Adrian Gschwend

About Adrian Gschwend

People and their stories - or from banker to consultant

Sometimes you just have to try something out to get to know yourself better. And sometimes you also have to have the courage to leave something behind in order to reach new shores. That's how I explain it to my clients, and it was the same in my own career.

My career has by no means always been straightforward, which I am very glad about today. In this way, I have gained an insight into very different sectors and tasks and can often incorporate the experience I have gained into my consultations. I was also able to develop and refine my own professional identity very well in this way. My common thread through all my professional stations: A fascination with people and their diverse stories.

My professional career began at the turn of the millennium with a commercial apprenticeship at a private bank in Zurich. Tired of school and without much desire to go to grammar school, I still wanted to learn "something decent". During my apprenticeship and vocational baccalaureate, my love of learning was reawakened and I subsequently decided to study business law, which was completely new at the time. During my studies, I discovered my interest in criminal law and compliance. Even then, however, I was often more interested in the people behind the crimes and their motivation than the exact paragraphs. At the same time, I founded a student employment agency with two friends and was able to conduct many job interviews with students on behalf of our clients. The experience I gained from this is still very useful to me and my clients today in my job application coaching sessions.

Following my studies, I further deepened my interest in criminology with a postgraduate degree in business criminology and by working for the Swiss stock exchange and an international consulting firm. In the meantime, however, I have always enjoyed trying out new things and have, for example, set up a real estate investment company in the USA or worked in the book trade for a while.

Although I was actually always quite satisfied with my professional career during all this time, I became increasingly aware that something was still missing. At the age of almost thirty, I wanted to take stock and signed up for career counseling. In the course of consultation and through intensive reflection on myself and my career, I realized two things: what I have always enjoyed most in all my professional activities is dealing with very different people and their stories - and I wanted to bring this aspect to the forefront of my work. Coupled with my interest in counseling and psychological issues, I decided to refocus my career and start a degree in Professional, Academic and career counselling at the Institute for Applied Psychology (IAP) in Zurich. For my Master's thesis - which also dealt with my "favorite topics" of professional identity, people and their stories and life design - I was awarded the recognition prize of the IAP Foundation for the Promotion of Applied Psychology . After completing my studies and working at the cantonal vocational and career counselling St. Gallen, I set up my own practice and am now able to work with my clients on their own stories. My common thread has led me to where I always wanted to go.

My career is a living example of how developing and defining your own professional identity and dealing with these issues in depth can contribute a great deal to finding your own professional happiness. At the same time, my diverse professional experience and the fact that I myself know the economy and the financial industry in particular well from the inside help me to better understand my clients and their professional situation and to support them. In my opinion, this combination of business and entrepreneurial experience with consulting competence is also what makes me consultation .

Service portfolio

• Career advice, personal assessment, professional identity
• Study and career guidance
• job application coaching

Education

• MAS ZFH in Vocational, Academic and career counselling (certified vocational, academic and career counselor)
• BSc ZFH in Business Law
• MAS FHZ in Economic Crime Investigation
• EFZ as a bank clerk, commercial vocational baccalaureate