Our alumnus Jan Kressin (class of 2023) studied Business Administration at WiSo and graduated with a Master's degree in Business Administration with a specialisation in Marketing. During his studies, he was a working student at Capgemini Invent, congstar and finally at Polestar, where he has been working as a Marketing and Brand Activation Specialist since his graduation. In our alumni interview, we spoke to him about the importance of practical experience alongside his studies, the role that personal identification with a brand can play in choosing an employer, and the reservations and concerns, but also the expectations and aspirations, with which he managed the transition from university to professional life.

Dear Jan, you currently work as a Marketing and Brand Activation Specialist for Polestar, a young car manufacturer specialising in electromobility. Could you briefly describe what a Brand Activation Specialist is and what your typical tasks are?

I’d be glad to! Fundamentally and comprehensively, together with my colleagues I am responsible for the development and positioning of the Polestar brand in the highly competitive German automobile market.

The broad job description of the Marketing and Brand Activation Specialist integrates many exciting areas of marketing in which, as the name suggests, the activation of the Polestar brand is always at the forefront; be it to create brand awareness, to encourage potential customers to individually customise one of our cars on the website or to generate test drive bookings and ultimately sales. All areas of activity are therefore aimed at full funnel conversions.

Day-to-day tasks range from customer relationship management and media activations, such as major out-of-home campaigns, to establishing and managing brand collaborations and partnerships.

All in all, it's a very dynamic working environment where you never get bored and every day is usually a little different and sometimes completely different from the previous one.

Polestar is a young company in a sunrise industry. What factors made you choose your employer?

Looking back on my previous professional experiences and now at Polestar, personal identification with the brand as well as the services and products is a decisive and major factor for me when choosing an employer.

This is not an easy criterion to meet, but I am convinced that the challenges in marketing, which are always characterised by proximity to (potential) customers and the company's own product range, can only be met with enthusiasm and determination in a way that is profitable for the company and provides personal job satisfaction as well.

I want to understand and live the tonality or language of the brand, as well as the brand identity and brand positioning. In my personal life, I am passionate about Apple, Sonos, Acaia, Fellow and other well thought-out brands and their products, which always fascinate me with their combination of high technological quality and felicitous aesthetics.

Polestar brings these two worlds together: Pioneering technology and innovation combined with a clear, pure Scandinavian design language that stands out and impresses.

The appeal of building a new, young brand with an ambitious, small team and establishing it in a highly competitive market also promises a high level of dynamics and a dream come true for any marketeer.

Towards the end of your studies, you were already employed as a working student at Polestar and before that at Capgemini Invent and congstar. How have these practical experiences helped you in your career?

In two words: very helpful. As the study programme is mainly theoretical, I think it is essential, especially in Business Administration, to gain practical experiences in order to get a concrete idea and understanding of how working in the business sector looks like.

The experience I have gained through my internships and working student positions has helped me to understand and identify where my strengths, weaknesses and interests lie, and most importantly, what career path I don’t want to take.

This last insight is very valuable, if not the most valuable, for one‘s career. Experimenting and observing in different areas of the company and gaining a diverse insight into different industries will help you to understand what occupation you can and cannot envision for your own professional future.

How would you describe your transition from university to working life? What where your expectations and aspirations, or reservations and concerns, when you started your professional career? Were there particular challenges?

I would describe my transition from university to working life as relatively smooth. I was fortunate enough to gain my first experience of full-time corporate life through my internships. And through my working student position at Polestar, which started in 2022, I already knew the company and the colleagues I would be working with in my full-time role. In addition to the increase of tasks and responsibilities, a lot of it was already familiar to me, so the step from university to the job was not too big or exciting.

What I wanted and imagined was a dynamic job that would neither underchallenge nor overchallenge me, exciting projects and, above all, finding my role in the company in the early days and being able to contribute to the company's success in the short term.

I was worried about being under too much stress and having too little time for anything other than work. Work/life balance is important to me. Finding a balance between wanting to do my best at work without neglecting my relationship, friends or myself was a big concern for me.

A proactive approach to wishes and concerns, in the form of open communication with employees and, above all, superiors, helps me personally to realise my own ideas and overcome any reservations. Sharing your concerns and realising that you are not alone with your worries is a great help in overcoming them.

You've been with Polestar for over a year now. How did your studies prepare you for working life? Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently today?

Controversially, and in the narrow sense of the question: My studies did not prepare me for working life. Contrary to the expectations of many first-year students, it is not the equivalent of a traditional vocational education and therefore does not necessarily have the task of preparing you for everyday working life.

Nevertheless, and in a broader sense, the Bachelor's and Master's programmes taught me how to act in stressful situations, how to analyse, assess and structure complex problems and issues, and how to think in a solution-oriented way, even under time pressure. Not to mention a basic understanding of economic actors and the various departments and areas of responsibility found in most companies. All of these skills are very useful in everyday working life.

This preparation was intensified by the very practical focus of my Master's programme (some exciting projects in cooperation with large companies such as Henkel, L‘Oréal and Nestlé) and the project-based work with real problems and the required application of well-known methods and models that are frequently used in practice - the SWOT analysis has already found its way into my day-to-day work.

Could you complete the following sentence: When I think back to my student days in Cologne, I am thinking of ...

... the wobbly little wooden desks in the main lecture building, with an impossible angle of inclination, which made it difficult to take notes during lectures, and which were sometimes the real challenge during exams in addition to the tasks to be completed (and of course the calculators falling down).

... the KLIPS email notification service: by setting up push notifications on your mobile phone, you could receive your exam results in the bar, on the toilet, on the underground or anywhere else.

… Kölsch, bars and carneval.

… the friends I've made and the love I‘ve found for my girlfriend, which has grown over the past five and a half years and continues to grow every day, both because and in spite of our bachelor's degree together.

Finally, would you share three tips with our students?

Making decisions is hard. Listen to your heart and your gut, even and especially in a university and professional context. Rational consideration is important and one side of the coin – but your gut feeling will never deceive you. You always make a decision for or against a seminar, an internship or a work placement at a time when it feels right to do so, taking into account all known influences – then it is ALWAYS the right decision.

Listen to yourself and be honest with yourself – do I like the study programme, internship or job and can I see myself being happy with it in the long term? There is nothing wrong with stumbling, giving up and starting again – quite the opposite. It helps to understand who you want to be and where you want to develop personally and professionally, even if the lessons can sometimes be hard.

Last but not least, if you are ambitious take your studies seriously. Good grades can help open doors in certain areas. But also realise that success in your studies is not everything. It is worth looking left and right and sometimes taking detours in order to really enjoy your studies. It's worth taking some things seriously that are very important to you personally, but on the other hand it’s also worth going through life with a sense of humour, a winking eye and sometimes even indifference in the most positive sense.

Dear Jan, thank you very much for your time and for the interview.