My year as Vice-Chairman at Asset | IB&M
It is November, which means that for the past 9 months already I have had the amazing opportunity to be the vice-chairman of Asset | International Business & Management. In this blogpost, I am very happy to tell you more about what has made this a great experience for me so far!
Let me first tell you something about myself. My name is Daphne van Elferen, I am 21 years old and a third year IBA student. After my exchange to Lisbon I came close to finishing my bachelor and starting the master which I found out I did not want to do yet. I decided that I wanted to challenge myself and do something extra besides my study. From February onwards I will continue my bachelor IBA and hopefully graduate in July.
Three years ago, when I started studying at Tilburg University, I already got in contact with Asset | International Business & Management in the first weeks. I still remember very well, how I walked up the stairs and was searching for the right rooms. I had my talk with Iris van Grootheest, who was the Vice-Chairman at that moment. Together with her, I decided that I would join the First Year Committee, which was a lot of fun. However, after that committee I was searching for something more formal, so I organized the first edition of the Recruitment Dinner. Even though I had a great time during my exchange, I did miss Asset | International Business & Management a bit. So, when I received an e-mail in October 2016 about the board applications, I knew immediately that I had to take this opportunity and walk into the path of being a board member. I sent in my motivation letter, did the interview via Skype and eventually received the phone call, telling me that I was chosen as Vice-Chairman for the board 2017, what a relief that was!
From that moment on my life became a rollercoaster, which does not seem to stop for a year. The day after my announcement I had to fly back to Portugal for my last exam, while two days later I had to be back for my first board meeting. This sentence basically describes your whole board year, because you never really know what to expect and what you will do. However, there are some recurring tasks which I will further explain in this post.
As you can see, a major part of my tasks during the week are meetings. As a Vice-Chairman, you often are the coordinator of most of the committees. Besides that, every week you have the board meeting of Asset | International Business & Management, during which we discuss current issues and update each other. Besides your own department, you are also a member of Asset Academy, which is the Faculty Wide Organ made up of all the vice-chairmen. Together we are responsible for the general promotion of Asset, the organization of the TOP week for Asset and the filling of the Faculty Wide Committees, so here you can use all your creativity. But within Asset, there are also possibilities to join Taskforces combined with other Faculty Wide Organs, making it all very diverse. You can also set up your own plans and projects, after which it is amazing to see the results. I for example, wrote a plan for an internationalization project, which we immediately executed and also received a scholarship for. This is something I did not specifically like about my function, but what I enjoyed doing during a board year at Asset in general. Furthermore, as Vice-Chairman you have many small tasks, among which for example making the year planning, ranking the committees and social media. For this reason, it is very common that you also acquire for example photoshop skills in your board year.
Most MEMORABLE: It is difficult to mention one memorable moment, I know it’s a cliche, but it’s true. Everything you do is dedicated to your active members, and it is amazing to see the dedication you get back from them. That is also what I like so much about my function, to inform and convince potential active members about becoming active and join our activities. The amount of active members has grown a lot last year, and with every Asset activity we show up with significantly most members. Every time, I could open a new subscription form and watch the amount of subscriptions grow each minute, giving an overwhelming and proud feeling. Therefore I think that my most memorable moment so far, is when we showed up with 80 members, also known as the orange army, at the COdE beercantus in March. We all felt a strong connection and it was an overwhelming feeling when we were announced and all started cheering with 80 orange shirts. Luckily, my board year is not over yet, so I know for sure that many more memorable moments will follow.
Are you interested?
In January, my board year will come to an end. On January 11 we will have our announcement drink, during which my successor will be announced. If you are interested in being a board member at Asset | International Business & Management, or if you just want to receive some more information about becoming an active member, don’t hesitate to send an email to vice-chairman@asset-ibm.nl! Or visit our website for more information!
- Enexis Management Traineeship - April 9, 2024
- Being a working student at MAZARS: My experience - November 28, 2023
- Day in the life of a student/intern/active member - April 6, 2023