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Applications & CV

55 questions · 31 pages

• Do you need a photo on a Swiss CV?A photo is customary on Swiss CVs but not required. What matters: professional impression, two pages, language levels, the permit line. Free CV check.
• What is the best CV builder for Switzerland?What is the best CV builder for Switzerland? · Is there a genuinely free CV builder? · Which CV maker is free with no watermark? · Is a paid CV builder worth it? · Which CV template works for Switzerland?
• Should I apply directly to the company or through a job board?Should I apply directly to the company or through a job board? · Apply on the company site or through the job board — which is better?
• How is a Swiss CV different from a German or international one?In Switzerland a photo, your nationality and your permit type belong on the CV, two to three pages is the norm, and languages are given as levels. What recruiters here expect — and why parsing software matters less than elsewhere.
• Make a Swiss CV — the structure, section by sectionThe structure of a Swiss CV section by section, following the only official list there is (arbeit.swiss), plus the three lines no international template has a field for: town, permit, workload — with what the live adverts on SwissJobs.app demand.
• Creating a CV online in Switzerland — from the empty field to the finished PDFHow do I create a CV online? · Word template or online builder? · Can I build a CV on my phone?
• Structuring a Swiss CV — the eight blocks, the order, and how much room each one getsHow should I structure my CV? · What order should the sections go in? · How do I write the personal summary? · How do I describe a job properly? · How do I list language skills on a CV?
• Personal details on a Swiss CV — photo, date of birth, nationality, work permitShould I put a photo on my Swiss CV? · Should I include date of birth and nationality? · How do I state my work permit?
• Swiss CV layout and length — pages, columns, typefaceHow many pages should a Swiss CV be? · Which font should I use on a Swiss CV? · One column or two on a Swiss CV?
• Gaps and breaks in a Swiss CV — explain them, don't smooth them overHow do I handle gaps in my CV? · How do I show part-time roles and workload on a Swiss CV? · How do I show parental leave on a Swiss CV? · How do I show a career change on a Swiss CV? · How do I explain gaps in my Swiss CV?
• A Swiss CV with no work experience — what fills the empty fieldsThe federal guidance lists eight things a Swiss CV contains — exactly one of them requires having been employed. What goes into the other seven, where entry-level openings actually sit in the Swiss market, and why the language block carries more weight than any personal summary.
• Self-employment and freelance work on a Swiss CV — a station, not a pauseShow the self-employed years as one normal station with a registered business name, function, place and dates. Then supply what an employed station carries automatically and a mandate does not: named clients and checkable proof.
• Time abroad and foreign qualifications on a Swiss CVTime abroad belongs on the CV as an ordinary dated entry. Only 0.5 per cent of Swiss adverts with a short description explicitly ask for experience of the Swiss market, and three times as many advertise an international environment. How to write the country, the unknown employer and a foreign qualification so a Swiss reader can use them — with the SERI and Red Cross rules.
• Temporary work on a Swiss CV — assignments, agencies, client companiesIn Switzerland the staffing agency is your legal employer and writes your reference; the client company is the name a Swiss recruiter recognises. Both belong on the same line. Why a fixed-term contract needs no explanation, how long Swiss assignments actually run, and why the same CV line reads as routine in Geneva and as unusual in Zurich.
• Tailoring your CV to the job — how many versions you actually needHow do I make different versions of my CV for different jobs? · Word or PDF for a job application in Switzerland?
• Application files: naming them, and sending themThe Swiss federal employment service lists clear and correct file names as one of three checks before you send an application. What that means in practice, why pasting the job title in is a mistake, and which detail actually identifies your application.
• Your CV in another languageA French CV is not the English one translated: different block names, «CFC» for an apprenticeship, workload written as «taux d’activité». In Vaud 69.2 % of adverts are in French; in Geneva English is level with French at 49.5 %. What the federal and cantonal guidance says, quoted in French.
• Which language should your Swiss CV be in?23.9 per cent of Swiss adverts with an identifiable language are written in English — 36.2 per cent in Zurich, 6.2 per cent in Lucerne. When an English CV is the right answer, why 29.1 per cent of English adverts still demand a national language, and the official English names for a Federal VET Diploma, a Fachausweis and an Arbeitszeugnis.
• The Swiss CV after 50 — what actually changes, and what deliberately does notNo Swiss rule treats a CV differently after 50 — same eight blocks, same unbroken chronology, same three pages. What changes is measurable: 99.6 per cent of adverts say nothing about age at all, six in seven carry no rank word in the title, and above that rank line English is demanded twice as often.
• AI and your Swiss CV — what is allowed, what shows, and what you still have to write yourselfCan I use AI to write my CV? · Can recruiters tell if a CV was written by AI?
• CV mistakes that get you rejected in Switzerland — what an advert demands and what it merely likesStyle is not what sinks a Swiss application. In the English-language adverts on SwissJobs.app, a degree is phrased as a requirement in 80.9 percent of the adverts that name one, being a team player in 3.4 percent. The mistakes that actually get you rejected, and what Art. 8 of the Gender Equality Act entitles you to afterwards.
• The Swiss application file — which documents go with it, in which order, and in how many filesWhat documents go with a Swiss application? · How do I put together a full Swiss application? · How do I order my reference letters? · Who should I list as a reference in Switzerland?
• How do I write a speculative application in Switzerland?With no advert, three decisions fall to you: the language, the role and the Pensum. Where to find all three, what belongs in the subject line, what SECO expects in a Swiss application file — and who actually receives the letter.
• Are speculative applications worth it in Switzerland?The answer turns on one measurable thing: how long you would otherwise wait for an advert. Employer posting intervals, the trades where adverts sit longest, the occupations with a legal five-day head start, and what SECO actually claims.
• Do I need to put references on my Swiss CV?No. Nothing in Swiss law prescribes what a CV contains. The one federal provision that names references addresses the recruitment agency, not you, and makes obtaining a reference conditional on your written consent. What that means for the line on your CV — and where your file really goes after you send it.
• How do I apply as a career changer in Switzerland?Swiss occupational titles are protected by federal law and using one you have not earned is an offence (Art. 36 and 63 VPETA). Yet 0.0 per cent of English-language Swiss adverts put a Swiss title in the job title, and the official English text of the Act gives three different Swiss awards the same name. Checked on Fedlex, 31 August 2026.
• Why does my foreign work experience count for less in Switzerland?Swiss adverts almost never ask for experience gained in Switzerland. The discount happens anyway, in the reading. What our count of open Swiss adverts shows, and the four lines that remove most of it.
• How to write a Swiss motivation letter that gets readA step-by-step guide to a Swiss motivation letter that gets read past the first ten seconds: who opens it, which language it belongs in, which two claims carry the middle — with figures from the open adverts and the official Swiss guidance.
• How to get more interviews in Switzerland: fixing your application funnel in seven stepsA seven-step guide to measuring your own application funnel in Switzerland, counting the employers in your slice, and using the second opening at the same employer — with figures from the open Swiss job market.
• CV builder or template: what a generator does that a template cannotA template is a finished file; a CV builder keeps your details apart from the layout. Five things follow from that for a Swiss application: restyling without retyping, page breaks, text per advert, switching language, and versions. Plus what a template still does better.
• CV vs resume: what is the difference, and which does Switzerland want?In the US a resume is a one-page summary and a CV is a long academic record. Switzerland wants neither of those exactly: it wants a CV of up to three pages with a photo, personal details and language levels. What to send when an English advert asks for a resume.