New Member Guide. Page 1

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1 Page 1 AIESEC Flinders University's New Member Guide Contents Page What is this guide all about? 2 Why join AIESEC? 3 The Local Committee structure 4 Incoming Exchange (ICX) 5 Outgoing Exchange (OGX) 6 People Development (PD) 7 Finance 8 Organising Committee (OC) 9 Registering on AIESEC.NET 10

2 Page 2 What Is This Guide All About? This New Member Guide has been sent to you because you have shown an interest in AIESEC. This guide s purpose is to briefly give you some basic background information on AIESEC what AIESEC does, why students and employers get involved, how your university s Local Committee is setup, and the first steps you should take if you want to join. The website contains a lot of information covering a broad overview of AIESEC globally, and you should definitely have a good browse through it. This guide complements the website by focussing on the structure of the Local Committee, the different portfolios within the Local Committee, and how everything fits together. The last 2 pages of this guide contain step-by-step instructions on registering with AIESEC.NET the communications and information hub for AIESEC globally. When we receive your completed New Member Application Form (that came with this guide) your registration onto AIESEC.NET will be authorised and you will be an official member of AIESEC. The process can be shown like this: Step 1. You ve shown interest Step 2. We ve ed you this guide and an application form Step 3. You us your completed application form and register on AIESEC.NET Step 4. We authorise you onto AIESEC.NET Step 5. You join communities and start attending committee meetings We think that giving you this information now rather than after you join AIESEC will not only motivate you to be proactive in making the most of what AIESEC offers, it will also give you a much clearer idea of what exactly you are joining up to, and help you integrate into you Local Committee much quicker. We hope this guide gives you the basic information you need and motivates you to make the most of the opportunities AIESEC presents. If you have any questions whatsoever please don t hesitate to contact the Local Committee President at your university. Paul Bryson 2005 Local Committee President AIESEC Flinders

3 Page 3 Why Join AIESEC? AIESEC is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential to have a positive impact on society. With a focus on activating youth leadership for more than 50 years, AIESEC provides companies access to top talent from within Australia and across its global network. Having over 3000 partner organisations and presence in over 800 Universities in 91 countries, AIESEC is a proven and innovative route for sourcing high-potential university students and young professionals from all over the world. We attract and cultivate people with global mindsets while giving organisations an incredible opportunity to interact and access young people from all corners of the globe. We partner with a wide variety of organisations, from multinational to small business, non-profit to Government and UN. AIESEC is an organisation that presents you with opportunities. It gives members a platform to achieve using AIESEC for their personal benefit whilst making a contribution to the organisation. You should come into AIESEC knowing what you can get from it personal and professional development opportunities, networking both within AIESEC s massive global community and with the business community, opportunities to experience and demonstrate leadership and initiative, and of course the opportunity to travel and work overseas through AIESEC. These are AIESEC s major selling points, but there are many more, such as participating in and organising conferences; interacting both physically and virtually in global learning networks on focus areas such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, and Corporate Social Responsibility; and branding yourself under AIESEC s respected and widely-recognised reputation as an organisation of young people full of talent and initiative. Today employers are looking for more than just a degree they are looking for a well-rounded individual who has had a wide and varied range of experiences and who can learn and grow in an organisation. AIESEC is a unique organisation and presents members with a distinct and profound advantage over other graduates. This is why over 3000 organisations sourced graduates through AIESEC last year, and why we are the world s largest student organisation.

4 Page 4 The Local Committee Structure Our core work is facilitating exchange and developing our members and trainees sending graduates out to jobs overseas, and bringing graduates into jobs in Adelaide, all the while developing those who are running the program and those who are participating in it. This is what we do, and just like any other organisation, in order to achieve things we have teams of people who focus on specific areas. The AIESEC Local Committee has 3 core work focus areas: Incoming Exchange focuses on bringing foreign graduates into jobs in Adelaide. Outgoing Exchange focuses on sending our members to jobs overseas. People Development focuses on looking after and developing both outgoing and incoming graduates, as well as servicing our existing business clients. To support the core work portfolios each AIESEC Local Committee also has the following focus areas: Finance focuses on the accounting and reporting of the committee s finances Communications coordination of internal and external communications, alumni relations, online mediums (website, blog, AIESEC.NET community), awareness management. The following pages have a brief description of each Portfolio team, to help you decide which most interests you. In addition, for large events we have a separate team called the Organising Committee, which is also given a brief description. All members can help out wherever needed, and you do not need to worry about having any previous knowledge or skills in an area you are trained and guided as you follow your AIESEC Experience. **Please note that the Communications portfolio is new and as such we haven t written it up properly yet. This will be fixed in the next couple of weeks.

5 Page 5 Incoming Exchange (ICX) An integral part of our business is Incoming Exchange. Possibly one of the more challenging and demanding portfolios, ICX is professionally rewarding and personally fulfilling. The goal of the ICX team is to sell the exchange program to businesses; in other words, to create positions for graduates to work in SA. Successful members will: research the market, develop business proposals, attend and lead business meetings with company management, once the company accepts the proposal (agrees to create a job for an overseas graduate), we match an international graduate from our database, organise the visa and accommodation for the incoming trainee, continue to communicate with the company, thus developing a long-term business relationship. Past ICX members have found their participation to be very rewarding. As an active ICX member you will: develop professionalism, improve your communication skills, develop your marketing and selling skills, gain valuable contacts within the industry, give someone from around the world the opportunity to work in Adelaide, impress YOUR future employers with your extracurricular achievements at university! The skills developed through ICX are crucial to everyone s career, which is why we have a broad variety of members (students from business, science, engineering, arts degrees, etc.) Are you up to the challenge? Do you want to develop a range of skills? Are you ready to meet some of the biggest businesses and managers in SA? If so, then ICX is waiting to hear from you! Richard Winzor 2005 Incoming Exchange Director - AIESEC Flinders

6 Page 6 Outgoing Exchange (OGX) The Outgoing Exchange portfolio is the counterpart to Incoming Exchange. We work to send out our members who have earned the right to go on exchange through making an active and substantial contribution to their Local Committee. These are members who must also be qualified to fill the traineeship positions created by the Incoming Exchange portfolios in other countries. Hence, our portfolio deals more with the student and university side of AIESEC, and aims to encourage students to gain a global perspective by doing an overseas traineeship. We offer students the opportunity to enhance their career through the traineeship, while at the same time gaining a cultural experience by living in a different environment. As members of OGX, our goal is to match the best candidates to the best traineeship positions. With a heavy focus on quality not quantity, we still however aim to enable as many of our members to go on exchange as possible. Some of our tasks include: Research the university market, and decide which departments to target for recruiting members who will in the future wish to go on exchange. Creatively package the Outgoing Exchange product and meet with the deans of the departments you are targeting, to win over their involvement. Conduct lecture bashes to promote AIESEC s traineeship program, and socialize with the student community to raise an awareness of AIESEC s programs. Conduct quality assurance procedures for the exchange. Match student nominees with suitable traineeships abroad, until the best traineeship is identified. As you can guess, members of OGX are generally highly outgoing individuals, with an edge for communicating with fellow students and a persuasive attitude to encourage students to enter into the AIESEC Experience. We are extremely sociable with our fellow students, and yet are professional in our conduct, and business-like when approaching university departments. Personally, I have found that being the OGX director has given me the opportunity to network with both students and academics, and made me increasingly confident in other aspects of uni life. Jezamina Johan Out Going Exchange Director, 2005 AIESEC Flinders

7 Page 7 People Development (PD) The People Development portfolio, as the name implies, is all about developing our members and trainees. Originally these team functions were divided into two separate portfolios: Human Resources, and Exchange Service & Learning, but as AIESEC recognises members and trainees often go through similar personal, professional and cultural learning, the two teams were combined to form PD. Activities involved with People Development are coordinating the Recruitment and Induction Program coordinating activation and training of members into relevant portfolios personal, professional and cultural development of members and trainees events organisation marketing and promotion of events and the AIESEC brand The People Development team plays an important role in providing a support network for the members and trainees, by managing these activities, as well as close interaction with the members and trainees, in following their progression, development and needs. An active People Development team member will: improve their public and personal communication skills develop marketing and promotion skills acquire events organisational skills develop team management and leadership skills build their social and professional network Being involved with the PD team is definitely personally rewarding, not only providing benefits for you as a member but also for your Local Committee members and trainees. Marie Berridge AIESEC Flinders PD Director 2005

8 Page 8 Finance Finance is the language of all businesses and by being part of the Finance team, you will be primarily concerned with the preparation and interpretation of financial information. As an active Finance member you will be involved in the following: AIESEC FINANCE FLOW ACCOUNTING FINANCE Bookeeping using Quicken Banking Cash Receipts & Payments Budgeting & Variance Analysis Auditing Financial Statements Review Sponsorship, Partnership & Funding Cash Flow Management Pricing Strategies Relevant Financial Decision Making Key Responsibilities Control Planning and Implementing financial policies and financial controls Preparing quarterly and annual budgets Reviewing financial performance and position at regular intervals Ensuing updates of all financial activities and increasing financial awareness Preparation of sponsorship proposals and obtaining sponsorship Maintaining future financial sustainability Cash Management and Bookkeeping Maintaining cash control and payments of reimbursements Keeping up to date accounts in Quicken of all financial activities Preparing quarterly statements and variance analysis reports Preparing for and conducing an audit As a Finance Director, you will develop a diverse range of skills and abilities craved by today s leading professional organizations. Michael Ashman 2005 Finance Director AIESEC Flinders

9 Page 9 Organising Committee (OC) AIESEC internationally runs over 350 conferences a year and which doesn t include conferences held on a local scale! The goal of the OC team (who can also be known as the CC Congress Committee) is very similar to the ICX portfolio however they sell and organise everything that has to do with the logistical side of conferences instead. The great benefits of being an OC member is the range of experience they go through covers more than just one aspect of a specific portfolio. The bare positions of an OC team are The OCP (Organising Committee President) Marketing Directors Finance Director Logistical Director Depending on how you want the conference to be you may also have specific roles for Media or IT support members for this portfolio. Benefits Same as the ICX portfolio Build friendships with the team Gain marketing experience Build networks both corporations and AIESECers nationally and internationally Gain hands on practical experience on raising cash and in-kind sponsorship Opportunity to gain experience away from AIESEC s core work portfolio Learn how to budget and prepare registration for delegates, payments, book keeping, preparing audits etc. Learn how to cope with high pressure situations during the course of the conference The OC is loved at conference Conferences are high pressure situations that are very rewarding because of the amount of adrenaline that gets pumped through your body from all the things that are asked of you and demanded of you - Jan Zimak (OCP of January National Conference 2005 hosted by Victoria) There are no limits to conferences... it s like your own little baby, you make it into what you want, you can make it into the greatest conference that AIESEC has ever done! Aaron Hicks January National Conference 2007 OCP SA Region

10 Page 10 Registering On AIESEC.NET AIESEC.NET (commonly referred to as dot net ) is the hub of communications and information for AIESEC globally. Registration on.net is part of signing up as a new member so this section is a little guide to make registering as easy as possible. Registering is pretty straight forward anyway, but some people need a little guidance so here is a step by step guide. Registering should take you no more than 5 minutes max. Registering 1. Go to and choose to sign up now 2. Because you are a student choose to Apply for member account (also note the link to an FAQ in the top right hand corner). 3. You will come to a page with Student Registration at the top. Note that you login to AIESEC.NET using your address and a password of your choice. In addition, message notifications and special messages will be sent to the you specify. Select AIESEC Flinders as your Local Committee. This is really important as you can t be authorised otherwise! To the question Would you like to go for AIESEC internship during upcoming year? don t bother answering yes. We can deal with this later and some members have had problems here when they have answered yes, so answer with a no to this question. If you do want to go on a traineeship (and the majority of people do) then simply let your Local Committee President know. The most important thing is to get onto.net at this point in time. Check all the boxes in answer to the question You can also join these communities. These communities contain important information and checking these boxes now will save you the hassle of having to manually join them later. 4. Once you have submitted the form, you will need to confirm your address. You will be ed at the address you have specified and the will include a confirmation link to click, or alternatively you can enter the code provided into the next page that appears in the registration process. 5. Now that you have confirmed your address the Local Committee you are trying to register under will be automatically notified and they will approve you once they receive your completed New Member Application Form. When they have approved your registration you can log into.net and join communities. Congratulations you are now an official member of AIESEC! Joining Communities 1. Log into AIESEC.NET with your and password. 2. From your My AIESEC page click on Communities near the top left hand corner.

11 Page 11 This will take you to the AIESEC.net communities list, the top bit of which looks like this. Obviously there are thousands of communities! AIESEC.NET is huge! (As you would expect from an organisation with over one million present and past members) From this menu you can choose to browse by the first letter of the community name, or by community topic. 2. Go to A and then scroll down to the Australian communities. Join these communities: AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA - South Australia Australia January National Conference 2006 Australia - July National Conferences AUSTRALIA - OGX AUSTRALIA - ICX Australia - Finance AUSTRALIA - People Development Enter the Australia community and you will be able to join each Australian Local Committee community from the homepage. You can join as many communities as you like. Whatever interests you - maybe you come from another country and want to join their national communities? In addition,.net has to be explored to be understood well, so take the time to browse through some communities and the different parts of the system.