Board Blog: Jonas Driessen
Hi there, dear reader!
Whatever the reason you’re reading the Board Blog of TeMa’s External Relations may be, I am always happy to share my experiences with you. Please do not hesitate to schedule a coffee with me if you’re interested in or want to orientate on my position.
Last year, I had to make the same decision, still wondering what to do in the next year. As I was active in TeMa’s Career Committee before applying, I already knew TeMa and the great atmosphere and members the association has. Working together with these people, while maintaining a great social life, and acquiring new skills, were the main reasons for me to apply for a Board year at TeMa.
In the first semester of my third year of bachelor’s studies, I completed a minor in Malaysia. After returning from an incredible journey through Southeast Asia, I started working on my thesis and finished a few remaining courses to complete my bachelor’s degree.
While completing my bachelor's, I did not know exactly what I wanted to do next. I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to start my master’s program right away. After all, I was only 21 years old and couldn’t quite see myself entering the workforce within 1-2 years. I also wanted to gain some practical experience alongside my studies. I thought it would be exciting to explore the business world a bit more, especially in a field related to our study program.
As you might imagine, you could be interested in this role but still lack a clear picture of what a board year as the External Relations at TeMa entails. Honestly, it’s hard to put into words. But in this blog, I’ll give you some insights into what it’s like. If you still have questions after reading my blog, don’t hesitate to reach out.
About External Relations & why I applied for it
Are you interested in becoming my successor? Let me tell you about this great opportunity! It really is a great choice to become the new External Relations, and I will tell you why:
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Work on your persuasiveness, adaptiveness & achieving a growth mindset
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Opportunities in growing your network tremendously
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Increasing your social skills in all sorts of environments
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Acquiring management skills by being the supervisor of our biggest, formal career oriented committees (Conference, Career, SCC, ISP)
For this function, you should be enthusiastic for acquiring some necessary skills, mainly in meeting with market leading companies, successfully managing partnerships. You really do not need to have developed these skills already, as we will certainly work on them together!
What my week looks like
I see that my fellow board members (also check out their blogs) have answered this question quite accurately already. That’s why I’m keeping this short. Next to my daily tasks as an External Relations, I found it important to be able to continue working part-time on Friday. I also wanted to have enough time to hang out with my friends & work out. Simply put, I wanted to have enough time to do other fun things besides my Board year.
After settling in at the start of the year, I can confidently say that this is entirely manageable! I am very happy with this! There are of course events that you must attend, but everything plays from Monday till Thursday, leaving you with a lot of free time on Friday and the weekend as well.
A nice addition to your position within TeMa, is our close connection with the befriended associations at the Interim (the part of Duisenberg we share with other associations). You get to know everyone on a personal level and go to events & socials together. This really makes the week very fun as well.
What my daily tasks are
External Relations really is an amazing position to be in, which is due to my very diverse and (for me) compelling task portfolio. Of course, there are many tasks that are part of the entire Board’s portfolio. These consist of meetings, organising events and socializing at events.
Then, there are specific tasks for the External Relations. Think about acquiring new companies for a collaboration, which you may have expected as the main thing. It’s not! Over the years, TeMa has acquired a big network of close partners, which really is the fun part. You get to know your contact persons, go on some company visits during summertime (touring the Netherlands), and meet a lot to talk about events and partnerships. I really enjoy these things, as it both leads to a great network, and I enjoy the (online) meetings a lot as well.
Big part of the fun is in organising all our Career Events where there’s no committee, like the Tech & Track dinners, Consultancy Days & other informal career events. These really feel like your own events, which I enjoyed and saw as a great learning opportunity.
Where there’s even more fun, is supervising the Conference, Career, SCC and ISP committees. On a personal level, you get to know the committee, while also supporting them on a professional level. This leads to you working together quite often and doing everything you can to set up a great event.
Also, being an External Relations comes with a few nice perks as well, as we for example go External – to a European city – with our befriended associations’ External Relations each year.
My experience so far
It just is really fun, great, it’s a learning opportunity, the perfect ‘extending your study’ experience, you get practical skills you can hardly learn elsewhere, I can tell you so much more, schedule a coffee with me now and let’s talk about it – also if you’re just curious and not sure yet!
You can always text me at: +31 6 14 03 21 34
> Click here to read the Board Experience of Anouk - Chair
> Click here to read the Board Experience of Tessa - Secretary & Promotion Officer
> Click here to read the Board Experience of Milo - Treasurer & Green Officer
> Click here to read the Board Experience of Sam - Internal Relations and Education Officer & Vice-Chair
