CAN YOU MANAGE SEFA?
125 events 40 committees 6500 members
250 company contacts
Apply for a board year at Sefa!
FROM THE CHAIRMAN Dear student, As chairman of the Sefa board 2019-2020, I would like to emphasize the exceptional advantages and possibilities that come with a board year. At Sefa we provide every year a diverse portfolio of career events, social activities, academic intensification, and international congregations so that students can improve their social and professional capabilities. Sefa is the largest study association in the field of Economics and Business in the Netherlands, with over 6500 members of which 300 dedicated and enthusiastic students organise 125 events per year. The daily management of the association and supervision of the 40 committees lies with the Sefa board with a full-time workload. You and your fellow board members have the power and responsibility to manage Sefa in the most optimal way. Providing Economics and Business students from the University of Amsterdam the service and products they need to better transcend and connect to their future. Through our career events and committees such as de Amsterdam Career Days, the Sefa Career Week, Master Career Clubs, Sefa Entrepreneurship Days, Sefa Investment Day and many others. We connect thousands of students with hundreds of companies to help them orientate on their future career. Our academic events such as Room for Discussion and the Sefa Skillsweek inspires students to broaden and deepen their knowledge in numerous fields of expertise. Our international projects provide students with the ability to do research for companies or non-profit organisations in foreign countries. Furthermore, the social side of Sefa is an important aspect of the association, through numerous social events we create a Sefa community that increases the feeling of social bonding between students of the faculty of Economics and Business. The experience and knowledge you acquire during a board year are extremely valuable. A board year at Sefa composes all the different aspects that will prepare you for your future career as well as your personal life. You will develop your communication, coaching, planning and strategic capacities, besides the capabilities you develop from one of the seven positions and the training courses that are included. You will have to overcome difficult obstacles which will increase your solution-driven thinking and will challenge your capability to improvise. Leading such a big, professional, social and diverse organisation with a group of seven people is the best thing you can do for your career. Are you ready for the ultimate challenge? Do you want to give your CV a boost and kickstart your career? Do you want to have a steep learning curve all year round? Manage one of the largest professional study associations in the Netherlands? Then this is your chance to apply for the 99th Sefa board! With kind regards, Nino Kriz
NINO KRIZ Chairman Sefa Board 2019-2020 2
WHAT DOES A BOARD YEAR LOOK LIKE?
In addition to the responsibilities that come with your specific board position, you will be the coordinator of projects and committees. Your daily tasks will be very diverse. You will be working on a strategic level by implementing long-term policies, while at the same time being involved closely in the daily development of your committees.
TIME INVESTMENT
NEW AT SEFA?
A board year at Sefa is fulltime. You will be working from Monday to Friday during office hours and you are expected to be present at all social activities that may take place in evenings and during weekends. A board year at Sefa demands a lot of flexibility!
It is no problem if you are new to Sefa. We are looking for enthusiastic and motivated students. Being a former active member of Sefa is not a requirement.
FINANCIAL COMPENSATION
LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT
Since you will be working hard during a board year at Sefa, there is little time left for activities like work. Therefore, Sefa compensates you financially. During your board year, Sefa compensates your tuition fee and provides you with a student grant. In addition, many activities related to Sefa will be compensated financially.
We are working hard to internationalise Sefa, since this year the Sefa board is open for international students. However, some positions require a good understanding of Dutch due to important daily contacts.
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FROM THE PROFESSIONALS
A board year is a unique opportunity to distinguish yourself from other students and to experience what it is like to have the full responsibility of an organisation. You will get in touch with many potential employers during a board year at Sefa. During exclusive board days at companies and other professional Sefa events, you have the chance to get in touch with the biggest companies in the Netherlands. A board year at Sefa is the perfect way to expand your professional network.
Joop Wijn • •
Chief Strategy and Risk Officer at Adyen (and former Minister of Economic Affairs) Chairman of the SEF board 1989-1991
“It is striking how, after more than 25 years, I still see my two years on the board of the SEF as one of the most educational periods in my life. Yet it was and felt like a playground. It was a great opportunity to develop skills and learn about teamwork, organisation, finance, and e.g. stakeholder management. The “boardroom” dynamics of the SEF are really no different than those of even the biggest of companies. But above all it was fun and I’ve made many friends for life! “
Jurjen van der Werf • •
Strategy Consultant at Strategy& Chairman of the Sefa board 2014-2015
“Applying for the Chairman position of Sefa was one of the best decisions in my student life. It provided me with the opportunity to “run” a million euro company together with a group of talented people, who eventually also became my closest friends. As a consultant at Strategy& I learned that it is only possible to drive change in an organization if you are able to convince people. The board year gave me the unique experience to really build this skill because I had to convince faculty staff, fellow board members and active members. My board year was an amazing experience that really enriched my student life and helped me become a better consultant today.”
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ABOUT SEFA
Sefa is the study association of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) since 1922. Originally, we are a joint venture of SEF and EEFA which continued under the name Sefa. We aim at enriching the lives of students with unique activities in the following four strategic pillars:
ACADEMIC CAREER INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL Sefa offers you the possibility to get the most out of your student life. On the following pages, you find more information about Sefa’s activities within one of the four pillars. 5
THE COMMITTEES
ACADEMIC
CAREER
“A GLANCE AT THE CURRENT SITUATION IN THE WORLD”
“MEET YOUR FUTURE EMPLOYER”
• • • • •
TEDxUniversiteitvanAmsterdam List Sefa Room for Discussion Rostra Economica Skillsweek
• • • • • • • • • •
SOCIAL
INTERNATIONAL “BROADENING YOUR HORIZON IN A GLOBALISING WORLD” • • • • •
International Development Project International Student Committee International Week Sefa Research Project Sefa Study Trip
Amsterdam Career Days Commercial Team Marketing Team Sefa Entrepreneurship Day Master Career Clubs Marketing Team Career Month Junior Sefa Career Week Sefa Investment Day Sefa Social Consulting Group
“MEETING YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS” • • • • • • • • • •
Active Members Events Almanac As Good As New Grand Ball Introduction Camp Kingsday Social committee I & II Sportscommittee Store Committee Winter Sports
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THE AVAILABLE POSITIONS
CHAIRMAN As Chairman, you have a central position in the board and focus on the overall cooperation between all board members. You oversee the goals of the association and the long-term strategy in its entirety. To maintain oversight and keep everyone informed you organize and chair weekly board meetings. This also holds for four-monthly general meetings where members hold you accountable for the achievement of policy goals. Furthermore, you are Sefa’s final representative to the outside world and maintain the external relationships.
TASKS - Organizing and chairing all board meetings and general meetings - Safeguarding strategic policy goals during the daily routine - Communicating extensively within the board and with the university, other study association, FSR and Sefa’s supervisory board - Acting as the face of Sefa towards outside parties - Financial audit Capacities: diligent, leadership skills, team player, strategic insight and diplomatic
NINO’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE “Last year I finished my bachelor Economics and Business with an exchange in Paris. After studying for all these years, I decided that it was time to work on something less theoretical but still related to economics and business. A board year at Sefa seemed the perfect opportunity. At the time of writing, almost 8 months have past and I haven’t regretted this decision for a moment. Aside from all the great memories that I have made with my fellow board members, I have learned a lot as well. The combination of responsibility and freedom that you are allowed, is something similar with running your own company. The benefit of doing it at Sefa is that you’ll be doing it with a group of friends and receive the proper guidance to fully enjoy this year.”
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SECRETARY As the Secretary in the board you have a diverse role. You are responsible for coordinating the Sefa Store; everything from the stock acquisition to the sales of the study books for all students at our faculty are your responsibility. The Secretary is also in charge of the office management and external communication of the association. Besides these tasks, you have a relative free role in the board. There is room for personal initiative and innovative ideas to create and establish the long-term strategy of the association. You know the ins and outs of the association which makes you the ideal support and sparring partner for the other board-members. Being able to multitask and switch rapidly are characteristics that come in handy when fulfilling your tasks.
TASKS - Running the Sefa Store and Sefa’s education services - Maintain a positive relationship with employees of the faculty - Take care of the general mailbox - Support board and active members - Responsible for the formal expression of the association - Initiating new strategic investments Capabilities: team player, punctual, efficient, flexible
NAOMIE’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE “During my studies I was working as a studentassistant at UvA, organizing events for master students. After two years in this position, I realized I was ready for a bigger challenge: a board year at Sefa. I decided to take on the challenge of leading on of the country’s biggest study associations together with a team of other motivated and ambitious students. Leading such a large organization brings a lot of responsibilities and challenges. However, this is exactly what makes a board year so exciting. No day is the same. As the secretary you are in charge of the academic value of Sefa. This means that you are the contact person for material with regards to exam preparation, summaries, trainings and more. With such a high volume of students on our campus, this can be quite a challenging task. During a board year, you will be pushed out of your comfort zone. You will have strategic meetings. You will meet many different people, and you will learn a lot more about yourself. You will get to know your strengths and weaknesses and get the opportunity to actively improve yourself. To conclude, a board year at Sefa is not only challenging and good for your career. Most of all, it is a lot of fun!” 9
TREASURER As Treasurer, you are responsible for the financial position of Sefa. This means monitoring every euro spent by the association and you are responsible for all in- and outgoing cash flows. But it’s a lot more that just controlling. The Treasurer is also responsible for making financial plans and helping the board and all committees set out a financial strategy. You will make sure that your fellow board members and all the committees spend money in the most efficient and rational way. To do so, you are closely involved in all aspects of the organization. Furthermore, the Treasurer has an important role during the General Meetings by justifying the financial choices made by the board. This includes preparing Sefa’s overall budget and realisation and giving an adequate explanation.
TASKS - Creating Sefa’s financial policy, budget and financial statements - Have a complete overview of the financial position of the association - Manage and authorise all in- and outgoing cash flows - Guiding the committee treasurers and having good insight of the committee budgets - Managing Sefa’s insurances and tax matters Capacities: punctual, reliable, stress resistant, confident. Experience with Excel is preferred
DEMI’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE “I have been a Sefa member from the start of my student life. I started as an agan member and after that I’ve been part of many other committees and had different positions. It was therefore a very logical decision for me to apply for a position within the board. Being responsible for this big association by being part of the board, that sounded like a great opportunity, and it is! In the past 8 months I developed myself in a way I never thought I could. As the treasurer I’m responsible for all the financial aspects of the association, which is a big responsibility. During the year I learned how to handle this responsibility in the most efficient way. I can truly say that one year ago, I’ve made one of the best decisions of my ever and I’m very lucky I got the chance to be the 98th treasurer of Sefa.”
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MARKETING OFFICER As Marketing Officer in the Board, you are responsible for all promotional expressions. You are also the guard of the corporate design of Sefa in general. It is very important that people see the connection between our activities and Sefa, while every expression has to be distinctive. Furthermore, the Marketing Officer is concerned with the image of Sefa and strategies that will improve that. We are the Faculty Association of this Faculty, which means we are there with advantages for every student at the Faculty of Economics & Business and we have to carry that out.
TASKS - Taking care of Sefa’s marketing and PR policy - Building and sustaining an unbeatable brand image - Taking care of the website, social media and all the ‘offline’ promotion expressions - Attracting and maintaining media attention - Supervice Sefa’s biggest career events; Amsterdam Career Days and Career Week Capabilities: creative, team player, punctual, efficient, open minded
CHARLIE’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE “With the experience I got from my committees at Sefa and my Bachelor study, I was looking for a new challenge and therefore applied for a board year at Sefa to develop myself in the best possible way. This was one of the best choices I made. Leading such a large organization with a team of other motivated and ambitious students is very exciting. In a board year you get a lot of responsibility and freedom, this is something you get nowhere else and you will cherish this for the rest of your career. Within a very short time I acquired design skills and marketing knowledge. But also other skills like working to together, planning, take responsibility, convincing and managing other people and take criticism. I made great memories with my fellow board members (who I now consider as friends). All these experiences and skills I have gained will be valuable for the rest of my life. “ 1113
COMMERCIAL OFFICER The Commercial Officer of Sefa is responsible for the external affairs. This means that all contacts with companies and sponsors are your responsibility. In practice this comes down to visiting a broad range of different companies, managing relationships, negotiating contracts and heading all commercial activities at Sefa. It is your aim to set up long-term relationships with different parties and to ensure that the collaboration has a positive outcome for both parties. Additionally, you can transfer the necessary knowledge to help acquisitors in committees and you are always looking for new interesting partners for Sefa.
TASKS - Communicating with commercial relations - Generating incoming cash flows for Sefa - Exploring the market and making new connections and contacts - Assist committees within the acquisition process - Organize trainings for active members in collaboration with companies - Coordinating the Amsterdam Career Days, the Sefa Career Week and the Commercial Team Capacities: reliable, representative, confident, convincing and target driven
JURRIAAN’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE ‘’As the Commercial Officer you are responsible for all the business relations at Sefa. My board year started with the yearly summer meetings. During the summer meetings you get the possibility to meet the existing partners of our study association and look for new interesting partners. During these summer meetings I have gained valuable experience. You learn to negotiate in a professional manner and find creative partnerships that result in an optimal outcome for both parties. As the board year continues you will develop experience in a wide variety of areas. As the Commercial Officer you work closely with many different stakeholders, this enables you to develop your management skills, strategic thinking, you learn to convince and create synergies among the different stakeholders. At last you are able to be creative during the board year. Being able to create new ideas and implement these ideas in concrete actions with your fellow board members and committee members is one of the aspects I enjoyed the most. Due to all the business relations and personal growth, I now have a clear idea of the opportunities and possibilities that await for me in the future. Above all the professional experience that you will13 acquire I have made friends for life.’’
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HUMAN RESOURCE OFFICER The Human Resource (HR) Officer of the Sefa Board is responsible for recruitment, selection and retention of active members of the association. As HR Officer you are the first contact person for students that want to become active within one of Sefa’s committees. You promote active membership and you recruit new committee members, which is crucial for the existence and future of the association. As HR Officer you are responsible for the application and selection procedure for all committees. Finally, you are responsible for coaching and retaining active Sefa members to ensure that every student gets the most out of his or her active membership at Sefa.
TASKS - Promoting Sefa’s active membership and recruiting new members - Informing potential new Sefa members - Develop efficient and effective application procedures - Select students and conduct interview sessions - Coaching and retaining active members - Providing growth opportunities for active members - Keeping the members administration up-to-date Capabilities: social, enthusiastic, entrepreneurial, creative, team player and open-minded
ESMÉE’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE “After my 3rd year in Sefa, where I joined the Sefa Research Project I was wondering what I wanted to do the following year. Maybe getting some working experience, maybe starting my Master in Finance or maybe joining the Sefa board. I wasn’t sure at all, but after I had had a coffee meeting with a board member of last year, I knew what I wanted to do. A board year is the perfect opportunity to gain practical experience within the field we all have studied for, but also offers you a lot of personal development. I am very happy and proud of what we as a board already did together and how many great things we have been organizing! Personally I learned many new things within the interviewing process, but besides that I learned about the different ways you have to approach different people and work with different personalities in a team. Together these are useful skills for my further career!”
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INFORMATION STRATEGY OFFICER As the Information Strategy Officer of Sefa you are responsible for developing techniques to capture data that can be translated into information to support the overall strategy of Sefa. The role of big data is becoming more important in the decision-making process. Additionally, you are using your knowledge and collected data to work on the general organization policy. Salesforce is one of the main programs that you will be working with during this board year.
TASKS - Responsible for all Salesforce activities; from user adoption to development and innovation - Managing all data and performing analysis on the collected data - Justifying and supporting the strategy of the organization by providing clear numerical facts - Finding software related solutions and improving current systems Capacities: Analytical, innovative, resourceful, result oriented, thorough.
VIKTOR’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE “I set my sights on the position of Information Strategy Officer (ISO) from the get go when I applied for a board year at Sefa. It did not disappoint. Looking back (and still a couple of months ahead), I have found that my work is essential for the well-functioning and optimisation of many of the other board members’ tasks. During my term, I decided to focus on the integration of commercial and HR activities into our CRM system. Had I wanted, I could have done something else. This freedom in choosing your projects throughout the year is quite unique to this role and something I valued very much. Besides the challenging technical problems you encounter, the ISO is also a gatekeeper of all data Sefa collects and leverages this information to set out policy goals and measures. Add to this the supervision of various committees and you have a highly-diverse profile and, as a result, skillset at the end of the ride. This board year has without a doubt been the most eventful period of my student life. A unique experience I was fortunate enough to embark on with a group of ambitious fellow students, now close friends.” 14
MODULE In addition to the tasks that every board member has within his or her function there is one module that can be assigned to you. During your first interview you can let us know if you are interested in the module of vice-chairman.
VICE-CHAIRMAN The vice-chairman assists the chairman on a strategic level. The vice-chairman is also an important partner when it comes to negotiations and meetings with members of the faculty. Next to that, the vice-chairman helps out with teambuilding and other issues related to inter-board relations.
IMPORTANT DATES • April 12th 23:59 - Application Deadline Apply with your motivation letter and CV at www.sefa.nl/board-application
• April 13th - April 24th - First Interviews After sending your motivation letter and CV, we will let you know whether you are invited for an interview with the current Sefa Board.
• April 25th - May 3rd - Second Interviews After your first interview, we will let you know whether you are invited for a second interview with the current Supervisory Board.
• May 7th - May 10th - Selection results We will evaluate your interview and inform you about the outcome of the selection procedure. In case you got selected for the 2020-2021 board, you will be introduced during the General Meeting.
QUESTIONS? Do you want to have more information about a board year? Send a email to HR@sefa.nl to plan a call and get all the information you want about the board. 15
Apply with your motivation letter and CV at: www.sefa.nl/board-application
Application Deadline 2020-2021 Board: April 12th 23:59