You have now finished your exchange in a country far away from home. Anyone who has participated in the programme will tell you that it is an experience they cherish for the rest of their lives. It is now time to head back home. Back home to University, exams and work. Before you get to that, take a few minutes to celebrate what you did with your summer.
You really did it. You spend an entire summer away from home, an entire summer developing a community somewhere out there in the world that needed that development. You have had a huge impact on the people that you met this summer, and while you did that, you developed yourself. By now you have probably realised, that it is not the same person, who left 2 months ago, that is now reading this booklet. You may have learned something about yourself, about other people and cultures and that is special. You did something this summer that really matters. We encourage you to celebrate this.
AIESEC believes that what the world needs now and always is socially responsible leadership. It is therefore our aim to develop this mindset of the next generation and to empower them with the leadership skills and international networks that they need to solve the world's increasingly global and complex problems. If you are interested in leadership, management and world issues, then AIESEC is the organisation for you.
As you have just returned from an exchange you might want to go again. It was that kind of an experience, right? Unfortunately you might be restricted by University commitment, and can therefore not go to another country to work on developing communities and yourself.
Fortunately you have the opportunity right here in New Zealand as you can become a YOUTH LEADER right here. To make it possible for people to go on exchange, AIESEC engages people to manage that exchange and people to manage those people. By doing this AIESEC engages a variety of people from different studies and demographics. This means that the opportunity to develop further is right in front of you.
“While on exchange, I was inspired by the experiences I had, the places I went and most of all the people I met. These things, as well as my drive to continue to develop as an individual, pushed me to join AIESEC in order to give others the same opportunity to grow through exchange.� Jade Crawford, Team Leader of Programme Management AIESEC Auckland (went on exchange to Czech Republic).
Besides going out for a celebration one of the best ways of celebrating your own development is to continue. It is to continue learning about yourself and others. Once we get closer to an understanding of ourselves, others and their culture we can really improve. This is exactly what AIESEC does. As an organisation AIESEC facilitated your exchange experience, and this booklet will tell you more about how you can get involved with AIESEC, get practical experiences and provide opportunities for other people to develop. Just as you did this summer.
There are a lot of opportunities for you to get involved on campus and with your community. Each local branch of AIESEC has its own dynamic teams that all work towards developing more responsible leaders. Each local branch consists of a number of functional areas, who manage different parts of the organisation. Here are some examples:
Outgoing Exchange This area takes care of the process of finding internships for possible exchange participants. Focused on customer experience and management Outgoing Exchange aims to give the best possible experience for people going on exchange. They handle volunteer and professional internships. Incoming Exchange This area is responsible for finding partners to take on interns here in New Zealand. Focused on customer relationship management Incoming Exchange aims to find the best companies for the best interns. They create partnerships for professional and volunteer internships. Marketing and Communications This area deals with the external positioning of AIESEC. To do this Marketing and Communication is creating promotional campaigns, handling social media and graphic design for all the programmes that AIESEC runs. Finance and Governance AIESEC is non-for-profit, which means the revenue created from exchange gets reinvested into our members. Finance and Governance makes sure they right money is invested in to the right things. They handle bookkeeping and legalities within the local committee. Talent Management This area is focused on the development of members within the organisation. This involves learning programmes, education and training and figuring out who should do what as which times. They cover everything that is HR management. Business Development This functional area is responsible for building relationships with externals to benefit the organisation. This includes creating and maintaining partnerships with companies and organisations.
Now that you have arrived back to the country we would like to invite you to a Returnee Personal Development Talk. In this talk we would like to evaluate the exchange process, hear more about your experience and support you in figuring out what the next step is going to be for you. You will hear from us shortly.
One of the most exciting things about coming back home is that you are back HOME. You know how things work out and that might be a delightful opposite to what you experienced abroad. You get to see your family and friends after a long time. But as time passes it becomes increasingly frustrating when people around you just do not understand what kind of experience you went though over summer. Do not worry – some people will understand this. These people are those who also took up the challenge of going on an exchange this summer.
To get all these people with these different but similar experiences together AIESEC is hosting a reintegration seminar for all the people who went on exchange this summer. This will be a place to tell the stories, share the celebrations and concerns about “just” being back in New Zealand, and the members of AIESEC will make sure the seminar will run smoothly.