Schülerkarriere

What Schülerkarriere does

Schülerkarriere GmbH is a German digital career platform headquartered in Hannover that connects school graduates with employers offering apprenticeships (Ausbildung), dual study programs (duales Studium), and internships. Founded by Thomas C. Hoppe in 2010 as a student project, relaunched in 2012 after an initial discontinuation, and today the platform reaches more than 1 million registered students and 3.5 million students through a partner network of 4,500+ schools across Germany. It serves three primary customer groups: school graduates from Hauptschule, Realschule, and Gymnasium; companies (DAX corporations, SMEs, and government institutions such as the Bundesagentur für Arbeit and Bundeswehr) recruiting for apprenticeships and graduate roles; and universities and Hochschulen (including Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, IU Duales Studium, and iba) promoting study programs. The company also serves schools, teachers, and parents as secondary users via embedded digital infrastructure.

The product portfolio consists of a core job portal (schuelerkarriere.de), a Berufelexikon career encyclopedia, a Stärkentest aptitude assessment, a Lebenslauf-Generator CV builder, a Karriereguide career preparation resource, and a downloadable Berufsorientierungsheft workbook. The central technical and commercial differentiator is the proprietary School Digital Distribution Network, which gives Schülerkarriere exclusive access to deliver employer content — job listings, employer branding videos and images — directly into schools through 2,500+ school monitors, school server web applications, and school communication apps, segmented by school form, region, or individual school. The platform also supports a reverse-application model in which companies can browse anonymized student profiles and request contact, reversing the conventional application flow. Product integration includes the EyeAble accessibility tool, and the company co-founded the Bundesverband für digitale Bildung and holds a stake in the Abiunity student social network (280,000+ users).

Schülerkarriere operates a freemium model: the service is free for students, while companies and universities pay for job listings, employer branding placements, and targeted advertising through the school digital infrastructure. Pricing is by company annual subscription based on a non-public price list. The go-to-market combines direct sales to enterprise and government clients, channel partnerships through Abiunity and a network of 15 in-school career coaches, and content-led acquisition (career guides, blog, social media across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Xing, Facebook). Funding to date consists of EU and Lower Saxony state grants (~€20,000), a 2013 INVEST federal venture capital grant (Schülerkarriere was the first recipient) accompanied by a Business Angel investment from Christian Beig, a 2014 second strategic investor round, and a 2015 follow-on from Beig; revenue tripled year-over-year in 2014 and was on track to double in 2015. The company is privately held, was recognized by Gründerszene as one of Germany's 50 fastest-growing startups in 2018, and has begun pilot expansion into Austria.

Name

Schülerkarriere

Legal name

Schülerkarriere GmbH

Website

https://schuelerkarriere.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Schülerkarriere is a German digital career platform that connects school graduates with employers offering apprenticeships, dual study programs, and internships, serving 1M+ students across 4,500 schools via its portal and exclusive school digital infrastructure partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Career Job Marketplace

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Internship/Apprenticeship Matching & Work-Based Learning Platforms (EDAFAMAL)

Keywords

• Apprenticeship job portal
• Career matching platform
• Student recruitment platform
• Dual study programs
• School-targeted advertising

Headquarters

HQ city

Hanover

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Company Job Listings: Companies pay for publishing job postings on the platform and for promotional placements. Pricing based on current price list, details not publicly disclosed.
2. Employer Branding/Advertising: Companies pay for advertising solutions including videos, images, and targeted placements through school digital infrastructure.
3. University/Hochschule Listings: Universities and colleges pay for listing study programs on the platform.
4. EU and State Funding: Funding from EU and Lower Saxony state programs supports operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Schülerkarriere is a digital job-matching platform that connects German school graduates with employers recruiting for apprenticeships, dual study programs, internships, and trainee roles. Companies pay to post positions and access candidate data, while students use the platform free of charge. Distribution is differentiated by exclusive access to the school digital infrastructure—monitors, servers, and mobile apps installed at more than 4,500 German schools—enabling employer content to reach students directly in their learning environments.

Product overview

Schülerkarriere is a digital career platform for German school students seeking apprenticeships (Ausbildung), internships (Praktikum), and dual study programs (Duales Studium). The core product is a job portal and matching platform that connects students with employers. The platform operates a unified product architecture consisting of: the main job board (with search filters by location, federal state, industry, and company), the Berufelexikon career encyclopedia, the Stärkentest aptitude assessment tool, the Lebenslauf-Generator CV builder, and the Karriereguide career preparation resources. A key differentiator is the proprietary School Digital Distribution Network, which enables employer content (job listings, videos, images) to be delivered directly to students through school digital infrastructure. The platform also features a Berufsorientierungsheft downloadable workbook. All services for students are free of charge.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Schülerkarriere Job Portal Core web platform that aggregates employer listings for apprenticeships, dual study programs, internships, and trainee positions and lets German school graduates browse, match, and apply; free for students.
• School Digital Distribution Network Exclusive paid media channel that distributes employer and university content directly inside German schools via school monitors, server integrations, and school mobile apps, enabling school-form and region-specific targeting.

Quantifiable outcome

• Platform reaches over 1 million registered students
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AbiunitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAbiunity is Germany's largest student social network with over 280,000 registered students. Schülerkarriere acquired private stake in Abiunity in 2014, enabling cross-promotion and access to Abiunity's student audience. This partnership significantly expanded reach and attracted major corporate clients like Siemens and Deutsche Bank.
• Bundesverband für digitale Bildung (Federal Association for Digital Education)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSchülerkarriere is co-founder of the Bundesverband für digitale Bildung, supporting schools with digitalization topics. Association promotes digital education initiatives and provides platform for industry collaboration on EdTech solutions.
• Bitkom (Smart School Jury)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounder Thomas Hoppe serves on the Smart School jury, supporting schools in digitalization efforts. Bitkom runs the Smart School award recognizing schools for excellence in digital education.
• Schools (4,500+ network)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnerships with over 4,500 schools in Germany enable Schülerkarriere to deliver content through school monitors, servers, and apps. Schools integrate platform content into career orientation and communication systems. This exclusive access is a major competitive differentiator.
• 15 Professional Career CoachesminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNetwork of 15 professional coaches provides career orientation seminars directly in schools. Coaches help students with assessment centers, interview preparation, and career decision-making, complementing the online platform.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Praktikum.info: Germany-focused internship and work-experience matching platform; overlaps with Schülerkarriere's internship segment but is narrower in scope.
• StudyCHECK: German platform for university and study-program reviews plus matching; competes with Schülerkarriere for university study-program listings and student traffic in the higher-education segment.

Direct peers

• Azubi.de: Germany-focused apprenticeship and dual-study matching platform; directly competes with Schülerkarriere for the same school-graduate and employer audiences with comparable listing-based monetization.
• Absolventa: German job board focused on graduates and young professionals; the founder of Schülerkarriere previously worked at Absolventa, and it competes for the same junior-talent recruiting budgets.
• Aubi-plus: German apprenticeship and dual-study search platform with similar targeting of school graduates and apprenticeship-offering employers across regional markets.
• Jobmensa: German mini-job and apprentice/working-student platform serving a comparable student-employer marketplace with overlapping employer clients.
• Ausbildung.de: Leading German apprenticeship portal operated by FUNKE; competes head-to-head for employer listings and student traffic in the Ausbildung/dual-study category.

Broad incumbents

• meinestadt.de: German regional city portal with a substantial Ausbildung listings vertical; competes for employer apprentice-recruiting budgets via a city-level, content-driven model.
• Stepstone: One of Germany's largest generalist job boards; offers apprenticeship and dual-study categories that overlap with Schülerkarriere but as part of a much broader professional-recruiting portfolio.
• Indeed Germany: Global incumbent job aggregator with strong German presence and dedicated Ausbildung search; competes indirectly for employer listings and student traffic at a much larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC5p_B2C4R4v7d3g
• Facebookfacebook.com/schuelerkarriere
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/schuelerkarriere-gmbh
• Instagraminstagram.com/schuelerkarriere
• TikToktiktok.com/@schuelerkarriere
• Xx.com/Schulerkarriere

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Schülerkarriere