Charles-Olivier Mahieux joined SWIFT on 3 September 2007 from Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School. He works in our Finance Group, Corporate Planning department where he is a Business Analyst.

Why did you choose to join SWIFT?
“SWIFT is truly an international company with plenty of career opportunities, which is exactly what I was looking for: a challenging job where I can learn new things everyday by working together with the people from my team. Moreover, SWIFT is an extremely successful company and a leader in global financial messaging. All these elements convinced me that SWIFT was really the company I wanted to work for”.

Can you explain how your career has evolved and what attracted you the most in your current job?
“In Corporate Planning, I received responsibilities from day one which gave me the opportunity to be involved directly in SWIFT's business. Moreover, SWIFT offers great opportunities to grow. People from different backgrounds can change departments and develop new skills through teamwork and training. This is the case in every group at SWIFT including Finance, which is opening more and more positions abroad. It is in that context that I will be moving for three months to SWIFT Hong Kong office in order to further develop my financial skills and improve the way my team is working with people working there. Such a situation is really motivating for people like me who want to have an international career”.

Why you would recommend SWIFT as a great place to work?
“As I said, career opportunities, job contents and work environment are just great at SWIFT”.

Renaud Dubois joined SWIFT on 16 August 2007 from the Institut Paul Lambin. He works in our IT Technology Management & Assurance Group where he is a Customer Engineer.

Why did you choose to join SWIFT?
“I chose SWIFT because this company allows me to develop my knowledge through its infrastructure and strategy. I am particularly interested in topics such as security and standardisation”.

Can you explain how your career has evolved and what attracted you the most in your current job?
“I started to learn how the business works. Now I am able to participate in projects and bring my personal knowledge to help the team. I am interested in the new technology we use. At the same time the salary increases are good: effort is rewarded”.

Why you would recommend SWIFT as a great place to work?
“I regularly recommend SWIFT for its ability to offer to anyone the chance to develop themselves within the company”.

Paul-Emile Purnelle joined SWIFT on 16 August 2007 from FUNDP in Namur. He works in our Products Interface Applications Group where he is a Developer.

Why did you choose to join SWIFT?
“SWIFT is one of the best players in the European IT environment. As the global provider of secure financial messaging services, we are dedicated to deliver high quality work and being responsible for what we deliver. This is also what our customers are looking for. In order to achieve this goal, SWIFT gives us the resources, budget and time to achieve it.

It is not possible for SWIFT to work with a short term strategy or to change products and contracts every year. We could compare SWIFT's customers with NASA's customers. We play for keeps.

In order to satisfy our customers with the quality they expect, SWIFT does everything end-to-end. This makes our portfolio very diversified. We cover software, hardware and methodology. I chose to join SWIFT because we are serious about what we do”.

Can you explain how your career has evolved and what attracted you the most in your current job?
“What I like the most in my current job is that as a developer I get involved in feasibility studies, business analysis and product life cycle. This is enriching and gives me the opportunity to gain a lot of experience in a short period of time. SWIFT evolves quickly in order to remain a cutting-edge company, which is why we work on many different technologies and programming languages. SWIFT is a leader in the financial industry and gives us the tools to stay leaders.
Also, as said before, SWIFT does everything end-to-end and recognizes its employees. SWIFT therefore offers an internal move policy that allows us to change job functions significantly. Beginning as developer, moving on to project manager or to top account manager to end up in marketing, is something we see at SWIFT.

Why you would recommend SWIFT as a great place to work?
“I would definitely recommend joining SWIFT. You are not taken lightly as you are in contracting companies. We do not consider our customer as money providers'. We take our work seriously and do not sign contracts for a few years to disappear without support, as this is not responsible, mature behaviour”.

Julie Maes joined SWIFT on 16 August 2007 from the UCL. She works in our Customer Support Group where she is a Customer Engineer.

Why did you choose to join SWIFT?
“I chose SWIFT among other companies for many reasons:

• SWIFT is an international company, always moving into new markets , always aiming to be more successful. It was important for me to be in a dynamic industry and to have an interesting job
• SWIFT is a leader in terms of financial messaging security, reliability and resilience. I am interested in cryptography, which is very exciting.
• At SWIFT, you always work with other people. Team spirit is very important to me.
• SWIFT offers you a very good benefits package”.

Can you explain how your career has evolved and what attracted you the most in your current job?
“I work for the support team. I have to learn a lot of information about SWIFT products to help customers. It is a very interesting job because you learn every day and you are always in contact with a lot of people. SWIFT has a well defined programme for young potentials. It is nice to see in advance where your career can take you”.

Why you would recommend SWIFT as a great place to work?

• You have an interesting job and you are always learning, and there is much flexibility.
• People at SWIFT have team spirit and work together well.

SWIFT is an industry leader, which is great to work for”.

Xavier Dubois joined SWIFT in August 2005 from FUNDP in Namur. He works in our Products Interface Applications Group where he is a Developer.

Why did you choose to join SWIFT?
“I chose to join SWIFT because of the work environment, the various possibilities of career evolution, the satisfaction of working for a worldwide company and its good salary package. The work environment is very important for me. It is easy to be happy at work since I like the environment and the persons around me. I also like the possibility of getting a different job within the company in the future, which would allow me to take advantage of the SWIFT specific knowledge I have”.

Can you explain how your career has evolved and what attracted you the most in your current job?
“I currently work in a development team that handles the product called SWIFTAlliance Gateway . In the beginning, I focused on integration tests, as it is the best way to understand all the functionalities of this large project. I was mainly working on implementation tools and scripts that are used to automate these tests. Over time I became more involved in the development itself, and the associated discussions. I also help the people from Support handle specific customer problems. Twice a year, there is an evaluation of our objectives. This evaluation is directly linked to a possible promotion, as well as to the merits and benefits we get each year”.

Why you would recommend SWIFT as a great place to work?
“All the reasons I decided to choose SWIFT are reflected in the way the company works, so I would recommend SWIFT as a great place to work for all the reasons described above. There are lots of challenges to tackle, and the variety of possible jobs make me think anybody can find what they need to be happy at work and in life”.

Veronique Marien joined SWIFT on 15 August 2005 from Ghent University . She works in our Customer Support Key Clients Group where she is a Customer Engineer.

Why did you choose to join SWIFT?
“SWIFT immediately made an impression on me as a company where people are valued and respected in their individuality. Interesting job content and plenty of growth opportunities did the rest”.

Can you explain how your career has evolved and what attracted you the most in your current job?  
“I've been working in Customer Services, in the Key Client Support team led by Philippe Stainier, since I joined SWIFT. My job has fulfilled and exceeded my expectations. I work with large customers such as Citibank, Sociéte Générale and CLS on a daily basis, which is very challenging and keeps every new day interesting. Furthermore, I have the chance to develop myself in different areas, and work in a team with great ambiance”.

Why you would recommend SWIFT as a great place to work?
“When you work at SWIFT, you work in an international environment. Getting to know people from all over the world is a wonderful experience. There is good understanding between colleagues, which creates a very nice work atmosphere. You have a lot of opportunities to move internally, so it is really a place where you can develop your career”.

Nicolas Dykmans joined SWIFT on 16 August 2006, earned his degree from the Polytechnique in Mons. He now works as a Customer Engineer on the Key Clients team in Customer Support.

Why did you choose to join SWIFT?
“I chose SWIFT because it is an international company, a leader in global financial messaging, and it could offer me the possibility to work in both the Financial and Telecommunication industries. I found that there are plenty of career progression opportunities within the company, and as well, I felt the team spirit immediately at SWIFT. The working environment is very unique.”.

Can you explain how your career has evolved and what attracted you the most in your current job?  
“When I initially arrived, my first task was to learn about SWIFT products and services. I did this through courses and by solving our helpdesk problems. On the Support team, handling daily and emergency situations have taught me to manage my stress levels and to keep a global view on issues. Especially important to me have been the relationships I’ve built with key clients. Working with them has allowed me to see many IT environments, and to understand how they manage their businesses. My work has certainly also shown me how important SWIFT’s resilient network is, and how businesses rely on their connection to SWIFT! Every day, my job is customer-facing and different. I like it”.

Why you would recommend SWIFT as a great place to work?
“The variety in my job, the career opportunity within the company, the team spirit, and the work environment make my day-to-day job, and working at SWIFT, really great.”.

Pieter Van Vlaenderen joined SWIFT 16 August 2004, and was a graduate of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Pieter now works in Customer Support as a Service Manager and Senior Customer Engineer.

Why did you choose to join SWIFT?
“SWIFT was on my radar since I was first introduced to the company at a job fair during my second year at the Vrije Universiteit (VUB) in Brussels. Working for an international company, which is a leader in global financial messaging, sounded very attractive. I also felt that the company encouraged personal growth and offered many career opportunities that could provide me a real foundation for starting my professional career”.

Can you explain how your career has evolved and what attracted you the most in your current job?  
“When I started at SWIFT, I worked on the Second Line Support team, supporting their FIN product. As an Associate Customer Engineer, I assisted our customers from the EMEA region. Then, after about 6 months, I moved to the Key Clients team in Customer Support, where I provided a similar service, but to key clients. A year later, when I was promoted to a position as a Customer Engineer, I also began to increase my knowledge of our Value Added Service portfolio. Another year later, I was again offered an opportunity in a part-time role as a Service Manager. And today, I still combine this role with my Call and Problem Management role, where recently I’ve also been promoted to Senior Customer Engineer. In short, the past 4 years have offered me a rapid succession of interesting challenges and professional growth, and have given me the opportunity to develop myself in many areas. This, in combination with a great team atmosphere and a supportive management team, offers a very attractive working environment”.

Why you would recommend SWIFT as a great place to work?
“I’ve been very happy to have chosen SWIFT as my first working experience. I would therefore definitely recommend SWIFT to motivated and talented people. My initial feeling that SWIFT is a company that encourages personal growth has certainly been confirmed. Another example of this is the support I received from SWIFT to start a 2 year international part-time MBA at the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School. For me, my journey at SWIFT has been superb and I hope others who join experience the same”.