Skip to content
Who I am Journey Where I stand Documents

Graz, Austria · b. 2006 · HAK class of 2026

Progress,
on the record.

I'm Simon — nineteen, HAK graduate from Graz. This page is the running record of where I stand: done, in progress, planned. Nothing on it that a document can't back.

Portrait of Simon Tscherne
Matura passed
HAK · June 2026

182/190

Cambridge English Scale — B2 First, Grade A (CEFR C1)

5

Years of business school — HAK, International Business branch

3

Languages — German native, English C1, French B1

19

Years old — born 2006, Graz, Austria

Simon Tscherne, standing portrait

GRAZ · 47.07° N, 15.44° E

01 — Who I am

Business behind me,
options ahead.

Five years at HAK Grazbachgasse, International Business branch — accounting, business administration, economics, two foreign languages. Finished in June 2026 with the Reife- und Diplomprüfung. The diploma thesis looked at digital visibility: how Google and ChatGPT change the marketing of a Graz property-management firm.

What interests me is how systems actually work: where economics and law meet, who sets the rules — and what the rules do to markets. Observing and placing things comes more naturally to me than rushing to judge them. That's the direction; the concrete next step after military service goes on the record once it's fixed — not before.

I'm better on my feet than on paper. Presenting and arguing come easily; writing takes work — the Cambridge sub-scores say the same, and I'd rather the page admit it than polish it away. In between: internships in finance and sales, a certified Erasmus+ stint in Rotterdam, and the usual jobs that pay for things.

Based in
Graz, Austria
Languages
German (native) · English (C1) · French (B1)
Education
HAK Grazbachgasse — International Business, 2021–2026
Next
Military service

02 — The road so far

Milestones, in order.

Sep 2021

Started at HAK Grazbachgasse

International Business branch: five years of accounting, business administration, economics and languages ahead.

Completed

Aug 2022

First internship — Vexcel Imaging, Finance

Accounting support, digitalisation and asset inventory at the Graz imaging company — a first look at how a finance department actually runs.

Completed

Jul 2023

PIA Automation — Sales

CRM work, competitive analysis and requirement specifications in a B2B industrial setting.

Completed

Jun 2024

Cambridge B2 First — Grade A

182/190 overall, with 190s in Reading and Listening; Grade A places the result at CEFR C1. Writing, at 164, is the weakest of the five — noted.

Completed

Nov–Dec 2024

Erasmus+ — Rotterdam

Two weeks of cross-cultural teamwork and product-concept development at Albeda College, certified by International Business Studies.

Completed

2025 / 26

Final HAK year

Diploma thesis on digital visibility, finals — plus the finance seat on the graduation ball committee and student-representation work. A Saturday job at Hofer on the side, a summer delivering for the Austrian Post before that.

Completed

Jun 2026

Graduation — three documents at once

Reife- und Diplomprüfung passed. EBBD Certificate of Excellence issued. And with the diploma, Austrian trade law counts the Unternehmerprüfung as passed. One month, three lines for the record.

Completed

Jul–Sep 2026

Steiermärkische Sparkasse

Summer role as precious-metals advisor — customer-facing work at the bank before the next stage starts.

In progress

Military service

What comes after that goes on the record once it's fixed — not before.

Planned

03 — Where I stand

Measured, not guessed.

English, by the numbers

Cambridge B2 First, June 2024 — reported on the Cambridge English Scale (max 190). Grade A places overall performance at CEFR C1.

Writing is the weakest of the five. I know — it's being worked on, not talked away.

Verification no. C7096069 · cambridgeenglish.org/verifiers

Status board

Secondary education

HAK diploma — Matura & business diploma, June 2026

Complete

Languages

German native · English C1 · French B1

C1 certified
A1A2B1B2C1C2

English, certified · French B1 at school level

Entrepreneur qualification

Unternehmerprüfung — counts as passed with the HAK diploma, by law

Conferred

Right now

Steiermärkische Sparkasse — precious-metals advisory, summer 2026

In progress

Ahead

Military service, Oct 2026 – Mar 2027 — the step after it isn't fixed yet, so it isn't listed

Planned

04 — On record

Don't take my word — take the documents.

Issued July 2024 · Cambridge

B2 First — Grade A

Cambridge English Level 2 Certificate in ESOL International. Overall 182/190 — performance at CEFR C1. Ofqual-regulated, independently verifiable.

View original

School year 2025/26 · Graz

Reife- und Diplomprüfung

State school-leaving and diploma examination of the Handelsakademie, passed before the examination board. University entrance plus business diploma in one document.

View original

Issued June 2026 · Erasmus+

EBBD — Certificate of Excellence

European Business Baccalaureate Diploma: business competence at European level, supported by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

View original

Conferred June 2026 · Austria

Unternehmerprüfung

Under §8 Unternehmerprüfungsordnung, the HAK diploma replaces the entrepreneur examination — the formal prerequisite for running a regulated trade in Austria. Conferred with the diploma, not sat separately; it belongs on the record anyway.

View original