Although the professional examination "Foreign Trade Specialist" has existed under this name since 2012, this designation does not yet seem to have gained widespread acceptance in the world of work. This further training course was created by merging the two previous professional examinations "Import specialist" and "Export specialist". These existed for a good 20 years and were well established as terms. This is why most job advertisements use these former terms or, just as frequently, the actual job description of the vacant position. For example: import/export clerk, import specialist, foreign trade clerk, export sales specialist, export specialist, export clerk, etc.
Irrespective of this, the sponsor of the vocational examination for training specialists, Swissmem, the Association of the Swiss Mechanical, Electrical and Metal Industries, gives this qualification nationwide recognition and credibility. The "Foreign Trade Specialist" course is regarded as training specialists for jobs with a high level of professional responsibility.