Job Discussion Forums

[Schwaman]

Hi,

It seems to be a tad difficult to crack into the TEFL scene in Switzerland from what I hear. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's the Work Permit that gets in the way. I'm an EU citizen but I gather unless I'm self employed finding a TEFL job is pretty difficult without being super qualified, which alas I'm not.

Are these really the cold hard facts of reality or is there a back door way in or something?

Many thanks!

[scot47]

Competence is not enough. You have to be Swiss.

The Middle East is full of people who would really prefer to work in Switzerland.

We have accepted the harsh economic reality. No jobs for us in Svizzera !

[Chasgul]

Being Swiss is not enough - you have to be resident to have the right to work. Of course, becoming resident if you already have the passport is a lot easier than if you don't.

The only other option is to find someone willing to employ you who will then 'sponsor' you in your application for a permit - if you know someone....

[Schwaman]

Wow Middle East versus Switzerland, could they be more different!??


Yeah, I was looking up on the premit situation in Switzerland, because I know its changing. From a brief scan of the info, it looks like 2007 could be an interesting year. I think that there will be freedom of movement for EU citizens then and work permits will be suspended until 2009 (after that if they are still happy about it they will continue with the suspension).

I hope I'm correct because I'm aiming to be there, hopefully before there is a mass exodus from the Middle East!!

Still, pitty I can't go now in time for the skiing season!

[dagi]

Switzerland, Fort Knox? It was like that, 10 years ago! It is not that difficult anymore for EU citizens to get into Switzerland.
Switzerland has a certain contingent of resident/work permits that they issue every year to EU citizens. Not sure, but if I remember correctly it's around 10'000.
All you need nowadays is a work contract and an employer who is willing to apply for your work/resident permit. However, if you do this in december the contingent might be used up already and regardless of what work contract you got you won't get and RP.
The best strategy is to apply for jobs in the beginning of the year! Since Switzerland signed the bilateral treaty in 2005 with the EU it has become more and more easy to move into Switzerland.

And you are right, from 2007 on it get's even more easy. BTW, you can work legally in Switzerland for a max. of 3 months without having to apply for a work/residence permit.

www.admin.ch

[Chris_Crossley]

There is further information for Swiss nationals returning or else foreign nationals wishing to live and work in Switzerland from a 296 kB downloadable document in pdf format available from the following URL: http://www.swissemigration.ch/imperia/md/content/elias/r-z/SCHWEIZ_AK_E.pdf. No vaccinations needed to enter Switzerland, according to the document (page 5)! Information regarding employment in Switzerland starts on page 13.

I was last in Switzerland in January 2001, albeit on my third visit, and, ever since, I have often wondered about living and working here. My level of Modern High German (Hochdeutsch) is fairly OK, but my knowledge of the local Swiss German dialect, Schwyzertuutsch, as used in places like Zurich, is virtually nil. (Is that a problem?!) When I examined a Schwyzertuutsch grammar book in a bookshop in Zurich, I discovered, much to my amazement, that it was written not in German, but in Schwyzertuutsch, and it looked like an entirely different language - totally unrelated to Hochdeutsch! My French is pretty good, too, having also studied it to university level, so I guess I can count myself as tri-lingual in that respect.

Interesting news about the forthcoming suspension of work permits in 2007, the year I am expecting to finish off my master's degree in education here in China by e-learning. (The document cited above specifically mentions May 31, 2006, though, as being the date until when EU and EFTA [European Free Trade Area] citizens still require residence and work permits.) I already have an MBA, so I am certainly wondering what kind of TEFL-related jobs I could get if I have two postgraduate degrees, plus the TESOL Certificate I have held since June 2001, plus (by the time I finish my degree) six years of TESOL experience in China.

I presently teach English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at a centre that specifically prepares people to go to the UK to study for master's degrees there, so my official title is "lecturer" (rather than "teacher"), as in the British university system. Would such experience give me a chance to teach EAP at a Swiss university? I would be very interested in hearing from anybody who has any knowledge of working in this specialist area in the Swiss Confederation, preferably in French- and German-speaking cantons.

[poro]

[Chasgul]

If you can't say chuchichaschli, you're not from round here... They used to spot the German spies during WWII with this word.

[dagi]

Don't worry, people in Switzerland will speak proper German with you if you can't understand the dialect and most people who can speak German learn Swiss German with in a few months.
The difference is not that big.

[Perpetual Traveller]

I was in Switzerland last year and most (I won't say all because I am not sure) of the schools in the Kanton I was living in (Glarus) taught in High German, only the kindergartens used Swiss German.

PT

[Chasgul]

They're taught Hoch-Deutsch in school, but they speak their dialects at home. There was recently a problem with the fact that people from one canton have difficulties reading the newspapers from neighbouring cantons although everyone is officially speaking Swiss German.

And that's before you get onto the topic of Romanche!

[Chris_Crossley]

[scot47]

Not so different from the regions of England. You ever tried communicating in Liverpool or Newcastle ? The locals may understand Standard English but many are incapable of communicating in it !

In Scotland the story is different of course !

[poro]

[Perpetual Traveller]