Andreas Friedrich
Study programme: Information Management and Corporate Communications (BA)
Employer: Deutsche Bahn
Position: Communication Officer / Press Spokesperson
Contact: LinkedIn-Profile (opens in a new window)
What was your initial career like as a younger person and what interests did you have?
Because I couldn't decide on a course of study after school, I first went on an internship. I was interested in a lot of things, and things certainly don't go straight until you look at them with a few years' distance. I decided on Information Management and Corporate Communications - IMUK for short - precisely because this degree programme encompasses the areas that were important to me then and still are today: Convincing people with good communication, knowing what is happening technically in the background and making sure that in the end everything is remembered with colours & shapes.
What tips would you give students?
It's difficult without a good team. That's true during your studies and it will remain true later on. If you learn to work well with others during your studies, even when things get hairy, you will have learned more than there would be room for on one hundred slides.
What did your practical semester look like and what tasks did you take on?
Because I was too cheap to travel after graduation, I did my internship semester in Singapore. Thanks to a scholarship (which was easier than I thought), it was doubly good for my CV and personal experience. In the communications department of Infineon Technologies, I was mainly involved in the redesign of the intranet and in preparing the press spokesperson's appointments.
What is your advice to all graduates who are looking for their first job?
Be honest with yourself. Because even if you first want to make the leap into a job: nothing is worse than getting a job that you didn't actually want. Today, CVs are no longer determined by how well you got started, but by what you make of your first job, which means above all: how you do it.
What did your first job look like and how did you find out about it?
I was at Rocket Internet's PR agency, helping start-ups communicate with the media. Before that, I had done an internship there.
Which experiences from your studies at HNU have proven valuable in your professional life?
Content is only one half of communication, presentation is the other.
How would you complete the following sentence beginning?
HNU... "has a friendly security that locks up in the evening."
