Engineering Resume/CV

I know there have been a lot of threads on CVs/Resumes, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on creating a "Swiss" resume/CV for an engineering position. Or know where I can find an example? Or would want to look at my current resume?

I will be graduating with my bachelors degree from a US university, and have had some internship experience. From reading I think my current resume is too detailed, but I'm not sure how to cut it down without losing what I actually did at my jobs.

Thanks!

I could share a few guidelines to begin with (based on what I have been told by career consultants):

-in the US apparently there is an emphasis on keeping the CV limited to 1 page? In Switzerland there's more flexibility (2 pages is reasonable)

-putting a photo of yourself (a professional one) is recommended

-in job descriptions you might want to try using bullet points rather than detailed descriptions

-always include a motivation letter, and try and complement it to your CV so that you can emphasize some points in the letter and others in the CV

-try and include key words when describing your experience (things like project management, manufacturing, production, research, design or whatever it is that the job is linked to)

Connect with as many engineers as you can on LinkedIn based in Switzerland who work in your field. Find common features of their online résumés that will help you to set a guideline what is important to emphasize on.

Without any experience, I am sorry to say that your chances are very slim. Every position requires at least 3 years' experience. My girlfriend is an engineer and so are her friends. No one will look at you, even if you speak German fluently unless you want to do a Praktikum, and as an American, you cannot prove that no European cannot do the job.

But looking at the OP's profile, and bearing in mind his name, he probably has the right to live and work in CH anyway? Oder nuut?

I'm not sure why people say this, it's not very difficult to find a job here with a good education.

They say it because it's true. I have seen my gf apply for positions where she had 90% of the qualifications required and get turned down because of one small missing requirement, and she has plenty of good experience, and German.

I guess it depends on the field as well.

Thank you IronAngle and jacek for the good feedback.

I am a Swiss Citizen but have spent most of my life in the US, which is why I would like to get back to Switzerland. Do you think that the 3 years experience must be a job after university? Because I do have internship/praktikum experience, one at an engineering research lab for 1.5 years (2 years by the time I graduate) at my university and one in Austria at a consulting engineering firm.

That should be good enough to find a job.

Be careful as people will find that your rightful pride in your education and 2nd country as bragging. It happened to my gf a few weeks ago during an interview - she noticed how the Swiss manager started playing up his own experience and she knew she wouldn't get the job before the interview was over. The headhunter had later told her that it was the most technical of all the interviews he had ever sat in on for that company. She has a masters of engineering in the subject.

I'm confused, are you not supposed to mention your education and country of birth then?

Yes, his last name sounds very Swiss

Did you know that more and more people proud of their heritage are claiming Swiss citizenship, the land of their grandparents, great-grandparents and even further back. All you have to show is that you have close ties to Switzerland and that you can speak at least one of the Swiss languages... I have a Franco-American friend who claimed the Swiss citizenship last year. Her Swiss ancestors emigrated late 19th century to United States.

Get good written references from both and add them to your curriculum.

Then there is nothing you have to worry about. I assume you are also fluent in (Swiss) German.

Securing a job in Switzerland is close to impossible unless you are Swiss, a national of EU-17/EFTA (e.g. from the UK, Éire, Germany, Scandinavia etc...) or with a valid Swiss work permit (B or C-Bewilligung). Most Swiss employers are very reluctant to obtain work permits for non-EU/EFTA foreign nationals.

My sister who was born in the USA and who was an Auslandschweizerin most of her life, got a very good paying job in Zurich right after her MBA graduation last year.

You may also want to check this:

http://www.swissnexboston.org

I am a lady and I am actually Swiss. I was born in Switzerland and lived there until I was 7, but moved to the US because my mother is American and have lived here ever since. :P

I am "fluent" in Swiss German. I only say it that way because I moved when I was 7 and feel that I have the grammar and vocabulary of a 7 year old :P I usually don't have a problem understanding or communicating in Swiss German though, because only speak Swiss German with my dad.

Now that you've mentioned that you're Swiss, speak some Swiss German (side bonus), will have done 2 years of research and have experience with a consulting firm, I must say that you're profile looks pretty good.

I don't know what your line of engineering is, but Switzerland generally has some good options for engineers and even more if you're interested in working slightly outside of your speciality (multinationals sometimes like to hire engineers in their training programs).

A few typical employers/industries would include Alstom and ABB in Baden (various backgrounds), the pharma industry in Basel (Novartis, Roche and others) for chem/biochem/biotech as well as Lonza, BASF and Syngenta among other companies.

Nestle is of course one of the biggest and best employers in the country. In the energy field we have Alpiq and BKW among others. Siemens covers quite a few sectors, and there's also Hilti who make power tools among other things.

I haven't gone into possibilities in IT, but I'd think there's some demand pretty much everywhere. Accenture, consulting companies (Deloitte, Bain, BCG, McKinsey) and the finance sector would probably be typical employers.

Please note that there are many more companies than the few I mentioned, this was just to give a general idea.

Thanks! That does give me a good place to start. I was feeling a little overwhelmed on where to look as there are many job searching sites. This gives me a good list of companies to hone in on.

Another quick question. Should I put my Swiss Citizenship on my resume somewhere, or should I state this in my cover letter? I don't want my application to be rejected if they think I need a permit to live and work in Switzerland.

Good references are key.

Aside from job-searching sites you could search the ETH website for a list companies who were or will be at the last or next job fair. Or you could search for different expos for their exhibitor list to see if something interests you. Sindex was an interesting expo here recently with a lot of focus on automation.

on your résumé (Lebenslauf): definitely yes

on the cover letter (Bewerbungsschreiben): up to you, your letter may include something like this:

... Tochter eines Schweizers und einer US-Amerikanerin ...

Believe me, your Swiss citizenship is one of your greatest assets, so why shouldn't you state it?

While EU-15 and EFTA citizens can enjoy virtually unlimited access to the Swiss job market, Swiss federal authorities will refuse to grant employment / residence permits to most Americans, Canadians, Australians and other non-EU nationals.

Here is a sample swiss résumé

Lebenslauf

Persönliche Daten Laura Muster

Adresse: Bernerstrasse 1, 8400 Winterthur

Kontakt:

Tel: 044 500 00 00

Natel: 079 500 00 00

E-Mail: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Geboren am 20. Dezember 1990 in Zürich

Schweizerbürgerin

Heimatort: Meilen (Kanton ZH)

Zivilstand: Ledig

Berufserfahrung ...

...

Ausbildung & Weiterbildung

- Nachdiplomausbildungen

...

... Any post bachelor degree (MBA, MA, MS, PhD)

...

- Studium

...

... College (BS, BA)

...

- Schulen

Weitere Kenntnisse

Sprachen:

Englisch: Muttersprache

Deutsch: mündlich sehr gut, schriftlich sehr gut

Französisch: mündlich und schriftlich gut

Spanisch: Grundkenntnisse

EDV / IT-Kenntnisse: Windows, MS Office, Linux, SAP ...

Nebenberufliche Tätigkeiten ...

Referenzen siehe separates Blatt