The career after the apprenticeship

You're going to grammar school," is what many teenagers are told by their parents towards the end of compulsory schooling at the latest. This is now taking on absurd proportions: «There are many who score just 10 or 12 out of a maximum of 75 points,» summarises a teacher who graded entrance exams for the short-term gymnasium this spring.
Many parents still see the academic path as the only way for their offspring to succeed. What they forget is that the Swiss world of work is more permeable today than ever before. And while academics often don't actually enter the labour market until they are around 30, graduates of an apprenticeship can start working on their career early on. «Basically, it's easier to make a career in sectors where trained professionals are rare,» says Carla Mom, Head of the Zurich Oerlikon Careers Information Centre.
Take Werner, for example. He completed an apprenticeship as a road transport specialist - the official title of a lorry driver - at a large company. Werner did well and showed a willingness to continue his training. Today he is 35, and five years ago he took over the company from his instructor.

Getting started after the apprenticeship

Ambition and passion: if you have these qualities, you can quickly find a well-paid job with a lot of responsibility and room for manoeuvre, even in seemingly less attractive sectors. «A young person can develop significantly in the retail trade within five years,» says Sven Sievi, Managing Director of Bildung Detailhandel Schweiz, the umbrella organisation for basic and further training in the sector.
Sievi gives an imaginary and typical example: After completing an apprenticeship as a retail specialist, the example case has a gross annual salary of 52,000 francs. In the following two years, he goes through two internal promotion programmes and becomes deputy manager of a large sales outlet, with his annual salary rising to CHF 66,300. Another two years later, he completed the complex further training programme to become a retail specialist with a federal professional examination, took over a sales outlet, was responsible for ten to twenty employees and earned 78,000 francs or more per year. For the future, the higher professional examination in retail management remains, and the financial prospects increase to around 110,000 to 130,000 francs per year.

From building cleaner to manager

There are other unrecognised professions that offer unexpected career opportunities. Allpura, the Association of Swiss Cleaning Contractors, for example, does the maths: After completing their apprenticeship at the age of 19, building cleaners hold their federal certificate of competence in their hands and earn at least CHF 54,536 gross per year according to the Swiss-German collective labour agreement. In the cleaning industry, trained specialists are quickly entrusted with management tasks, and our example soon assumes responsibility for individual properties and buildings or a working group with an average of three to five employees. A few years later, in his mid-twenties, he is appointed team leader. He instructs his people at work and is responsible for their work for the various clients.
Spurred on by this, the example case takes the higher professional examination to become a qualified building cleaner. This enables him to independently manage a department with 20 to 40 customers for his company - annual gross salary CHF 85,000. He is the contact person for customers, monitors the work of his teams on the building and is responsible for ensuring that contracts are honoured. He also trains his employees and coaches them at regular intervals. Here, too, the path to the top is open. Those who continue their training and have the flair have a good chance of securing a place in middle management and an annual salary in the region of CHF 150,000.
«The willingness to undertake further training is key to being able to make a career out of a basic education that is not too specialised,» says Carla Mom. «You often have to make a special effort. You can't shy away from working long hours and you need to be passionate about what you do.»
So it doesn't always have to be the Gymi - if you follow your talents and want to get to the top, you can find unexpected paths in a supposedly unattractive profession.

Read more:

• Career choice - nothing is forever
• What influence do school grades have on career choices?
• Alternatives to apprenticeships and grammar school
• Ask the careers counsellor!
• I want to go to grammar school
• The apprenticeship - a model for success
• Teaching is just the beginning
• Changing professions
• Tips for choosing a career
• Questions about career choices that help