Valuable career tips for students
Career Service looks back on a successful summer semester
Career preparation is a a hot topic amongst students, many of whom visited Career Service in the summer semester to gather helpful career- and job-related tips and advice. After the conclusion of a full programme of career coachings, information events (German and English) and hands-on workshops, Career Service looks back on a successful – and strenuous – summer semester 2016 and then sets its eyes on the coming winter semester.
Since it was initiated in summer semester 2015, the demand for Career Service’s diverse career preparation programme continues to grow. In this past semester alone, some 120 students participated in information events exploring topics such as applying to German companies or efficient job hunts. One of the most popular services is a one-on-one consultation: Christine Noelle and Imke Hans, who together make up Career Service at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, met with over 200 individual students between April and July 2016. A frequent topic for discussion is the application itself, particularly for international students unfamiliar with the many cultural conventions and formal expectations of German companies. But many students born and raised in Germany sought out Career Service advice, for example in ways to market themselves more effectively and improve their chances of making a good first impression with their dream company.
But application documents are only one of many topics that bring students to Career Service. “Students in the more interdisciplinary programmes often come to us for helpful career orientation feedback,” says Ms Hans, who primarily supports students in the Faculty of Society and Economics. “What are my skills? What do I enjoy doing? Where can my talents and interests take me, and where do I want to go? These are just a few of the questions that we regularly discuss in career coachings.”
In addition to their broad and diverse career prep programme, Career Service continuously builds and expands its network of contacts with regional and superregional companies. “We are always interested in working together with new companies. An important service we provie to companies is posting their vacant internships, entry-level positions or volunteering opportunities on our online job portal at no charge. Only Rhine-Waal students have access to our job portal, so their offers reach our students directly,” says Christine Noelle, who is the main coordinator for Career Service activities.
Naturally, the requests from students drops to a trickle during the semester break, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do. Planning for the next semester is the current priority, and dates and events are being organised for the upcoming programme. But even in the midst of planning, Career Service’s doors always remain open for students.