Plan to move need help

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Hello everyone

This is my first post here so sorry if I sound like a nooby.

I am thinking about studying economics and management at the university of geneva and then getting my masters in accounting at HEC Lausanne. I was wondering how difficult it would be after graduating to find a job as an accountant, I read that accounting and fiduciary roles were in a severe shortage in Switzerland so that's my reasoning behind moving, as well as higher quality of life, nature, yodelling, ect. as well after graduating do you get the same priority as a swiss citizen when looking for a job for the first 6 months? Thanks

For reference I am not EU, I am Canadian.

2
Welcome to the Forum, and good for you for looking ahead.

Do you speak French?

3
There is always room for more Canadians

4
I assume from doing a bachelor and masters you already master French to professional level. So, no problems from that side.

Well, the boundary for preferences is not on Swiss citizens but Swiss residents which include all foreigners already living here and EU citizens. So, as third-country national you're the last in the queue. But, not everything's bad. Quite probably you're young and all your peers are more interested in traveling around the world with that partner they plan to marry. If you signal to employers that you're really interested in work for long term instead of working some months to save for that around the world trip you'll have a great advantage over your peers. The around the world trip is just a joke but it represents all those ideas we had while young, work for while, do fun stuff, stop some months when not needed and travel, don't take job seriously.

Still time to do an internship before graduation? That would help a lot.

5
To answer the questions asked so far (i dont know how to tag people)

1: I do not currently speak french, but the university of geneva has an english taught program for economics and management, if you fail the french test you are still allowed to enroll and have the work taught in english and you get to take classes where you can study french, immersion with my french speaking peers will probably also help with learning

2: I plan to do as many internships as I can, I dont see any other way of shaking hands and getting my foot in the door, though I'm worried I wont get any cause I wont have a work permit and ill be a third country national

6
Welcome and good luck. We are relatively new as well but have learned a bit about the Geneva area and will try to help if we can.

And everywhere needs more “Matts.”

7
Duh! Poor reading comprehension from my side. You're only planning.

If you plan to study bachelor and masters you'll have plenty of time to learn the local languages and do enough networking to land a job after school. Of course, there's a disadvantage in the laws for hiring 3rd country nationals, but nothing that networking over years cannot solve.

Being a bit nosy...why Switzerland? Just as personal anecdote, I'm lucky that I arrived here at 32 YO. If I had arrived younger, I might have done a lot of stupid things and might got convictions that would have hindered my professional career. In a certain way it's more convenient to live a a more lenient place and move here a bit older.

8
Most Masters degrees in CH are taught in English, for those of you mentioning need of mastery of French.

However, French would be a considerable asset for a graduate job in Switzerland.

9
I would say an essential asset.

10
You won’t get a permit for an internship unless it is a requirement of your studies and even after a masters degree you won’t be a professional accountant.....