Yes, I’d love to! After graduating, my first job was as Night Auditor at the Royal Savoy Hotel in Lausanne. During my time at EHG, I’d noticed that most managers of major hotel establishments came through this key position. Hence this choice. My aim was therefore to develop my skills so that one day, perhaps, I could join the hotel’s finance department and later, why not, become the manager of a prestigious establishment.

However, my six-month fixed-term contract (CDD) began in spring 2020 with the outbreak of the pandemic. So, after just over a month’s work, we had to close the facility because of Covid-19.

As you know, 2020 was a difficult year for the hospitality professions. My employer at the time couldn’t, of course, promise to keep my job or transfer me to the finance department once my fixed-term contract was over. So I quickly started looking for a new job. I sent out around forty applications in various fields, including oenology, tourism and marketing. All the same, my applications were targeted at professions or specifications that corresponded to areas or skills that I felt I had or wanted to develop and that particularly interested me.

At the same time, I had noticed that some banks were looking to recruit private client advisors. During my studies at EHG, I had tried to apply to banks for internships in semesters 4 and 6, but without success, partly because the dates of our internships didn’t coincide with theirs. So I simply tried again. And that’s when my adventure in banking began, thanks to UBS, but also thanks to my first bank manager, who believed in me!

My remit is to manage a portfolio of private customers and advise them on topics such as real estate financing, pensions, investments and basic products (accounts, cards, etc.).

I accompany my customers throughout their life cycle, and try to provide them with the most appropriate solutions at every stage of their lives. My job therefore requires skills in a wide range of areas, as well as the ability to manage risk.

Without hesitation: my current position is without doubt the one that makes me proudest! I feel completely fulfilled in each of my tasks. This is undoubtedly due to the work I’ve accumulated during my academic career, my internships, my continuing education and my personal experiences.

I believe that any career, whatever the field, should be guided by a deep-seated desire and a great deal of motivation. Personally, I’ve always wanted to do something I considered “useful”: a lawyer, a garage mechanic, a doctor or an insurer. As you can see, the palette was wide!

The job of customer advisor requires knowledge and skills mainly in two areas: finance and interpersonal skills. EHG has always emphasized interpersonal skills. This is one of the reasons why students graduating from this school generally have profiles appreciated by financial institutions.

As far as finance is concerned, I taught myself. Indeed, as EHG was not a business school, it offered, at least at the time, mainly general courses with a focus on hotels and restaurants.

So I took online courses to obtain banking certifications. I borrowed course materials from friends and colleagues who had either obtained a CFC in banking, or had graduated from HEC Lausanne. In my opinion, passion and self-improvement are the key to professional fulfillment. It’s this advice that I’d like to pass on to today’s students.

My goals are to continue to develop my skills and gain even more experience in customer advice, so that I can progress in this field within my current company.

Covid and the arrival of artificial intelligence have revolutionized many fields, including finance. Banks are making huge strides in developing digital services and remote advice. Artificial intelligence is also providing us with very useful tools for advice, whether at a distance or during an appointment in a branch.

I believe that the EHG enables its students to become multi-skilled, seasoned collaborators in customer contact. The very generalist training opens up a number of avenues in fields such as human resources, marketing, finance, tourism and, of course, the hotel and restaurant business.

In all honesty, after graduating from high school, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do for a living. So, quite naturally, I turned to the EHG, whose curriculum seemed very interesting.

I also took advantage of internships in fields I knew I wouldn’t be going into when I graduated. I simply wanted to try things out and broaden my general knowledge. And I rather enjoyed it!

Some of my classmates opted for the opposite strategy: they only chose internships in their chosen field. I’m convinced that this is also a good strategy for easily landing a job in a particular field after graduation.

Overall, I really appreciated the courses offered, the advice that the teachers drew from their professional experience, the various internships and, of course, the time spent with my fellow students, whether in practical classes or, for example, during my internship as a seasonal worker in a ski resort with three of my classmates. Some of them have become friends. Even though we have the same training, we do different jobs, but I find it very interesting to compare our different points of view and discuss the improvements we could make in our respective professions. In fact, the EHG tends to develop an entrepreneurial soul in us (laughs).

In my opinion, and I understand that other alumni feel the same way, our alumni network could be developed even further, as it is in other hotel schools.
And I’d like to take advantage of this interview to wish all our students every success for their exams. And all the best for their future professional careers!