I am a marcom consultant living in Zurich for the last 3 months. I shifted here to be with my husband. I think most trailing spouses on the forum understand the frustration of finding an English speaking job (I'm still at A1 in Deutsch) here. But because I diligently spend over 8 hours every day looking for such jobs online, I do manage to find at least one (a day) that fits my area of expertise.
I am from India. I was educated in English, have a master's degree in communications, over 7 years of work experience in this field, a valid work permit here, excellent references from my previous employers (international advertising networks, and an american technology giant), won awards for my projects at international forums, but have not managed to get even a single interview call in the last 60 days of job hunting. Just auto generated rejections, one after another. Some times in hours of applying.
I cant understand what's going on? It will take me years before my German is fluent enough to win me a job in marketing - so my only hope is the English speaking profiles. And there are many such jobs, honestly. But even the ones that I am over-qualified for, are rejecting me without so much as an interview call. Is anybody else on the same boat as me? Is marketing this hard to break into?
Have a professional photograph (headshot) on your first page. - remember if you are applying against 50 other people, and they all have a photo, then yours will be the first to be disregarded as they wont remember you.
Also put on the first page that you have a valid work permit. eg: Visa Status: B
But I had incorporated the same suggestions when I started my job hunt here i.e., I have followed the resume format available on the link (funny, I happened to come across the same link when I wanted to adapt my resume to suit this job market), I have added a mug shot on page 1, and highlighted my visa status as well. Nothing seems to be working though.
I think the job market, as a whole, is just very tough anyway, and when you narrow the market down to just those jobs that are in English, it becomes even tougher.
Don't forget that there are many well-qualified locals who are fluent in English, and when that is combined with their native German it naturally gives them an advantage.
The best thing you can do is keep on doing what your'e doing, but acknowledge that it might take a long while.
Go to any training courses you can find on anything to do with your field of expertise, and keep working on your German.
Make a list of potential companies and look at all their websites so you can find out exactly what they do, what they want etc
Each time you get a rejection send a very polite email asking if they could give you some feedback.
I went through all this when I first moved here and it took me more than six months to find something. In the end that didn't last long, and I am now self-employed, which is much better for me.
With that in mind, you could also consider if there is any possibility of reinventing yourself, moving away from what you have done previously but still using your skills and experience.
I found that most English marketing jobs are based out of Zurich in any case, so I wasn't actively looking for jobs outside. But perhaps, I should. Thank you.
Tildaoz,
You are right. My chances are next to nothing when compared to a well qualified local who is also fluent in English. And a part of me is willing to take a step back and rediscover myself professionally. But I've had a successful career in marketing so far, it just feels like I'd be doing this for the wrong reasons. I guess I'll have to set myself a deadline, and if nothing works by then, I'll have no choice but to start something independently (i'm not sure I am entrepreneurial enough though) or change careers. Thank you for sharing your experience.
As I said to another poster here today, have a look on www.monster.co.uk for jobs in Switzerland. They have 200 marketing related positions advertised at present. You can change the UK location with a bit of work (website doesn’t always show the change button properly) to Switzerland and go on from there.
www.jobsite.co.uk is also another one to use for jobs in Switzerland.
Also have a look on these websites if you haven’t come across them yet:
Thank you, Medea Fleecestealer. I've been checking a long list of sites, and I find that most jobs are just duplicated between them. But I'll definitely add these to my list.
The whole Pharma/Research industry works in English. I work in marketing for a Swiss company where that part of my job is 100% in English. All our promotions are in English, everything is published online in English and all prices and our webshop are in English.
I applied for the job in German because it said that that German was essential, even though the job ad was in English. Then I was interviewed in Swiss German.
From the ads I'm seeing most pharma companies are looking for marketeers who are also fluent in German. Perhaps, German is not required for the role on a day-to-day basis but it is still obviously desired. And more so, if the recruitment process is itself German led i.e., requires a German application, and finally an interview in German (or Swiss German), I wont be able to apply.
In your experience, has an English (only) speaking candidate qualified for an interview / the job itself, even though the requirement specified German as well, because the job ultimately only required English? Because, that is my position right now.
Over here they are now asking for fluent English, French AND German!
See there is always someone who is worse off than you.
Just keep trying. Send your CV to the ones who ask for German anyway. You never know. Maybe there are some skills you have a company just HAS to have. And it doesn't hurt.
My job was posted in English but said German was needed, so I applied in German with an English CV. Interview was all in Swiss German and my job is 100% in English, apart from when I need to speak to customers when they can't log in to the web shop. Oh, and my entire computer was in German, so I would have been real pain had I not have understood the local lingo.
Also, I assume you already have a valid work permit. Not sure if you do that already, but add your residency and work (!!) status to your CV. If you don't and they see "Indian nationality" alone, you're waaaaay down the line in terms of priority as companies will assume they have to apply for a permit for you. To do that, they have to prove you're the only qualified candidate and no Swiss/EU/EFTA candidate could do your job. Given the situation in this specific field - see above - this won't happen anyway and the federal authorities will turn down your application, so companies won't even bother to consider you.
a friend of mine from Pune came here as a high-qualified SEO/SEA/Google-professional. he had sh*tloads of qualifications, expereinces etc., but no german lingo. 3 months job hunting and he packed and went back. some countries are hard to get by so you either keep going or move on. it got nothing to do with your skills or achievements, some countries simply do not fit.
Hi, It's me again. It's been more than 6 months since the post and guess what I did manage to find a job - an English job in marketing communications at that! Things materialized in Feb this year after I expanded my search area geographically (thank you Swiss Cheddar for that input). So now I live in Zurich and work in Basel. An hours commute each way, but I am not complaining. My husband and I shifted apartments so I can get a direct train and all is okay.
How it happened? I was persistent, expanded my search and most importantly did a whole bunch of 'free'lance work that gave my grey matter some work out every day, made my resume look better and helped me stay in that 'professional' frame of mind. This was in fact the first (and only) interview call I got. I went through 3 detailed rounds of interviews and made it. Thank you for all the encouragement, God knows I needed it. And to those who are still job hunting - trust me, there is hope out there.
Excellent news- but don't give up on learning German. Perhaps use your time to do an on-line course during your hour's commute. It could be the key to promotion or a better job in future. Viel Glück dabei- bravo.