[2][3] At the end of May 2024, he switched to the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) and was nominated in November 2024 by the Berlin state board of the BSW to number 1 on the state list for the 2025 German federal election.

After Markus Högner was sacked in May 2009, he took over training of Schalke's second team together with Sven Kmetsch.

In January 2010 Ruhnert was replaced by Michael Boris and then worked as a scout again.

[6] From 2014 onwards he was director of the Knappenschmiede and promoted the development of Bernard Tekpetey, among others.

His successor as managing director of professional football was Horst Heldt.