painter.

With brush, roller, and roller frame, you're in your element. Your job is to beautify, protect, and make buildings more homely. You're practically at home on all construction sites. Find out more about your duties as a painter here.

Painters protect, beautify, and preserve buildings. Primarily, this profession is a creative one. You mainly work with paints and varnishes. In your field, you will find other specialists such as: 

• Plasterer and dryliner: In this trade, you plaster and decorate whatever comes your way. This can include ceilings, walls, and facades. You also create claddings, partition walls, and install insulation. Your job is to insulate buildings and even adorn rooms with stuccoes. The finished result can be quite impressive and will make you proud.
• Industrial painter: In this field, you also enhance and refine. Your main task involves working directly on surfaces. These can be on equipment, machinery, or other industrially manufactured products. You sand, paint, and label wood, plastic, or metal. This helps to protect components and parts from damage or deterioration. In this way, your work contributes to the preservation of the value of the products.
• Car body painters: Vehicles can also be enhanced or restored through painting. Whether after an accident or due to age, you can make the car shine like new again. You can paint vehicle surfaces as usual or apply a completely new colour. You also use colour effects and car wraps to give a personalised touch. Craftsmanship and creativity come together in this field as well.

You will find varying information about gross wages on the popular job platforms. Generally, as a painter, you benefit from the collective employment agreement (CEA) for the painting and plastering trades. The CEA is primarily designed to ensure fair pay for qualified professionals. As a career changer or unskilled worker, you will be at the lower end of the specified minimum wages. The CEA is binding for the German-speaking part of Switzerland and Ticino. The more experience and responsibility you have, the higher your earnings. Continuing professional development is worthwhile in your profession. According to the CEA, you are even entitled to subsidised training. Your starting salary as a painter after completing your EFZ apprenticeship is on average CHF 4,800 per month or CHF 62,400 per year. Find out more about your gross wage as a painter here.

There are various routes into a career as a painter. Depending on how much you invest in your apprenticeship, your earnings will vary. If your academic performance is average, you can complete a practical painter qualification (EBA) after two years. The academic requirements are lower, but you’ll be able to showcase your practical skills. However, there’s no need to despair. You’ll gain work experience and can simply complete the full Fachausweis (EFZ) qualification later on. If you find the theory as easy as the practical side, you can go straight for the full painter apprenticeship (EFZ). After three years, you’ll hold a recognised federal diploma. This makes you a sought-after professional and allows you to start your career with a higher salary. If you’re ambitious, you can develop further after a few years of work experience. Through additional training, you can deepen your expertise or prepare for a managerial role.

As a qualified painter, you have excellent prospects in the job market. painting and plastering companies, as well as large organisations, are looking for you. It’s up to you whether you prefer to work in smaller firms or in the paint industry. Even corporations with their own in-house technical departments are regularly seeking skilled professionals. Are you looking for an attractive position as a painter? On this page, you’ll find interesting opportunities with good prospects.

Skilled painters are in high demand. However, the number of new entrants is not enough to meet the demand. As a result, large companies also rely on labourers and individuals from outside the industry. They develop you as a career changer through on-the-job training. You already have good prospects if you have work experience in the painting trade. If you can demonstrate an EFZ qualification in a related profession such as plasterer-drywall installer or industrial painter, you have excellent chances. Any missing specialised knowledge can be acquired through practical experience or further training.

With your solid foundational training as a painter EFZ, many opportunities are open to you. You start by gaining practical work experience and then work on developing your career. Through additional qualifications, you can specialise in areas such as car body painting, craftsmanship in monument preservation, or laboratory work in the field of colour and coatings. If you'd like to lead a team, you can achieve this by completing a higher vocational examination to become a master painter or an expert in healthy and sustainable building. Want to develop further as a painter? Take a look at our tests and tips.

You’re knowledgeable as a painter when it comes to materials and techniques. But that alone doesn’t make you a sought-after painter. Other important skills include: 

• Craftsmanship: As a painter, you work with brushes, rollers, and spray guns. You apply paint, wallpaper, or textured finishes to walls and ceilings. For this, you need manual dexterity and a creative flair. With these skills, you work efficiently and achieve excellent results.
• Team spirit: On a construction site, you don’t work alone. You share tasks with colleagues from different trades. You support each other to complete a building project on time and successfully. Even during renovations, you work as a team with other painters. The more in sync you are, the quicker and more efficiently you’ll finish the job.
• Resilience: On the construction site, as a painter, you're constantly on the move. You climb ladders and scaffolding. You swing brushes and rollers overhead. For this, you need strength, physical fitness, and flexibility."
• Insensitivity: In your line of work, you come into contact with paints and varnishes, which contain solvents. When these are released, fumes and gases are produced. When preparing surfaces, you sand them down, which creates fine dust that floats in the air. You protect yourself with respirator masks, but over time, a certain level of insensitivity can develop.

There are many good reasons to work as a painter at Randstad:
✓ exciting jobs at well-known companies
✓ a reliable point of contact whenever you need one; personalised advice matters
✓ attractive employment conditions and good social benefits
✓ further education courses and personal development opportunities
✓ clear information in the myRandstad app
✓ do you have a fixed-term contract? Often, there’s the opportunity to secure a permanent position afterwards. Many well-known companies also recruit their staff directly through Randstad.

your training budget as a painter at randstad.

If you work as a painter for Randstad, you have access to training courses. As part of the TempTraining programme from swissstaffing, you can attend various training sessions. You will be reimbursed for the course fees later, provided you pass the course exam. Your Randstad advisor is there to support you if you have any questions. This way, you can also gain additional language skills or specialised professional knowledge. And all of this is during your working hours as a painter.

Have you found your dream job as a painter? It’s not just qualifications and certificates that determine the success of your applications. Careful, error-free, and personalised documents will definitely help you in your job search. Here are a few useful tips to optimise your chances:

Here you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions about working as a painter.