Types of student jobs (academic) in Germany | HiWi - Praktikant - Werk Student

If you're planning to study or already studying in Germany then you need to know the different student positions that are available in Germany. Please note that these are not the usual part-time jobs that you do on the weekends for some extra cash, these are the positions were you be a part of some larger project and help the Professors or your superiors with their research or project.

If you're one of those students, who do not have any work experience or the one who has changed his/her domain and needs to gain some hands-on experience then, these kind of student jobs will be a treasure for you.

HiWi

HiWi - HilfskraftWissenschaftler is a student position mostly at the University under your department. You will be given a small project from your Professor/Supervisor and you need to complete it within the given time. You will be paid for the work you do and most of the time, it would be around 30 hours per month at the rate of 10-13 euros per hour.

To get a HiWi position, you can always look at the student job boards at the university or enquire with your Professor or sometimes they post the openings in the department website itself. You would be expected to apply for the student position via email, along with your CV, Cover letter and Enrollment certificate(ImmatriculationBescheinigung). If the Professor thinks that your profile is suitable for the project, then he might conduct a small interview to get to know you better. Once you clear this interview, you can start the job and sign the contract.

Getting a HiWi job is comparatively easy, because you will not be involved in high-tech research and most of the time the Professors wants some student to do the smaller tasks. If you could show some interest towards the subject/domain, then I believe that you could land a HiWi job at your university easily.

NOTE: As far as I know, HiWi jobs will be available only in the universities where there is research happening, for example most of the TECNICAL universities will have some or the other research projects going on all the time. But on the other hand, the University of Applied Sciences will not have much research going on and thus, it would be difficult to find a HiWi position in these universities

Werk student

Werk student is another student position that you can find in most of the companies across Germany. This is one of those student positions, where you can work in a live project in the companies and get paid for your contribution. Again this would be paid on a hourly-basis ranging from 40-80 hours per month at the rate of ~13euros per hour. You will not be handed over a huge project as in like Freelancing, but you will be given a smaller part of the large project that the company is working on.

Related: Best ways to find a student job in Germany

To get a werk student position, you need to first find the right job opening suiting your profile. Then apply online with your CV and Cover letter, attend interviews, perform well to get the student position. Most of the time, there will be a simple telephonic interview and sometimes they might also call you for a personal interview.

Subscribe to our mailing list(on top of this page)

If you are looking to gain some industrial experience before you graduate, then this kinda student position will be apt for you. This role will help you gain more knowledge about the latest projects happening in your domain and also look good in your CV while you apply for a job. 

Intern/Praktikant

Praktikant - Intern is a student position where you will be working full-time in a company. You will not be paid as well as Werk student, but still you will have opportunity to get hands-on experience on projects. Working as an intern will help you implement the theoretical concepts that you learnt in your course modules.

Related: How many applications does it take to land an Internship?

Also, think of an intern as a training where you get to try out different aspects of your theoretical knowledge. The difference between Intern and Werk student is that, as a werk student you will be doing a part of the real project, whereas in Intern you will be trained and also since it is a student position, there will not be much of expectation from you. 

On an ending note, most of these student positions are pretty common in Germany and if you want to gain some practical experience before you graduate, you can just visit the website of any German company and there is a high chance that you can see lots of student positions open. But, on a cautious note - since there are so many student openings, it doesn't mean that you will get one. Since 99% of the time, you will get paid for the job, the company/Professor will expect you to have a good profile and you need to perform well in the interviews.