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6th Start-up Career Fair at HHL

"Thinking Big for Start-ups"

On Tuesday, September 20, 2011, a career fair with start-ups founded by HHL alumni kicked off a series of company presentations at HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management in the fall term. The HHL campus saw presentations by Mister Spex (online retailer for branded glasses), MySportGroup (online retailer for sports brands), Flaconi (online perfume retailer), Coffee Circle (social venture start-up, online retailer for coffee) and imedo (online health portal). Melanie Janke, Head of the HHL Career Service, said: "The Start-up Career Fair held at HHL is a unique initiative in Germany. HHL alumni return to their alma mater to present the companies they founded as attractive employers to the current students who, having received a top education, may become interns or employees. Moreover, getting to know the start-ups through a founder's internship offers an excellent opportunity to determine whether entrepreneurship represents a career option to the future HHL graduate."
 
Start-up Career Fair carries on HHL's entrepreneurial spirit
 
Julia Derndinger, CEO of imedo, aptly described the intention of the start-up companies for participating in this sixth Career Fair: "With today's participation in the Career Fair we are hoping to have contributed to increasing the number of HHL start-ups." Her partner in management, Christian Angele, added: "To found a company you need masterminds. HHL simply has excellent and fascinating students. The fair is a unique opportunity for us to position ourselves. HHL students became aware of our company during the last Start-up Career Fairs and then completed an internship with us. We have always been very pleased with their work."
 
Dirk Graber, founder of Mister Spex, underlined: "It is important to me to get to know the current HHL students and to learn what moves them and what they envision as a career. My visit today also serves the purpose of employer branding for Mister Spex. We are always on the lookout for good people. Participating in the Career Fair is the easiest way for me as an HHL alumnus to find good people and to represent Mister Spex in a credible manner."
 
Erik Pfannmöller, co-founder of MySportGroup, said: "I would like to pass on the start-up mentality I experienced at HHL by participating in this fantastic Career Fair. I find it very important to carry on the entrepreneurial spirit. Founding a company is a challenge that you can face. And if one day a good HHL student applies for a job with me, I will benefit as well."

Spoilt for choice. What are the benefits of kicking off your career with a start-up?
 
Christian Angele argued for an internship or direct employment with a start-up: "The freedom and the chance to experience entrepreneurship very closely are much higher in a start-up than, for example, in a large consulting company. Here, the young alumni mostly face large-scale projects they cannot grasp. They usually play just a tiny role in these companies. If you want to learn how to think bigger, however, you can do that in a start-up."
 
HHL student Christina Beyer confirms this. The 23-year-old Master in Management (M.Sc.) student is currently completing an internship at Flaconi. She said: "I am getting to know various fields such as product management or online marketing during my work in Berlin. Although I certainly play just a small role within the company, I realize that I can actively accomplish things in a result-oriented fashion. I will take over my own small field soon and have a lot of responsibility." Christina Beyer continues: "I very consciously decided for this internship as I had gotten to know the company during the last Start-up Career Fair, where this business idea was planted in my head. However, large consulting companies and corporations are on my list of internships I wish to complete this coming year as well. I would like to open up the best opportunities for my future career with these variegated practical work experiences. Should I want to found my own company in the future, a longer internship in a start-up business will help me to better convince investors of my competencies."
 
Dirk Graber, CEO of Mister Spex, added: "While at university, students can find out whether or not they like a career in a start-up. Even if you want to go into consulting, nothing stops you from completing an internship in a start-up company. I think it may even be beneficial. I can only recommend going into a start-up, especially those founded by HHL students who underwent similar training and are able to develop and challenge you in a completely different way."
 
Further information:
http://misterspex.de/ /// http://www.mysportgroup.de/  /// http://www.coffeecircle.com/
http://www.flaconi.de/   /// http://www.imedo.de/
 

HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management: Academy for Entrepreneurs
With over 120 start-ups by a HHL alumni over the past twelve years, Germany's top address for young managers has also developed into an incubator for company foundations. Well-known examples are the winners of the Founder's Prize awarded by WirtschaftsWoche magazine SunCoal Industries or Leipzig-based companies Spreadshirt and billigflieger.de. The founders' entrepreneurial commitment has created more than 2,500 jobs already, over 1,100 of which are located in the Leipzig region alone.
The entrepreneurial training at HHL is supported by Dr. Stephan Stubner, Academic Director of the "International Entrepreneurship" program at the Chair of Strategic Management and Organization. He says about the number of entrepreneurs who have completed the program at HHL: "On average, that makes every 20th alumnus." According to Mr. Stubner, the alumni pass on lucrative careers with consulting companies and banks in order to start their own business: during their studies, they realize quite fast that entrepreneurs can work in a more self-determined manner with a chance at a higher income than employees. He also points out that the training in entrepreneurship not only focuses on theoretical aspects. "We invite many company representatives, e. g. from venture capital companies, to allow for a direct exchange of practical experience. In addition to the extensive teaching program, we coach the students and open our networks to them if required. What makes us particularly proud: many entrepreneurs commit to HHL as mentors and therefore support current HHL students with their own start-up projects." Further information: http://strategy.hhl.de/entrepreneurship and www.hhl.de