As far as I know, most of the international organisations have a highly formal recruitment process that takes weeks, rather than days, to complete.  If you visit their offices they will probably direct you to their respective web-sites, where all of their publicly available openings are posted.

Andy

Hello Catarina,

my name is Annette and I am a brand new member of Glocals living in Zurich. I am wondering how you went with pursuing NGO work? Have you been successful? Have you any advice to offer about the process now ??!!

I am an Australian qualified psychiatrist, only English speaking, and have recently been thinking about NGO work myself.

Regards, Annette.

I suggest you check out job postings on the following Websites on a regular basis:

http://reliefweb.int/

http://unjobs.org/

http://www.icrc.org/eng/who-we-are/jobs/ (the ICRC lists job openings that involve "skills always in demand" as well as vacancies in the field and at HQ in Geneva)

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home.html

Of course, you can check directly on UN-related Websites (e.g., UNIFEM, UNICEF, UNAIDS), but UN Jobs and ReliefWeb list everything in one place and include postings by dozens of NGOs across the globe. You can sort through the results by theme/topic, country/region, job type, years of experience, etc.

You may also want to check out opportunities with local or Swiss NGOs, many of which are seeking psychologists and psychiatrists to address the needs of the specific populations they target (e.g., refugees, asylum seekers). Some may need volunteers right away, especially during the winter/Holidays period, whereas others could be looking for temporary or permanent hires.

Also, you can join the Geneva Job Search Support group

Hi Annette,

My situation remains the same so far, still looking.

However I have come across some websites that are useful, such as:

http://www.cagi.ch/en/service-ong/bourse-emploi-ong/offres-emploi.php

but it is specific for Geneva, don't know if Zurich has anything of the sort.

Cécile's links are also useful and so is jobup.ch which seems to be the job site that gets most relevant ads. You can also try www.idealist.org. 

My main action has been in identifying organizations that I could work for and then looking if their websites have a jobs section (which most do) and anything that suits me. if so then I apply; if not I make a decision regarding sending a spontaneous application or not. Either way I keep an eye on their career sections from then on.

I think it may be easier for you to get a job there since you are already living in Zurich, I am still in my country and trying not to quit my job before I find one in Geneva, which is proving to be quite difficult. I may have to move first and look for a job afterwards.

I would say first step is checking how to get your qualification recognized so you can be a certified psychiatrist is Zurich; everything should start developping from there. Although we are certified in our countries we need to initiate specific procedures and pay fees and stuff like that in order to become recognized in a swiss canton. Also very important is to get at least working knowledge of the local language, I have found it is almost always a requirement unless you work freelance.

I am still to find proper contacts in the Portuguese community, which I would say would be the easiest way to get started when language fluency is not yet guaranteed. I'd say for psychologists and psychiatrists (and clients) it may be particularly helpful to work in our mother tongue as linguistic barriers become very difficult to overcome in a counselling context and simple language nuances can undermine the whole process. However official contacts for portuguese organizations are completely outdated; maybe your consulate has proper contacts for organizations that offer support to Australian citizens in your area that may be particularly intersted in your skills. Just a thought.

I'm afraid I am not as helpful as i'd like to be but if you think I can be of any help feel free to PM me.

Regards,

Catarina