Living in Switzerland

We speak to Daniel Shalom, the founder of Rigby AG, about the role of staffing companies in the Swiss job market and how recruiters can help expats find a suitable role.

Daniel describes the difference between contracts, projects, and permanent placements. Then, he talks about the reasons why so many businesses work with a recruitment company and how the process works.

In the final part of the episode, he explains why candidates, especially those from outside of Switzerland, should consider working with a recruiter and what they can expect from the experience.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and leave a review on your favourite platform. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

We speak to Pragati Siddhanti, the founder of the popular blog My Swiss Story, about how expats can get set up and build a successful career in Switzerland.

Pragati shares how she came to Switzerland over eight years ago and has since worked as a technology leader in large, international companies, set up her blog and community, and become a guest lecturer at a Swiss university.

In the first part of the episode, she takes us through the practical steps of getting set up in Switzerland, like getting a permit, housing, and health insurance. Later, we discuss how to find a job and set up a side business or project.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and leave a review on your favourite platform. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

We speak to Lisa Arnet from the Swiss Tourism Federation about sustainable tourism in Switzerland.

The classification “Swisstainable” was created around three years ago. While it stated with only a few service providers, over 2,000 businesses and multiple destinations are involved today.

Lisa explains the three dimensions of sustainability, how the classification works, and some of the measures businesses are taking.

We also discuss what residents and tourists can do to make their trips within Switzerland more sustainable.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and leave a review on your favourite platform. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

The Swiss Tourism Federation is taking measures to make travel more ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable. If you’re a resident looking to travel around the country or you’re visiting Switzerland as a tourist, there’s a lot you can do to support this mission:

We speak to four women from the Zurich International Women’s Association about social groups and expat life in Switzerland.

Karin, Martha, Debbie, and Carolina offer diverse perspectives on finding a social network. They speak about topics such as how to approach your neighbours, what you can do to meet others in your community, and how to juggle work, having a family, and leisure time.

We also discuss the importance of joining social groups like ZIWA and what to look for in a group.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and leave a review on your favourite platform. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

We speak to Carolyn Schönafinger from Holidays to Switzerland about travelling around Switzerland.

Carolyn has been visiting Switzerland for over 30 years and runs her own travel podcast. She tells us about four famous places (Lucerne, the Berner Oberland, Zermatt, and Montreux) as well as several destinations off the beaten track.

We also talk about the different seasons, the best times to travel, and ways to save money while visiting Switzerland. No matter if you’re a first-time visitor or already living in Switzerland, you’re sure to learn something new.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and leave a review on your favourite platform. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

You can visit Switzerland year-round. It’s a great destination for winter and summer sports, but those two seasons tend to be busy. If you want a quieter experience, consider travelling in May and October.

Some popular destinations:

Some lesser-known places to visit:

We speak to Serge Frech, the director of the Swiss national association of ICT training (ICT-Berufsbildung), about basic and continued IT training in Switzerland.

Unlike in many countries, most Swiss IT professionals complete vocational training. After achieving a basic degree, they can continue their education by obtaining a federal or advanced federal diploma. These qualifications are equivalent to a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.

Expats with a degree from another country can also take part in this programme. Since there is a severe IT professional shortage in Switzerland, this opens up many opportunities.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and leave a review on your favourite platform. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

We speak to Laura Vrinceanu, who got her IT job through Rigby, about moving to Zurich, Switzerland.

Laura relocated a year and a half ago to work for a bank as a Tableau developer. With seven years of professional experience under her belt, she is committed to never stop learning and strive for excellence in her field of work.

Moving to Zurich has been a positive experience for Laura. She loves many aspects of life in Switzerland, from the great amenities to the beautiful scenery and the excellent work-life balance. Join us to discover how she got her job, how her move went, and what she recommends to others who want to relocate to Switzerland.

We speak to the Swiss education consultant Stefanie Busse about local, bilingual, and international schools in Switzerland.

As a former German teacher, Stefanie has first-hand experience teaching in both public and international schools in Switzerland. She has been advising expat families for over 10 years about the Swiss education system and collaborates with educational authorities and schools.

Join us as we explore how schools work in Switzerland, the advantages and potential challenges of each schooling option, and how to get help if you’re trying to figure out what’s best for your child.

If you liked the episode, don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and leave a review on your favourite platform. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

We speak to the food experts Jessica Manurung and David Moginier about regional foods in Switzerland, particularly in the cantons of Basel and Vaud.

Jessica is a Basel-based food blogger. She has been sharing her restaurant recommendations on social media since 2019. Last year, she published the Basel Cookbook, sharing a mix of innovative and traditional recipes from local chefs.

David has been a food and wine journalist for many years. He was in charge of gastronomy for the daily 24 heures, and has written Vaud cookbook, as well as several books by Michelin-starred chefs.

Join us as we talk about various food traditions and innovations:

And don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

In this episode, we speak to the finance blogger Baptiste Wicht about Switzerland’s financial system.

Baptiste has been running his blog The Poor Swiss for over six years. He helps expats and locals find the best financial products such as savings and investment accounts, pension providers, and credit cards. He also writes about financial independence and shares monthly insights into his family’s financial situation.

Join us as we talk about getting set up financially as an expat:

And don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

In this episode, we speak to the artist Nikolai Kleist Burkal about art in Switzerland.

Nikolai grew up in Greenland and has lived in several countries before settling in Switzerland in 2022 due to a work opportunity. He runs the platform Art-Beats, where he publishes articles on the pulse of art scenes, trends, and art activities internationally.

Join us as we talk about the role of art in Switzerland, the best places to enjoy art, and ways to get involved as a creator.

And don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

In this episode, we speak to the authors Anita Lehmann and Katie Hayoz about immigration in Switzerland.

Anita and Katie have recently published a book called 50 Amazing Swiss Immigrants. It features people of all walks of life, both historical and contemporary, who have made Switzerland their home.

Join us as we talk about common reasons for moving to Switzerland, how immigrants are making a positive difference in Switzerland, and what we can learn from other immigrants’ stories.

And don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

In this episode, we speak to Swiss German teacher Rahel Roth and bestselling cartoonist/author Sergio Lievano about Swiss German. We explore whether expats should learn this dialect or focus on standard German instead.

Rahel’s series of books, Swiss German for English Speakers, is one of the few resources that teaches Swiss German from scratch. Sergio has published six books in Switzerland, including the popular “Hoi” series and The Indispensable Illustrated Dictionary to Swiss German.

Join us as we tackle questions such as:

What exactly is Swiss German?

How does it differ from standard German?

Should expats learn Swiss German or standard German, and how can they get started?

And don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

In this episode, we speak to Ben Crawshaw from Zurich Together about how newcomers can use expat groups to build long-lasting friendships.

Originally from Manchester, Ben moved to Switzerland as a child. He is an event manager and the founder of Zurich Together, a large international community that hosts a wide range of events in and around Zurich.

Join us as we explore the Swiss social scene. You’ll learn how to get started as a newbie and why expat groups are perfect for meeting both international people and Swiss locals. And don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

In this episode, we speak to James Macsay and Margaret Reilly Baer from the American International Club Zurich about how expats can build a social network in Switzerland.

Margaret is the president of the AICZ, and James is on the board of the Association of American Clubs. They have both been living in Switzerland for many years, and they’re part of a thriving community of international people living and working in Switzerland.

Join us as we chat about how to meet other expats, connecting with locals, the benefits of groups and associations, and why you should never leave your car’s engine running in Switzerland. And don’t forget to share this podcast with your friends and subscribe to our newsletter at rigby.ch/newsletter for more great content about living in Switzerland.

Hi everyone,

It’s Daniel here from Rigby.

I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the summer so far, and I'd like to take a moment to thank you for joining us and following the podcast until now.

We recently crossed the two-year milestone since we started, and during that time we've looked into quite a few different topics and spoken with lots of interesting people about life in Switzerland.

We have plans to do even more in the future, but it’ll be under a different name.

Starting with the next episode, we’ll be changing the name of this series from The Expert Guide to Your Life in Switzerland to, simply, Living in Switzerland.

The other recent change is the arrival of our new host Kathrin Spinnler. She’s already hit the ground running, and you’ll be hearing much more from her going forwards.

We have lots of plans and are very excited about the future of the podcast. We hope you’ll come along with us on this journey.

One of these plans is to launch a newsletter, to tie together things we’ve heard about and are working on. If you’d like to sign up for that and access our free (42-page) guide to Living in Switzerland, you can do so at rigby.ch/newsletter.

If you have any questions about this, just let us know by sending an email to the usual address, contact@rigby.ch.

So, that’s it for this short announcement. We’ll be back soon with another episode as usual.

Until then, we wish you all the very best!

Daniel

In this episode we welcome back Margaret Oertig, to continue the conversation about schools in Switzerland.

In our first call together we covered what’s different about the Swiss school system, what is taught at Kindergarten, getting ready for secondary school, common issues that incomers sometimes find challenging, the different paths available in the Swiss school system, the apprenticeship system, the selection criteria for the Swiss school system, a little bit about the Gymi and quite a bit more besides.

Among other things, today we’ll be covering tertiary education in Switzerland, university entrance requirements, the provisions for children with special needs or for gifted children and how to work together with the school.

Today we’d like introduce you to another member of our team, who will be joining us on the podcast, Kathrin Spinnler!

Kathrin is Swiss, from Bern originally, currently living and working in the UK.  Kathrin has a background in the Swiss education system and is part of our content team here at Rigby.

In this episode, we’ll be talking about the Swiss School System, together with Margaret Oertig. If you have any interest in the Swiss school system, then we have a treat in store for you.

Margaret is the author of the brilliant book 'Going Local, Your Guide to Swiss Schooling'.

Originally from Scotland, today Margaret lives with her Swiss husband near Basel. She has lived and worked in Switzerland since 1987. Her two daughters, who are now adults, went through the Swiss school system.

Margaret has worked for many years delivering intercultural training programmes to international companies. She worked for 20 years for the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, lecturing, writing and working on projects related to intercultural collaboration.

If you have sent, or are considering sending, your child to a local Swiss public school, then this episode will be for you.

In this episode we'll be speaking once again with Anita Lehmann who joined us for episode 19.

Anita is a multi-award winning author of 9 books for children and adults, with her picture book 'Slobber, Slobber, Kiss, Kiss' shortlisted for the German Children's Literature Prize in 2020.

Born and raised in Bern, Anita moved to Geneva as a student, for the first of two stays there. She gained an MA in Economic and Social History from the University of Geneva and has lived and worked in all kinds of interesting places, like the Galapagos Island and Taiwan, before making Cambridge in the UK her home.

Since a few of our listeners are either based in Geneva already, or thinking of moving there, we thought it might be nice this time to look towards the French-speaking part of the country and to speak with Anita about Geneva and her most recent book The Geneva Chronicles which was published in Spring 2022.

Please join us for another talk about life in Switzerland🇨🇭

Today we are joined by Katrin Gygax.

Katrin and her family emigrated from Switzerland to Canada when she was four years old.

Now based back in Zurich as a travel writer, essayist and translator, she is the author of the cycling guide ‘Flat Switzerland’, and ‘Today's Office Looks Like This - 60 unconventional workspaces in Switzerland’.

Any time would be good to speak with Katrin, but especially now, as summer approaches.

For some time now Katrin has been exploring Switzerland by bike, and in the book ‘Flat Switzerland’, she puts together a guide to 33 routes, that are mostly flat or downhill and can be enjoyed at a leisurely pace.

So, If you are interested in the idea of exploring Switzerland by bike, this will be one for you.

To celebrate International Women's Day, in this episode we welcome the authors of the book 50 Amazing Swiss Women; Laurie Theurer, Katie Hayoz, Anita Lehmann, Alnaaze Nathoo and Barbara Nigg.

In this episode, we welcome authors Melinda and Robert Schoutens of Freshairkids.com.

Originally from the US but now living in Switzerland since 2007, the Schoutens are the authors of three family-friendly, useful guides about hiking and fun outdoor activities to do in Switzerland. If you are interested in getting outdoors and taking advantage of all the beautiful scenery, then these guys will have lots of tips and suggestions for you.

In this episode, we welcome author and publisher Richard Harvell.

Richard was born in New Hampshire in the US and now lives in Basel here in Switzerland, where he is Head of USA Publishing at Helvetiq, and Publisher at Bergli Books. In addition to being a publisher, Richard is a best-selling author in his own right, with work translated into 15+ languages.

In this episode, we welcome Veronica DeVore.

Veronica is a Swiss-American dual national, living in Bern and working as Head of Audience at SWI swissinfo.ch. We speak with Veronica about her background, her experience of living here in Switzerland having grown up in the US, about the Swiss media landscape and about how certain stories in the news here may resonate with a global audience.

In this episode, we welcome back Clare O'Dea, who spoke with us once before about Swiss neutrality.

Clare is an Irish author and journalist living in Fribourg, here in Switzerland. She worked for the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation for 10 years, and she's written three books, 'The Naked Swiss: The Nation Behind 10 Myths', which examines the main stereotypes about the Swiss, 'The Naked Irish', which does the same thing for Ireland, and Voting Day, her first novel, which is set in 1959, on the day that Swiss men voted 'no' to granting women the vote. It will be Voting Day that we'll be looking at a little more closely in today's episode. 

In this episode, we speak about foreigners in Switzerland.

We look at who they are, where they live, voting rights and more.

We have something a little bit different again for you this time, which is another conversation with Beth Zurbuchen.

Beth is the President of the Swiss Centre of North America, and Diccon met with her in New Glarus as part of his recent tour of the US. In this conversation, Beth tells us a little bit about her experience of travelling in Switzerland as a Swiss citizen, but one who didn't grow up here.

In this episode, we speak about a few things to do during the summer in Switzerland.

We have something a bit different for you this time, which is a conversation between Diccon and Beth Zurbuchen. Beth is the President of the Swiss Center of North America, and Diccon met with her in New Glarus, as part of his recent tour of the US.

In this conversation, Beth tells us a bit about her experience of holding onto her Swiss heritage while living abroad.

If you like this podcast, please subscribe and, if you work in IT and would like to find a role here in Switzerland, or if you’re looking to hire, please let us know. We’d be happy to help.

The best way to do that is to send us an email to contact@rigby.ch, and we’ll be in touch.

So, enjoy the episode! 

In this episode, we’ll be talking about the Swiss abroad, or die fünfte Schweiz.

We'll look at where some of the Swiss who moved abroad went and why.

In this episode, we’ll be talking about Swiss neutrality, in light of Switzerland’s recent decision to join the international community in imposing sanctions on Russia.

Switzerland has not officially taken part in conflict since 1815 and Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. This neutrality is a key principle of Swiss foreign policy, and has allowed its diplomats room to manoeuvre to pursue various objectives.

Now however, the country has taken a position regarding Russia’s attack on Ukraine. As we will see, it isn’t easy being neutral nowadays.

Here to discuss this with us is Clare O’Dea. Clare is an Irish author and journalist living in Fribourg. She has worked for Swissinfo and has written three books, including The Naked Swiss, which examines the main stereotypes about the country and its people, including neutrality.

In this episode we have something a little different for you, which is a talk with the author Andie Pilot.

Andie is a trained pastry chef, with a Swiss mother, who grew up in Canada and moved to Switzerland in 2010. She started a blog about Swiss food, Helvetic Kitchen, in 2015 and from there has published three books: Helvetic Kitchen, Drink like the Swiss and Swiss Cookies. Today she lives in the bucolic Emmental valley.

Enjoy!

In this episode, we speak about some of the traditions of winter here in Switzerland.

Money in Switzerland

In this episode we take a brief run through Swiss history.

In this episode we speak about various aspects of travel in Switzerland.

In this episode we take a closer look at the Swiss political system of direct democracy.

In this episode we tackle seven things you always wanted to know about life in Switzerland, but were maybe too afraid or too embarrassed to ask!