I sent more than 200 applications to German-speaking Switzerland and I feel completely stuck. Any advice?

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1

Hello everyone,

I am writing this post because I honestly feel stuck and frustrated.

I am a Civil Engineer from Italy. I have a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering and I have been working for almost two years as a Structural Engineer, mainly on industrial and civil buildings in reinforced concrete, steel and timber.

Before becoming an engineer, I also worked as a construction worker and as a truck driver during my university years. I grew up around construction sites because my father works in industrial concrete flooring. So construction is not something I only know from books: I know the site environment, the practical problems, and the reality of the job.

My goal is very clear: I want to relocate permanently to German-speaking Switzerland and build my professional future there.

I have already sent more than 200 applications to Swiss companies: engineering offices, construction companies, infrastructure companies, precast concrete companies, steel construction companies and others.

The answer is almost always the same: my profile is interesting, but my German is not good enough yet.

I am studying German seriously, but honestly, it feels extremely difficult to reach a real B1/B2 professional level while still living in Italy, without daily exposure and without being physically in a German-speaking environment.

What frustrates me is that I feel I could improve much faster if I were already there, working, listening, speaking and living the language every day. A course helps, of course, but it is not the same as being fully immersed in the country.

So I am asking honestly:

How can someone enter the Swiss job market in construction or civil engineering if companies require German before giving the first opportunity, but the fastest way to learn German properly would be to live and work there?

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Would it make sense to first look for roles such as BIM modeller, construction assistant, junior site engineer, technical office assistant, drafter, or any other entry role just to get inside the Swiss market?

At this point I am open to realistic advice. I do not want to give up, but after more than 200 applications it is hard not to feel discouraged.

Thank you to anyone who can share advice, personal experience or even just a realistic perspective.

2

Welcome to the forum. :slightly_smiling_face:

How are you learning German? Why not move to the Italitan speaking part? What attracts you to the German speaking rather than the Italian speaking part of the country?

3

Obvious answer is to learn German but not in a way that relies on getting a job here first as you put yourself in a chicken and egg situation.

I guess you have no visa problems if you move to an EU German speaking country to learn first, so that is one option.

Otherwise move to a German-speaking country and maybe study German full time, get a German speaking girlfriend (or mistress if you’re married - check with your wife first :wink: )

4

Hello and welcome.

Now, sorry about the bluntness. You call it “first opportunity”. From the side of the employer is 110-120 CHF/hour total costs with the risk of the employee not yielding 100% for a while. I bet it’s hard to find someone willing to pay for this.

The question you made highlights the challenge. But, why engage a challenge directly up front when you can tackle it sideways? Your mother language happens to be a Swiss national language.

I was hired because of “knows some French” and Spanglish for the office in Zürich. After some years I have arrived to an extremely mediocre German that works. My employer (engineering stuff) has offices in Bellinzona and Chur that work in some projects in Italian, if you know some German and the work in not that challenging, I guess it’s possible to start working in some projects in German.

5

If you want to learn German more quickly, try also Germany or Austria.

6

You could try Wallis. Many companies employ Italians (and many other nationalities)

You could also try Lonza in Visp, probably the biggest employer in the area.

And

Good luck!

7

You just have to know someone already here, another italian who can reserve a spot for you. Otherwise you can send 1000 applications with no effect. Market and country is so small, it is always about friends and cousins. Everyone is looking only for German C3 speaking people, even in software engineering, which was the most immune in the past to language requirements. I have 10 years of experience and can’t find a job, so kind of relaxing until unemployment benefits finish, because it is a waste of time. Haven’t you heard of a recent vote to stop foreigners coming? it is a wet dream of locals (who by the way all in HR), they are just trying and trying to enable it, but can’t find their way around the fact of being in the middle of EU (what a bummer). But you are young, probably desire to earn more than in Italy can overcome that constant background sentiment “get the f out” and you will manage to find a job. Good luck:)

8

Try Italian speaking Switzerland, i.e. Ticino.

9

A local hotel is doing a complete massive reconstruct, and the company doing the work is from Bolzano. Only Italian spoken on-site. Vorarlberg is dying for workers of all types. You might investigate AT.

10

While I’m sure we can all sympathise with the OP, applying for jobs where you don’t have the required language and then getting frustrated by rejection is a bit like applying for a lorry-driver’s job when you don’t have a driving licence…

11

After bossybaby mentioned Bolzano…yes! Südtirol. It looks like a good sandbox to improve professional German while still being able to fallback to Italian.

Potential employers may also be looking for international experience in the CV, regardless of language. Life in a new environment is not precisely easy. There are 2 kind of foreign workers in Switzerland: the ones that complain and stay, and the ones that complain and leave after a few months. At least at my job we look for the international experience. It’s risky to hire someone who is going abroad for the first time.

Finally, I forgot that Bauengineur is a regulated profession in some cantons. So, there might be some paperwork to do first, otherwise the degree title is a beautiful piece of paper.