Applying in Switzerland and Austria

Differences from Germany

In all three countries the CV is short, dated and newest first. The personal details differ.

Swiss career guidance advises a current colour photo with a plain background, and no selfie.

It also asks for your full date of birth and your nationality. If you are not Swiss, add your permit, such as B or C.

In Austria, the employment service AMS calls a photo usual but not required. No employer may insist on one.

The AMS says a CV has one or two A4 pages. Date and place of birth may be given, but need not be.

Place, date and signature go on the CV if they are not already in the letter.

Languages

In Switzerland in 2024, 61 percent named German as a main language, 23 percent French and 8 percent Italian. Romansh was under 1 percent.

A job in Geneva is usually in French, one in Lugano in Italian, and one in Zurich in German.

Austria works in German. Nurses and some other health staff prove their German, at B1 to C1 by profession.

Work permits in short

Switzerland: citizens of the EU and EFTA only report a job of under three months.

A job of up to a year brings a short-stay L permit. A longer one brings a B permit.

People from other countries are mostly admitted as managers, specialists or qualified staff with a degree and years of experience.

The employer must show that no one from Switzerland or the EU and EFTA can be found.

For 2026 the quota is 8,500 permits for qualified people from other countries: 4,500 B and 4,000 L.

Cross-border commuters from the EU or EFTA hold a G permit and return home at least once a week.

Austria: citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland need no work permit. Those who stay over three months register within four.

Skilled people from other countries can apply for the Red-White-Red Card. For a shortage job they need a finished training and 55 points.

Recognition of qualifications

Switzerland: the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SBFI) decides for many professions.

It charges CHF 350 for a level confirmation of an unregulated profession and CHF 550 for a recognition.

The Swiss Red Cross recognises foreign diplomas in nursing, physiotherapy and other health professions.

Austria: formal recognition is needed only for regulated professions, mostly in teaching and health.

Free advice is offered in Vienna, Linz, Graz and Innsbruck. The portal berufsanerkennung.at names the office for each profession.

Nurses and some other health staff then join the health professions register before they work.

Salaries in Switzerland

The Swiss median gross pay for a full-time job was CHF 7,024 a month in 2024.

The lowest tenth earned under CHF 4,635. The top tenth earned over CHF 12,526.

The median was CHF 7,502 in the Zurich region and CHF 5,708 in Ticino.

In 2024, 75.9 percent of employees got a 13th monthly salary.

Salarium, the salary calculator of the Federal Statistical Office, gives a range for your job and region.

Salaries in Austria

Statistics Austria puts the median gross pay of people who worked full time all year at EUR 55,678 in 2024.

Pay often comes in 14 parts: 12 monthly salaries, a holiday payment and a Christmas payment.

The right to those two payments comes from the collective agreement or the contract.

Since March 2011, every job ad must state the minimum pay. If the employer will pay more, the ad must say so.

How cvscored helps

Score your CV against a Swiss or Austrian job ad. You see each requirement next to the line of your CV that answers it.

cvscored writes your CV and letter in six languages, so French for Geneva and Italian for Ticino are covered.

For a job you add, it looks up a salary band for the role and the place, and shows its sources.