Financing your studies independently while gaining practical experience – a part-time job as a working student allows you to do both. Hannah Bauer has been working as a team assistant in our Healthcare team since March 2022. In this blog post, Hannah talks about her daily work routine, challenges, and moments of success.
What role does health play in our lives? What are the concerns, wishes and hopes of those affected? Questions like these play a central role in healthcare communication and are incredibly exciting to me. I have been interested in psychology for a long time, and the corona pandemic has made me even more aware of the topic of health. So, it came about that I signed up for a workshop on healthcare communication by Nils Giese as part of the PR Report Camp in November 2021. From my inquiry about whether you need medical knowledge to gain a foothold in the field, a conversation developed and eventually I was offered a job. Now, I have been a part of Edelman since March. I didn't have any medical knowledge, but I had curiosity and the motivation to get to know new and complex topics – and that's the main thing.
Besides curiosity, you should definitely have a certain feeling for language. After all, that's our most important tool. My tasks include writing and editing texts, researching and creating presentations, and project management. Depending on which project I'm working on, one day I’ll be dealing with diabetes, the next with menopausal symptoms.
THE VARIETY OF TASKS AND TOPICS MEANS I LEARN AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT AND CAN APPLY KNOWLEDGE FROM MY STUDIES IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS.
Speaking of my studies, I particularly appreciate the opportunity to work from home. I was able to finish my bachelor's degree in Stuttgart without having to commute to Frankfurt several times a week. When I start my master's degree in health communication in Erfurt in October, I will also be able to continue working for Edelman. It's a great opportunity to be able to combine my part-time job so well with my current circumstances. I don't get to see as much on-site agency life, but thanks to regular virtual team meetings and an online “regulars' table” for young professionals, I don’t miss any exchanges. It's not only in a hybrid work context that it's important to be present and show that you're up for it – when I was new to the team, for example, I initially wrote a circular email introducing myself and explaining what I could do and was happy to support with.
In addition to work experience, my part-time job also gives me a lot of self-confidence. For example, just a few weeks after I started, I worked on a new client project and helped create the presentation. When my boss told me that I had to present the slides I had prepared to the client, I had a lot of respect for that.
IN THE END, IT'S PRECISELY MOMENTS LIKE THESE THAT WE NEED – WHEN WE'RE THROWN IN AT THE DEEP END. IT SHOWED ME THAT THERE IS SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES IN ME AND SUPPORTS ME.
