Student co-op at Audi or Bosch? (no Audi content)

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

In message <3402DCEE.60936A09@abraxis.com> Elliott Potter writes:

> 1998 I'm going to start in the co-op program (in this program students
> are in school for one semester, then have a paid job related to their
> major for one semester, then go back to school for one semester, etc.).

We call that a "Sandwich Course".

> a) I don't speak a word of German

Neither did I, when I first went to Bosch.  Getting through security was
hell.

> b) I live in America and wouldn't be able to go overseas to do this.

95% of Americans don't have current passports.  Be different.

> -Does anyone know how I would contact Bosch?

I don't know Bosch's official address, but I have been to the plant _MANY_
times - they used to be a customer of mine.  Try:

   Robert Bosch GmbH
   Personalabteilung
   Feuerbachstrasse
   Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen
   Germany

Certainly in the past Bosch have been quite prepared to take on limited numbers
of foreign students.  Don't forget that Robert Bosch is a registered charity
with philanthropic goals and does not always react only to the profit motive.
All of the departments I worked with (albeit in the 1980s) contained many
foreigners - French, Swiss, Dutch, English, etc.

They might be more prepared to consider you than you expect.  It's worth a try.

When you write the letter, explain that you speak no German but suggest that
you feel knowing German would significantly advance your career prospects in
the automobile electrics industry - as indeed it will.  The German government
subsidises German classes for foreigners.  Stuttgart food is very distinctive
and one of my favourites - it's also the centre of a large wine-growing region.
There's a lot of beautiful countryside and old towns around - Schwabish Hall,
for instance, and the B27 "Weinstrasse" north to Heilbronn.  The locals call
themselves "Schwaben" and have a well-deserved reputation for being careful
with their money.  Local legend says they were deported from Scotland for
meanness.

You'll need _DAMN_ good grades, BTW.

--
 Phil Payne
 Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club