Jump Start

Many oikos students feel insecure about their opportunities to build a green career. Our alumni want to empower them to explore possible career paths that enable them to become sustainability change makers. Through Jump Start seminars, students are given insight in the difference they can make in the world after their graduation. Jump Start seminars usually take place during international meetings and are always prepared and moderated by alumni often in collaboration with guests who bring their specific experience into the discussion.

So far we have realized three Jump Start seminars.

The first Jump Start seminar took place in March 2010 in Reims, France and encouraged students to think beyond the mainstream employment careers. Students learnt how to think in an entrepreneurial way and balance a social mission with the start-up realities of creating a venture. On a personal level they became aware of their skills, interests, network and area of impact. The seminar was led by oikos alumni Katharina Beck (Institute for Social Banking) and Tim Lehmann (Expedition Welt).

In October 2010, the second Jump Start was realized in Warsaw, Poland and focused on the possibili-ties of becoming an intrapreneur for sustainability. It requires a specific skill set to become a change maker within a company as you have to deal with internal politics and issues of power and influence. The seminar made students think in different ways about how they could make small incremental changes within the  boundaries of bigger institutions. Philipp Gaggl, sustainability coordinator at PwC Austria and Patricia Mesquita, oikos PhD fellow on the topic of sustainable intrapreneurship developed and moderated this Jump Start seminar.

In March 2011 Jump Start took place during the Spring Meeting in Prague. The seminar challenged oikos students to look critically at the sustainability activities of consulting companies. Through role plays, exercises and case studies, we learnt about the dynamics of this growing field. The seminar was hosted by Clara Navarro Colomer (ex-McKinsey), Daniel Schmitz-Remberg (Accenture, non-alumnus/external partner) and Philipp Gaggl (PwC).

The next Jump Start will take place during the international meeting from 14-15 November in St.Gallen, Switzerland.