Early Careers
Whether you're looking to jump start your career, find mentorship, or try your hand at a new skill, our Early Career programs are designed with holistic growth in mind.
Early Career programs at On have been created for individuals in the beginning stages of their career journeys – designed for a range of entry levels, and typically without prerequisites. We want to keep the playing field as inclusive as possible so that you can come in fresh to learn and grow – hopefully, teaching us something along the way too. We believe in mentorship, growth and fresh ideas – all of which you would get through the three programs below.
MAKER SPACE WORKSHOP, ZURICH
Internship
Our internships offer the chance to make a direct impact at On and contribute to On's growth journey.
Internships are available across our global hubs in Europe, the US, and Vietnam within a range of teams from marketing to R&D, Finance, or Talent to name a few. You'll generally be with On for six months and we promise you'll be fully embedded within the team.
Application period: January-February and June-July
Start dates: April and September (EMEA and Vietnam); June (USA)
Trainee Programs
The Product Creation Academy is our flagship rotational trainee program based in Zurich and Vietnam. The PCA offers the chance to kickstart a career in the sportswear industry through a 24-month journey, designed to develop true functional experts while giving cohorts the opportunity to be hands-on within a variety of teams along the product creation process.
Over two years, trainees rotate through four teams. If starting the program with PCA Zurich, you’ll have one rotation spent with our team in Vietnam, and similarly, with PCA Vietnam, you’ll spend three rotations between Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh and one with our team at On Labs in Zurich. This is an experience to learn first-hand what it takes to bring our products to life across a variety of functions.
Mentorship plays a big role for our trainees too – you’ll be paired with one of our senior product creation leaders, providing coaching and support one-to-one throughout the program.
PCA Zurich – Applications: January-February | Program start: September
PCA Vietnam – Applications: May | Program start: September
Apprenticeship
Apprentice programs are a core pillar of the Swiss education system. We offer commercial apprenticeship opportunities (KV) for Swiss students who have completed their 9 years of compulsory education.
As an apprentice, you'll rotate among six departments over three years. In each department, a coach will support your development. Alongside three days of practical work at On, apprentices attend KV Zurich Business School the rest of the week. We also offer a 'sports apprenticeship' taking 4 years in total, with two years at On and two years at the UNITED School of Sports.
Apprentices obtain a Federal Diploma of Vocational Education and Training at the same time as their Federal Vocational Baccalaureate. The latter will entitle you to enrol in Switzerland's universities of applied sciences without further examination once having completed their apprenticeship.
Application period: Spring-Summer
Program start date: Mid August
Spirits
We want to make a positive contribution, the right way. For ourselves. For runners. For the planet. We believe how you do things is just as important as what you do. That’s why we strive to live and work by five guiding Spirits. Discover the values that bring us together and set us apart.
Explorer
Rethink and venture into the unknown.
Athlete
Build the better you.
Team
Start and finish as a team.
Positive
Deliver 'Wow'.
Survivor
Get smart to save the planet.
Explorer
The Explorer Spirit challenges the ‘status quo’ and brings in 'the new' in humankind’s path to progress. We embrace the human drive for positive change. A better world, a better life, a better feel. How? By being different, taking a more contrarian view. Questioning, debating, both are always welcomed – encouraged even. And we take smart risks to discover the new. New innovations. New territories. New directions. New ways of solving problems. This means making calculated, courageous moves when venturing into the unknown. Yes, the journey can be long and without instant rewards, but we always push ahead. Often, survival will call for a hands-on ‘gut-feeling’ approach when decisions need to be made. There is no phone to call home.
Rethink and venture into the unknown.
Athlete
The Athlete Spirit celebrates today’s wins. But, also knows that tomorrow is a new day with new challenges and new opportunities to perform even better – new opportunities to strive for excellence. We trust in our fine skills to rise to even greater heights. Knowing our strengths and recognizing our weaknesses fuels our constant restlessness, our drive to succeed; whether at work or play. The more we train, the more we learn, the better prepared we are to face whatever future obstacles come our way.
Build the better you.
Team
The Team Spirit harvests the power of the whole. We have learned to combine different skillsets within diverse teams to divide and conquer. This is how the game is won, again and again. And again. Not by the occasional spark of flash by star-strikers eager to display their individual brilliance, but by consistent, hard, team work. When everybody contributes, our team wins. We cross the finish line together and treat each other with respect. However, we are a sports team, not a family. This means that belonging requires contribution by all. Those who contribute the most, lead the team. At On, leadership is earned, not given.
Start and finish as a team.
Positive
The Positive Spirit is what drives us to inspire those around us. This starts with our interactions and what we contribute in this most fundamental activity. How we listen, how we speak, how we tell a story, how we give joy. And the result? Happiness. A greater sense of well-being for all in our community. Positivity is contagious and has the power to create light, excitement and connection out of seemingly nothing. A power that we can use proactively and give without expecting to receive. Give, don’t take. Be selfless, not selfish. At On, we take pride in living the Positive Spirit, and delivering Wow.
Deliver 'Wow'.
Survivor
The Survivor Spirit has saved humankind from the forces of nature. Now we have become so dominant as a species that we are threatening our planet and humankind itself. No longer does survival mean defeating nature. Today, only by saving it is winning achieved. It is our responsibility as both a company and individuals to do our part in saving the planet. But, turning back the wheel has never worked. Progress and exploration are in our DNA. We have to invent new, better materials to enhance performance and sustainability in tandem, and move towards a circular product. We need to ask ourselves: how do we rethink our work to lower our environmental impact? This is why we have to save the planet, nature, animals and ourselves. And we do it by getting smarter.
Get smart to save the planet.
FAQs
