From catering to the tourism industry to UX design – some of our employees have found their way to Helvetia through unconventional career paths. Käthe Sturzenegger, Dominique Wild and Morena Kränzlin agree: this diversity of professional experience brings new perspectives and a breath of fresh air to #TeamHelvetia.

“I already had a number of different jobs before I joined Helvetia as a career changer in accounting at the age of 40,” says Käthe. Home economics, service, a year as an au pair in Ticino, a three-month internship in nursing – all in order to be able to finance an apprenticeship as a Swiss Red Cross (SRK) medical masseuse. Because Käthe didn’t want to be a burden to her parents. At the age of 23, she finally began the long-awaited training and then spent 50% of her time working as a masseuse and 50% in service until the birth of the first of her three children. After that, Käthe spent the next seven years as a stay-at-home mum. Following her return to the world of work, Käthe completed Swiss restaurant licensing certification and decided to run a restaurant independently – i.e. by herself in a non-stop role – until her health stopped her. She needed a new job. After a year of unsuccessfully looking for something permanent and various hourly jobs, Käthe thought: “There must be someone out there who wants to give me a chance!” And in September 2021, she promptly made a career change to accounting at Helvetia, a step completely in line with Käthe’s motto of: “You can do anything you set your mind to.” And now, two and a half years later, how does she like it? “There’s no such thing as a dream job for me. What counts for me is that I have a great team here and can work flexibly.” She likes going to work. “But in the long term, it would be exciting to do something with people again. Who knows, maybe something in HR,” the 43-year-old says with a wink.

“I first came into contact with the insurance industry as part of a trial apprenticeship – I found it really boring,” Morena admits, laughing. Today, she’s a UX designer at Helvetia and delighted that during her Bachelor’s degree in business administration she once again took a closer look at career opportunities in the financial sector. After graduating, she opted for a trainee programme at Helvetia. “As a trainee, I worked in various departments. The customer, employee and user experience (UX) was present in all of them. This showed me that the topics are relevant across departments and piqued my interest even more.” She emphasises: “Every company needs a good customer and user experience to be successful.” She’s currently completing a Master’s in human computer interaction design to further expand her expertise. At the same time, she works with different UX methods on a daily basis to identify users’ needs, problems and goals. “We continue to develop creative and innovative concepts for various digital products and systems.” For her, this isn’t just a job, it’s her calling: “I get to spend every day working to make our systems and products easier to use. I’m not just making a positive contribution to users like this, but to Helvetia as well. I see that as a great privilege.”

Käthe, and Morena’s stories show that career paths in insurance can be varied and individual. Helvetia promotes diversity and offers career changers exciting opportunities to unlock their potential.