CEPA Head Office in Ingersheim (near Stuttgart)
Are you looking for an opportunity to start your professional career?
Are you interested in educational travel and would like to work with colleagues, customers, and service providers in an international environment?
Take advantage of a traineeship at CEPA and support our steadily growing team at Ingersheim Castle near Stuttgart.
We are a young, dynamic, and customer-oriented company, with a can-do attitude and a passion for what we do. It is very important to us that we provide each group with the ideal academic program, individually prepared for their needs. A traineeship at CEPA in Ingersheim combines the opportunity to work in a small-sized company with an educational spirit and a motivated team. We look for a flexible, open-minded, and energetic trainee who is excited by education, communication, and travel.
Main duties include:
- Organization and implementation of faculty-led programs for American, Canadian, and Brazilian university partners
- Booking hotels, trains, and private buses
- Expanding and cultivating contacts with companies or institutions that welcome our groups
- Developing daily detailed schedules for programs
- Preparing information material for participants and on-site coordinators
- Controlling expenses related to specific groups
- Researching academic visits and activities relating to new study abroad topics and regions
Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree ideally with a major in tourism, business administration, or international communication and cultural studies
- Previous experiences abroad
- Fluency in German and English
- Further language skills in French, Italian or Spanish are preferred
- Reliability, flexibility, open-mindedness, and dedication
Duration:
12 months, the start date is flexible and starts from January 2023.
Compensation:
To be discussed. Housing can be provided at no cost (if needed).
“I began my traineeship in 2021, when the tourism industry started to come back to life. One of the best parts of the traineeship is definitely the CEPA team. Even early on, you could tell how much everyone here cares about their projects and the students who travel across the world to explore Europe through the study programs. It was a valuable opportunity to work with such a supportive team and learn from the experience and insight my colleagues accumulated over the years.
To prepare us for the challenge, CEPA provides structured training, assignments, and guidance for all us trainees and interns who will eventually run their own programs as study abroad coordinators. Throughout the traineeship, I had the opportunity to learn from and work with different organizations, institutions, universities, and inspiring individuals to prepare for the arrival of my groups. The season was challenging and although as a team we always prepared as thoroughly as possible to ensure a smooth journey, there are so many things that can happen while the groups are traveling. These daily challenges required me to think and come up with new creative solutions to ensure everyone would leave Europe with a unique and memorable learning experience, which means things never get boring around here. Despite some difficult situations, the thank you notes and evaluation results from the students always put a smile on my face and made me feel like the hard work really paid off in the end.
After working at CEPA for a year, I can confidently say that my experience here has shaped who I am and pushed me to a new height, which give me a new perspective on my future career. If you are looking for an opportunity that can put your study in tourism management to implement your studies in tourism management and gain valuable practical experience, this traineeship at CEPA can be the perfect place for you!”
“Working as an intern for CEPA Europe was an incredible learning experience. Interns at CEPA are given full responsibility for organizing faculty-led programs, including communication with partner companies and arranging international travel logistics. The potential for professional capacity building is remarkable – my German language skills have benefited greatly from being immersed in a German business environment, and I gained first-hand experience of the inner workings of a small, dynamic team. The team atmosphere is what truly sets CEPA apart: although the work is challenging, I always felt the support of my colleagues. I would recommend an internship at CEPA to anyone interested in an international business career!”
“In the context of my master study, Tourism Development Strategies, I completed an internship at CEPA located in Ingersheim. From day one, the team in Ingersheim was cordially receiving me. Also, they trusted me and assigned to me very interesting and challenging tasks. I really liked to go to work every morning… also because I had a very good relationship to my colleagues and to my boss. The level of support by my colleagues and my boss was outstanding.
During my entire internship, I learned continuously not only with respect to business matters but also with regard to teamwork as well as communication and networking with others. Since we have university groups travelling all over Europe, I worked with service providers from different countries and cultures and could gain interesting intercultural experiences. I can really recommend doing an internship at CEPA, if you are open, motivated and interested in something different.”
“After getting my degree in tourism management and spending some time abroad, I worked for CEPA for 6 months as an intern in Ingersheim. Being able to work with and for CEPA was amazing and I profited a lot from it. The team spirit and motivation is incredible and it was a great experience to see how a well-organized company works. As an intern, I was not the one doing the boring jobs. I got several programs handed over that I organized independently. Nevertheless, I could always count on the support and assistance of my colleagues.
During my internship I enjoyed the variety of tasks the most. As CEPA does not offer standardized travels, each program is different, which made it so much more fascinating for me. I also got the chance to work as an on-site coordinator for a student group in Germany, which was great. It was amazing to meet the students and while enjoying the time with them, I learned a lot about leading a group as well as about their culture.
Besides getting to know how a tour operator works, I improved my language skills and got insights into various parts of program planning from the proposal creation all the way to its realization. Working at CEPA was a great opportunity for me and I can only recommend it to anyone who is interested in the field of tourism and languages.”
“My 8 months at CEPA was the perfect stepping stone from university into the working world. It felt more like a little family rather than a work place. This really made it easier starting off in a foreign country and also very enjoyable and special having a more intimate atmosphere where you weren’t just a small fish in a big pond. This also allowed me to have a lot of flexibility in terms of the responsibilities I had. I had the pleasure of not only helping out in operations but also in the marketing department, helping with acquisitions etc. Having this exposure in different areas was vital for my development.
Furthermore there is a lunchtime club where we cooked and ate together every day, something again which is very special and unique to CEPA (you then also get to taste lots of different German dishes, yummy!!). And if that doesn’t convince you then the location will, it is an absolute dream, nestled amongst vineyards overlooking the Neckar Valley, you really cannot get a more beautiful place to work (your office is in a castle!).”
Carbon emissions (CO2e) resulting from CEPA’s activities during the period from January to December 2021 have been calculated at 42 tons. CEPA’s carbon footprint has been offset by planting native trees at the Osa Conservation Area in Costa Rica, one of the most biologically intense places on earth.
CEPA values its memberships in professional associations, such as:
