I ́m thinking about asking for reimbursement for travel costs from the potential employers but I ́m a bit hesitant since I don ́t know if this is accepted here in Switzerland. I was offered this by Alstom a week ago which opened my eyes.
What are your experiences with employers in Switzerland? Will they get upset if suggested that they pay travel costs related to interviews or is it more or less normal here?
Thanks
But a good way of getting around reimbursement issue is just to specify your travel times and ask company admin to arrange your travel for you.
Good luck.
as with anything else, be polite about it and not demanding.
the HR person (especially in a larger company) has no input on whether you get hired or not. they are there to simply coordinate and facilitate your interviews. of course, if you are an irrationally rude jerk, then they may tell somebody who is a decision maker, and that might get you rejected. but politely asking for travel expense reimbursement is a standard request that will not raise any eyebrows.
(ps: you guys are such pushovers. there's never any harm in asking nicely. worst that may happen is they say no.)
You are the one looking for a job, aren't you? So you should put that on your job research expenses. If you get the job, the little money you put on travelling to the interview will be well worthed. If not, it is part of looking for a job.
If you are going abroad for a job interview (plane tickets, taxi, train alltogether), than you have to ask for reimbursement before going to the interview.
I also brought it up in a follow-up email, intending more as a lighthearted lead-in to asking for proper feedback. Yes, yes, I know.....
Before I came for the actual interview, I was interviewed several times by phone, and they seemed very much interested in my humble self.
So, I would say if you're quite confident of the interest of the company in you, you may come up with some ridiculous reason why they should arrange (and pay) for your trip. Otherwise, I'm afraid you totally depend on their good will.
I assume you know about daily travel cards that you can get in your commune for like 35CHF? If you travel for instance to Zug from Geneva, the difference could be around 30CHF (with a travel card).
You think the line manager doesn't speak with HR and HR don't add a little note about requesting travel ex's in their file ?
If you need to ttravel abroad, that's a little different andf travel ex's are usualy discussed beforehand, but a little day trip between Geneva and Zurich...
Even though I am quite young and have been to less than 10 interviews in my time, every email I've had to organise an interview time has stated the maximum travel expenses that they will pay.
I guess most of the interviews I do are for new graduate jobs and the companies maybe don't want to burden the person with what is a lot of money for a new graduate. But if I was earning the much admired 120k and going for a 150k interview then I'd not ask specifically for travel expenses.
People really baffle me sometimes...
Hopefully you aren't going to the interview to beg for a job. You are interested in the employer, and the employer is interested in you. You both have something to offer each other. So now, you have shown up at the employer's office at their request, instead of them coming to you, so you both can evalulate whether you two would be a good fit for each other. Because you are the one traveling to see them, the assumption here is that they should at least pay to cover your cost - no more, no less.
People go wrong when they believe that the employer is doing them a favor by inviting them to interview. Believe in your self-worth! They wouldn't have asked you to come in unless they thought you were promising, at least on paper.