The move from a student job to your first full employment contract at the same company looks like a formality — it is anything but. Your Werkstudent tenure is legally „prior employment”: it can invalidate a fixed-term clause in your first contract and shorten, or eliminate, the unprotected waiting period before dismissal protection kicks in. Employers routinely overlook both points. Graduates who know them start their careers with far more security — and negotiate from a much better position.
What actually changes when you switch
As a working student you benefited from the Werkstudentenprivileg: no employee contributions to health, nursing-care and unemployment insurance, only pension contributions — provided studies remained your main occupation and you respected the 20-hour rule during lecture periods (details in our article on Werkstudent status). With the first full contract, that privilege ends: full social-security contributions on both sides, which is why a gross salary that sounds like a big jump can feel smaller net. In exchange you gain full coverage — unemployment insurance eligibility, sick-pay chains, proper pension accrual — and the 20-hour cap disappears.
Two things do not reset, and that is where the leverage sits.
The fixed-term trap: your student job counts as prior employment
Many employers hand graduates a fixed-term first contract „to see how it goes” — without stating any objective reason (sachgrundlose Befristung, § 14 Abs. 2 TzBfG). What they forget: a fixed term without objective reason is only permitted if there was no prior employment relationship with the same employer — the Vorbeschäftigungsverbot of § 14 Abs. 2 Satz 2 TzBfG. A Werkstudent job is a genuine employment relationship. So is a paid working-student contract of a few semesters, and so, in principle, is a Minijob.
The Bundesverfassungsgericht has confirmed the ban applies in principle without a fixed time limit, carving out only constellations where the prior employment lies very far in the past, was of an entirely different nature, or was of very short duration — the BAG has, for instance, disregarded prior employment lying more than two decades back. A student job that ran directly, or nearly directly, into the graduate contract will practically always count. The consequences:
- The fixed-term clause is invalid — the contract is treated as concluded for an indefinite period.
- You enforce this with an Entfristungsklage (fixed-term review claim, § 17 TzBfG), which must be filed within three weeks after the agreed end date.
- A fixed term with an objective reason (Sachgrund) remains possible — so check which variant your contract states. Our overview of fixed-term contracts explains the difference.
Probation and the KSchG waiting period: your tenure may already count
Keep two concepts apart:
- Contractual probation (Probezeit): up to six months with a shortened two-week notice period (§ 622 Abs. 3 BGB). A new contract may validly agree this — it governs only the notice length.
- The KSchG waiting period (Wartezeit): dismissal protection under § 1 KSchG requires six months of employment in the same business. This is not reset by a new contract: what counts is the duration of the legal relationship with the same employer. Where the Werkstudent job transitioned seamlessly into the full-time role — or with only a short gap and a close substantive connection — case law counts the prior tenure toward the six months.
The practical effect is significant: an employer who dismisses a former working student in month three of the „new” contract, assuming a free-fire probation window, may already need socially justified grounds. If that happens to you, do not accept the „you’re still in probation” line at face value — see our article on probation dismissal and have the Anrechnung question assessed within the three-week deadline.
Money and terms: negotiate the reset
Do not let your student hourly rate anchor the salary discussion. The employer knows your old rate; the market does not care about it. Benchmark the role externally and negotiate the position, not the promotion from €16 per hour. Also on the table:
- Vacation carry-over: if the relationship continues without interruption, untaken vacation days from the student contract do not evaporate — they carry into the new contract or must be paid out.
- Overtime clauses: blanket „all overtime included” clauses are only valid within limits — watch them at junior salaries.
- Forfeiture clauses (Ausschlussfristen): three-month claim-forfeiture clauses are standard; know they exist and raise claims in text form early.
Non-EU graduates: get the residence timeline right
If you are a non-EU national, plan the immigration sequence alongside the contract. After graduation you can obtain a residence permit for seeking employment — up to 18 months under the job-search provisions of the Residence Act (§ 20 Abs. 3 AufenthG; the numbering can shift with reforms, so verify the provision applicable when you apply). During this period you may work, which bridges any gap between graduation and contract start. Once the qualified job begins, switch to an EU Blue Card or a skilled-worker permit — do not simply let the search permit run. And if the first job ends early, your status does not collapse automatically: see residence permit after job loss.
Before you sign: the contract review checklist
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Fixed term?
If the contract is fixed-term without an objective reason, your prior student job likely makes the clause invalid. Know this before signing — it shapes everything else.
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Probation and notice periods
Six months’ probation with two-week notice is standard; longer notice for the employee than for you is not permissible. Remember the KSchG waiting period may already be partly served.
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Salary, bonus, overtime
Benchmark externally, get bonus criteria in writing, and check the overtime clause for blanket inclusions.
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Forfeiture clauses
Ausschlussfristen of three months in text form are common and largely valid — diary them.
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Vacation
Confirm the annual entitlement and that open days from the student contract carry over.
Worked example
A computer-science student works two years as a Werkstudent at a 120-employee Bonn software company, €16 per hour. On graduating she signs a twelve-month fixed-term contract as a junior developer at €52,000 (€4,333 gross per month) — no objective reason stated, „standard for new grads,” says HR. In month ten she is told the contract will not be renewed.
We file an Entfristungsklage within three weeks of the agreed end date. The two-year Werkstudent employment is a textbook Vorbeschäftigung: the sachgrundlose Befristung is invalid and the contract deemed indefinite. Because her overall relationship with the company far exceeds six months and the company is well above the size threshold, full KSchG protection applies — the employer would need socially justified grounds it does not have. With a competing offer already in hand, she does not want reinstatement; the case settles at €15,000 (about 3.5 gross months) plus a Grade-2 Zeugnis and an agreed communication line for references. Without the Vorbeschäftigung point, she would have left with zero.
Frequently asked questions
I had a Minijob at the company years before my studies. Does that also block a fixed term?
In principle yes — a Minijob is an employment relationship. For employment lying far in the past or of a very different character, the constitutional carve-outs may apply, so the answer needs case-by-case analysis. Anything within the last few years will usually count.
Do I have to accept a new probation period at all?
It is negotiable. Employers who know you from two years of student work can be talked down to three months or zero. But even if you accept six months, its bite is limited: the KSchG waiting period may already be partly or fully served by your prior tenure.
Does my Werkstudent time count toward severance calculations later?
Severance formulas in negotiations typically use total continuous service. Where the student job flowed seamlessly into the full contract, we count the tenure from the original start date in settlement math — employers usually accept this once the legal continuity is on the table.
The employer offers a fixed term with the reason „temporary project need”. Is that safe for them?
Not automatically. A Sachgrund must genuinely exist and be provable — a label in the contract is not enough. Fixed terms with dubious objective reasons are challengeable on the same three-week timeline after the end date.
When should I raise the residence-permit timing?
Before signing. Contract start dates, the job-search permit window and the Blue Card salary threshold need to fit together — a start date pushed back by two months can otherwise create an avoidable status gap.