I am thinking to apply for such position now and would like to gather some general information to prepare it better.
Thank you guys
Hello I have a question about the internship in Switzerland, I read in the forum that an internship will not be paid that much but how about other conditions like insurance and pension etc.
Of course the salary will be low. It's not a job, but an internship with a different purpose.
Internships however do pay a regular salary in Switzerland and any internship that does NOT come with a salary is unusual, if not cause for alarm as it's bordering on illegal. It does happen that a company covers health insurance or whatnot, but only very rarely.
Payment into a pension fund is mandatory in Switzerland as of a salary of some 20k p.a.
So here goes:
Salary is low but depending on the industry it can be higher than many full time jobs. People in banks can get up to 4.5k/5k a month gross.
The salary is low, because your responsibilities in an internship (usually) are low, so not much is expected from you.
All the usual deductions are in, but be happy for it. You have full accident insurance, and if you work for a year you qualify for unemployment benefits if you can't find something and have a valid permit. Also payments to your pension (that you can transfer later or get in cash for certain conditions).
Last but not least the next calendar year after your first salary you might be eligible for a financial support for your helath insurance payments, depending on level of salary and how much you worked. You will also receive a lump sum for retroactive support of the past year, so all you have to do is hold out for a while.
All in all internships here are very good and much better than most places, especially due to the salary. I've been living for a while with 3 and change per month and its manageable for a young student looking to start.
You connect, network, and if you play your cards right and the circumstances allow it, you can even get a job offer after it. Most people I know were lucky and got meaningful internships with project work etc, but some did get the shaft and ended up doing menial BS day-in, day-out. In any case, on the 25th of the month you'll be happy you're doing it in CH and not somewhere where it might even go unpaid... My brother is about to start an internship for about 120EUR/month in Greece.
hi thank you so much for the information , it is very helpful for me! i would like to have a try and let see what will happen
and you right , switzerland is still a very generous place !
I have found with internships you need to also play the hard ball and not appear desperate. If you prove you have what it takes and you're the man/woman for the job then you can ask for slightly more. When I started with internships 6 years ago I negotiated my own salary based on my other previous internship. They wanted to offer me their usual going rate but I said I was earning X francs previously and here is the evidence that I can perform at a higher level with responsibilities and I ended up getting much more to be an intern. Mind you as another poster said I refused BS jobs. I wanted real projects which if they shaft me at the end and not offer me a job I would gladly take my experience and know-how elsewhere and use that as a reference. Needless to say I succeeded
Great for you, but I can promise you this won't fly with most companies. I work with an MNCs and our internship salaries are fixed with zero room for negotiations, period. We are not talking about full-time jobs here that always leave some room for negotiation. Sure one can always try, but I very much doubt it will lead to success in most cases.