“What will I do after my studies? Where could I work? Which company should I choose?” These are some of the questions many students ask themselves when thinking about their future career. To answer at least some of them and to hear some examples, alumni and students came together in the Aula of Reutlingen University on the 20th of April 2013.
Alumni of AW and IB shared experiences they gained during their professional careers with the students, professors and staff.
The event started at 2 p.m. with a short welcome by Sandra Scheurich und Annika Manz, the heads of the organization team, followed by greetings by Prof. Dr. Bodo Herzog, who is teaching Macroeconomics at the ESB Business School. He then handed over to Daniel Nothelfer and Matthias Kerner who presented the ESB Alumni Association and its benefit for students as well as for Alumni.
Afterwards, two alumni presented their careers with a special focus on the event’s topic “Organizational Culture”. Parwiz Torgull, who recently graduated from Reutlingen University in 2012, told the participants about his stressful but interesting and enriching time at the ESB. Furthermore, he spoke about his current employment at Daimler AG where he is part of the Formula 1 Marketing team and responsible for assisting the Formula 1 Project lead, liaising for motorsport exhibitions and management as well as interfacing between Daimler Headquarter and the race team.
The next presentation was given by Shubhojit Ghosh who graduated in 2007 and is currently employed at McKinsey & Company. In a lively manner he explained his tasks, the atmosphere and the work load he is facing as an Engagement Manager at the Consulting Company. He also mentioned the highly international orientation of his job that gave him the possibility to work in projects all over the world, for example in Singapore, Dubai and Riyadh during the last year.
Both presentations were highly interesting not only for the students, but also for the fellow alumni and professors to see where their former students ended up. They contributed to broadening the student’s horizons and knowledge about different career options. At the end everyone could use the opportunity to raise questions which the speakers were willing to answer.
After a short coffee break, where everybody received a boost for the next part of the event, the interactive Q&A Session followed. At the beginning of the event, each alumnus was given a short question either about the ESB experience, his or her current employment or future outlooks and now it was time for everyone to participate and give a short answer. The present students, professors and staff listened curiously to get prepared for the networking opportunity afterwards. Hereby alumni were grouped by the different organizational departments Marketing & Sales, Finance & Accounting, Consulting and Human Resources to respond to specific questions concerning the respective areas of work.
The IB/AW Get Together was then rounded off by a three course buffet in the Mensa where the networking could go on.
For the Alumni it was a great chance to come back to Reutlingen University to meet their former fellow students, professors and staff. For the students themselves this event provided another extraordinary and unique opportunity to meet Alumni, receive new information, exchange experiences and get an impression of what is waiting for them after they will have finished their studies.