From an internship at Ferrero to a job position in a digital start-up

The last semester was really special for Robin Graf, a media and business psychology student at the Frankfurt Campus, and not just because of distance learning. After his internship at the big player Ferrero, he now has a permanent position at the start-up myPension.

Robin Graf studies media and business psychology in Frankfurt

Robin Graf studies media and business psychology in Frankfurt

You are currently in your last semester and are writing your Bachelor's thesis. How do you experience the online semester?

At first, I was ambivalent about whether an online semester could work at all. However, I quickly realized that digital teaching was not a problem. Our lecturers adapted their lectures accordingly and so we were actually able to get the maximum out of it. In addition, there was no need to commute to the university, which meant less effort. For practical subjects, face-to-face lectures would have been more suitable, of course, but I don't think you can complain in this situation. Overall, I could live with it very well, but would have found it nicer to see everyone again, especially in the last semester.

You completed your mandatory internship at Ferrero Küsschen in Product Management. Which contents of your studies were part of your work and how did your studies help you in your work routine?

It was an interesting and great experience. It was really exciting to learn about the operations of one of the largest confectionery companies in the world. My tasks there were very wide-ranging and went from packaging development to various promotional activities to market research and competitive analyses. In addition, there were various brand-related projects.
I was able to find a link to my studies with some distance after the internship. Since we worked quite analytically in the B.A. Media and Business Psychology program, I was able to apply my knowledge well to market research and reporting. Apart from that, modules like "Strategic Marketing" or all the psychological modules helped me, of course, because the focus in this industry is always on understanding consumers.

You are currently working as a student trainee at the InsurTech start-up myPension. How did you get there and how was it to start as a working student in the age of remote work?

After my time in a large corporation, I wanted to get to know the work in a start-up. Through an interesting job description on LinkedIn, I became aware of myPension and after the interview was really pleasant, I wanted to take the chance. MyPension is a digital pension plan based on ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund), which allows you to flexibly manage your pension plan via app. This is intended to adapt to the respective life situation and not vice versa. Since there is still no general understanding of how important this topic is, it poses a particular challenge in terms of marketing, but it is also all the more interesting as a result.

Since I started my position during the first Covid-19 wave, my onboarding was done online. Although it took some time to get used to spending the first few weeks in a new team at home, myPension is well equipped in this respect. In between we were in the office thanks to a hygiene concept, but currently we work with a hybrid model, which works really well.

What are your career goals for the future?

I will start a full-time position as Marketing Manager at myPension in the new year and I am very happy to have this opportunity and to continue working with my team. As a working student, I already received a lot of trust from my supervisors, so I was eager to stay there. I hope that I can play my part in continuing to shape the future of myPension in a positive way.