{"id":527,"date":"2023-10-06T09:27:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T07:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/?p=527"},"modified":"2023-10-06T09:27:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T07:27:17","slug":"internship-in-liechtenstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/2023\/10\/06\/internship-in-liechtenstein\/","title":{"rendered":"Internship in Liechtenstein"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_527 social_share_privacy clearfix 1.6.4 locale-en_US sprite-en_US\"><\/div><div class=\"twoclick-js\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\njQuery(document).ready(function($){if($('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_527')){$('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_527').socialSharePrivacy({\"txt_help\":\"Wenn Sie diese Felder durch einen Klick aktivieren, werden Informationen an Facebook, Twitter, Flattr, Xing, t3n, LinkedIn, Pinterest oder Google eventuell ins Ausland \\u00fcbertragen und unter Umst\\u00e4nden auch dort gespeichert. N\\u00e4heres erfahren Sie durch einen Klick auf das <em>i<\\\/em>.\",\"settings_perma\":\"Dauerhaft aktivieren und Daten\\u00fcber-tragung zustimmen:\",\"info_link\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.heise.de\\\/ct\\\/artikel\\\/2-Klicks-fuer-mehr-Datenschutz-1333879.html\",\"uri\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\\\/intern-abroad\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/06\\\/internship-in-liechtenstein\\\/\",\"post_id\":527,\"post_title_referrer_track\":\"Internship+in+Liechtenstein\",\"display_infobox\":\"on\"});}});\n\/* ]]> *\/<\/script><\/div><ul>\n<li>Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, and Computer Engineering M.Sc.<\/li>\n<li>Liechtenstein, Schaan<\/li>\n<li>Hilti Group<\/li>\n<li>03\/2023 \u2013 09\/2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Application<\/p>\n<p>My internship was mandatory for the completion of my master\u2019s degree in electrical engineering. For this,<br \/>\nI went to the headquarters of Hilti AG in Liechtenstein. Hilti is a tool manufacturer and one of the big<br \/>\nplayers within the construction market. Being an electrical engineer, initially I was not sure about<br \/>\nopportunities I would have there to combine the internship with my studies. However, through the main<br \/>\ncareers page, I filtered all \u201celectrical engineering\u201d positions and found an intriguing position on battery<br \/>\nresearch. For me, the application was quite straight forward. After submitting my documents, my<br \/>\nsupervisor reached out to me just a couple of days later. Here I have heard different stories. Some interns<br \/>\nwere waiting for weeks for their response and still got accepted. The answering time depends on the<br \/>\nteam, so a fast or slow response does not have to mean anything. My supervisor invited me to a technical<br \/>\ninterview. In my case I did not get any detailed questions on certain processes or calculations.<br \/>\nAfterwards, HR invited me to a second interview. The main purpose was to check that I comply with all<br \/>\nregulations. Between submitting my application and receiving the offer, less than two weeks passed. After<br \/>\nI signed the contract, HR sent me a pdf containing all sorts of information on the area, leisure activities,<br \/>\nthe dress code in the office, data to put in the forms for the Erasmus+ scholarship etc.<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation<\/p>\n<p>I applied about four months in advance, giving me a lot of time to prepare the stay. Shortly before the<br \/>\nstart of my internship, HR sent me some forms, because the workplace is in Liechtenstein, but because of<br \/>\nEU regulations I was only allowed to live in Austria. With few exceptions, all interns live in Feldkirch, the<br \/>\ntown at the border to Liechtenstein. For finding an apartment I recommend the websites wg-gesucht and<br \/>\nlaendleanzeiger.at. I personally found my apartment on wg-gesucht. Since I wanted to move in with a<br \/>\nfriend, we had some troubles to find a suitable apartment because there is not a lot of offers. In general, I<br \/>\ngot the impression that many rooms are rented to people through personal contacts rather than the<br \/>\ninternet. The rent is usually between 500 and 700 euros. For a restaurant visit I would account around<br \/>\n20\u20ac. Feldkirch has a large Interspar in the centre and another Spar towards the Liechtenstein border,<br \/>\nwhich are both quite expensive. There is also a Lidl and an Aldi (called Hofer) as cheaper options. Since<br \/>\nmost shops close between 6 and 7pm already, I usually managed my weekly groceries on a Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Getting started in the first few days<\/p>\n<p>No matter where you live in Feldkirch, the commute to work will always take around 20 minutes to work.<br \/>\nThere is a train with four stops in Feldkirch and a stop right in front of Hilti. At the main station in Feldkirch<br \/>\nyou can buy a yearly ticket allowing to take all trains and buses in Vorarlberg for free including the train to<br \/>\nHilti. The ticket will always be valid from the start of the next month, so if you are in the area a couple of<br \/>\ndays earlier, consider checking out the train station as soon as possible. Since many interns come and<br \/>\ngo, it is also easy to get a bike which was especially nice during the summer days. Hilti also has some e-bikes that can be borrowed for 24 hours through the urban connect app. Next to figuring out<br \/>\ntransportation, you also have to register at the town hall and at the tax office in Feldkirch. The tax office<br \/>\nwill hand you out a form specifically for the commute between Austria and Liechtenstein, where you will<br \/>\nhave to state your monthly income, expenses and enter personal data. After some time, you will receive a<br \/>\nletter stating the total amount of taxes that you have to pay for the year. Taxes are around 20% and HR<br \/>\ncan always answer your questions regarding this topic. Finally, I also had to create a bank account for<br \/>\nSwiss Franks, because Hilti pays its salary in this currency. There are two main options. The ups bank in<br \/>\nBuchs and the Sparkasse Feldkirch. I decided to open a free Swiss Frank bank account on top of an<br \/>\nobligatory Euro bank account at Sparkasse Feldkirch. I had the option to transfer the money myself. This<br \/>\noption worked out well for me.<\/p>\n<p>Everyday life<\/p>\n<p>My daily routine started with getting up to get to work early. Although no one set any rules, everybody<br \/>\narrived around 8am. There is a small gym on campus, and I went there in the mornings, since after work<br \/>\nit gets quite busy. The tasks vary a lot from one internship to another. I was mostly working<br \/>\nindependently, but I also heard from interns with a packed schedule of meetings. In Liechtenstein, lunch<br \/>\nis already at 12 and some teams go even earlier. There is a canteen on campus, but the prices are more<br \/>\non the Swiss side. With a few exceptions I always brought my own lunch and joined my team then. Every<br \/>\nfloor has multiple kitchens that include a microwave to heat up food. Typically, everyone stays in the<br \/>\noffice until 5pm. At Hilti, you are usually always occupied, and you get the opportunity to overtake some<br \/>\nresponsibility. I had less free time, than I expected, because with the commute, sports, and cooking, a big<br \/>\namount of the evening was consumed already.<br \/>\nNonetheless, I had an amazing experience during my internship. There is always a huge number of<br \/>\ninterns at the headquarters. HR organises get togethers every week, so I got to know many people<br \/>\nalready from the start. A small team of interns organises workshops in a more or less monthly schedule.<br \/>\nThe topic comes from employees within Hilti, so every time you discover challenges in a new area of the<br \/>\ncompany. I joined this organisation team, so I stayed in touch with these case owners and had the<br \/>\nopportunity to work on my presentation and organisation skills. Next to being insightful, the workshops<br \/>\nwere a great opportunity to meet new faces and just have some fun. Furthermore, Hilti has a broad<br \/>\noffering of leisure teams. I joined the football team that meets once a week. During winter, we played<br \/>\nindoors and after April we went outside on a big pitch. Hilti also organised a campus run, sponsored<br \/>\ntickets for a concert in the opera in Schaan and took over the fee for the Zurich marathon. The sign up for<br \/>\nall these events is on a first come first serve basis, but they are announced in advance on the internal<br \/>\nwebpage.<\/p>\n<p>What to do around the area<\/p>\n<p>During the weekends, I was mostly hiking. Cool hikes around the area are Schesaplana which can be<br \/>\nreached by public transport or Hoher Kasten. I definitely recommend doing S\u00e4ntis and three sisters, but<br \/>\nthey are a bit tricky in some parts, so they should not be done as the very first hike. On warmer days, you<br \/>\ncan always find people who want to join to go to one of the close by lakes. There is Gamprin in<br \/>\nLiechtenstein, which is a small lake for bathing including changing rooms, a small football pitch, a<br \/>\nbasketball court, and a beach volleyball net. Another nice lake is in Feldkirch. Everybody refers to it as<br \/>\nthe Hilti Lake, but on a closer look at google maps, the actual lake is next to the Hilti Loch. A bit further<br \/>\naway, but a lot bigger is Walensee. During my time I also visited some cities. During one of the long<br \/>\nweekends around May and June there was enough time to spend several days in Vienna. There is a<br \/>\ndirect night train between Feldkirch and Vienna.<\/p>\n<p>Conclusion<\/p>\n<p>Overall, I can recommend spending an internship at the headquarters of Hilti. The application process is<br \/>\nstraightforward and the organisation before the start of the internship is also not too hard. HR knows<br \/>\nabout all the regulations quite well and is always happy to answer questions. It is easy to find new friends<br \/>\nbecause there is so many interns there. The area with all the mountains and lakes is nice in summer as<br \/>\nwell as in winter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, and Computer Engineering M.Sc. Liechtenstein, Schaan Hilti Group 03\/2023 \u2013 09\/2023 Application My internship was mandatory for the completion of my master\u2019s degree in electrical engineering. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"c2c_always_allow_admin_comments":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11,77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein","category-electrical-engineering","category-liechtenstein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":528,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/intern-abroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}