EXTERNAL AFFAIRS OFFICER OF THE BOARD: MY EXPERIENCES
Being the External Affairs Officer of Asset | International Business & Management, what does that mean? Besides your main task, keeping in contact with companies, there are many other tasks you have to fulfill. But let’s not skip ahead, and start from the beginning.
My name is Margot Janus, 22 years old and for the last 10 months the External Affairs Officer of Asset | IB&M. I was born in Veldhoven, but moved to Veghel when I was 5 years old. After my primary school and high school, I decided to take a gap year and go abroad for 9 months. I went to New York and London to improve my English, but also to step outside my comfort zone and go all by myself to other countries. During my gap year, I had to decide what I wanted to do after that. The international experience was something I really enjoyed: I enjoyed being with other cultures and meet new people. Therefore, I decided to apply for the International Business Administration program at Tilburg University. Luckily I got accepted, and started the program in September 2017. Immediately from the start, I was introduced by a friend at Asset | IB&M. Doing committee work seemed interesting to me, and therefore I started in the First Year Committee. After a year full of new experiences, I applied again for a committee, and was placed in the Intercontinental Travel Committee, where we organized a study trip to Miami and Mexico City. While really enjoying being in a committee, I also started thinking about a board year, and how that would be a great possibility to develop myself. I applied for the function as External Affairs Officer, since I wanted to improve my acquisition skills, and wanted some insight into different kinds of companies. Furthermore, I was excited to keep the good contact going with companies that we were already in contact with. During this year, I also got very enthusiastic when new companies participate in our events. It feels good that they have faith in our events and our students. I met many great people
Besides learning the acquisition part during my board year, I learned many other skills. You experience how it is to lead a ‘small company’. You have different types of committees, which all have their own events. You are the person that needs to check if they are still on track with all their tasks. It can be challenging since committee members sometimes have another view on how things should happen.
If I have to name one skill that I learned most last year, it is definitely teamwork; you work with your fellow board members for 50+ hours per week. Sometimes this can be quite challenging, since we do not always have the same opinions. We debate, and together come to the best possible solution.
Concluding, a board year consists of many highlights. For me personally, the Active Members Weekend and the study trip to Miami and Mexico City were two of them. Unfortunately, I’m almost finished with my board year.
If you are interested in a board year at Asset | IB&M, please do not hesitate to contact me or stop by E114 to drink a cup of coffee!
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