I have a CV made with the europass template, just a one A4 page file listing my uni degrees, internships, TA positions, language/programming skills, and a short 1-2 sentence description of my internships+teaching asisstant positions.
I was wondering if this CV is good enough for Switzerland, or is there a specific CV format that Swiss employers prefer? Same way that the US has that weird template.
There's no template, but there is personal information which is expected to be found on the CV: birth date, citizenship(s), residence status in Switzerland, a photo.
Just as reference, not absolute truth, take a look at this example: https://www.visualcv.com/international/switzerland-cv/
Sure I'm missing something so other EFers can help
However, CV (or resume) in Switzerland/Germany normally requires the inclusion of personal details such as age, gender and photos etc. This is remarkably different from North America where these details are typically not written.
Lastly, it also depends on what company in Switzerland you are applying for. If it is MNC from North America, then follow the North America style, i.e. no need to include personal details.
PS: I am not exactly sure, but I think CV and resume are different. CV is something used in academia, where it contains all the scientific work (e.g. publication and conferences etc.) and therefore it tends to be many pages (sometimes up to 30-40 pages). Resume is for job hunting where, as you may know, one needs to capture the attention of the HR within, say, 30-45 seconds and therefore it tends to be much shorter (e.g. 2 pages)
Switzerland is a bit different from other places, but not too much. As already said, some personal details are welcome/needed (e.g. a picture) and it's important to keep it short (1 sheet, 2 sides).
In addition, remember to tailor your CV according to the recipient, to highlight the appropriate elements. I used to have two (for industry and for accademia) where the second page was completely different, plus sometimes I changed small bits here and there.
I do like CVs that look properly done. I get many and a poorly written CV won't pass the first screening stage. I think that's all that matters.
@venetian I think as a student/intern I don't have too much to tailor yet, but I will keep it in mind in the future!
The only thing I might include is the permit type I hold, as it might be informative for the potential hiring effort needed on their end.
Didn't cause troubles finding opportunities for the past 8-ish years.
And they can anyway look up my photo / infer my age / assume my gender based on the Linkedin data - once/if they get interested.
For job ads written in english I use the english style cv (without photo, birthdate, citizenship).
For job ads written in german I have a german cv (which included photo, birthdate, citizenship)
No issue getting interviews in both cases.
A couple of cases where I’ve had candidates reject:
- The manager would have to spend an hour and a half traveling to a weekly meeting by train with the candidate and he was not prepared to do that
- The candidate was seen to wear white shoes on several FB images and apparently only pips wear white shoes
- The candidate sounded arrogant when speaking German...