Geneva: Decision Time

wecanhelpu

Melissa177 wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies - it's given me food for thought. My initial concern was about the sort of package I'd need to live in Geneva, but the more I think about it, the less I want to go. New boyfriend has drawn up a huge list of headhunters that I should get in touch with (he's very keen, I am suspecting an ulterior motive here, heh heh). Interesting times ahead, methinks!

Devil's advocate - I will PM you later!

I thought that headhunters, by definition, are supposed to come looking for you

mr.broderick

Melissa177 wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies - it's given me food for thought. My initial concern was about the sort of package I'd need to live in Geneva, but the more I think about it, the less I want to go. New boyfriend has drawn up a huge list of headhunters that I should get in touch with (he's very keen, I am suspecting an ulterior motive here, heh heh). Interesting times ahead, methinks!

Devil's advocate - I will PM you later!

Speaking of PM will you resend that one from last night, it won't let me download the images. (mr.b)

Melissa177

wecanhelpu wrote: »

I thought that headhunters, by definition, are supposed to come looking for you

They can't if they don't know who you are! Most "headhunters" I know spend much of their time CV harvesting. It's a bit of a misnomer really.

You do like to nit-pick, don't you?

wecanhelpu

Oh bless you Melissa.

You seem to be confusing headhunters with recruitment agencies.

Guy_Montag

wecanhelpu wrote: »

Oh bless you Melissa.

You seem to be confusing headhunters with recruitment agencies.

People that work for recruitment agencies - definitely for the B ark!

JasonLVC

Just came back from a trip in Geneva last week.

Very nice city, people are quite friendly and chatty, despite speaking French!.

Very expensive, even Swiss chocolate is like £3 a bar and a McDonalds Burger Meal was 13 CHF (about £6.70 :eek: ). A colleague who lives out there said it's becuase all the big corporations and banks are based here, world trade org, UN, insurance companies, etc and so basically, full of rich people either on government payrolls or client expenses.

I'm led to believe that you cannot buy a property in Geneva and certian parts of Switzerland unless you are a natural resident (ie, your Swiss!) - so unless you move out to the far suberbs such as Vevier then you're going to have to rent.

Looking at buying a property myself in Switzerland, hence my diappointment in finding I can't buy there. Given a choice between London and Geneva, I'd choose Geneva/Switzerland at a drop of the hat. Fresh, clean, green, etc.

Good luck with the job/move, etc.

kodokan

This website is a general portal for comparing costs and organising insurances - bit like uswitch - but also has a comprehensive property listing section, like Rightmove. And you can have it in English :-)

https://www.comparis.ch

Go and hang around here too, very illuminating:

https://www.englishforum.ch

HTH, good luck making the decision (although don't forget companies usually offer a fully paid decision making trip, even if you've almost decided not to go!)

kodokan

Vampgirl

I've not been to Geneva myself but I do know a lot of people who have moved there from London and they've all said that itsa pretty boring place compared to London (but then I suppose most places are!). Its quite pretty down by the lake and there are bars and clubs in the town, a big plus tho is the skiing nearby.

In terms of cost: most of the people who work in our office in Geneva actually live in France - soooooo much cheaper. In fact its such a popular thing to do that the French and Swiss governments have a system set up to share the income tax generated by such people. Geneva is surrounded on three sides by France so it makes a lot of sense to do this, though it does mean having two bank accounts and most people carry two wallets (one for CHF and on for EUR). Most taxis and many shops accept both currencies, and border checks are virtually non-existant so living in France and working in Switzerland doesn't affect your life that much.

In terms of salary, well as of March 2006, London was the 2nd most expensive city in Europe (5th in the World) and Geneva was the 3rd (7th in the world): http://www.finfacts.ie/costofliving.htm