Subsequently, until 2001 he was a research associate at the Walter Eucken Institute Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg and then from 2001 to 2004 the Market Economy Foundation in Berlin.

In 2002 he was awarded a Ph.D. in Finance from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg for his work on "Dual Federalism in Europe".

Schick has been a member of the German Parliament since the 2005 federal elections, representing Baden-Württemberg.

He has been regularly elected from the land list, having unsuccessfully contested the Mannheim constituency.

Schick has been the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group's spokesman on financial policy since 2007.