Potato : po-tah-to :: resume : CV

I moved to Zürich for to broaden my world view, which until now was limited to the West Coast of the United States. The proximity to desirable travel destinations, the excellent chocolate and cheese (Switzerland, you do good by your dairy products), and excellent public transportation are also benefits. My partner secured a job here which really set our move into motion, but this meant I would have to leave my job and start fresh upon arrival. The thing is, it's one thing to have a plan for what to do and totally another to be in the situation to execute...and adjust expectations about timelines when necessary (wow, this turned into a meta moment about the professional world, didn't it?).

Very quickly, I learned that how you go about job searching is different here compared to the US. Before I continue, please note these are observations, my experiences so far.

There is a lot of weight on who you know and who you can be introduced to. Maybe this is just as true in the US and that wasn't a part of my experience. It does feel more of a relationship-based process which is reflected in the CV (curriculum vitae) that is used to apply for jobs. Even though I was able to apply to some jobs with my US resume (and got some interviews from it!), I knew I would have to eventually create a CV to apply to a wider array of jobs. (And here I was thinking I was done with CVs for my career, ha!) Even the CV here is different from the one I had in academia in the US because there is a lot of personal information included that is verboten in the US for legal reasons. Language(s) spoken, date of birth, a headshot, marital status, visa status, nationality....I remember squirming as I was typing this section because this went against everything I learned about what was relevant when applying for jobs. In fact I was fuming over these details, when age (and gender and race) discrimination is a concern.

My CV is still two pages long, so no, it's not literally a life story, though the cover letter (aka motivation letter) is definitely a document to set yourself apart, especially if you do not have a chance to talk to a recruiter or hiring manager beforehand. I'll refine it as time goes on and for each role I apply to though I'm curious to get a hiring manager's and recruiter's perspective on what stands out and what doesn't. I don't want to be making uninformed revisions that may hurt my chances of getting into the initial "yes" pile.

I've let go of some of the squirmy feelings since moving here and getting to chat with Swiss and European professionals. The mindset of people that I have talked with so far about personal information on CVs is very different from mine. Those details provide a glimpse of their potential colleague. They are curious and want to know what it is you are looking for in a new position. It may take more time for me to fully comprehend and accept the rationale, but for now I respect the tradition and am rolling with it. Consider my world view stretched along this particular dimension!