A TOUR OF STUDITEMPS HQ IN COLOGNE

We visited Studitemps in Cologne.

Studitemps welcomed us to their cool headquarters in the heart of Cologne.

Here’s what we discussed with Benjamin Roos, founder and Managing Director. Check out the interview and Studitemps’ highly likable team in the cathedral city.

Benjamin, thanks for having us. Would you tell us more about the idea that’s evolved into Studitemps?

Great that you’re here. It all started back in my own university days.

Around WHU’s campus, in the scenic town of Vallendar, student jobs were scarce. Offbeat positions, such as a cinema operator, had their charm, but my co-founder Andreas Wels and I were constantly searching for a more effective ways to combine lectures and working hours.

And even during my semester abroad, in the considerably bigger city of Reims, France, decent job opportunities proved astonishingly hard to come by.

Later on, at the student consultancy confluentes, we realized how challenging it was for employers to get in touch with suitable temporary workforce.

That’s when we first envisioned a different approach to staffing, catering specifically to students’ needs.

After a short detour—a book search engine project that bonded the team but didn’t convince investors—Studitemps emerged, and the rest is history.

Your Business

When was your company established and what is Studitemps’ core business?

We founded Studitemps in 2008 but it took two years until we found our sweet spot.
We started with Jobmensa as a student jobboard but named the company Studitemps as we envisioned student temp staffing from the beginning.

During the first two years, we grew Jobmensa, tried to launch a kind of experteer for graduates named Jobeinstieg and provided students as babysitters, moving aides and real estate inspectors.

Today, with Jobmensa, we operate the leading and most popular staffing platform for students in Germany.

Our digital expertise through jobmensa and our self-developed recruiting and staffing software combined with our offline approach through 22 branches all over Germany enables us to precisely match students’ job preferences with companies’ requirements, and vice-versa.

Over the last 11 years we employed more than 90.000 talents, for whom their next job at Deutsche Bahn, Fossil Europe GmbH and other renowned companies is just a few steps away.

Our platform welcomes 13.000 new users and around 45.000 applications every month.

Numbers aside, we consider it a privilege to support young potentials throughout their academic education, a time which we personally perceived as most inspiring and defining.

We firmly believe that every fellow student should have easy access to well-paid jobs that provide that much-needed flexibility.

At Studitemps, we want to be problem solvers, solutions providers—and partners—for students and companies alike. And as a good partner should, we don’t cease our support after graduation.

On Jobeinstieg.de, we assist both graduates and young professionals in taking the next steps in their careers.

Where do you see your company in five years?

We firmly believe that a matching self-service for students and companies will be the next big step but both customers will still want a personal contact nearby in one of our offices.

Therefore, we will further grow our software development teams and also the number of offices throughout Germany.

We want to employ more than 10.000 students each month and make sure that every academic has at least once worked for Studitemps between their Abitur and their 5th year of employment as a young professional.

Studitemps will extend its market leadership and continue to be one of the leading employers for students, graduates and young professionals.

We want to be part of the system, but in a good way—as we provide every suitable applicant, at every location, with the perfect job.

To reach this goal, we have teamed up with institutions like Maastricht University. Our collaborative survey series “Fachkraft 2030” not only gains continuous and widespread media attention, but gives us invaluable insights into contemporary and future college life.

Your Team

How many employees work at your company at the moment? Are you planning to expand?

At the moment, our headcount is in the 300’s range, more than 150 of whom work at our headquarters. Our main goal is to be present in all German university cities.

Currently, we’re active in 22 locations, and are planning to open further offices throughout Germany. Right now, we’re hiring. So make sure to visit our career page for awesome job openings. 🙂

What’s the average age of your team members?

Naturally, we have a variety of touchpoints with young people, and many of your specialists started as interns or working students and developed into their current roles.

That said, we cherish a good mixture between youthful enthusiasm and business experience.

There is no age limit to working at Studitemps, it’s all about what you bring to the team. And, in purely statistical terms, the average age at Studitemps is 29,5 years.

What kind of attitude should new employees bring, in order to work at your company?

Studitemps core values are “Freedom to act”, “being open to new ideas and change” and “create together”. We welcome out-of-the-box thinkers who like to participate and promote their own ideas, talented people who take the company forward and help us achieve great things.

At the same time, this is a place to be yourself, regardless of age, nationality, gender and educational background. The condensed version is that we’re a fun company looking for fun people.

Why is it fun to work at your company? Do you offer any employee benefits?

Ask any of our staff and they will tell you that our corporate events and parties are legendary, you won’t even have to wait for it. Of course, those are special occasions.

As we want to make every day at the office fun and worthwhile, we have stocked our office with modern and retro gaming consoles, a pool table, and to top it off, a roof terrace.

We offer free water, tea, coffee, and a wide selection of non-alcoholic (and non-non-alcoholic) beverages.

However, I think the real secret sauce that makes working at Studitemps so much fun is the team, and especially the fact that everyone’s opinion matters a lot.

Intern or CEO, day-to-day-business or special team events such as Open Space, there’s always opportunities to contribute.

Studitemps, as a company, wants to contribute, too, and establish healthy, long-term working relationships. As examples, we offer attractive corporate pension plans as well as huge discounts off Urban Sports.

Your Office

Where is your office located, and how big is it?

We love our two top floors in Building 4a of Cologne MediaPark, a modern business area close to the Cathedral, downtown, and the Rhine. In total, our office measures 2000 square meters.

Is there something special about the area?

The history of this area inspires me a lot. You could even say this highly vibrant business, residential, and regeneration district is a testament to what great things can be created from outdated structures.

What was a mere wasteland a little over two decades ago, is now home to some of the hottest German companies, a cinema premiering international blockbusters, restaurants, bars, and many more.

A great place to be – and, by the way, a rather nice allegory for the effect we’re having on the staffing industry.