This is my first post here, this forum looks great
I will be finished with my Master of Public Health degree in December. January I will be moving to Zurich with my fiancee (a Swiss citizen) who will be starting his PhD at ETH. I know that in America, a lot of people hear about jobs and are offered jobs via networking and word of mouth from friends and past colleagues who hold positions in companies they wish to work in. Is this the case in Zurich, or is it more formal in the sense that you need to apply to the employer directly, and word of mouth isn't too much of a help?
Welcome to the forum. That's the case all over the world
Welcome, agents in Zurich are good, look for one dealing in your type of roles.
Look for some Swiss groups on LinkedIn, or the German site Xing.
Good luck
I've always found friends and acquaintances to be more useful than official job ads or agencies as many jobs openings are announced internally first of all and if you can somehow get that information you have a head start.
Talking about that, I've just seen the e-mail below (it's not all of it):
An ..... has resigned today and therefore we have one open job. The job is not official yet, so this will be your chance to have your resume in HR hands before this job is officially opened.
For details contact......
Networking rules everywhere
You also might want to check via your fiancee's department. There are ties between ETH and Uni Zurich, and Uni Zurich has a med school. Not sure what your public health speciality is - but you might be able to network in that way. Have your finacee do some networking for you - that might help as well.
Its comforting knowing that there is a need for some public health degrees in CH! And thanks for the LinkedIn tip, I found some great groups on there. I will check out Xing as well
Thanks everyone for the tips! I'm sure I will be reading/posting in this forum a lot the next six months.
A work permit is also a valuable asset.
You might be able to get one based on your relationship with a Swiss national. They are pretty conservative and prefer marriages but I have heard they give them too for unmarried couples.