Wissensfabrik – Unternehmen für Deutschland e.V. from Ludwigshafen offers economics students with the project “Students2Startup” the opportunity to deal with questions from everyday business life. For us as an innovative and technology-oriented company, cooperation with universities and research institutions is very important. It gives students practical job experience in young companies and enables an easier entry into the professional world.

The goal of “Students2Startup” is to create networking of students, founders and mentors for the business world. In addition to A+ Composites, two other young companies participated in the seminar this summer. At the beginning of the seminar, we introduced our company and answered questions like: how can we optimally engage with potential new employees on the website? Which methods can we use and which innovative concepts are there? How can a company of our size and in our business field implement this?

Two teams, consisting of four to five students, had six weeks to study this topic. They had different approaches: One team initially looked at the general possibilities of attracting employees. Afterwards, they discussed how to implement these concepts into the design of the website. They also worked out how employee acquisition can be designed in the future and have prepared appropriate recommendations for action. The second team began with the initial situation of our company and demonstrated how to increase the visibility and accessibility of our web presence. They also highlighted how our website must be designed to visibly present the incentives for future employees. In addition, the team emphasized the importance of other web platforms linked with the A+ Composites website.

The students presented their results at a closing event. They also received feedback on their approaches and results. Some of the mentioned aspects will flow into the redesign of our website. The event ended with a get-together. For A+ Composites, working on the project “Students2Startup” was a complete success. Students received good insight into the business world by working on resolving real questions from startups, while young companies are offered a platform to build networks and find new talents for their company. In addition, students who are interested in form a start-up, now have a better understanding thereof.