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Anyone looking for a new job now has good prerequisites.
Milena KalinEditor Economics
Anyone who wants a new job currently has good opportunities. Because there are an above-average number of vacancies. Since the unemployment rate is also very low at the moment, the competition should be limited. With the following points, Blick reveals how things are currently looking on the Swiss job market.
Very low unemployment
Good news for employees: Unemployment in 2022 was the lowest it has been in 20 years!
The average unemployment rate last year was 2.2 percent. That is 0.8 percentage points less than in the previous year. In absolute figures, 99,577 people were registered as unemployed last year. That is almost a third less than in the previous year.
But what are the reasons for the extremely good condition of the Swiss labor market? Marco Salvi (53), labor market expert at the liberal think tank Avenir Suisse, locates them in the intact economic growth and catch-up potential of companies: “The main reason is certainly the unexpectedly rapid recovery after the end of the pandemic.”
As of mid-December, over 250,000 jobs were vacant in Switzerland. This is good news, at least for employees. The companies are less happy: the retail giant Coop alone has 1,300 jobs to fill.
Nursing professionals and electricians are often sought after. More than 6000 vacancies are advertised. This is shown by an evaluation by the human resources company x28. Around 10 percent are looking for executives.
Most vacancies are in the canton of Zurich (59,318). But there is also a desperate search for employees in the canton of Bern (42,280) and in Aargau (20,665).
The question now is how long it will stay that way. In mid-December, 3.5 percent fewer jobs were advertised on company websites than a month ago. This shows an evaluation that the job portal Indeed made for the news agency AWP.
The number of advertised jobs was already declining in November: 11 percent fewer job advertisements were posted then than in October. However, the shortage of skilled workers will probably continue to worsen.
But not all companies are hiring less. Despite a difficult year with the Ukraine war, inflation, rising interest rates and the energy crisis, some large corporations are optimistic.
This also includes Swiss: the airline has announced 1,500 new jobs for 2023. The ground handler Swissport, which created 475 new jobs last year, intends to increase the current workforce in Switzerland by a further 800 to 1,000 employees by the summer. Zurich Airport and the maintenance company SR Technics also want to create jobs.
The Geneva-based luxury watch brand Rolex has also announced new positions. The demand for luxury watches is so high that it has to massively expand production. The electricity company Axpo, the discounters Aldi and Lidl and the three large canteen operators SV Group, ZFV and Compass Group will also become major job makers in 2023.
Tips for the job interview
All of this speaks for the job seeker. Once the job interview is in the bag, nervousness follows. After all, you want to make a good impression. But what is the best way to do this?
When introducing yourself, there is little point in simply repeating your CV. Rather, one should make a summary of the current activity and briefly explain why you have decided on the respective career path. It also makes sense to refer to the requirements of the company.
Setting your professional goals clearly can also go down well. During the self-presentation, it also helps to make a positive and upbeat impression. Negative formulations should therefore be avoided.