Best city to work in finance and ski

A snowHead

Having seen my dream of training hard and becoming a guide shot down, I'm now looking at something closer to the "possible" realm.

What would be the best city in Europe where I could get a good position in finance and still get to ski a lot?

I've spent the week before last in Lausanne and that's now high on my list (possibly working in Geneva) - but are there any shouts for Milan, Lyon, Zurich, Vienna, Munich, maybe Barcelona, and of course Geneva itself?

"Best city" should be a mix of everything - lifestyle, how easy it is to make friends, financial sector, closeness to good skiing, etc.

My skills are reasonably portable although I would need to wait for the right job at a good level (might as well be able to afford all that skiing, plus summer sports of course). Not planning a move in the next 2-3 years unless a lot of things change.

I'm not really looking to move to the US but hey, feel free to suggest options over there.

A snowHead

Geneva is probably one of the best for finance. Lyon a possibility too, but obviously further from the skiing. Grenoble is not on your list. Niether is Turin.

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1. Vancouver
2. Zurich

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I'd have thought somewhere Switzerland was a good bet, depending on what kind of Finance you're after, either Geneva and Zurich. Or maybe even Munich (not quite so convenient).

How about Japan...work the week in Tokyo, shinkansen to Hakuba at the weekend Cool

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My cousin's moved to Geneva to work in a finance - related career, and has a place near Lausanne now. It's always seemed to be a great idea to me. Geneva's a bit dull but Lausanne seems more lively, and the combination of lakeside living, good pay, and a 45 min drive to Chamonix sounds like a winner to me. I'd like to get my French to a standard where I could start looking for work in Geneva myself but investigation shows that it's not that easy unless you work for a multinational. In Finance I would imagine this wouldn't be difficult at all.

After all it is free

[quote="Patch"]Geneva is probably one of the best for finance. Lyon a possibility too, but obviously further from the skiing. Grenoble is not on your list. Niether is Turin.[/quote

1000 unemployed bankers currently in Geneva so good luck. Geneva is much less important than Zurich. Switzerland has avoided the worst of the recession to now but the outlook for 2010 is not good.

Lyon? the only place to work in France is Paris. The salaries, bonuses etc are much lower in France compared to the UK.

Did you consider London? Good air links to European ski areas.

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could consider a finance role in a manufacturing/medical/pharma/elctronics etc company. Many big names have offices in Switzerland. Areas around Zurich, but also down south west-ish around Neuchatel

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Zurich

Do you speak French? Most job ads I've seen for Geneva require French, even though I'm told once you get a job there you'll always be using English... Zurich however doesn't seem to require German.

I'd wait a few years until the next upturn! I'd love to work somewhere like that myself one day...

You know it makes sense.

WE moved to Calgary getting on for two years ago and haven't looked back. In our jobs, it I reckon is unrivalled in that it is english speaking, offers great career opportunities and has such great access to such beautiful mountains and skiing.

However it does depend on what you mean by finace.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Again, I don't really know what you mean by 'Finance' but what about Oslo?

You can ski within the city boundaries after work, and easily get to bigger resorts for the weekend. I am assuming here, you mean Alpine ski-ing, when I say this. I don't think there is a bigger cross-country ski-ing resort than Oslo City.

If you are the best candidate for the job, I have heard Norwegian employers say that it's not too much of a problem if you don't speak the language, the office will just work with you in English. If you are European, you won't need a work permit.

A snowHead

horizon, like most here I'm not sure what you mean by finance. If working in (re)insurance is your kind of 'finance' then Munich is not lacking, it being the home base of the biggest re-insurer in the world. Plus it's the home base of the Allianz, which also one of the biggest insurance companies in the world... Lots of Brits work for one of those two here in Munich. German is usually not a pre-requisite and in fact a lot of expats find it difficult to learn German because the Germans insist on speaking English to them!
Munich is a great place to live. The place is really international, and in contrast to the Swiss in Geneva and Zürich, fellow Europeans are not generally considered to second class citizens! The nearest decent skiing is only about 45 minutes drive from the city ( depending on where you live ). But also in summer the place is geared around having a good time. No other place in the world has the beer garden culture that Munich has Toofy Grin

A snowHead

horizon, Steilhang, I can only ditto all that Steilhang says! Munich is THE place for me! Skills and experience not age count, transferable skills are valued way above having the "right" qualification from this or that uni. It is a Can-Do work environment, if you can do it, it does not matter where you learnt.

Speaking the language is a major advantage though as the job market is very competitive. I've moved jobs several times since coming here and have never had any problems finding a job, but I am fluent in German French and English which is a big bonus 'cos the age factors do sadly stack up against me in some branches.

I live about 80km from Munich and can be in town very quickly due to the autobahn system being civilised and sensible - except when Stanton's compatriots decide to leave the flat lands!

Off down to the Rosenheimer Herbstfest today (think mini Oktoberfest) and then gearing up for the Oktoberfest which starts next week! Can't wait!

Then maybe skiing in Kaprun, Hintertux or Stubai - each not more than 90 minutes away, so good skiing all year round!

Sue wink

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I'd vote for Zurich as I have had my only good Mexican food in Europe there...in all seriousness, I like the feel of the city much better than Geneva but this is really personal opinion based on two short (3-5 day) visits.

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for jobs in GVA

http://jobup.ch/

the town is a mafia though so the best jobs don't tend to get advertised.

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What about Edinburgh.

Good on finance and there is the Slopes only 2.5 hours away. Well if it snows. Happy

Honestly... I'd go for Norway myself. Excellent woker rights, howlidays etc and you could do lots of tings. eg a shipping broker???? Selling space instead of trading deals.

Oslo is about 4 hours from my usual haunt of Hemsedal.

Cheers
Bob; sunny Glasgow

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glasgowcyclops,

off topic a bit but what do you think to a pre-Christmas (like late Nov/early Dec) jaunt to Norway skiing from Scotland? Do-able? Something I've been thinking about (possibly basing in Lillehammer with a car for day-skis round about). Any advice appreciated (sorry to hijack thread, PM me maybe if you have any advice). cheers

After all it is free

Zürich should fit the bill. Go local if you want to but there is a pretty big expat community here otherwise.

Another vote for Zurich, I worked in a Hotel just on the lake and had a great time Very Happy

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+1 for Zurich. almost went for it myself a little while back. it's still a pretty small city but a bit more interesting than Geneva from what I have seen with a bit of quirkiness in there

how about Nice? do the books for some shady character from Monaco and choose between the beach and the Southern Alps at the weekend Cool

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horizon, There was a recent survey (a few months back) from Forbes - I think - looking at best cities to live in, using lifestyle, job market, education etc as factors. Vienna was 1, Zurich 2 .......Basically looking at 225 cities accross the globe there were something like 6 Germanic cities in the top ten. From memory, Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Munich, and a couple of others.

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boabski, Yes, Basel might be worth thinking about. One city effectively spanning three countries. Best of all worlds there. It's not quite as near to the decent skiing as Munich and Zürich, but it's a really good part of the world, with Colmar & the Vosges on one side and Freiburg & black forest on the other! Nice!

boabski, interesting how cities which do well in these "quality of life" surveys would also come near the top in a poll of boring cities!

You know it makes sense.

Interesting views, keep them coming!

"Finance" currently means business valuation work for a global consultancy - leading a team here in Brussels. I'm certainly not looking to leave this position soon - the least I want to do is build a strong team here, which would take 2-3 years at least, and amongst others it would boost my credentials for future positions. It may well be that I stay here in the long term, Belgium has a reputation for being a place which expats tend not to leave.

If I was to leave in the longer term, a consultancy or bank / corporate M&A type job is probably closer to my profile than a pure CFO job. Could branch out into financial strategy, too.

As for languages, I'm near-fluent in French (though my accent can kill lovers of true French at twenty paces) and I have basic German (good at grammar, but have forgotten most of the vocabulary I once had).

davidof, I lived in London for seven years and enjoyed a lot of things about it...for the time being, I find it easier to mix work and skiing from Brussels.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Stockholm - a couple of single lift hills in the city area - bigger areas a couple of hours up the motorway. Nice place to work, nice people, English is soken pretty much everywhere.

A snowHead

Rumour has it that due to the current issues in the UK with the government trying to stop city bonuses that all of the major hedge funds are relocating to Geneva....

A snowHead

Arno,

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I've got friends that live in the suburbs of Zurich and have spent some degree of holiday time staying there. Zurich is a lovely city and <2 hours in many directions dumps you in the middle of the moutains - my friends make a day trip out of a visit to the mountains to ski. The public transport is renowned, the roads are ace and the road signage is excellent (I breathe a sigh of relief when I drive from France through to Switzerland) - added to that the reputation of Zurich for being a centre of finance I doubt you could go far wrong.

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I love Munich, it's clean, fun, happy and is built on beer.

Also have a couple of mates working in finance out there at the moment, one for KPMG and the other at Oliver Wyman. No idea if thats the same thing. Its all moving numbers round an spreadsheet from what i can see.

Plus theres bucket loads of ski resorts within a 20Euro train ticket.

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boabski, just making the point that it is quite hard to combine a world class city (judged by the city itself rather than what it is near to) with great skiing. Case in point - Mrs A is originally from Vancouver but finds London life much more enjoyable for where we are in our lives. And Vancouver has considerably more going for it than Basel. Basel is about the same size as Luton so not exactly a buzzing metropolis (and yes I have been there)

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After all it is free

Agree with a lot davidof says. Geneva can be grey, but it easy to drive 20 to 30 minutes and get up into the mountains. Renting is very difficult, but easier and cheaper in France which can be only 10 minutes away. Boring - depends what you like. I like skiing, cycling, sailing and walking and Geneva is certainly not boring for those. If you want more info on living in Geneva/Switzerland two good expat websites are glocals.com and http://www.englishforum.ch/forum.php

I'd vote for Zurich as well - my OH worked there for a while - had school boy German which was more than enough to get by - the Gas man that called to the apartment spoke perfect English (unlike some of those over here wink

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I think the problem with all these euro-places are whether you make the decision to go native with all the difficulties that entails or join the ex-pat community (seems hard to do both unless you are a real networker).

For various reasons, often beyond my control, I've gone the native route... but it means maybe not speaking a word of your mother tongue from one week to the next. I've worked for a number of French government departments where everything is done in French and you are totally immersed, for better or worse, in the culture. I'm currently working for a branch of the Swiss govt which is slightly more international in that they are prepared to source solutions from outside the Suisse Romande. The level of English spoken in Geneva is much better than you would find in France.

Personally I can see the appeal of being in a multinational with lots of English speakers (aka allies wink

and the chance to head down the dog and duck for a beer after work. I did this once when I was at Reuters and I'm sure it eases the culture shock.

Another things I should point out about Switzerland. Job security is limited... my notice period is 1 month although 2 to 3 months is more usual. I don't know if this is the same in the German cantons. However the job market is much more buoyant than in France. Vacations can also be relatively short. My current job has 20 days per annum. I'm told in banking/finance people work quite hard too.

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Best city to work in finance and ski

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