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The career aspirations of the Swiss differ significantly from the rest of the world. An analysis of Google search queries shows which professions are particularly popular in this country – and what is in demand in the rest of the world.
July 7, 2026, 4:18 p.mJuly 7, 2026, 4:18 p.m
Anyone who dreams of a professional career in Switzerland would ideally like to become a professor. This is shown by a new analysis from the financial service provider Remittallywho analyzed Google searches for “How to become…” in 145 countries. Professor leads the Swiss ranking ahead of pilot and actor – and thus differs significantly from the global trend.
While academic professions are particularly in demand in Switzerland, the picture is different internationally. For the first time since the study began in 2022, actor is the world’s most wanted dream job, displacing pilot from the top position. For “How do you become an actor?” 222,080 search queries were counted worldwide – around twelve percent more than in 2024. Interest in the profession of pilot, however, fell by almost half.
The other places are followed by firefighters, lawyers and YouTubers. The rise of legal professions is particularly noticeable: the legal job has gained 55 places compared to the last survey. Physiotherapists, who are in 12th place worldwide, were able to increase at exactly the same rate.
Although YouTubers “only” occupy fifth place in the global ranking, it is the most popular of all dream jobs in many countries. It is at the top of search queries in 28 countries – more than any other profession. Many people dream of a career as a content creator, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean.
For the first time, Remitly also evaluated careers in the field of artificial intelligence separately. The new category is led by the prompt engineer with 5,590 search queries, followed by the AI specialist and the machine learning engineer. Although the numbers are still significantly below those for traditional professions, according to the study, they show how quickly new technologies are changing career aspirations.
For the investigation, Remitly evaluated Google search queries between May 2025 and May 2026. Search terms along the lines of “How to become…” in the respective national languages were analyzed. A total of 424 professions from 145 countries were included in the evaluation. (pre)