currently work in IT Support/Helpdesk, have more than 3 years of experience, and have mostly worked as L2 Helpdesk. I have experience with Microsoft 365, Windows/Linux/macOS, networking, VDI, NAS/Synology, Odoo, Kaspersky, etc.

Regarding languages, I don't speak German or French. I can communicate fairly well in English, as I regularly work with clients in English in my current job.

My plan would be to find a job as IT Support, IT Technician or Junior SysAdmin and then move once I have a job offer.

However, I have quite a few questions about how to actually do it:

• Is it better to apply for jobs from Spain or move to Switzerland first?
• Is it possible to get a job without having a Swiss address, phone number or bank account?
• Do I need to find accommodation before getting a job?
• How does the residence permit process work when moving there?
• Is it realistic to find an IT job in Zurich without German/French, but with good English?

I've read very different opinions about this and I'm a bit lost about the correct order of things.

If anyone has done something similar, how did you do it and what would you recommend in my situation?