Spend your time during the studies wisely
Kræn Hansen, manager at Social Square, with 15 employees. While he was a student at DTU, Kræn Hansen started several businesses.
What do you look for, when you are about to hire a student of engineering or a recently graduated engineer?
We look for that sparkle in the eyes, an inner desire to change the digital solutions used at our society’s largest, oldest, and most important organizations. Then we look for employees, who remain critical of their surroundings and are able to reflect on the tasks they are given. When we advise our clients, it’s important that we don’t just do a job but really try to help our customers define the assignments we choose to take on.
What matters most to you?
That the projects we do for our clients actually have a positive effect on the intended users. That we don’t just solve the problem correctly, but that we solve the correct problem without creating two new problems. Additionally, it’s absolutely crucial that our employees are consulted on decisions that affect their workplace and their assignments. To make sure that everyone has a chance to express their good ideas and any frustrations they may have because of the organization, we utilize an alternative style of management inspired by Holacray.
Is it important to graduate on time?
Perhaps from a socio-economic perspective – but not in our opinion. Take your time, go study abroad, start a business while you’re still in school, but spend your time wisely. If you don’t graduate on time, it makes sense that you need to be able to explain how you spent your time.
Is having done an internship an advantage, even though it’s not mandatory?
Yes – definitely. The engineering program will teach you very little about what it’s like working on projects that began before you became a part of the process. Way too often, student projects start with a “blank canvas”. The internship may make you better equipped to collaborate with colleagues, who have different professional skills or a different level of knowledge regarding your specific field, and it gives you the opportunity to work on projects that began before you became involved and will continue to evolve after your internship has ended.
What does it mean to you, that a person has studied abroad?
It may provide you with international contacts, which we may make use of, when we recruit new employees or have to seek out new international business partners or clients. It may give you a greater feeling of international responsibility, which you may draw on as a source of inner motivation to solve some of the biggest international challenges for the open digital society.
