A board year as External Affairs at Asset | IB&M
After nearly 9 months as External Affairs Officer of Asset | International Business & Management it is time to start looking for my successor. As a look back on my time as a board member, I will describe how the experience has been so far. These have been full of ups and downs, long nights and more experiences than I could ever hope for.
Introduction:
Some words about myself, my name is Daan van der Pol and I am currently 20 years old. I am in my third year of my bachelor study and have taken a year away from studying to help lead Asset | International Business & Management. After my board year I will proceed with my bachelor International Business Administration by going on exchange to Melbourne. My time at Asset International Business & Management started when I decided to join one of their committees three years ago. At that time I had just arrived in Tilburg and I started to look for ways to get to know new people. It was in that year that I already knew that I wanted to do a board year someday. The year after that I also joined a student association in Tilburg. When the board functions of this year became available, I initially doubted between Chairman and External Affairs Officer. In the end, the combination of contact with both Tilburg University and companies’ combined with my relatively young age convinced me to apply for External Affairs Officer.
What does a board year look like?
Let me start with the following, a board year does take a lot of time. The days begin at 09:00 or 10:00 dependent on the day and end anywhere from 17:00 till 19:00 and because you are a board member you also participate in every event we have. That being said, you get used to it pretty quickly and once you do it is a lot of fun. To me the best aspect of a board year is the fact that every day is different. With 5 other people, you micro manage a small corporation, which has about 100 active and over 1200 passive members. The result is that you have real influence in every decision that is made and you can immediately see the impact made by your decisions. The difference between doing committee work and being in the board is also very big. As a committee member I had no idea how many things go on behind the scenes at Asset | International Business & Management, Asset in general and Tilburg University.
The function of External Affairs Officer
As External Affairs Officer I am responsible for four main areas:
– The contact person for half of our company contacts, maintaining their sponsoring and actively approaching them for acquisition
– Having a seat in the Acquisition meeting of Asset, deciding on faculty wide acquisition and events
– The contact person for the university
– The coordination of four committees within Asset | International Business & Management
One of the most important periods in the year for an External Affairs Officer is the summer rounds. In this period the Externals visit companies and discuss the sponsoring for the upcoming year. Before this period the Externals, together with the rest of the Board, go over all of our cooperation possibilities and make adjustments where needed. There were many reasons why I chose External Affairs Officer as my preferred function, but the biggest one was the contact with the university and the companies. The contact with the university consists of regular meetings with the academic director of the BSc. International Business Administration and the MSc. International Management. I am also present at the sounding board meetings of these studies. It is really nice to see what goes on at the university and have influence on what happens within those studies. With my committees I organized all kinds of events, from a case competition to a drink for the master students. The event that I will never forget is a trip to Belgium with 25 students for two days. We visited Nike and Audi and had an amazing night out in Antwerp. Together with my fellow externals from the other Asset departments we organize big career events for Tilburg University. The main event is the Asset Inhouse Days, where during a whole month students are able to visit different companies.
In the end, my weekly schedule is always different. However, I have made one to give you an insight in what an average week looks like.
In the end, a board year will be a year full of ups and downs, stressful moments, new experiences and a lot of fun. Did you become interested in doing a board year after reading this blog? Do not hesitate to contact me to get more information, ask questions and/or make an appointment. You can e-mail to externalaffairs@asset-ibm.nl or visit room E.114
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