Alexis Arienta

What surprised you about the graduate programme at Pictet?

The graduate programme at Pictet constitutes a unique opportunity for young professionals at the beginning of their career. This two-years programme is based on several rotations between teams, business lines and Group locations, which allow them to develop a Group awareness, to sharpen curiosity for other positions and to embrace a broader vision of the bank.

The uniqueness of each individual graduate path within the programme was really the most surprising to me. There are now two graduates at Pictet with the same rotation plan and, more generally, professional path in the company is tailor-made to each individual graduate’s skills, in both professional goals and aspirations to thrive professionally.  The feeling of being part of common organization is also quite present. We are working all over the world, yet we are often in contact through seminars and common events which create a common awareness of our 2020 programme. During the two years of the programme, the idea is also to develop more deep and personal relationship with each graduate and thus to develop our own network in the company by creating a kind of Alumni community or our vintage year of the Graduate programme.

What’s your first impression of Pictet? 

Before joining the company, in my mind Pictet already had a great reputation of excellence and professionalism in the global private banking industry. These first months have only confirmed this opinion and I have actually discovered the breadth of the scope of activities of the Group and the diverse professional backgrounds among teams. The turnover rate at Pictet is pretty low, which is great as you get to work with colleagues who have been at the Group for 20 years now. It shows a sense of stability and long-term visions.

Joining the company in 2020 must have been difficult. How did you cope?

Joining the company has been surprisingly easy in 2020 to my personal experience! The online recruitment, done via multiple video interviews and online tests, allowed me to apply to a position based in Luxembourg without the issues of international transportation and the costs that come with it. The recruitment process has been really well organized and I have seen no impact of the Covid-19 on its quality, nor on the quality of my onboarding in the company.

What skills are you trying to develop throughout your graduate programme?

The aim of the graduate programme is to develop in-house the future of the Group. We had developed our technical intelligence during our previous work experiences, our school background or our professional certifications, but now the emphasis is to get prepared for a management role which required a more balanced profile between technical and emotional intelligence.

The programme is still about acquiring new knowledge but, to my mind, these new skills should ideally be inline with our role or how we want to contribute to the organization. For instance, one can choose to learn a new foreign language or to prepare a specific certification related to its position. The graduate programme dedicated team and, more generally, Human Resources will always support your desire to learn new skills to the extent that it will increase your suitability for the position. 

What did you learn about yourself?

I have already learned how much coping with stress is one key emotional feature of a manager. Indeed, one faces on a daily basis stressful situations from the exterior (client, external provider) or interior stakeholders (other departments, management). Even though these people may put pressure on us individually, it is an individual responsibility to assess objectively the level or importance and priority of the task. Thus, one can acts in the most effective way, affecting the most valuable time to the most important tasks.

What do you look most forward to in the ‘new normal’?

Will our lives forever change even after this global pandemic is over? In my opinon, this global disaster will have long-term effects on our work environment. The most obvious consequence is the now open debate about Working from Home (WFH). Whereas this kind of work arrangement seems taboo in many companies just one year ago, all companies worldwide had to implement a WFH solution and many employees have tried it for the first time. Some people have actually enjoyed working this way and will probably be keen to keep this arrangement in the new normal environment.