„I was able to earn money and work in close connection with my studies“ Björk Shirley Smith, Team Assistent We offer attractive opportunities to join Prognos while you are still studying. Four employees report on how they took advantage of this opportunity and their experiences. Prognos AG Björk Smith started working at Prognos in 2016 as a student assistant. Meanwhile, she is currently writing her thesis as a part-time student and works in parallel as a team assistant in the field of social policy. How does it work being employed at Prognos while studying? Björk and three other colleagues report on this. Put the theoretical knowledge from your studies into practice Whether as a student assistant, through an internship, a traineeship or as a doctoral student – students and graduates have an important place in our company. They are part of our teams and support us in the processing of our consulting mandates. This enables them to gain initial professional experience that matches with the subject of their studies – an advantage over a job with no link to their future profession. For Björk Smith it was possible to combine university theory and Prognos practice. It was even possible to count her work in corporate communications towards her studies as her full compulsory internship. Björk Smith, 25 years old, studied General and Comparative Literature as well as Journalism and Communication Studies. She gives us her tip: “It is best to communicate openly in the interview about the extent to which your degree programme can be combined with a job at Prognos.” Points of reference for many specialist areas Nikita Maleev is studying Business Chemistry in Düsseldorf. He finds it fascinating that he was able to fill a niche at Prognos in this subject area. The numerous topics and disciplines that Prognos covers offer many application possibilities for students of various disciplines. Nikita Maleev started as a trainee in the field of waste and secondary raw materials with a 40-hour post. He now supports the team as a student assistant for 20 hours a week. He is currently working on the topic of his master’s thesis: Plastic recycling would be an option – an area Prognos is familiar with. However, the topic has yet to be decided. Prognos AG Nikita Maleev, 22 years old, estimates that he is not just a small cog, and feels like he has “arrived”: “I noticed there was a general positive atmosphere in the company because everything is very collegial. Informal communication between colleagues is possible from the start. And in Düsseldorf there are several office dogs.” Why not combine a doctorate with a consulting job? Miguel Wahle has already successfully completed his bachelor’s and master’s. For his doctoral thesis, he is dealing with the digital modelling of social and technological processes. In parallel, he works as a consultant at Prognos with a 60-percent workload. From Monday to Wednesday, he drives our Foresight project for the Federal Ministry for Research. The rest of the week he works on his doctorate. Prognos AG/FOTOS Koroll Miguel Wahle, 33 years old, had previously worked in an IT group and is delighted with the many configurations available at Prognos. “I benefit, in particular, from the practical relevance and the interdisciplinary, professional exchange with colleagues.” Flexibility in terms of time and location Our long-standing cooperation with students has shown us how important it is to reconcile study and work. Flexibility and ongoing coordination are key. This is the only way to deal with evolving university requirements. For example, Nikita Maleev was in the laboratory for up to three weeks at a time and Björk Smith was able to alternate between working 10 and 20 hours a week – depending on their respective university workloads. Lisa Seefeldt has also benefited from Prognos’ flexibility in terms of working hours and locations. Currently, she is working completely digitally from Oldenburg with a workload of 20 percent. She is happy about the flexible working time, because without it she would not be able to fulfil her obligations to her studies. The referenced media source is missing and needs to be re-embedded. Lisa Seefeldt, 26, joined Prognos in 2018 as a trainee. She is currently studying Sustainability, Economics and Management, and is working as a consultant in the field of planning and dialogue. “I particularly appreciate Prognos’ interdisciplinary approach and development opportunities. I am able to freely organise my tasks and my time.” Space for development “We are constantly evolving.” This is a sentence from our mission statement. Together with our students and graduates, we are also exploring the perspectives that exist for them. This concerns both professional and personal development as well as further professional cooperation. We are also happy to accompany students with their final theses. We offer support finding topics and with the necessary professional know-how. At the same time, we see this as an opportunity for us to develop in the respective topic. A win-win situation for both sides. Feel free to contact us if you have a topic that you want to write about or if you are still looking for one. Prognos & study – all the facts at a glance: challenging activities and professional exchange at eye level points of reference for many different disciplines flexible and remunerated employment opportunities during and after your studies individual agreements about working hours and place of work a student-friendly atmosphere relevant professional experience perspectives for further development and further education opportunity to write a thesis/PhD at Prognos Prognos Career Network Let's stay in touch. 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