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Created on 03.12.2024

Athlete programme: successfully combining competitive sport and career

Starting a career before or after completing your sports career? The PostFinance athlete programme offers you this opportunity. In the interview, professional handball player Benjamin Meschke talks about his personal journey. The former asset management trainee is now a permanent employee at PostFinance as a Business Compliance Officer and is completing a Master’s degree in banking alongside his career in sport.

Benjamin Meschke (second from right) in action for Wacker Thun. Photo: Wacker Thun/Romy Streit

At a glance

  • The PostFinance athlete programme supports competitive athletes during or after their sports careers as they seek to embark on professional careers.
  • It’s a win-win situation. It gives athletes a foothold in the professional world and the company gets to bring on board trainees with the sought-after athlete’s mindset.
  • The athlete programme often leads to a permanent position – as is the case for professional handball player Benjamin Meschke. 

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Benjamin, you’re currently managing a sporting and professional career at the same time, including further education. Impressive! How do you do it?

Good time management and full transparency are extremely important to me. As a handball player in the National League A at Wacker Thun, I train every day, even twice on Thursdays – my day off from PostFinance. I often have to leave at midday for away games that are further afield. I enter all my appointments for the next six months into my calendar so that everyone knows when I’m available and when I’m not. Of course, these are long days that start at 6.30 a.m. with work either from home or at the office and end at 9.30 p.m. after training, so my leisure time and private life are currently falling by the wayside. But I see the whole thing as a fantastic opportunity. After 15 years in the national handball league in Germany, PostFinance has given me the opportunity to take fast track into the profession and to build up opportunities for my time after handball. That’s why I strive to give it my all every day. It gives me an incredibly good feeling. 

Handball player Benjamin Meschke plays centre half for the Wacker Thun first team and is a Business Compliance Officer at PostFinance. The 33-year-old started his career through the PostFinance athlete programme. Just two months before completing the trainee programme, he moved into a permanent position.

The PostFinance athlete programme

What is the athlete programme?

The athlete programme is an entry-level programme from PostFinance for competitive athletes who are still active in or transitioning from their sporting career and who want to start their professional career. Participants work for a year in a specific field for between 40 and 70 percent of the time. “This allows our athlete trainees to continue pursuing their sporting careers alongside their career entry or to pursue their studies on the side”, explains Lakshana Sinnadurai, who is responsible for the athlete programme. The prerequisite is a completed vocational training programme. PostFinance also relies on its partnership with The link will open in a new window Athletes Network (link to linkedin.com), through which it can establish valuable contacts with athletes. 

What is the purpose of the athlete programme?

The aim of the programme is to offer the athletes long-term opportunities, often with the prospect of a permanent position. Win-win situation: the athletes get the chance to develop professionally; the company brings on board employees with a special mindset from the world of sport that fits perfectly with PostFinance. This includes, for example, a strong team spirit, top-level performance under pressure and drive. “All the athletes I have coached or am coaching so far are extremely motivated and proactive. They all want to leave a positive mark on the company”, says Lakshana Sinnadurai. The flat hierarchies and flexibility at PostFinance foster an environment that seamlessly supports balancing sports and work. 

Who is participating?

PostFinance can and has already supported various athletes as they enter their professional career. These include:

 

When did you realise that you needed a plan for the time after your top-level sporting career?

In competitive sport, you live in a kind of bubble. You feel strong, earn good money as a young person and often push aside thoughts of your future outside the bubble. But there is always a sword of Damocles hanging over you. You are dependent on other people, on contracts, on the circumstances at the club, on injuries and your health. The decisive turning point for me came in 2018 when I broke my ankle – it was an event that shook up my sporting career. I then completed my degree in sports management and business administration and began to engage more intensively with the world outside of sport. I completed further training in Cologne, where I met the managing director of my current club, Wacker Thun. Through them, my profile reached PostFinance. They recognized potential in me and my career. That’s how I ended up in the PostFinance athlete programme 

You’re now permanently employed at PostFinance as a Business Compliance Officer. How did this come about and what are your responsibilities?

In simple terms, in the investment business, I’m responsible for ensuring that advisors support our customers in accordance with FINMA and FinSA requirements and inform them about opportunities and risks, for example. My role involves managing the processes in coordination with the Legal and Risk department, ensuring that any updates or changes are taken into account. Regulatory issues are therefore my responsibility. My boss gave me the opportunity to take on this job and to continue my training in the relevant topics with a Master’s in Compliance at the same time. The next CAS I’m starting is about crypto compliance, because this is an important topic for PostFinance. They have a plan for me. That feels great.

Is PostFinance systematically supporting your development?

Absolutely! Even in the athlete programme, where I was quickly introduced to compliance issues in the mid-office, I felt that my training and personal development were highly valued, despite my limited experience in this field and with the company processes. When I was told that they wanted to keep me on the team after the programme, it was incredibly cool, of course. I was even able to choose from two different jobs. There has always been a lot of understanding and appreciation for what I do. 

Why do you think employers can benefit from hiring competitive athletes?

Athletes want to make a difference. This is the mindset you always get from athletes. We want to do things very well. We hate losing, but we can also deal with it when we lose because we have experienced it many times before. 

What makes PostFinance and athletes such a good match?

PostFinance is a modern, vibrant bank. We interact on an informal basis right up to the CEO. We have flat hierarchies and can rely on each other. That’s what makes it such a good match. My boss gives me an incredible amount of freedom. I’m grateful for that and I’m giving everything I’ve got. If I had a job with fixed office hours where I couldn’t avoid scheduling conflicts with my sporting commitments despite good planning, it just wouldn’t work. The cooperation is also just great. One example: my team-mates always ask me how things are going with my sporting endeavours and show an interest, even regularly attending the games and supporting me. And I also think it’s great that you can feel this enthusiasm not just for doing your job, but for living it. 

What are the differences between a sport’s career and a professional career?

Yes, in sport you have to be in peak physical condition and able to cope with high levels of stress. At work, it’s often about concentrating and completing tasks conscientiously, as mistakes can have consequences, and if mistakes do happen, you can iron them out with the help of your colleagues. A mistake in sport or in a match is permanent.

One more tip on the subject of sports careers and professional careers: what advice would you give to a young athlete?

If you’re in the privileged position of being able to play a sport backed by a good contract, it always make sense to focus on sport during your twenties. You can start a career in banking in your mid-thirties, but your professional sporting career will be over at some point. As you get older, having a plan B gives you security and peace of mind, especially when things aren’t going well in your sporting career. That in turn, helps you to focus on your sport. No matter how well you do in your sports career and how much time it takes, in my opinion it’s always possible to complete a degree programme. You can do it at a slow pace with a distance learning university, but it’s important to remain active at this level and to intensify your studies whenever you have time to do so. It’s well worth it.

Promoting young ice hockey talent

PostFinance is committed to promoting young Swiss ice hockey talent. This is why the bank is a proud partner of the documentary series “Morgen sind wir Champions” (We will be Champions Tomorrow). 

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