Anyone had any experience of living in Zurich? There’s a job on the horizon and I’m looking for the pros and cons.

I know quite a few people who’ve spent a slice of time working there, weeks to years, and they’ve all said it’s a cool city, that if I get the chance to work there, I should take it.

I went there once, briefly (couple of hours!). I quite liked it. Hardly a “review” though!

Great access to mountains, if that sort of thing’s your summer bag or winter bag. baby.

There are a few people I know who have relocated to Switzerland, Zurich and Geneva. Not a bad word about it from any of them. I’d love the opportunity if only I could convince the other half to relocate.

scheiss auf der schweiz.

spent 5 years in Zurich. Loved the place

Skiing every weekend! Ski touring in the Spring! Cycling in the summer!

If you don’t go, can I have the job?

There are certain things you need to do if you’re going to live in Switzerland like register with the commune, register with a health insurance company (compulsory) etc… All of this can be more complicated if you don’t speak the language.
Depending on who you’re working for and how (permie/contract) this will either all be done for you, or you’ll be left to figure it out for yourself..

This is a useful site for info (Swiss based ex-pat forum):
English Forum

This is a good resource for finding somewhere to live:
Homegate

The rental market can be pretty tough in Zurich from what I’ve heard but not as bad as Geneva/Lausanne..

OP have a look at this recent thread

Anyone here in Zurich ?

Quick note on language mentioned in the post above. Most Swiss are highly multi-lingual and will speak good English. However all official documents are in French, German or Italian as these are the countries official languages.

Been here over 10 years now. It’s not a bad place to live if you like riding bikes.

I’m based just outside Zurich and run a community for cyclists througout Switzerland. You’ll find bike buddies here when you move over for sure. http://www.swissalpineadventure.ch

thanks for useful info all. I have a Skype interview tomorrow, teaching job, taking the kids etc and of course my bike(s)! Thanks again

Good friend of mine’s mother has been a teacher in a private school outside of Geneva for many years. She has a lovely house in a small town near the lake (now worth a fortune) and a small weekend apartment in Avoriaz for summer and winter. Seems pretty good to me.

Spent 8 years there ( two 4 years stints)

It is very expensive – but if you are paid as a local then you will be ok (I wasn’t but on a cost of living allowance)
Tax helps to balance out other costs but it will still make you wince.
pizza and beer for two will cost you 100 swiss …
Zurich is nice, accommodation is getting harder to find – and expensive 3k per month upwards.
It is a stunningly beautiful place – and if you like the outdoors life then it is great. For my first years summers were the motorcycle, winters the snowboard.

The locals are not very friendly , and getting less so. As an ausslander you will get treated as a second class citizen.
It’s racist and sexist
It’s a bit of a police state
The expats – there is a big expat scene there, I set up a motorbiking group that has gone from strength to strength since I left 🙂
But some of the expats are weird – you can see why they left the UK. Strange socially, very needy, product of broken relationship. Few are normal people you would chose to hang around in real life.

I loved it for a time ( until the job / manager change saw to that). My wife hated it. She is the social one of the partnership and found it very lonely and soul destroying despite trying many routes to get out of that situation.

If you are going, don’t go on an expat contract, it is like slavery – well paid slavery, but you will be (extremely) tied to you employer. And they know it.

If you are young and fancy it, go for it. I know many people who are there and love it.
I’m glad I did it – it has shown me what i don’t want

Kids will make it way more expensive ( depending on schooling)
And health insurance will make you weep.

I got my employer to pay mine as part of the deal.

A secretary will earn about 70K CHF …

@mrmoofo’s points are understandable. On costs you need to appretiate that over 15 years the Swiss currency has doubled versus the GBP. Zurich is a world class city in a rich country so costs needs to be compared with similar places and you do need to be paid like a local. Versus London costs don’t look so bad and the city is more live-able and the spectacular countryside on your doorstep.

Spent 8 years there ( two 4 years stints)

It is very expensive – but if you are paid as a local then you will be ok (I wasn’t but on a cost of living allowance)
Tax helps to balance out other costs but it will still make you wince.
pizza and beer for two will cost you 100 swiss …
Zurich is nice, accommodation is getting harder to find – and expensive 3k per month upwards.

Not quite true unless you go to the need to be seen places in Seefeld, Zurich. Get a little out side the city and a Pizza is to be had for 15-20CHF. Likewise with Rent, 3000CHF living in Seefeld. Get a little bit out on a good commuter line and you can get a 4 room appartment for 1600-1900CHF.

It is a stunningly beautiful place – and if you like the outdoors life then it is great. For my first years summers were the motorcycle, winters the snowboard.

True

The locals are not very friendly , and getting less so. As an ausslander you will get treated as a second class citizen.
It’s racist and sexist

True and not true at the same time. There are grumpy gits everywhere, but the more language you learn the more you realise that people are not actually giving you sh!t. After a number of years here I understand the locals pretty well and I actually find them very friendly. Once they find out I’m a native English speaker that understands Swiss German they are super friendly.

It’s a bit of a police state

Again yes and no. There is a big police presence and in certain things they are very strict, but on others they are very liberal.

The expats – there is a big expat scene there, I set up a motorbiking group that has gone from strength to strength since I left
But some of the expats are weird – you can see why they left the UK. Strange socially, very needy, product of broken relationship. Few are normal people you would chose to hang around in real life.

Yip, you do have some of those… Hmm… Could that be me? 😯

If you are going, don’t go on an expat contract, it is like slavery – well paid slavery, but you will be (extremely) tied to you employer. And they know it.

Not sure when you were here last, but that is not really the case anymore. Once an EU person has a permit now they are not linked to the Job anymore. It is still the case for non-EU people, but not for anyone from the EU. Even with the recent vote.

The salary on offer is CHF60,000 about £40,000. We are a frugal family anyway and prefer to cook at home rather than be disappointed by eating out..Thanks for advice re. looking for accommodation @ir12daveor

The salary on offer is CHF60,000 about £40,000. We are a frugal family anyway and prefer to cook at home rather than be disappointed by eating out..Thanks for advice re. looking for accommodation @ir12daveor

60,000CHF to move here is on the low side. There are people that live here on that (and lower), but it does not reflect the cost of living and the having to uproot your life to Switzerland for it.

On the English forum someone posted a link to earlier the common question is can I live on 120,000CHF in Switzerland. It’s a bit of a piss pull, but that seems to be what a lot of the people moving for IT and Banking jobs seem to pull. I earn substantially less and have a good life, but I don’t have a family to support and my girlfriend also works.

I would be looking to push that offer to 90,000ish if I were you, but I’m not familiar with the salaries in your line of work.

A friend of mine is applying for a graduate training scheme job which pays close to chf 100,000

@pegasus – thanks for sharing that info, quite open and brave to do so. I would go and have a look. Shopping in the supermarket isn’t cheap either, that amount looks OK for a single person but will be a struggle to support a family I suspect.

Do not go for 60K, you will really struggle. My second day, on my second stint, my assistant came to see me. She was a single mum on 64k a year. She described it as the breadline and that she could no longer buy clothes.

In a restructure she was replaced by someone who earned 90K.
Teaching – I think you should be around the 85k-100k mark to be honest. Remember there is no state assistance that is going to help you with rent, or health insurance.

I left 2012. I was about 9 months away from a C permit. It’s horses for course, if I were younger, with kids going to a local or international school, in a well paid job, then it is a safe environment with a great international flavour.

I just found it very dull – not help that my wife snapped two ligs in her knee, and then 3 years later broke her wrist (badly) slipping on ice, so winter sports meant leaving someone who was bordering on suicidal alone …

A wet Sunday in CH is not an enjoyable experience!
Just to clarify some of the comments above. Zurich can be a very liberal place, if yo are gay, a tranny, smoke dope, like to dress up as a poodle, or get your love tackle out when you sunbathe, no-one will care.
There are house rules – learn that this means if you swiss neighbour breaks them, you must tolerate it. If you break them, they will go straight to the landlord.
I had really major issues with mine, who descide his new geo-thermal heating system fitting, which we meant we lost the access to out drive and garage for 10 days, didn’t need to be communicated with us! when questioned, the answer was tough …
BTW, prior to this we had shared New Years Drinks, and he smoked some alaskian salmon for us.
And then there was the pissed farmer who looked like Hall from Hall and Oates who threatened my wife …

The “can I survive om 120K” on the English forum have become an in joke ….

The English Forum is a very bitchy forum with way too many keyboard warriors with few friend in real life. It is a very could source of info. If you get there and are looking to MTB, look up a guy calling himself “Eire”

My favourite English Forum thread was” can you cancel an order on a Lambo”. The thread was written by a hedgie who wanted to tell everyone that it was such a bind, because “he wanted a ferarri instead”

my salary at the moment is about £28,000 gross, is Zurich really that expensive? I’m having second thoughts now….my kids are all under 9 and the middle one eats like a horse!

@mrmoofo – as an aside the correct response to “can you cancel a Lambo order” is “buy both and sell the Lambo for a profit on delivery” 8)

I’d rather spend a wet Sunday in Switzerland than in the UK. Having lived in Singapore I struggle to see how Switzerland can be described as dull but then I love the mountains summer and winter and to sail and with lakes on your doorstep in Zurich and Geneva and mountains on the horizon they are close to the ultimate destination for me.

On expat forums you get the same BS everywhere, I’ve lived and worked in the US and Singapore and a lot of people who inhabit those forums are a bit strange

my salary at the moment is about £28,000 gross, is Zurich really that expensive? I’m having second thoughts now….my kids are all under 9 and the middle one eats like a horse!

School will not be free I suspect unless your kids can attend a German speaking one

You couldn’t survive with a family in London on that money so you should expect similar situation in Zurich

If the employer provides school for your kids and housing you might be OK

But surely isn’t best to put the kids in a German school? Otherwise they’ll always be Epxpat kids and not integrated into society kind of kids.

Or stick them in a private school with all the ex-pat American kids and you’ll have them talking in an American accent in no time (at least that’s what has happened to our friends’ kids).

Local schools are definitely best for the full integration experience but if they don’t speak good German they are going to be very lost and very lonely. In fact I’d be surprised if the school would take them

Being fully immersed makes language learning so much easier. It will be hard for the first few months but I’m sure they’ll pick it up.
I live half my time in Vienna .
My German is far from perfect and my grammar is awful but it get’s better
day by day.
My stepdaughter came to the uk aged 9 only speaking German.
She was there for 18 months and her English is perfect. She went to a private school in Berkshire and still speaks impeccable English with a very posh accent.

plenty of sites like these …

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Switzerland&city1=Zurich&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London

the key is just do your homework and have an exit plan
BTW where do you live now?

I’d rather spend a wet Sunday in Switzerland than in the UK. Having lived in Singapore I struggle to see how Switzerland can be described as dull but then I love the mountains summer and winter and to sail and with lakes on your doorstep in Zurich and Geneva and mountains on the horizon they are close to the ultimate destination for me.

I did say it is very beautiful – stunning in fact.
Singapore – only had one trip there – but everything seemed to be about shopping TBH, so I can understand that point.

Many love CH, get a good job and I can see why. Because of the fallout with my employers and the fact that my wife was very, very unhappy there, it didn’t work for me.
Even if I hadn’t had wifey issues, I doubt I would still be there – I just found it way too sterile.

And don’t get me going on their manners in trains and buses …

I’m living in very rural Wales. I’ve been made redundant from my secondary school and we have always wanted to travel with the children. We’ve both worked abroad before and want the kids to experience something different. I’ve got plenty of teaching experience in secondary schools as well as universities and I’ve done a fair bit of EFL too. I’m also looking at Spain (love the food) but nothing yet. I’ve got a mortgage so we’ll have to rent out the house-perfect singletrack on the doorstep if anyone’s interested!

If you are living in rural Wales, forget everything I said about Zurich being dull!
60K is still going to be a tight squeeze TBH.

Where abouts in ZH? If you live on the outskirts it might be do-able but it will still not a lot of disposable …

I’ve met enough expats around the world to know that many are running away from something.

Hey, globalti, how is your comment relevant to the pros and cons of moving to Zurich?

@Pegasus – its a great time to make a move, treating the redundancy as a cleansing opportunity and a little push to do something different. Your kids will get so much out of living abroad.

What subject do you teach ? Drop me an email (in profile) if you wish and I will put you in touch with the teacher I know there (Nyon – that’s a stunning place 15 mins from Geneva, views of Mont Blanc from their house, town on the lake with 2 marinas).

@globalti – both expat opportunities I have taken have been significantly career enhancing as well as great life experiences. If I have one regret it’s that I didn’t spend more time abroad and in particular I didn’t engineer a move to Switzerland. Not given up hope yet.

@mrmoofoo – bus ? where was your lambo 😉 The Swiss do have a certain abruptness (not too different from Germans in that regard) but we should appreciate that Europeans think we Brits are cold. I can appreciate that if Mrs MooFoo wasn’t happy that would colour things entirely. For me Switzerland is an outdoor playground with Italy and France on the doorstep too. I am fairly work orientated Mon-Fri so provided there are some bars and restaurants for midweek I am happy and there is sailing and biking midweek evenings in the summer.

What to do in poor weather in Switzerland – apologies @mrMooFoo I couldn’t resist it, this week’s Mini Movies

[video]http://vimeo.com/99308683[/video]

Sure, it is a great opportunity for the OP
He has young kids, so it might be perfect
I just don’t want to see him getting stiffed

I to was work focused and traveling Mon-Friday, so the boredom was a lot of “by proxy”

After CH I lived in Germany for 1.5 years – I liked the Germans, way more fun, inclusive and helpful than the rich canton in the south

“And don’t get me going on their manners in trains and buses …”

Tell me about Swiss public transportation manners!

I to was work focused and traveling Mon-Friday, so the boredom was a lot of “by proxy”

That’s definitely extremely tough on the mrs in a new country.

Would a job in Zurich and living in Germany across the border be another option ? We are close to the Rhine on the German side and loads of people cross to Switzerland daily ?