In long-term care, health, and unemployment insurance, working student (Werkstudent) jobs are exempt from insurance for enrolled students if all legal requirements are met. A working student contract looks almost like an employment contract. The design of the work and the type of job differ from the conventional employment contract. Matriculated students who pursue time-limited working student work are called working students. This makes informative insights into the working world possible. Interesting working student positions enliven your studies, because alongside theory you gather practical experience. Up to 60 percent of students have to work alongside their studies. Working student jobs and mini-jobs convey, in the best case, practical skills that relate directly to the degree.

Five types of employment are possible

  • Part-time employee
  • Mini-jobber,
  • Semester break job
  • Working student with up to 20 hours a week
  • Working student and mini-job

Working in a practical, study-related way as a working student, earning up to 850 € a month for a limited period. Depending on which company provides the job and how many hours there are, the student pay varies. Regularly earning over 450 euros makes it necessary to pay into pension insurance. More demanding tasks than in an internship await the working student, who already has theoretical experience in the field. Students in dual study programs or matriculated long-term students who take 14 semesters or more, longer than others, cannot be working students. Participation in distance learning unfortunately can't be combined with working as a working student for up to 20 hours a week. Everyone doing a second degree or studying part time is excluded from working student work. A doctorate is not compatible with a job as a working student. Professional continuing education and working as a working student can't be combined with each other.

Immersing yourself in the company on different levels

Valuable contacts are made with a job as a working student; who knows, maybe a seamless transition into the company works out after your studies end. Getting to know the company makes sense on various levels. Anyone who later wants to work in project management can convince themselves through practical work as a project team member that there are differences between theory and practice. Help with a later academic thesis is sometimes offered by the management.

Advantages of working student work

  • Earning money during your studies
  • flexible working hours
  • Gaining practical experience
  • Building field-related networks
  • Enhancing your résumé with practical experience
  • Possible job offer after finishing your studies
  • dedicated employers give tips for final theses

Disadvantages of working student work

  • Time for studying decreases
  • Free time is reduced
  • Night and weekend work is burdensome
  • Semester breaks for working instead of relaxing
  • Reduction or loss of BAföG above certain earnings limits
  • possible loss of family insurance
  • Subject knowledge makes the search easier, first-semester students have a hard time

Combining a working student job and a mini-job?
Working student and mini-job, or both? A whole new phase of life begins for first-semester students in October. Living on your own can cost money, and a student job solves the problem. Students are streaming into companies, and those affected ask themselves: working student, mini-job, or both. Becoming a mini-jobber, gathering subject expertise as a working student, or working as a working student in a mini-job? The company faces the same question; mini-job rules apply to earnings of up to 450 euros. The working student rules come into play from 450 euros of earnings. Enrolled working students put the focus on their studies, and the working student rules give the chance to gather practical experience. The limits of short-term employment are exceeded with multiple student jobs. Automatically taking up work as a working student is not everyone's thing. Doing a mini-job is the alternative. Mini-jobbers may earn up to 450 euros, while working students have the option of exceeding 450 euros outside of that. During a leave semester you can't work as a working student. Working student and mini-job, being active as a working student to expand your subject knowledge. Additionally holding a mini-job can throw your time budget completely out of balance, and studying comes first.