​As one of Europe’s most linguistically diverse nations, Switzerland’s communication dynamics pose some unique opportunities (and challenges) for businesses, especially when it comes to the hiring process.

With four official languages (German, French, Italian, and Romansh), Switzerland’s multilingualism is an inexorable part of its national identity – how does it translate to the workplace?

Hailed as Switzerland’s invisible borders, language divisions have long been a point of contention in the world of cross-border recruitment.

Preference or Necessity?

Swiss German is the most common workplace language (spoken by 61% of employees), and it’s where you’ll find the bulk of the employer/recruiter/candidate friction. Despite relying on a pipeline of highly skilled international talent, stringent language requirements often stand in the way of business-critical hires.

To avoid missing out on top talent, leaders need to ask themselves, is this language requirement a necessity to perform the role or is it simply a cultural preference?

It depends on the sector, the role, the region, the project and the company – we typically see the more stringent language requirements in MedTech and Pharma across Bern and Basel, unlike the FinTech sectors in Zurich and Zug, where requirements tend to be more flexible.

Interestingly, English is often the preferred language for larger multinational organisations, making Switzerland somewhat of an outlier in Europe. The English trend has grown over the last few years, with 14.1% of Zug’s population claiming to speak it as a primary language.

B2 or C1?

There’s an ongoing debate around which level of language proficiency a candidate should need, B2 (independent user) or C1 (advanced user, comfortable in specialised professional environments).

This tends to drive up the value of multilingual candidates, placing additional pressure on hiring managers to assess their candidates’ language skills with a higher degree of nuance.

Moreover, this can inadvertently limit the reach of hiring campaigns, preventing access to diverse talent pools in international geographies.

For public-facing roles or client interaction positions, C1 proficiency might be essential. For technical or back-office roles, however, it becomes harder to defend the requirement.  

Take engineering roles for example – B2 is often perfectly fine in practice, particularly when the bulk of their responsibilities rely on technical expertise.

Ultimately, hiring managers need to contextualise their language requirements. Overly rigid or arbitrary criteria only limit access to great candidates.

Bridging Skill Gaps

If you’re struggling to secure your candidates, check out these top tips from our consultants:

• Leverage a service (like Trust in SODA) that can bear the full administrative burden of hiring cross-border talent, freeing up your internal team and reducing your time to fill. 

• Shorten your hiring process! Overly complex hiring processes with multiple interviews lead to lengthy timelines, and in-demand talent won’t wait around when they don’t need to.

• Get to know policy. This can help you develop your language requirements and better understand your compliance obligations when hiring cross-border talent. We’ve got a guide here to help: A Comprehensive Guide for International Firms

• Tap into communities (like Women in DevOps and Pride in Tech) to access qualified, engaged, and diverse talent pools!

• Salary benchmarking is critical. The better you know the market, the easier it is to compete.

Non-traditional recruitment is the best way to bridge skill gaps. We’ve been doing it for over a decade here at Trust in SODA, and we know how difficult it can be to realign your hiring strategy.

With offices in Berlin, Boston, Dublin, London, and Zug, we’ve got the global reach and localised expertise necessary to help you overcome skill shortages with sustainable talent solutions.

As SECO-licensed recruiters, we’re fully equipped to support businesses with quality, compliant, cross-border talent solutions across the full spectrum of technology. Contact me directly to learn more about our community-led recruitment: alex.okla@trustinsoda.com.

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