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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Newsletter archive- 24 June 2012


Page updated on 24 June 2012

Summer and its expected beautiful weather has arrived in Switzerland, holiday time offers more time for reading but also for enjoying the Swiss lakes and various festivals which are organized in many cities.

Our “useful info” page  has dressed up for the summer with a selection of hotels and guesthouses and information about activities available in the summer months in the Swiss midland region.

Since the last edition of the job4U2 newsletter, a lot of new articles have been posted reaching a certain success with more than 1500 pages read during that period. The most popular ones were:

- the expert interviews about new work models and photos for on line profiles,
- the resource articles about working with headhunters and the efficiency of the job-boards and
- the informative pages about Swiss domestic budgeting and the job4U2 Circle

Don’t miss the next articles: register on the blog for email alerts.

Some news from our region: Neuchatelinvest.com ; the new website of the Economic department of the canton of Neuchatel is just on line and offers great resources for just landed individuals.

You can subscribe to the monthly issue of the job4U2 newsletter by sending your request directly by mail here.
Job4U2 wish you a beautiful summer!
Kind regards, 
Sandrine van den Oudenhoven, job4U2


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Dual career partners: "success story saga" part.1


Few weeks ago as I was taking part in a workshop organized to support accompanying partners looking for a job in Switzerland, one of the participant shared with our small group her mixed feeling about such gatherings: she said it was somewhat demotivating to see so many expat’s partners looking for a job and that she would rather meet the ones who have successfully passed that stage.
I could very well relate to her feelings and explained to her that (un)fortunately partners who have successfully found a job are now fully busy in their new position and do not have any spare time left to join such kind of events.
 
I thought I should come back to this subject as such thoughts may not be isolated amongst just-landed expat’s partners and then I started investigating the topic by entering in google.ch “trailing partner with a job”. 
Guess what is the first position on the google page?
So far so good! I think I am doing something right there ;-)

That's how the idea came to ask some of the partners I coached to take 5 minutes to write their story, here is the first one of the saga I’d like to name “Dual career partners: success story saga”
Here is the chapter 1 of 3 of the Saga:


"Originally from France, I have spent the last 5 years studying abroad. After my graduation, I intended to settle down in North America. Not even two months after my graduation, my boyfriend tells me about this amazing opportunity in Switzerland that would help to kick-start his career. I did not have a job yet, I was a young graduate, so I thought I had nothing to lose: finding my first job in North America, in France or in Switzerland, what difference could it make? Well, it made a difference, and I will elaborate on this later.
August 2010 : We are in Neuchatel. It is now time to settle in. Being French and being used to live abroad I thought moving to Switzerland would not be much of a challenge for me... I was wrong. Even though Switzerland is a neighbored country of France, I still had to face quite a cultural shock: The mentalities are quite different here.
September 2010 : Time for me to look for a job! Even though I am a young graduate with not much working experience, I speak French and English, I have done internships, I have excellent recommendation letters... I have a very interesting profile and I am sure I will find something quickly; either an internship or an entry-level position in an international company...
It did not go quite as planned! First of all, I have been told that as a non-Swiss citizen, the migration office would not deliver a work permit for an internship. I cannot do an internship. Remains the possibility of finding an entry-level position : admin assistant. As it turns out, in Switzerland, they have a special degree for administrative assistants, that I do not have. On top of that, employers expect the admin assistants to remain admin assistants for their entire career.
“May 2011 : Still no job. Frustrated. Depressed. I want to leave. I am looking for internships in London.
My boyfriend’s company is afraid he may leave with me. So, they start a program with job4U2. Indeed, if I find a job, I stay in Neuchatel, If I stay, my boyfriend stays. Working with Sandrine from Job4U2 was the best thing that could happen to me. She helped me to better understand the Swiss culture and how job hunting should be done in Switzerland. Thanks to her I got many interviews for jobs that truly interested me.
October 2011: I have a job! I am happy. I am staying in Switzerland with my boyfriend”
Miss.L


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Sandrine van den Oudenhoven
job4U2, "relocation is a project for both"

Monday, August 13, 2012

Where is the largest job market in Switzerland?

On the blog of Job & Karriere, an interesting article dated from 10. August 2012 about the job openings statistics by region:



  1. North West Switzerland:     32’055 open jobs
  2. Zürich:                            27’459  open jobs
  3. Eastern Switzerland:          15’814  open jobs
  4. Central Switzerland:          13’309  open jobs
  5. Western Switzelrand:        12’923  open jobs
  6. Tecino:                           1’574 freie Jobs

Read more (in German) HERE.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Launch of new Club in Neuchatel - Toastmasters: Monday 20th August 2012, 18H15

Do you want to improve your oral communication and your presentation skills, or do you want to practice and improve your leadership and management skills?
Do you want to improve your listening skills and/or your English ?
Do you want to know how to give and receive effective feedback?

.....then Toastmasters is for you.

Come and join the Demo Meeting of Toastmasters on Monday 20 August 2012 at 18h30 at IMT in Neuchatel

Who is this for? ......Everyone!

At toastmasters individuals learn by speaking to groups and working in a supportive, caring and highly motivational environment.
The meetings are for native and non-native English speakers.

This English speaking club offers a fun international atmosphere in Neuchatel.

We will train with impromptu speaking - Think on your feet!
We will teach you the importance of staying within your allocated time to speak
We will deliver prepared manual speeches within a time limit - Practice and improve!
We will practise the art of constructive speech evaluation
We will gain experience in managing - leading meetings and motivating others
We will learn from each other in this self-paced training

And we WILL all have fun while we learn!

What is "Toastmasters"?

Toastmasters International is a non-profit NGO with a network of over 200'000 members in over 11'000 local clubs worldwide.
Wherever you go on business or on holiday, you will find a club with similar activities.
International website for Toastmasters: www.toastmasters.org

When: Monday 20th August 2012 The meeting starts promptly at 18h30 so so please arrive for 18h15

The Neuchatel Club will be a community club open to all over the age of 18 years, and plans to meet twice a month, usually on the first and third Mondays.

Where: Institute of Micro engineering (IMT), EPFL, Room MT1, Rue A.-L. Breguet 2,

Your hosts:
Anna Fitzmaurice (Toastmaster from Lausanne International TM Club)
Helene Kristom (Toastmaster from Bern Toastmasters Club )
Pradyumna (Toastmaster from Bern Toastmasters Club)