Valerio Sudrio, Head of Strategic Partnerships EMEA, Google

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Servizio alumni

1 Novembre 2021

In order to help current students and recent graduates to find their way in the working world, many of our alumni shared their career story. Here the story of Valerio Sudrio, Head of Strategic Partnerships EMEA in Google in London (UK). USI Degree: Master in Management, 2010.

How did you start your career?

I started my career at 10EQS - a management consulting firm founded by former McKinsey Directors.

Why did you choose a career in Google?

Google is still one of the best companies to work for worldwide. The size, scale, impact of the work you do is unparalleled. The level of people you work with is World Class. Personally, working at Google has been a goal for me since my University.

What is your current role/duties?

I make millions of small and medium businesses visible locally and successful online. I built and now I am leading and scaling the Google My Business platform partnership program in the EMEA region. The objective is to integrate Google Technologies in our Partner platforms via API and to build a seamless "one-stop shop" customer experience in the partner platform.

In your opinion, what are the qualities necessary for a successful career in Google?

Curiosity, resilience and ambition.

What positive aspects and qualities meant most to you during the study programme you attended?

USI gave me a truly international mindset. The program was very modern for the times and challenging enough to really make me ready to jump in the business world from day one.

What competences and/or skills acquired in your USI Study Program have been useful/are useful to your professional career?

The university has a very practical approach, you do not only learn the theory but you start to apply it in the real world. For example we had often to prepare assignments and to present them to the class. At USI I took useful courses like the Entrepreneurship course by prof. Colombo. I remember my team and I presented a business plan for an international business of Alpaca wool. We had so much fun doing that and after years I realised how useful it was. I founded my company "AvvocatoFlash" - together with another USI graduate - by using the same teachings we had received in Prof. Colombo class.

What is your advice to USI students entering the job market?

Never give up on your dreams and your passion. Never let anyone tell you that you cannot do something. To get where I am now in my career, I had to go trough a lot of up and downs, a lot of failures, a lot of door closed, thousands of CV sent. I can't count all the companies who have not even considered me for a first interview. Take all the failures as fuel to perfection yourself. Don't stop investing in your personal growth. Do reach out to people who are more further on the journey to ask for advice. Or just sneak on their LinkedIn profile to see what route they took to get where they are. This helped me a lot. Be ready sometimes to take a step back: you will make five further if you always keep your end goal clear. Most importantly, enjoy the ride.