Sep 2021
Started at HAK Grazbachgasse
International Business branch: five years of accounting, business administration, economics and languages ahead.
Completed
Graz, Austria · b. 2006 · HAK class of 2026
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.
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
GRAZ · 47.07° N, 15.44° E
01 — Who I am
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.
02 — The road so far
Sep 2021
International Business branch: five years of accounting, business administration, economics and languages ahead.
Completed
Aug 2022
Accounting support, digitalisation and asset inventory at the Graz imaging company — a first look at how a finance department actually runs.
Completed
Jul 2023
CRM work, competitive analysis and requirement specifications in a B2B industrial setting.
Completed
Jun 2024
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
Two weeks of cross-cultural teamwork and product-concept development at Albeda College, certified by International Business Studies.
Completed
2025 / 26
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
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
Summer role as precious-metals advisor — customer-facing work at the bank before the next stage starts.
In progress
What comes after that goes on the record once it's fixed — not before.
Planned
03 — Where I stand
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
Secondary education
HAK diploma — Matura & business diploma, June 2026
Languages
German native · English C1 · French B1
English, certified · French B1 at school level
Entrepreneur qualification
Unternehmerprüfung — counts as passed with the HAK diploma, by law
Right now
Steiermärkische Sparkasse — precious-metals advisory, summer 2026
Ahead
Military service, Oct 2026 – Mar 2027 — the step after it isn't fixed yet, so it isn't listed
04 — On record
Issued July 2024 · Cambridge
Cambridge English Level 2 Certificate in ESOL International. Overall 182/190 — performance at CEFR C1. Ofqual-regulated, independently verifiable.
View originalSchool year 2025/26 · Graz
State school-leaving and diploma examination of the Handelsakademie, passed before the examination board. University entrance plus business diploma in one document.
View originalIssued June 2026 · Erasmus+
European Business Baccalaureate Diploma: business competence at European level, supported by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
View originalConferred June 2026 · Austria
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