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AIESEC

Information Booklet

Internships abroad

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Culture

International Network

AIESEC Cultural exchange

Parties Development Projects

Professional organisation

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Are you dreaming of .......

√ a unique international experience √ getting to know a different culture √ an international network √ working in a professional company or/and √ helping other people around the world √ broaden your worldview √ Improving varied skills √ choosing your own internship (>7000 internships) from over 110 countries √ working in international teams √ an organisation that arranges preparation, accommodation and formalities for you. √ a personal student coach that will guide you through the whole process √ the possibility to do a summer internship without study delay

Then read on!

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Index

1. History 4 2. AIESEC nowadays 5

What is AIESEC? 3. Types of internships 6 4. The AIESEC Experience 9

Selection Preparation Matching Integration Reintegration

5. Expectation setting 11 6. Experience stories 12 7. Got interested? 15

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1. History In 1945 there was a student of economics, called Erik Malson. He was 23 years old when the Second World War had ended. Though his homeland Sweden remained neutral and did not become directly involved in the war, Erik was struck by the sense of disgrace in which his continent was immersed. The desperate situation in Europe after so much unnecessary killing saddened him. He turned into a rebel against the miserable state of life in Europe. To him, a human being was just that – a human being, regardless of ideology, race, or religion. In January of 1946, he wrote a letter to an old friend in Germany. They had met seven years before, in Sweden during vacation. Though he thought the chances of receiving a reply would be slim, he felt that he had to try. As months passed, he became less hopeful, but after 6 months he received a letter back from Germany. The handwriting, however, belonged to the friend’s sister. What she wrote sounded horrible. In her letter, she told Erik of her family’s tragedy. His friend had died on the Russian front. One of his father’s legs had to be removed, and her other brother had disappeared. The family house, which was in Hannover, had been reduced to a pile of stones. For them, everything had ended. All of their lives’ efforts had been reduced to nothing. No hope remained. Erik felt the tears in his eyes as he stared out at the horizon. He was desperate and full of anger at the same time. He felt that he had to do something to try to prevent another war. He had no idea how he could do this from his unimportant position. From the very beginning it was clear that he would need the support of other people, who felt and believed as he did. He would have to seek out people who had lived through the tragedy and sought to somehow improve the world. He would have to look for them all over Europe. And he would have to seek out young people, for they were supposed to be the leaders of the future, who would raise the world from the destruction. He decided to write to friends he had all around Europe. He sent 10 letters and got 3 replies. All 3 replies were sent by students of economics, who were delighted with Erik’s vision. And that was enough for him to go on. It was January 1947. Some months later, Erik had an appointment with an old teacher. He had good news: seven universities from seven European countries had sent a positive reply. They decided to push further, and to organize a meeting to formulate and co-ordinate all the efforts building a better future in Europe.

The meeting took place it the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. It was March of 1948. There were people from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. They all sat around a table, half of them speaking English and the other half French, but they all understood each other. Though at the beginning none of them knew what practical result would be produced of the meeting, their meeting eventually gave birth to AIESEC, the international platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potential.

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2. AIESEC nowadays

What is AIESEC? AIESEC is a global, non - political, independent, non - profit organization run by students and recent graduates of institutions of higher education. Its members are interested in world issues, leadership and management. AIESEC does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, creed, religion, national, ethnic or social origin. Since 1948, AIESEC has developed itself as the largest student organisation in the world, established in 108 countries, on more than 1100 universities. Worldwide the organisation has over 35,000 active students involved in AIESEC. What do we envision Peace and fulfilment of humankind's potential. Our impact Our international platform enables young people to explore and develop their potential. The way we do it AIESEC provides its members with an integrated development experience comprised of international internships, leadership opportunities and participation in global learning environment. AIESEC countries in the world

AIESEC countries

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3. Types of internships

For students with more than 60 ECTS we offer:

Global Community Development Program (GDCP)

- Voluntary project, no salary

- From 6 weeks onwards, normally 6-8 weeks.

- All around the world; Europe, North and South America, Africa, South East Asia, Middle East, Oceania

- Usually with NGOs; nongovernmental organizations

-Very broad content of internships; child labor, women emancipation, public health, institutional development, entrepreneurship, sustainability etc.

-Teaching English, soft skills or other subjects/skills are also very common.

-Housing will be arranged by AIESEC abroad. Possibilities are; a host family, your own apartment, intern-house etc. ______________________________________________________________

For students with more than 120 ECTS we offer:

Global Internship Program (GIP)

-For students with more than 120 ECTS

-For this type of internship you will receive a salary, enough to pay the

costs of working and living in your host country.

- From 4 months onwards up until 1,5 year.

-All around the world; Europe, North and South America, Africa, South East Asia, Middle East, Oceania

-Internships are related to administration, finance, accounting, marketing, projects, management, ICT and human resource

-You will have a general selection by AIESEC Tilburg. Further selection is done by the company itself; Skype interview, motivational letter etc.

-SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and to very large companies like Google, PWC and L'Oreal.

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Special projects by AIESEC Tilburg

For students with more than 180 ECTS we offer:

YES Program

-Young Entrepreneurs Shanghai

-Master students only

-Twice a year; November/December and April

-Three months

-Building a bridge between Chinese and Western entrepreneurship. Help entrepreneurs in China to improve their business using your knowledge of the European way of working.

-Master class given by Brabant Center of Entrepreneurship

Two tasks:

1. Work at a SME; small to medium sized enterprise. Help them with market research, strategic planning

2. Organize an entrepreneurial forum

For more information email to yes.aiesectilburg@gmail.com _______________________________________________________________

Indonesia project

-For students with more than 60 ECTS

- Voluntary project, no salary

-Around 6-8 weeks

-Anywhere in the beautiful country of Indonesia; Jakarta, Sumatra etc.

-Examples of projects can be about environment & tourism, socio entrepreneurship, teaching English.

-Housing will be arranged by AIESEC abroad. Possibilities are; a host family, your own apartment, intern-house etc.

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National Programmes

Ambassadors program.

-Unique summer program for first and second year Dutch university students

-6 to 8 weeks

-Intense preparation period

-Flight tickets will be sponsored

-Professional, cultural, humanitarian pillars

-Only 20 students will get selected

-Destinations of 2012: Indonesia, India, Costa Rica, Panama, Malaysia, de Philippines, Mexico, Romania, Peru of Ghana

For more information go to www.ambassadeursprogramma.nl

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NOUR Program

-Key goal: Create mutual understanding between the Western and Arabic cultures

-For internationally oriented Dutch speaking 3rd and 4th year students with at least 120 ECTS

-During the summer

-Around 6-8 weeks

-Middle East and North Africa

-Extensive preparation program

-You can do a summer project of your own choice. An example is working for SOS Children's villages

-Reintegration program

All in all the Nour project is an unique and progressive project that challenges prejudices between different cultures. For more information go to www.nourproject.nl

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More information? Do you want to know more about the possibilities AIESEC has to offer? Then do not hesitate to join one of our information sessions! During this session which takes approximately 1,5 hour we will give you more extensive information about AIESEC and our internships, you are able to ask questions and have a look in our database with over 8000 internships.

All the information session start at 17.00 and will be at the AIESEC office (P. 3.209). Your are more than welcome to come by on one of the following dates; February Thursday 2nd of February Tuesday 14th of February Tuesday 28 of February March Thursday 8th of March Tuesday 20th of March Wednesday 28 of March April Tuesday 3rd of April Wednesday 11th of April Tuesday 17 of April Wednesday 25 of April If you want to attend one of these information session, please send an email to info.aiesectilburg@gmail.com

4. The AIESEC experience The AIESEC experience consist of the following five stages;

Application > Preparation > Matching > Integration >

Reintegration

Application AIESEC lets you assess your experiences and motivation for going on an AIESEC exchange. After handing in your application to AIESEC you will be invited for an interview. This is a selection conversation with two AIESEC members. This conversation will take about 1 hour and will be about your motivation, preferences and competencies. We test five competencies via the CORE method (Circumstances, Opportunities, Reaction, Effect).

May Tuesday the 2th of May Wednesday 9th of May Tuesday 15 of May Wednesday 23th of May Thursday 31 of May June Wednesday 6 of June Tuesday 12 of June Wednesday 20 of June Tuesday 26 of June

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Preparation AIESEC provides resources, training and support to prepare you to live and work in another country. This includes visa processing. Coach When you are accepted for an internship, you will, first of all, meet your coach. This person will guide you through the remaining stages of the AIESEC experience: preparation, integration and reintegration. So you will get support from your coach before departure, during your internship and even when you return! For an optimal assistance, it is important that your student coach knows everything about your progress in the searching-procedure. This is why you will have regular contact with your student coach through personal meetings, phone calls and email. This way we will be able to give you the best support and help. Contract and fee The next thing you will do is sign the contract. The contract contains the responsibilities of AIESEC Tilburg and your responsibilities. By agreeing with the contract you also agree with paying the fee. To give AIESEC Tilburg permission to debit one time an amount of 200 Euros, you need to sign an authorization form. Common Induction AIESEC has a large worldwide online-database where all students who got accepted can search for their traineeship. Searching and being matched with your ideal traineeship will take about 1 or 3 months (depending on your preferences) and dealing with all formalities will take at most 1 month (depending on the country where you will go). During the common induction you will learn about AIESEC, our values, and our mission. Besides you will be trained in how to search in our database and how to apply to an internship in the database. In the database you can find more than 7000 internships in more than 110 countries. Local Preparation Seminar The Local Preparation Seminar is a seminar together with the members of AIESEC Outgoing Exchange Team and other students who are preparing to go abroad. During this seminar you will get training about how to deal with different cultures and how to prepare yourself for a culture shock. Matching You will be trained and given access to use our on-line database of opportunities. The more flexible you are, the more opportunities you have. When you have found the internship of your dreams you will be matched to that internship. Therefore you will sign official documents to accept the internship. When you are matched it is official that you will go abroad. From that moment on you can start arranging everything for your internship: flight ticket, visa, vaccination, insurance etc. Of course we provide you help when needed. Integration AIESEC members in your host chapter provide support and assistance in getting setup in your new environment while providing opportunities for cultural and social activities. One of the most unique features of an AIESEC traineeship is that when you are abroad you are not on your own. The Local AIESEC Committee abroad will support you. They will show you around and help you solve any problems you might encounter. You will get a “buddy” from the AIESEC committee whom you can go to with all your questions and who will help you, especially in the beginning. It all starts when someone from

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AIESEC abroad picks you up at the airport and brings you to your room, apartment, or host family. This housing will also be arranged by AIESEC abroad. AIESEC locals will also show you around in the city or village where you are staying. but in many AIESEC committees, activities are organized frequently. On the one hand they will consist parties, etc. On the other hand people will want to show their country and culture to you. During your stay abroad you might be asked to give a presentation about Holland, we will provide a ppt presentation for you. Reintegration AIESEC supports you in making the re-adjustment process when you return home after your internship. When you are back of your internship also a reintegration is part of the process. You will meet up with your AIESEC coach to share your experiences and evaluate your stay abroad. Experience story Also we would like you to make an experience story. These stories are very valuable for future Outreaching students who want to do an internship via AIESEC Tilburg. If you

give permission, the experience story will be posted on the AIESEC blogspot. Local Reintegration Seminar AIESEC will organize a Local Reintegration Seminar. During this seminar you can share you experiences with Outreaching students who also have just returned from their internships abroad. Also you will receive your official AIESEC Certificate. The date for the Outreaching Local Reintegration Seminar will be in September.

5. Expectation setting When you decide to apply for an AIESEC internship you have to take into account the following things: - The time you will spend searching for an internship, this can be a time consuming activity so do not underestimate it! During the test period we experienced that most students spent approximately 4-8 hours searching for internships and contacting companies and NGOs. -AIESEC provides information, can help and support you. We are not a administrative organization that will arrange visa and flight tickets. -AIESEC provides many challenging, high quality internships all over the world. However, sometimes an internship turns out to somewhat different from what you expected it to be. Expectations are always different from reality, and although it might be difficult in the beginning it can also be a very valuable learning experience, because in life almost nothing goes completely as you planned it. This does not mean you cannot prepare yourself at all; it is always wise to start reading about the culture of your host country and the subject or material that you will work with. Especially in developing countries standards can be different and it can help a lot if you are aware of this in advance. When you are abroad and you encounter a situation in which things are different from

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your expectations it is up to you to sit and talk with the contact person of the company. Do not be afraid to do so, because they are as motivated to make the cooperation work as you are. Besides that AIESEC is always there to support you if needed. -Some countries are more popular than others, for example the Unites States. Try to have a broad perspective and focus on more than one country. -Companies and NGOs can have their own selection procedure next to our regular AIESEC selection, this can be skype interviews or an additional motivation letter. It will be different! Expect the unexpected

• Different work environment • Different culture • Not everyone will speak English fluently • Not that accurate if you compare to the Netherlands/Tilburg • Thing that you take for granted, will be different in another country

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• Unforgettable experience • Unique, be part of the culture • International network, meet so many nice people • Broaden your worldview • Challenging experience

6. Experience stories Mathijs, Global Internship Program, Indonesia During the four month period of July until October I was very lucky to have the opportunity to go to Jakarta, Indonesia for a management internship. A Dutch market researcher had plans to start up a marketresearch company in Indonesia, and he was looking for a Dutch intern that could bridge the gap between the Indonesian employees and the (mostly) Dutch companies. On a daily basis my major task was just market researching, but my extra task was to create a general understanding about the Dutch culture and language for the Indonesian employees. It was a real challenge since the cultures are so different. Aspects such as power distance (how an employee sees and reacts to it’s superiors) and showing initiative are very different between the Dutch and the Indonesian. I was the only intern in the company since it is a small company. The AIESEC in Jakarta (UI) is also very different with ours. In the Netherlands, AIESEC is much more run like a business, whilst in Jakarta it feels more like a group of friends. On a organizational point of view this has got some bad side-effects. The communications and deviation of roles are very unclear. People do not really know who does what and therefore some mistakes can be made, although they were very motivated and driven. However, on a personal basis AIESEC in

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Indonesia feels very warm. It was always fun to hang out with them and I could feel that they really had an interest in me, they wanted me to join them in everything they did. I was surprised how few AIESEC’ers from over there had done an internship abroad, they explained to me that it is just very difficult to find an MT for an Indonesian and they preferred to do a DT or ET closer to home.

Furthermore, I had the possibility to arrive in Indonesia six weeks before my internship started so I was able to travel a bit. I think everybody should do this if they can, because it gives you a great cultural understanding and therefore you have the possibility to accommodate yourself a bit. I travelled through the islands of Java, Bali and Lombok. I’ve climbed vulcanos (Merapi and Bromo), visited temples, surfed, and made many friends. After my travels I stayed with a host family for 2 weeks, this gave me a jumpstart in

the city of Jakarta. They showed me some nice places and could make some friends right from the start. After my stay there I rented an apartment, so I had the freedom to do whatever I want. Although the internship was very interesting and I learned a lot from it. The most lessons I learned were on a personal basis. When staying in a far country by yourself, having nobody familiar, you really get to learn yourself a little bit better. I can recommend this experience to everybody! Gijs de kort, Global Community Development Program, Sri Lanka

Happy- and kindness everywhere around you! Far in advance of my trip I was very excited to go and face a new part of the world, but gradually I became more nervous about my trip. Since the first step in Sri Lanka I have not been feeling this nervousness anymore. Everybody in this country is so kind, they all want to help you with anything or offers you a lunch, diner or even a place to sleep. According to the exchange rate it is even more attractive to take the airplane to this

country; the living cost is, but here is the feeling of happiness everywhere around you, as a result of the Buddhism. The Dutch should learn from it that materialism is no way to become happy. At the moment I am writing this letter I am in my third week of my DT. I am teaching in an elementary school, what means age 11 to 18. I chose for this DT because the knowledge of English is becoming more and more necessary in the world. The teaching itself is so much fun. The children are more cooperate and are really willing to learn English. The kids ask me anytime if I can stay in their class or take me to the class when I am a period off. Sometimes it is quite tough to teach them, as a result of their poor English level, but with some hand and foot work it is possible. During the classes it is always smiling and laughing… it’s just great. Due to the fact that I haven’t been on an internship anywhere, I cannot say that this is the best country to go to… but I can’t imagine a better place than one with happiness anywhere around you!

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Do you want to read more experience stories? Go to www.experienceaiesec.blogspot.com

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7. Got interested? When to apply? We recommend students who want to go abroad with AIESEC to subscribe about 3 to 4 months (3 for GDCP, 4 for GIP) before they want to start their internship. It is not possible to subscribe earlier, because more than half a year before traineeships are not known yet. If you want to subscribe later it is better to contact AIESEC about it. Interview As already mentioned you have to attend an interview in order to get accepted for an AIESEC internship. We will conduct interviews on the following dates; February Tuesday 14 February March Thursday 1th of March Wednesday 7th f March Thursday 15th of March Thursday 22 of March Tuesday 27 of March April Thursday 5th of April Tuesday 10 of April Thursday 19th of April Tuesday 24th of April The interview will take around one hour and start at 17:00 or 18:15. Subscription Send your English CV, Motivation Letter, copy of your study results and photo to info.aiesectilburg@gmail.com. What needs to be stated in the motivation letter:

- Why do you want to go on an internship? - Why do you want to go with AIESEC? - For how long do you want to go? - Can you give us an indication about the countries you would like to go to? - Do you want to go for a GDCP or a GIP. -When are you available for an interview (see date above) in the upcoming two

weeks.

May Thursday 3 of May Tuesday 8 of May Thursday 17of May Tuesday 22 May Thursday 31 of May June Tuesday 5th of June Thursday 14 of June Tuesday 19 of June Thursday 28 of June

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Contact information AIESEC Tilburg For more information you can always contact us: Address: AIESEC Tilburg

Building P Room 3.209 P.O. BOX 90153 5000 LE Tilburg

Phone: +31(0)13-4662573 Fax: +31(0)13-4662216 E-mail: info.aiesectilburg@gmail.com If you would like to make an appointment with us for more detailed information, please send an email to info.aiesectilburg@gmail.com and we will contact you as soon as possible. Next step in AIESEC AIESEC offers more than only internships. After returning from your stay abroad you might have become very enthusiastic about AIESEC. Maybe you want to help other students who want to go abroad or you might want to contact companies to arrange internship for foreign students here in the Netherlands! It is all possible because you can become active within AIESEC for some more time. In that case you could for example become a member of the Local Committee and afterwards you could even apply for a position in our national board, called the Member Committee. In the local committee you can apply for the Executive Board which consists of 5 people working full-time for AIESEC Tilburg: President, Vice-President, Outgoing Exchange Coordinator, Incoming Exchange Coordinator and Make a Move Coordinator. They are mainly responsible for the development of AIESEC Tilburg as an organization and they coordinate all the projects AIESEC offers. Next to that we have also part time board functions available for 15 hours a week. Examples of these functions are: acquisition, external relations, marketing, and student coach.