Advice English Speaking Accounting Jobs, Bern area

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Dear Forum members,

I am looking for some constructive advice and a realistic perspective on my employment prospects as an English speaking accountant in the area around Bern.

My family (two kids under 3) is committed to a move to the Bern area because of my wife's job. I am a Financial Accountant and speak English, Spanish and Italian but not German or French. Although we can live on my wife's salary in Bern, it is very important that we maintain my future employment prospects because when we leave Bern in a few years time, we will need two salaries to support the family.

I have been applying for jobs for two months now and, whilst I know that I couldn't expect to have got a job in that time, I am becoming alarmed by the general lack of interest in my profile and the scant job offerings available for a non-German speaker.

I am beginning to wonder whether we were indulging in wishful thinking when we thought that it would be possible for me to get a job with one of the big international companies in the Bern area (I am particularly interested in eBay, Philip Morris, Celgene, and Novartis among others).

I have 7 years experience in a mid level to senior role. There was a lot of interest in my profile from recruiters in Ireland and the UK.

The reason I am reaching out for advice and views is that we are faced with a couple of decisions which will be influenced by the likelihood of me finding work in the short term (committing to child care expenses is one).

My first question is, do I need to be more realistic and accept that my chances of finding an English speaking job in the Bern area are quite small?

My second question is, should I start contacting potential bosses in the finance departments of the above mentioned companies directly, indicating my interest and availability? I have tried to contact recruiters through linked in and other means but I have not received much feedback. Would such a strategy work for or against me?

I know that Zurich could be an option but as the commute is long and my children are small, it would not be the best choice for us. It might be better for me to stay at home with the kids at least for a while.

I'd be especially grateful to hear from anyone working in financial accounting.

Thanks for your help.

2

First, have a read here:

English speaking companies + Web Sites for job searchers in Switzerland

Second, start learning German or French asap. If you don’t you’re just limiting your opportunities. French might be faster for you to learn, given you know Italian/Spanish. You could then look at living around Fribourg/Neuchatel area where commuting for you both wouldn’t be too long.

Intercity takes just over an hour from Bern to Zurich so it may be possible, depending on how near to the stations you’d be. Geneva’s a bit longer, but I know there’s a Philip Morris place in Neuchatel.

The other thing is you need to get your qualifications recognised by the Swiss authorities. The info is in this link:

http://www.sbfi.admin.ch/diploma/017…x.html?lang=en

Click on the link for the PDF file and go to page 6. That may be partly why you’re not getting much response to your job queries.

3
Hi,

Speaking either German or French will big a plus, but not necessary a must have, specially if you are targeting International companies.

You have a strong advantage already: you are in Switzerland!

I am in finance as well, living in the NLD and try to find from there for more than 1 year, I can only it is very tough, and you will need to be patient...but again being there already will help,

Good luck

4

You may also need to learn/understand Swiss tax laws. I searched on monster.co.uk and there are some accountancy jobs advertised, some in English, some in German.

http://jobsearch.monster.co.uk/jobs/?q=accountant&cy=ch

Other sites to try:

www.jobs.ch
www.jobup.ch

5
We hire mostly accountants with Swiss certifications as all our local accounting needs to be done from Switzerland. Consolidation and all other reporting on a global level are done from the US. That may be a reason for getting less response than you hoped for?

So maybe concentrate on companies that have their global HQ here or try to get up to speed with local Swiss GAAP?

Good luck!

6
Try www.ebaycareers.com now and over the next couple of month. Search "Bern".