Julia Schrapp
Studie programme:Information Management and Corporate Communication (BA)
Employer:Utzin Utz AG
Position: Corporate Communications Officer
Straightforward or via detours: What was your school career like and what interests did you have as a younger person?
Straightforward in the sense that I finished everything I started - yes. However, it took a few years and different approaches to end up where I am now. First, I completed my secondary school leaving certificate in the normal way. Then I did an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk and worked in my training company for a year. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a job in the area I wanted, so after one year I decided to catch up on the general higher education entrance qualification (Abitur). This was followed my study programme at the HNU.
What tips can you give young people who are looking for the right study programme?
If you are not quite sure what you are actually good at, I would give the following tips in retrospect: it can definitely help to ask your personal environment where family, friends, etc. see talent in you. see talent in you. Often it is perceived better from the outside than from oneself. In addition, you should not ignore passions that you already had as a child. They often come back later and can help you enormously in your search for a suitable study programme or later a job.
What tips would you give students in your study programme?
The first and most important tip for the group work in my study programme is definitely: once you have found a good group constellation, keep it! This can save you many desperate hours and nerves. In addition, it is of course always helpful to have contacts to students in higher semesters. They can often give you good tips or reassure you with their assessments and experiences.
What was your first job like and how did you find out about it?
My first job is my current job - I work at Uzin Utz AG in Ulm as a corporate communications officer. In my seventh semester, I was employed as a bachelor student at Uzin Utz AG in the Corporate Communications & Marketing department and wrote my final thesis there in collaboration. This subsequently led to my job, which I am very happy about.
What is your advice to all graduates who are looking for their first job?
Writing a thesis together with a company is a great way to get started and, at best, to be employed there for the long term. This was also the experience of some of my fellow students. Speculative applications are always possible.
Please describe your daily work routine. What projects do you work on and what tasks do you particularly appreciate?
I support corporate communications and that means a lot of writing. This can involve a wide variety of topics: external reports, e.g. for the press, editorial enquiries from the trade press, a report for a foreign subsidiary or internal communication on the company's own intranet. On the other hand, in my position I also support various events in their implementation, e.g. by preparing materials such as presentations and, of course, in the follow-up communication. Strategically, communication is also an enormously important issue. It is a kind of interface that has to keep track of all the important issues and communicate them at the right time. What I appreciate most about my tasks is the variety - a completely new task can come my way every day.
How would you complete the following sentence?
HNU... "has shaped me on many levels and helped me develop both professionally and personally."
