Key data
Job description: Intern in the Finance & Controlling department (primarily Controlling)
Company: EPCOS OHG
Place: Deutschlandsberg, Austria and Zhuhai, China
I did my internship from July to mid-December 2014.
My contact
What I did:
- Monthly key figure reports
- Ongoing cost controlling
- Product pricing (for example, how does the price change if I use a different material)
Why I enjoyed my internship:
Because I…
- had the opportunity to travel to China and get to know the company and the country there.
- had warm and friendly colleagues and bosses in the departments with whom I still get on well today.
- had the opportunity to work independently.
What I learned:
- That a few of the things I learned at FH JOANNEUM can be applied in practical settings, whereas others cannot
- Independent working
- Finding solutions
- Analytical thinking
- Filtering out relevant information from large data sets
- Computer programmes which are applied in practice
- Intercultural collaboration (with China, Czech Republic, Croatia)
My biggest success/My greatest experience:
The highlight of my internship was a colleague inviting me to her home in China to show me how Chinese dumplings are made. Afterwards, we all ate together with her family. That was really interesting and unexpected for me because I have never experienced anything like it as an intern before.
How I secured the internship:
At the start of my course, the company EPCOS offered a ‘MIG springboard’ which involved selecting two students from the year group to work in rotation at the company’s various departments in order to gain experience and insight into the different fields. The selection was initially made by the head of degree programme and then by application to the company.
What I want to do in the future:
I have always been very interested in controlling and accounting and my internship motivated me to pursue this direction. I will complete a Master’s in this field while I continue to work for the company in the holidays and afterwards, I hope to start my career there, if there are any vacancies.
In my future career, I can also imagine working in a different field or a different city, depending on what is available. However, the sector in which EPCOS operates (electronic components in the business-to-business field) and its location (Deutschlandsberg) certainly offer some exciting challenges.
