As long as families live a hustling lifestyle, the demand for Kitas will only grow. Of course, there are plenty of job search platforms available, but how convenient and beneficial they are for both Kita managers and educators?
In this article, we’ve reviewed five of the most popular Kita job search platforms available in Switzerland today and also prepared some insights into a brand-new job search platform.
The State of the Kita Market
Swiss Kitas are very important in the country’s social structure and educational system. They help children thrive, empower parents at work, and promote cultural diversity and gender equity.
In Switzerland, the nation’s commitment to giving its youngest citizens a strong start in life and building a thriving society for all is deeply rooted in the importance of child care.
What is a Kita?
A Kita (short for “Kindertagesstätte” in German) is a daycare facility for young children, typically ranging from infants to preschool age. These facilities are designed to provide a safe and nurturing environment for children while their parents are at work or otherwise occupied during the day.
Kitas in Switzerland focus on early childhood education and development. They offer various activities and programs to stimulate children’s cognitive, social, and physical growth. The staff at Kita daycares are usually trained in early childhood education and care, ensuring that children receive proper supervision and attention.
Parents in Switzerland often rely on Kita daycares to balance work and family life, as they offer a reliable and structured place for their children to spend their daytime hours. Kitas can vary in terms of size, services, whether it’s private or public, and cost.
Demand for Kita Educators is on the Rise!
In Switzerland, parental leave policies provide 14 weeks of paid maternity leave along with an extra 2 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. In addition, there are 2 weeks of paid paternity leave available, which can be either used all at once or split as individual days.
Despite this, the relatively short duration of maternity leave may lead many parents to seek alternative childcare options, such as Kitas, hiring private babysitters, or relying on support from relatives and friends during the first months of their child’s life.
In short — the situation on the market is such that daycare is very overcrowded and understaffed. At the busiest times, the number of vacancies exceeds a thousand, and this is only on online platforms.
Despite the fact that Switzerland is known for its high standard of living and the high demand for childcare-related workers, many educators complain that their incomes do not meet the standards.
Salaries may be influenced by many factors. In addition to the usual aspects, such as region, education level, workload, position, work experience, and company size, gender, nationality, and residency status also have an impact.
According to data from Salarium for 2020, provided by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, the average annual salary of a certified worker in care professions in Zurich was approximately 69’000 francs (gross income).
As for the most recent data, according to Kununu, a platform where employees can share their insights on workplace experiences and company culture, the average annual salary for early childhood educators in Switzerland is approximately 58’000 francs (gross income).
This difference in numbers is explained by the fact that approximately 30% of respondents from Kununu have less than 3 years of professional experience, which means that they are not considered certified workers but interns and apprentices.
Many Kitas prefer or require staff to have formal training in early childhood education. This might include a diploma or degree in early childhood education, child development, or a related field. One of the most requested degrees for working in Kita is a “FaBeK” or “Fachfrau/-mann Betreuung Kind”, which stands for “specialist in child care.”
How To Find a Job in a Kita?
Throughout Switzerland, there are more than 2,000 Kita daycare centers for infants and children up to four years old. But in most cases, the job search is very limited by the canton you live in. So, how do childcare educators get hired?
There are commonly 3 ways to get a job in daycare:
Contacting Kitas Directly
Some Kitas may not advertise vacancies online and may prefer direct inquiries. In such cases, it will never hurt to reach out to Kitas directly to discover hidden vacancies. You can either visit Kitas in your neighborhood, find their phone number or e-mail them.
Networking
Networking remains a valuable strategy, particularly if you’re targeting job opportunities in a specific canton or region. Job seekers may connect with people in the field, including educators, parents, or other childcare professionals, who may often possess valuable insights and might be aware of unadvertised job openings in Kitas.
Online Job Portals
In addition to general job search sites or LinkedIn, there are also quite a few job search sites that focus exclusively on Kitas. Such local job websites or dedicated platforms for childcare jobs in Switzerland are a big help for both Kita managers and job seekers. Even if some websites don’t look quite up-to-date today, they don’t lose their worth, because the Swiss value efficiency above all else.
To make your search easier, we have already selected 5 of the best Kita job platforms available today.
5 Best Kita Job Search Platforms Today
Krippenstellen
Pros
- Specialized for Kitas, from cooks to admins — everything is gathered in one place.
- Frequent job updates, around 20 new job posts pop up daily.
- Easy to search, filter, save job offers, and set up job alerts via e-mail.
- You can filter out unwanted companies and job titles from the search.
Cons
- With so many new jobs daily, older job offers get lost over time.
- Some job descriptions aren’t filled out properly, so you might miss crucial info about the job.
- No quick application process, each employer has their own requirements for applicants.
Krippenstellen is the most popular platform in Switzerland for job seekers and hiring managers in the childcare industry. It has earned its reputation by focusing exclusively on Kitas and the various roles within this sector, from apprentices to cooks and office administrators.
Over 150 different Kitas from across the country rely on Krippenstellen to advertise their job openings with an average of 700–1000 offers. The site sees daily updates, with around 20 new job postings daily.
Such frequent updates are both an advantage and a disadvantage because older messages that aren’t even a week old can easily get lost. To make the search a bit easier for users, the site has a fairly convenient filtering system by location, profession, keyword, and the ability to save favorite offers. It even has an option to exclude unwanted job titles with negative keywords.
The main drawback of this site is that there is no quick way to submit your application. Instead, managers leave their contact information at the end of the ad. However, there is an option to print or save the selected job offer as a PDF file.
This site does not provide pages dedicated to companies, only links to their websites (if they have them). Therefore, the responsibility for familiarizing yourself with the company and its reputation remains with the searcher.
Kinderkrippen
Pros
- Applying for a job is relatively quicker than in Krippenstellen, although you must repeatedly attach your resume.
- The platform supports a map view with the ability to review all active posts and compare their distribution across the country.
- Kitas can promote their job opening to the top of the search list, so they are less likely to get lost over time.
Cons
- Some job descriptions are missing essential details important for applicants, which can be a bit frustrating (read below to learn more).
- This site is a bit less popular than Krippenstellen, but you can still expect to find openings from roughly 65 Kitas.
- Fewer job options are available, about 7 new job openings appear on the platform daily.
Kinderkrippen is designed for job seekers as well as parents who are looking for a childcare center. You can review approximately 500 job listings specifically for Kita positions available on the platform.
Kita managers can post a vacancy and even boost it to the top of the site with additional payments. This way, the chances of the offer getting lost are much lower. And unlike the previous site, there are many more internship and apprenticeship offers available, which Kita managers can publish for free.
What is fascinating about this site is the ability to view the number of open positions on an interactive map.
The site allows you to quickly submit your resume, and you can choose whether you want to receive similar vacancies via e-mail. But if you want to apply for several jobs on this site, be prepared to fill in all your data anew each time.
There is still no way to view Kita profiles, so you can find out all the details either from the job posting itself or by searching for them yourself. Some job descriptions lack essential details, leading to potential frustration for job seekers.
For example, at the beginning of the page, managers can fill in only standard basic information on the type of workload, type of work, location, etc. But for the rest of the details, such as benefits, vacations, company culture, development opportunities, etc., there are no corresponding fields, and the job description may not always describe these details.
Liliput Familienwelt
Pros
- You can advertise yourself as a specialist on this website.
- All posts can be filtered by category and cantons.
- A fairly convenient application form.
Cons
- An outdated design that could be frustrating for some users.
- Often, managers don’t fill in much information about the position, except for the bare minimum.
- Hard and time-consuming to find and filter offers from Kitas.
Liliput Familienwelt is designed more like a forum than a job search site. This site is aimed at a wider audience, along with Kita job offers, you can also find ads aimed at parents or pages of private babysitters. If you spend a little time registering on the site, you can easily create a page about yourself so that managers and parents can find you.
The ad filter system here is quite simple, but not flawless. You can filter out job offers from everything else, but you’ll have to spend a lot of time to find an ad from a Kita. Due to such a large mix of offers, even managers themselves do not always fill in all the necessary data, except for the basic ones. On average, you can find 5 to 7 new offers on the site every day.
The application process is identical to Kinderkrippen — you need to enter your data anew each time and attach a file with your resume.
Joboli
Pros
- Offers the most extended filters by many criteria, and even an advanced search option.
- The only site where you can sort search results by your preferences.
- All the ads are well-designed and filled out properly.
- Modern interface design in comparison to the rest.
Cons
- Not many job openings are available on the website, the number varies from 20 to 50 posts in general.
Joboli is currently the most user-friendly and modern platform. It was launched in the summer of 2022, and from the first glance at the page, you can feel the difference in the user experience.
This site has many filters to help you customize your job search by location, field of work, and even workload. You can also sort out the results by your preferences and even use an advanced search feature.
All job descriptions on Joboli are filled properly with all needed parameters and are well-summarized at the top of the page. The required skills are organized and highlighted in a separate area as well. Most managers even attach a PDF file that also describes the working conditions and benefits.
There are two options to apply for the job here: either through the platform or redirect to the employer’s website — it is up to the employer. Nevertheless, even an on-platform application requests lots of details and fields to fill out.
However, this site has only one drawback: you won’t find numerous offers here. Updates are quite rare, and there are generally 20 to 50 open ads on the site. This may not be enough for a full and effective job search, but it is still worth considering.
Rent a FaBe
Pros
- All job offers are duplicated on their Instagram profile.
- You can save the page of your favorite company and follow their job ads.
Cons
- No sorting or filtering system is available, only by cantons.
- Very few job offers compared to previous sites.
It is also one of the newer sites for finding jobs in the field of childcare. Rent a FaBe is registered in the Commercial Register and has a permanent permit from the Office of Economy and Labor for employment services and employment agency.
Their uniqueness lies in the fact that they have a social media integration. Rent a FaBe has more than 1,000 Instagram followers and posts new job openings on their Instagram stories immediately after they are posted on the website. Thus, it is not necessary to constantly monitor the website when you can track offers on social media.
Rent a FaBe is great for social media integration, but the website itself is very straightforward. You cannot filter or sort jobs to your liking, but you can apply for a job directly from the site.
This site typically has around 50 job listings, which may not be as extensive as some other platforms. However, new postings appear quite regularly, so you’ll always have new opportunities to explore.
The site also offers a company profile, but it’s limited to basic contact information, a brief description of the company, and a list of the company’s open positions.
The application process is quite simple, but even here you need to manually fill in your data, write cover letters, and upload files every time. If only there was an option to save your profile…
A New Kita Job Search Website?
All the sites we’ve reviewed are currently doing an excellent job of communicating between managers and job seekers. However, despite all the advantages, some sites could at least use a tiny makeover for a better user experience.
Managers still have a hard time finding quality specialists quickly, and job seekers have to go through the complexities of constantly filling out resumes and tracking job openings. And that is something Carejobs wants to provide — a platform to find jobs in Kitas that hire fast, respect their workers, and have clear terms.
Carejobs is a platform that empowers childcare specialists to get matched with the workplaces they deserve. Our goal is to create a modern, user-friendly platform for communicating the hiring process in Kitas.
Users will be able to share their experience with companies and leave feedback, and job seekers will be able to quickly communicate with Kita managers.
The site is still under development, but you can already sign up as an early bird and stay tuned for updates.
Summary
Just as parents are in need of Kitas to balance their work and life, Kitas are always in need of highly qualified staff. Job search websites in this area and the daily postings of numerous teaching jobs demonstrate the high demand for educators.
This article analyzes the best 5 job search platforms in the Kita childcare field. We talked about the pros and cons of each website and how they meet the needs of job seekers and Kita managers.
FAQ
🤔 What Is a Kita, and What Is Its Primary Purpose?
A Kita is short for “Kindertagesstätte,” which means “children’s daycare center.” Their main job is to take care of children during the day and help them learn, play, and have fun while their parents are at work.
📚 What Qualifications Are Needed to Apply for Kita Positions in Switzerland?
If you want to work in a Kita in Switzerland, you usually need to have some training in child care or education. The most common qualification is called “FaBe” (short for “Fachmann Betreuung”), which means “specialist in child care.”
🧒 Is Kita Attendance Mandatory for Children in Switzerland?
No, Kita’s attendance is not necessary in Switzerland. It’s a decision based on what’s best for the child and the parent’s needs.
✉️ How to Apply for a Job in a Kita?
Applying for a job in Kita is similar to applying for any other job. You’ll need to find job listings on websites or through networking. Then, prepare your resume and a cover letter, you can usually apply online or send your application by e-mail. Some Kitas might also ask for references or certificates.
