A complete success again this year: the careers and internship fair took place for the 17th time! A complete success again this year: the careers and internship fair took place for the 17th time!

On June 12, 2024, the career and internship fair took place in the Geozentrum, once again with a good mix of exhibitors from a wide range of employers and internal university services. For example, the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BKK), Solarea and Wattner Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft, the development organization sequa, Spinnennetz and the Federal Intelligence Service were represented. From the university, enaCOM, the Career Service and the Department of International Affairs presented themselves with opportunities for internships abroad. Special thanks go to the Alumni Network and the ABC/J-Geoverbund, who sponsored the event and provided catering. Many students took advantage of this favorable opportunity to ask questions about internships and career entry and to establish initial networks. GoGeoGo, WetterOnline, Engagement Global and the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia were involved both as exhibitors at the fair and in the subsequent panel discussion. Four graduates and internship providers answered questions from moderator Holger Voß. The panelists came from very different fields and could look back on different lengths of professional experience: Dr. Thomas Euler is a GIUB alumnus and works at the State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection NRW (LANUV). There he deals with all topics of water management and water protection (e.g. collection, provision and evaluation of water-related measurement data and creation of water management models). Although Tim Engelke from Engagement Global did not study geography, he works at Engagement Global with many geographers in project coordination in development policy consulting and networking. Matthias Sell is a GIUB graduate and co-founder of GoGeoGo, a platform for green planning and geospatial professions that aims to connect employers and employees in these sectors. Hendrik Flügel also studied geography at GIUB, specializing in meteorology and physics. Today, his fields of activity include not only the development of weather forecasts, but also human resources development.
 
This year, the participating students once again focused on the question of how they can assert themselves on the job market with a more generalist geography degree. The four professional representatives present agreed that a generalist geography degree is a very good basis for responding to the demands of the modern job market. However, if you discover a specialization for yourself during your Bachelor's and Master's degree, you can gain a major competitive advantage. In addition to the methodological skills that are always in demand, this can also be a high level of information literacy. In order to meet both of these requirements, a certain degree of initiative is certainly necessary. It was also agreed that the current job market is more dynamic than ever before in terms of opportunities, framework conditions and content. This also shows the growing importance of start-ups, which were represented on the podium by Matthias Sell from GoGeoGo.