Stefan Halters, Head of Financial Planning & Analysis, Sunrise

To help current students and recent graduates navigate the world of work, several USI Alumni shared their career paths and career story. Here the story of Stefan Halters, Head of Financial Planning & Analysis in Sunrise in Zurich (CH). USI Degree: Master in Financial Communication, 2011.

How did you start your career?

After my Master at USI, I joined the traineeship of Liberty Global, a multinational that owns predominantly telecommunication companies. I started in The Netherlands, but the program had rotations abroad as well. I've continued to work for this company throughout my career in various roles (Investor Relations and Corporate Finance) and locations (incl. Germany, USA, UK) and most recently returned to Switzerland to join their subsidiary Sunrise as Head of FP&A.

Why did you choose a career in Sunrise?

I chose Sunrise (part of Liberty Global) originally as the industry interested me and as the company was more opportunistic than traditional telcos when it comes to pursuing M&A options and in their approach to financing such synergistic opportunities. The reason for joining Sunrise was that I had often covered the Swiss market during my investor relations work at Liberty Global, and to join the operations after a large merger (of Sunrise and UPC) was a great chance to broaden my skills.

What is your current role/duties?

I am the Head of FP&A in finance, which means I oversee all financial planning related processes as well as providing monthly management reporting on the financial performance of the company, thereby closely working together with the Finance Business Partners that cover their respective business units.

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

Qualities include being open to change, being curious to understand the bigger picture, and to always strive for improvement.

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

USI offers a very personal and international environment to enjoy high quality education. A strong preparation for an international career. The Master further offered a strong combination of hard skills in finance, but also the communication skills to put it at work, as often in finance it's just as important how you explain the results or trends.

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

The USI program provided broad exposure to a variety of finance topics whilst specifically deep-diving into particular areas. Similarly during my work, I also need to understand broader processes before zooming into particular issues and gather the information required. So that process of effectively collecting the information needed to understand a problem and thinking of next steps, is an important skill acquired during my study.

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

Be open minded about where to start and consider traineeships as a great way to discovering personal interest, skills and the best path forward. At the same time choose something you are interested in since the first employer/industry can set a direction of travel for the rest of your career. When searching, use various channels to get in touch with companies (put CV online, talk to recruiters), cause sometimes you will indirectly get to know an opportunity you didn’t think of beforehand. Also make sure your hard skills are well up to speed (MS Office (Excel/PowerPoint)), so you can immediately focus on the content of your work.