In theory, the process of searching for a new job is simple:
You find a role. You tailor your CV. You apply. Someone reviews it and decides if you should be interviewed. If you are a good fit, you get the job.

This is how it should work. If you’ve been job searching in Basel over the last year or two, you already know it doesn’t work like this at all.

Many experienced professionals have been displaced in the past 18 months. Biopharma, finance, med-tech, and tech-tech have all seen restructuring. Middle and upper management roles are much harder to find. Forty-thousand Basel-based LinkedIn profiles are overtly or covertly “Open to Work.” Talent Partners are impossible to contact due to the sheer volume of applicants. Senior people are sending out dozens of applications and hearing nothing.

It can feel personal, even when it isn’t. Many strong candidates start doubting themselves, when the real problem is the strategy, not their capability. All of this seems irrational, especially if you have a strong track record. But the hiring process was never logical to begin with—it’s emotional, political, time-poor, and risk-averse. Decisions are rarely made based on who is the “best” candidate in a perfect sense. They are made based on who feels easiest to hire at that moment in time.

If things aren’t moving forward as you expected, here are five things to understand if you want to move forward faster.

1. Hiring in Basel Is a Small-City Network Market

On LinkedIn, Basel’s job market looks huge. There are thousands of professionals, lots of well-known global employers, job boards full of specialist roles. But in reality, it’s a small-city network market, disguised as a big-company market.

Behind the scenes, it runs more like a village. Teams are relatively small. Departments talk. Hiring managers often know who they want before a role goes live. Internal referrals carry enormous weight. If two candidates apply and one comes recommended by someone trusted, that person is almost always interviewed first. This is not personal, it is practical. When headcount is tight and decisions must be justified, “we know this person” is easier to defend than “their CV looked good.”

This is why networking matters, even if you hate the idea. According to data from x28, 70% of roles paying over CHF 160,000 are not filled via ads. This doesn’t mean you need to have thousands of connections—you need the right 10 to 15 people who know what you do and how you help.

2. Good CVs Describe Impact, not Duties

Even good CVs can be invisible if they describe the person’s duties rather than the impact they have had. Most new clients’ CVs I see mostly list responsibilities, such as:

• Responsible for projects
• Managed stakeholders
• Supported product launches

In Basel, hiring managers already understand the duties of the job. What they don’t know is whether you made a difference. Therefore, a strong CV shows proof of achievements that separate you from hundreds of people with similar job titles, such as:

• Cut review time from eight weeks to three
• Introduced a system that reduced costs by 15%
• Led a project that influenced a European submission

If your CV is a list of what you were responsible for, you look capable but interchangeable for someone available in a lower-cost location. If it shows evidence of outcomes, you look more valuable. This distinction often decides who gets shortlisted.

3. Applying Is the Least Reliable Way to Get Hired

Applications are an administrative process. They are efficient for companies, but not for candidates. A typical job posting in Basel might receive 200 applications. Most of those come from people who are technically qualified. Many have Master’s degrees, PhDs, or MBAs. Many speak multiple languages. Many have global experience.

If you apply and wait, you are competing on paper alone. Even a brilliant CV can be lost in a stack of other CVs when submitted 48 hours after posting.

Senior hiring starts with conversations, not applications. The moment a VP decides, “We might need someone,” they check their networks first. If they find someone good, it’s done, even if it’s advertised at the same time. This is why so many roles feel invisible.

The goal is not to become a full-time networker. The goal is to make sure the right people know who you are before a vacancy appears.

4. Interviews Are Chemistry Tests, not Exams

Competence is broadly assumed. Culture, chemistry, and defensibility decide outcomes. When someone is hiring a peer, a leader, or a specialist, they aren’t only asking, “Can you do the job?” They are also asking:

• Will you disagree well?
• Will you be calm when things go wrong?
• Will the team like working with you?
• Will you represent us well?
• Will I be able to justify this hire to my boss?

Your answers matter less than the feeling you create. If you talk for too long, give very technical answers, or try too hard to impress, you can accidentally make yourself look difficult to manage. If you ramble, interviewers lose confidence.

The strongest candidates are clear, concise, and specific. They can explain what they have achieved without exaggeration. They can talk about decisions taken without sounding defensive. They can explain why they left a role without sounding negative.

Senior-level interviewing is a skill that takes practice. To be effective, try to answer “Tell me about yourself” out loud without reverting to a potted career history.

5. How You Talk About Redundancy Counts

Redundancy in itself is not a problem. A lot of people in Basel have been through restructuring. It is common, especially in life sciences. Where candidates get stuck is in how they talk about and explain it. Some sound embarrassed. Some over-explain. Some talk for too long and create doubt where there was none.

You only need one clear, calm sentence: “After the reorganisation, the department was disbanded and my role was no longer required. I used the time to reassess my goals, upskill in X and focus on Y, which is why I’m targeting roles that involve Z.” This is not defensive, emotional, or backward-looking but provides context, direction, and purpose.

Hiring managers are occasionally irrational but usually reasonable. They understand restructures. What they are looking for is confidence and clarity.

How Do You Move Forward?

If applying is slow and networking feels awkward, what actually works? A simple model looks like this:

• Pick target companies rather than scrolling job boards.
• Identify the specific teams or managers who would value your skills.
• Have three or four clear achievements that show proof of your results.
• Connect in a human, respectful way rather than ChatGPT’s suggestion.
• Use interviews to tell short, clear stories that show you you think.

Almost nobody does this. Most people wait for roles to appear and then compete with everyone else. But, “Intention > Volume”—in other words, five well chosen conversations will outperform 100 applications. The market rewards focus, relevance, and timing, not activity for the sake of activity.

With such high standards, even highly qualified candidates can find it challenging to secure a role. Basel is packed full of PhDs, MBAs, and industry experts. So, it’s not just about candidates’ experience but also about who can demonstrate the most potential and fit within the company’s culture.

The Final 10 Percent

Everything above you can address alone. Applying this advice will lead to traction. But most job searches stall not because people lack skill, but because they stop at the broad strokes. The final 10 percent is the part that turns interest into outcomes. It’s the difference between being considered and being chosen. That last piece includes:

• Deciding which companies to target and who to speak to
• Determining what specific problem you can solve for them
• Checking if the market is willing to buy your solution, now
• Positioning your experience for different audiences
• Telling your story in a way that makes people really listen

The competitive, global Basel market rewards people who are clear, specific, and confident. If you have been applying with little to show for it, it does not mean you are not good enough. It usually means your strategy is not aligned with how hiring really works.

There is a way through it. You do not need to reinvent yourself or become a full-time LinkedIn content creator. A small shift in how you search, who you speak to, and how you tell your story changes everything.

The process isn’t as logical as applying and waiting. But once you understand how the market really works, it becomes a lot more predictable.

About the Author

John Bowler is a Basel-based recruitment leader turned AI product developer and founder of The Basel Job Coach, supporting CEOs, VPs, and specialists to find their next role faster across Switzerland, Europe, and the United States.

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