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I am a video journalist. I get to film, edit, write texts – it’s a great job.  

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But what if I had listened to my parents and pursued a sensible career? Something  

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business-related and also international, please, because I am good at languages.

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They say the world starts at your doorstep, so we are on our way to Sennheiser, 

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a company with international operations, based here in Hanover. 

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They produce headphones and microphones, like this one. 2,500 employees make this a good place 

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to ask one of their HR people, how to get a foot in the door in a company like this.

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I meet Wolfgang Isermann, a big shot in HR. But before I can ask my first question,

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I get an earful. 

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Cross your heart - what do you first look at in an application? 

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I first look at the person’s background. Where are they from?

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What was their environment like?

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Have they shown personal commitment?

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Ideally, they not only went on vacation to Spain, but 

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really spent a few weeks or months abroad. 

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But applicants should also meet basic requirements, like 

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a sound knowledge of business administration, right?

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They should be familiar with financial key dates,

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like contribution margin, cash flow, or liquidity. 

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Virtual cooperation methods and tools such as video conferences,

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or enterprise social software have become

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standard practice in our company.

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An internship or student traineeship is always a good start.

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Students get to know us and we get to know them.

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We find out if the chemistry is right, if they can see

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themselves working here,in this environment. 

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Back at the editorial office, I find out that requirements are rather high:

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You need to have personality, economic knowledge,

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completed internships, a grasp of foreign languages, and experience abroad.

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There is a study programme tailored to meet these demands:

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International business studies at the

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Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

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What this programme has to offer can

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be best explained by the students themselves.

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I show them Sennheiser’s job requirements.

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Our study programme starts off with an English course,

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which was great for me because I had

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just come back from London and could make use of my English skills.

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Now, in our third semester of business administration,

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we are dealing with human resources management. 

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During our first and second semester we handled topics

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like investment, financing, or even controlling.

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I just got back from Scotland in May where I 

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spent two semesters abroad. Before that I went

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to Namibia for my practical term in my fourth semester.

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It was an exciting experience working for a

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logistics company, because life is so different there.

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Studying in the same programme turns you

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into competitors of a sort. But you don’t really

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feel it, because we all pursue different goals.

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Some are interested in marketing, 

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some in HR, and others in finance.

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My first practical experience which this university generally supports 

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was in the US, in Detroit/Michigan with

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the Volkswagen Group of America. Learning something

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in theory is very different from experiencing its application.

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You should find it out in the course of your studies.

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The topic of my bachelor thesis was change management.

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It started off with a project work during 

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an internship, which I then further developed and 

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formulated with the help of my professor.

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I’m just glad it’s done. Now I’m looking  

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for a job in project management.

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Here students are well-prepared for the requirements

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of companies in the real world. Because this study programme  

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goes beyond the usual limits.