Hello everybody,
I’m 23, I’m living in France and I will begin my military service in switzerland (I have dual citizenship) by the end of january 2026 to november 2026. But the thing is, I’ll finish my biotechnology technical bachelor at the end of august 2025 and I would have liked to earn some work experience before starting military to avoid a too large gap without lab practicing between my studies and a future job.
For people who did their military, how did you managed to fill the gap between your studies and your military service ? Do you think I can apply for long term contracts and quit after 4.5 months if I don’t find any 4 months short contracts ?
For additional info, I can work as a lab/agronomy technician and I have some work experience in several labs.
Sorry if I made any mistakes in english
Comments
Off topic but for me you have to be completely crazy to voluntarily enlist in the Swiss army when you live abroad/have French nationality and can do the JDC
In my country I recommend to everyone to do the military service between high-school and University. Best time to do it.
Also went to the military service 2 year into University and that is like 40% of the reason I never finished my Bachelors degree. Good luck. The other 60% is… private.
Congratulations on taking such an interesting decision.
I don’t know what you can do while you wait but I would highly encourage you to learn some German. If you manage to learn a ground level of German before going, you’ll be almost bilingual if you try hard enough by the time you finish.
May I ask you where you plan on living while doing the ER and what function did you chose ?
Can’t you continue at the place where you complete your thesis? That’d be the usual “plan A”. That being said, finding a professional job that lasts exactly 5 months in the autumn isn’t easy. Maybe traineeships at public institutions (agencies, universities)?
Laws are different in every country, but here your job will simply be kept on hold for you for the duration of your military service (mandatory here). Law states that your employer must keep your position on hold for you until you complete your service.
I was accepted into university and had my seat reserved for me. Had a two month break from high school graduation and my induction into the army.
Some tips from a current conscript:
It will pass by quickly. Good luck and have fun.
I did a language stay in the UK for like 8 weeks.
Honestly, people who try to somehow optimisie the military service with their civilian career, are always disappointed one way or the other. It never fits. Either you are starting or ending some kind of degree or job or wouldnt like to miss out on XYZ or whatever. Its never convenient for anyone.
Just accept it as a half year (or in your case of service longue one year) break from life. And see that it is a valuable life experience, that adds to general maturity and adds skills that may not have an immediate obvious benefit to your civilian career, but are nonetheless valuable. Thats imo a much healthier way of seeing it.
I did my national service between school and university. Gave me a long summer between the end of service and the start of the semester.
Quand il y’avait le service national en France, traditionnellement l’entreprise demandait si tu l’avais fait et si c’était pas le cas elle t’embauchait pas (peut être qu’il y’avait une loi qui interdisait d’embaucher ?). En France ça ne posera pas de problème de ce type vu que personne ne pensera à ça sauf si tu en parles en entretien, le RH préférera te mettre de côté que de vérifier les lois, mais si tu veux travailler en Suisse ça pourrait poser problème que tu ne l’ai pas fait s’ils ont cette pratique. Donc mieux vaut le faire rapidement.
Concernant la coupure ce n’est pas très grave, ça comptera comme une “expérience” puis ça fait pas tellement une grosse coupure, on parle pas d’un service de 2/4 ans et ce n’est pas comme si tu avais pris un congés sabbatique ou que tu ne trouvais pas de travail car t’étais un mauvais candidat recalé en entretien depuis des mois (des choses que les recruteurs n’aiment pas), le problème restera surtout le fait que c’est ultra galère de trouver du taff en étant jeune diplômé et ça peux durer quelques années.
I did my military service right after school. I had the final exam in May and started my service in September, and enrolled in university during my last month in the military, getting excused from the lectures that required personal attendance for the time.
So, I pretty much just took two a summer job for two months and the other two months were basically just hanging out with friends for the last time, since pretty much all of us went to different universities in different cities, or already started their jobs someplace else.
Honestly, I‘d recommend doing the same:
Get an internship maybe for two months, and just enjoy life for the other two, have an extended vacation with your girlfriend. After the military, your career and family will take up your time anyway.
I did my military service after my bachelor’s degree. It was a good break for me , so I could decide and find what a master’s degree to do after i finish my military service.
In general during my military service I had the time to think and decide about my next step. So maybe you can also see this as an opportunity to find your next steps after finishing your service.