What made you apply for a job at armasuisse?

The job description already indicated exciting tasks, and the positioning of armasuisse between the federal government and the private sector/industry interested me. I saw this as an opportunity to learn a great deal.

How do you categorise your daily tasks in the overall picture of armasuisse?

As a university intern in a procurement competence sector, I mainly support the Head of the specialist area Commerce and his team leaders in their management tasks. I can thus get involved in various strategic projects (Center of Excellence STIB or HR development). Being involved in some of the procurement projects is also part of my duties. Here, I support colleagues in their work in the project team (such as the Airport Noise Monitoring System or Camera Special Unit Dog). In addition, I was also able to work in Resource Management. In addition, I launched a networking platform for the university interns within armasuisse last year, the Avenir Group. At the moment, this group is advocating for the introduction of a first-name culture throughout armasuisse. Altogether, I am involved in several tasks and was able to take on responsibility at an early stage.

What would you like to pass on to future university interns?

Be open for all kinds of tasks, because there’s always the opportunity to help and present your perspective. In addition, personal initiative is much appreciated, which means that you can help shape your internship yourself and at the same time participate in the further development of armasuisse. 

In retrospect, what would you change, if you had the chance to do so?

Luckily not a lot. I was always able to tackle any «problems» immediately, after talking to my managers. In retrospect, maybe I could have taken on responsibility even quicker, but due to the complex relationships and the versatility of the tasks, you of course need a «warm-up phase», which, however, always motivated me.

Compared with your first working day – how do you stand in relation to the expectations you had at the beginning?

My expectations have been met or even exceeded. At the beginning, I never thought that I would help with such a wide variety of tasks or even be able to take over the lead. The internship was really very exciting and informative.

Where do you see yourself in three years?

I hope by then to have completed my Master’s (International Affairs and Governance at the HSG) and have found an exciting job, perhaps even with armasuisse again.