APPRENTICES AND STUDENTS – A GREAT TEAM

My name is Jonas Reuhs and I have studied Business Informatics at the DHBW Ravensburg (Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University) as part of a degree apprenticeship with CHG-MERIDIAN. In my spare time I enjoy sports and I’m a member of a handball club. After qualifying as a finance assistant at a bank I decided to embark on a degree course. But since I also wanted to gain more practical experience while I was studying, it made sense to consider a degree apprenticeship with CHG-MERIDIAN.

STUDYING BUSINESS INFORMATICS AT THE DHBW RAVENSBURG
After completing my apprenticeship with the bank, my plan was to expand my basic understanding of business economics while adding an additional focus on IT. I quickly realized that I wanted to do a degree apprenticeship in business informatics. The exciting aspect of this course is its combination of two different subject areas. On the one hand there is corporate IT, and on the other there are the commercial topics. The degree course at the DHBW can be divided into three sections. Lectures on business subjects, such as accounting and economics, make up a large part of the teaching module. Another large section is IT, with lectures on programming and operating systems, and the third large block is business informatics, which brings everything together. The switch between classroom and company every three months offered plenty of opportunity to put what you’ve learned into practice.

CHG-MERIDIAN – PART OF A BIG FAMILY
I’m glad I managed to find CHG-MERIDIAN as a partner for my degree apprenticeship. They had organized a big outing for apprentices and students before I even started work, so I was able to establish initial contacts and make some friends. At the start there was a seminar with all of the people from around the world who had just joined the company. This was a first chance to get to know the company and your work environment in more detail. And it allowed me to make contact with some international colleagues. Right from the start, the seminar showed us that we were part of a large team. And the ‘open door’ principle and the communal lunches in the company cafeteria immediately made me feel right at home in the various departments where I was working during my studies.

GETTING TO KNOW CHG-MERIDIAN AS AN INNOVATIVE COMPANY
I was very pleased getting an insight into almost every area of the company, and getting to know all of the different roles. This gave us an opportunity to find out where our strengths are. It is normally possible to work in that area once you finish your degree. CHG-MERIDIAN covers quite a wide range of functions and areas. As a technology management company it possesses vast IT expertise, which allows it to offer its customers the best possible IT solutions. There is also a focus on funding and credit checking of customers, to provide them with the optimum funding option, independent of manufacturers and banks. This diversity means working for CHG-MERIDIAN offers plenty of variety.

SUPPORT IN EVERY RESPECT
When it came to projects and papers, the know-how of the employees in the departments has been extremely useful, as they are always ready to listen, and lend a hand as much as they can. That allowed us to take on project responsibilities for ourselves, and to organize ourselves independently. But we could always rely on our colleagues to help us out if we need them. Regular sessions where apprentices and students gave talks on subjects they choose themselves allowed everyone to improve their presentation skills through constructive feedback. This was ideal preparation for final exams and presentations during your training or degree course. There were also many internal professional development workshops.

APPRENTICES AND STUDENTS – A GREAT TEAM
Student outings, student socials, presentation sessions – we, the apprentices and students, had plenty of opportunities to exchange views and experiences, in presentation sessions at work, or after work at a friendly student social. We had a lot of fun and sometimes organized even our own activities. We've cheered on our teams at public screenings of football games, for example. But the highlight of the year was definitely the joint outing.

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Meanwhile Jonas Reuhs works as Internal Auditor at our headquarter in Weingarten.

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