Careers and personal development: we will take you further.
SBB supports you in your career and on your way to a successful future: both when you join us and as you plan your career. You can benefit from the varied offer we provide.
Many different personal development opportunities.
SBB is happy for you to discuss any kind of personal development, be it job rotations, internships or individual personal development programmes. So we offer you a wide range of training programmes right where you work, in both virtual and physical courses. Because we care about making the most of your personal potential.
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IreneOdermatt
Training placement beneficiary, rail system enthusiast, snowboard teacher and water polo player.
Over a temporary 4 to 18-month period, you can get to know new areas of SBB. At your new temporary work location, you gain new insights and experience – which can be both personal and professional. You also have the option of moving to another linguistic region. If you want to return to your original job, that can be done without any issues thanks to our return guarantee. But these enriching experiences normally present new career opportunities for you to take.
The talent program brings together a variety of tools and great contacts within SBB – great for working life!
KirstenDolfus
Senior Enterprise Architect, techy keen on trips to the mountains with a wide-range of craft skills.
Our talent programmes are not just designed for linear career paths but for project and specialist career paths as well. They let you develop your skills individually: you are accompanied by external trainers, given personal coaching sessions and collaborate with colleagues. Moreover, you are actively involved in innovative and agile projects and have opportunities to network with top management and key people within SBB. In this way, SBB offers its experienced staff a wide range of personal development opportunities. The best thing about it: you can apply to join the programmes yourself.
Starters Talent Programme.
This attractive programme is designed for staff with the potential to take on management positions or project leadership. In the one-year programme, your time is spent on intensive personal development as a manager, networking within SBB and expanding the range of methods you can use. The programme then gives you new opportunities for your personal development.
Experienced Talent Programme.
This one-year programme is open to senior staff with at least three years’ experience in management. The programme provides a coach to help you increase your ability to reflect upon situations and become an even better manager as a result. The programme equips you with an expanded range of methods.
High Potentials Talent Programme.
This 18-month programme is just right for experienced line managers with the potential to take on a top management position. One aspect of the programme lets you discuss individual personal development measures in your career path and your impact as a leader. Meanwhile, you also work for a social institution or contribute to strategically relevant topics and projects. Your work is informed by continuous dialogue with members of the Management Board. This makes you more sensitive to more complex challenges.
New Talents Mentoring Programme.
Do you want to have some time to think about your management role? Guided by a mentor, you spend a year reflecting on your work and personal goals and how to implement them. You also have the opportunity to take part in varied workshops or organise your own hands-on events.
Get started with us.
There are various ways to join SBB during or after your studies. Do you know which areas interest you already or do you want to get to know different specialist units first? Whatever you decide, you can do great things with us by starting your career with one of the following programmes:
Graduate internships.
Our graduate internships offer students and graduates varied insights into the largest travel and freight transport company in Switzerland. This enables you to gain a foothold in your chosen field of work. In your internship, exciting tasks await: whether you work on innovative projects or develop ideas, you can be sure you will be given major responsibility and make the most of your skills. This means that even as an intern you will already make a valuable contribution. All in all, the graduate internship increases your chances of permanent employment with us and you can launch your career with us at full speed.
For highly ambitious graduates with wide-ranging interests, our trainee programme is the right choice. During this time, you acquire valuable experience in four different specialist units. We will also support you with varied offers. These offers facilitate networking in the company and help you get started in working life. What makes the programme particularly attractive for you: fair remuneration (CHF 80,000 annually), flexible working time, option of working part time with free choice of percentage (60-100%) and the best chances of permanent employment. Additionally, you have the option of following part of the programme in a partner company abroad.
Our specialist entry opportunities are targeted at very committed graduates with a preference for a given STEM field (science, technology, engineering and maths). Deepen your knowledge of your dream area and develop your specialist knowledge. In these programmes too, you benefit from attractive conditions such as a competitive salary, flexible working time and optimal chances of permanent employment.
On our online platform, you can find a wide range of training opportunities. Moreover, SBB will provide money and time to help you take up external training opportunities which fit your career path development. Whether you are aiming for a management role or want to enhance your career or life planning, SBB will support you with appropriate offers.
Language courses.
As a company serving the whole of Switzerland, SBB is committed to offering a wide range of language courses. For example, additional career-specific modules let you improve your knowledge of specific railway-related vocabulary in an online language course. SBB helps you by providing time and giving you financial support here as well. There are also opportunities to learn via language exchanges. That means work colleagues with different native languages meet up regularly and each get to know a foreign language better. By doing so, you do not only improve your language skills, but also make new contacts and expand your network. Residential language courses are also a possibility, and we offer you discounts of up to 15%.
We guide our employees along the path to digital transformation.
Learning provisions.
Digitalisation is changing our needs and requirements – in both our professional and private day-to-day lives. Here at SBB, we are rising to this challenge. With the right learning provisions, we can develop and build on the digital skills of our employees. With modern online training sessions, you can learn anywhere and anytime. Thanks to flexible learning opportunities such as online language courses, you can balance work, learning and family. Classroom teaching is provided in situations where it is useful for employees to participate in person.
Progressive.
As a modern company, we use future-oriented technology and integrate it into day-to-day working life. For example, we use virtual learning worlds to simulate a variety of situations in a realistic way. Thanks to these digital possibilities, employees can continuously develop according to their needs and stay prepared for the future.
We support you in your personal development.
LenkBar.
Over 1,000 members of staff are active in this group. Together, they develop SBB management and tackle the questions managers face every day, as well as future-focused management topics. So members can benefit from the wealth of experience of staff with management expertise while also sharing their own knowledge.
Performance Camp.
This is an offer designed for management teams looking to further develop. These camps are targeted in particular at teams who enjoy tackling challenges and challenging the status quo. The teams have access to an internal coach on two days. The coach gives them the possibility of working intensively on the topics of strategy, performance and collaboration. And personalised topics can also be tackled.
Potential and performance are made visible.
At the personal development conference, we systematically examine the staff portfolio once a year for each team or organisational unit. In doing so, we assess the performance and potential of our staff. That means measures can be discussed and implemented in an effective and targeted way. Our aim is to increase diversity within SBB. Key positions are identified and occupied with the relevant talented people as part of staff replacement planning.
We bring you further.
Fit consultations.
Fit consultations cover a wide range of services targeted at staff who want a change in their career. Together, we increase your chances on the job market, taking a targeted approach. One option is to make use of our career path and educational consultations. Another is to have a meeting where our experts help you take stock of your personal situation. Across several meetings, we analyse the development of the professional path you have taken so far and identify new future professional opportunities for you.
Career path consultation.
Through mutual dialogue, we develop scenarios for your professional and personal future and set goals. Together with you, we define short-, mid- and long-term goals. During the career path consultation, your skills and resources are made evident to you. And your personal values and interests are the focus of our consultation. Thanks to your commitment, further development of your career path becomes a reality. We also develop your skills in taking action and making decisions with respect to professional, training and career path issues.
Educational advice.
Education advice is part of career advice. The focus is on selection and evaluation of training courses which suit you and your career path planning.
We are committed to you.
SBB aims to be a top-class employer. Thanks to this vision and the commitment of our employees, SBB has been recognised several times by organisations in Switzerland and abroad.
Universum.
Universum is the global leader in employer branding research and compiles lists of the top 100 most popular employers in 23 countries, including Switzerland. Each year, industry-specific rankings are published, based on feedback from higher education students and professionals.
Industry
Students’ ranking
Professionals’ ranking
Engineering
5th
3rd
Business
15th
8th
IT
9th
7th
Natural Sciences
12th
n.a.
Best Recruiters 2022.
Best Recruiters is the largest independent study on recruitment in the German-speaking part of Europe. 225 scientific criteria were used to evaluate the recruitment processes of the 447 largest employers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In 2021/2022, SBB was awarded 3rd place for «Best Recruiters Schweiz & Lichtenstein» and was recognised for its Work Smart flexible work and organisation system.
Kununu.
Kununu is an interactive platform on which employees are able to score their employers from 1 to 5 based on various criteria. It operates in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and is therefore known mainly in the German-speaking world.
Thanks to an average score of over 3, SBB has held the Top-Company award since 2009 and has also been allowed to call itself an Open Company since 2011, a title which recognises proactive collaboration with Kununu. (Source: kununu.comLink opens in new window.)
