Personal branding: Do I need business cards while I am looking for a job?

When I first meet with a new client for the orientation workshop I always wondered if I should give or not my business card. For clarity purpose, let me remind you here that my clients (or coachees) are spouses or partners of expatriates relocating to Switzerland,

On one hand, I see it as something convenient for my new coachee to have all my contact details at one place but on the other end, I remember of the time when I was given business cards and did not have one to give in return: I didn’t like the feeling.

At some point I decided I will not give my business card but make sure that my contact details will be on all working documents I will be handing to my coaches.

In the 4U2 programs, what ever the professional project of my client is, networking and personal branding remains central. How do business cards fit into the picture then?

“Business cards” may sound a bit old fashion as we are all connected on facebook, linkedIn and other social media but can we really do without it?

And should we do without it?

What do you do/say when someone gives you his/her card during a networking event and that you do not have any to give in return?

Do you believe that after you met once with one person, you will be directly and immediately added in the phone contact list of this person?

If you want to get the card of someone, giving yours isn’t a sure way to obtain it?

A business card design gives a lot of information on the branding of a company; doesn’t this apply to personal branding?

Does printing 100 business cards in Switzerland cost more or less than a “filet de perches” lunch meal?

Copyright job4U2 2012

How to use LinkedIn for your job search in Switzerland?

Read here my last article:
How to use LinkedIn for your job search in Switzerland?


Some information, tips and recommendations on how to use Linkedn in your job search. 
PS: also interesting when considering using linkedIn for other purposes such as networking, getting information, sharing knowledge, etc...

Archive: February 2012 job4U2 newsletter

"It is my pleasure to edit the February newsletter from the new version of our website. I am very pleased to invite you to visit job4U2 on line.

In December we published an article about networking especially dedicated to the accompanying partner, it included 5 tips for building a network when relocating to Switzerland. Networking remains at the center of a job search process and one of the biggest challenges for someone who has just arrived in our country.Our article this month “The unspoken rules of networking” will provide some precious keys to facilitate this process. We invite you to post your comments and to share experience with networking in Switzerland on the job4U2-Switzerland blog.

For most families, arriving in Switzerland is also a chance to re-think their organization and aim to a better work-life balance. One of the solutions we see developing in the future in Switzerland is jobsharing. Switzerland is one of the very few countries which supports the development of this working pattern and which offers a jobsharing platform: jobsharit is today available in French and in German. Tiziana Frassineti, founder of jobsharit, is fully articulate in English and remains at your disposal whenever support is needed.

Next month, we will publish the article “How to use linkedIn for your jobsearch in Switzerland”: Stay posted!

You can subscribe to the monthly issue of the job4U2 newsletter by sending your request directly by mail here.

We wish you to enjoy each of the 29 days of this month,

Kind regards,

Sandrine van den Oudenhoven, job4U2"

“Dual Career”: A “way of life” in Switzerland?

For just landed individuals in Switzerland, one of the first culture shocks is often the gap between the role of women in the Swiss labor market compared to the one in the home country.

However, Switzerland is one of the European countries with the highest rate of female professional activity: between 55 and 60%! 

Looking at the poor offer in childcare solutions, this figure may come as a surprise and is more credible when completed with 2 additional statistics: The activity rate is 25% lower for women aged 30 to 40. Female part-time rate is, together with The Netherlands, the highest in Europe (>55%).

Dual career is therefore not a completely unknown topic here and we should say that the awareness and motivation to address the issue is very much present and is the promise for an optimistic development for professional women in Switzerland.

We would like to outline here some initiatives demonstrating the involvement of numerous organizations.

Firstly Switzerland has a Federal Office for Gender Equality, FOGE, supporting the deployment of concrete actions to improve professional equality. One initiative is the sponsorship of concrete projects publicly posted in the “Topbox”-

A survey ran by job4U2 and the HR Chair of the Fribourg University in October 2011 showed that close to 50% of surveyed companies think that the increasing rate of dual career couples has a major impact on the way companies should manage global mobility.

Many companies have started offering career support programs to the partner of their international employees. According to the study mentioned above, more than 60% of the surveyed HR Managers believe that providing career support to the spouses gives a company a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talents.

A group of Global leading companies have launched the International Dual Career Network (IDCN) in Switzerland. The network brings together the spouses of international employees of multi-national organizations and aims to provide a mutually beneficial job-search and recruiting.

Everywhere in Switzerland, Universities are showing the way: The national organization, the CRUS, has developed the “Swiss Federal Equal Opportunity at Universities Program” for the period 2000-2011.

The Dual Career Advice office of the ETH faculty of Zurich provides assistance in exploring career opportunities for the partners relocating from abroad.

Going one step further, Mrs. Klaas is leading a similar initiative within the Eucor between 5 universities across the French, German and Swiss border (Region Basel, Mulhouse, Freiburg).

Globally recognized and praised IMD in Lausanne has an MBA Partner Integration Program: IMD organizes a series of workshops, information sessions and networking activities free of charge and open to all Partners.

These numerous initiatives contribute to making Switzerland a country where Dual career couples will, in the near future, find a “way of living” that, we hope, is closely associated with the Swiss quality of life.

Sandrine van den Oudenhoven

March 2012

job4U2

Copyright job4U2 2012

Headhunters or Headshrinkers?

Headhunters or Headshrinkers?

All these 10 tips work as well in Switzerland!