AIESEC Team Experience

So to continue on from my last post, I wanted to go into a little detail about the division of responsibilities within AIESEC chapters around the world and specifically, what the structure of AIESEC Chapel Hill looks like. Before anything else AIESEC is a leadership development platform that focuses on creating the leaders we want to see in the world. A lot of times we get confused for some club that just sends a lot of students on international internships. Although this is true, our primary focus is not exchange. Exchange is actually the byproduct of our core purpose: leadership development.

 

 Each local committee of AIESEC structures their chapter a little different, but for the most part, they all consist of the following teams: Outgoing Exchange, Incoming Exchange, Communications, Talent Management, and Finance. Each of these teams are led by a Vice President, or in some case two, which make up the Executive Board. The Executive Board is then led by a Local Committee President.

To the right is a picture of my Executive Board when I was a VP in 2013. These six individuals became more than just my best friends. Somehow, after a year of the most intense team experience I've ever been apart of, through disagreements and many successes, we became a family.

For the remainder of this post I want to go into a little more detail about each of the individual functional teams and how their efforts play into the bigger picture of AIESEC Chapel Hill. Over the years these teams progress and change into more productive teams with lengthier job descriptions and more efficient processes.

Outgoing Exchange (OGX)
As you may have guessed, this is one of the two exchange teams, this one being the one that sends our local students abroad on international internships. This team offers two products here, the first being a volunteer opportunity abroad for six to eight months. The second is more of a professional internship which lasts from three to eighteen months and often requires a degree. The OGX team is responsible for interviewing interested students and then guiding these exchange participants (EPs) through the process of finding the internship that is best for them. We have a database of thousands of internships that students can be matched to and Americans are often top choices for these international companies.

Incoming Exchange (ICX)
This is the reciprocal team of OGX that gathers and convinces businesses here in our local area to take on international interns. It is divided into two teams that work on separate parts of the process. The first, Business Development, are the initial sales people. They make cold calls, attend networking events, reach out to warm leads, and utilize our Board of Advisers as well as the local Chambers of Commerce to some how find the right companies for an AIESEC intern. A lot of market research, targeting, and sales meetings go into finding these companies. But once a company agrees to take on an intern and signs the contract, the work is then passed on to the Account Delivery team. They have the responsibility of advertising, sourcing, and then finding the intern that is perfect for the company. After many interviews with people who English is not their first language, a short list is then given to the company. Once selected, we walk the intern through the process of obtaining a visa, as we are an official J-1 Visa sponsor. Lastly, our team is responsible for the reception and initial support the intern needs when they arrive in the states. This includes airport pickup, apartment searching, and finding transportation solutions. In 2013, I was the Vice President of Account Delivery, so it's clearly what I'm most passionate about in AIESEC.

Communications
The Comm team is similar to the marketing or PR department of any small business. They have smaller teams responsible for certain things such as: design, campus engagement, and social media. One of the biggest challenges is making sure that all of our designs and output matches the branding guidelines set by AIESEC United States as well as AIESEC International. With so many resources available and a network so large this can become difficult and is such an important aspect of an international organization. During recruitment periods for both new members as well as exchange participants, this team works non stop to relay all of the information to UNC students in the most creative way possible, to bring in the most interest. As an advertising major all through college, I spent my first two years on the Communications team before moving to ICX.

Talent Management (TM)
We like to compare the TM team to that of a Human Resources department. Their main job is to make sure all of our local members are staying happy and really getting the most out of their AIESEC Experience. Because our organization revolves around leadership development, they provide opportunities to improve ourselves professionally like resume workshops and networking tips. And because we're college students and all like to have fun, they are also responsible for social events and really bringing the whole local committee together. If they're doing their job, we all should be growing and stretching into better people and better leaders.

Finance
Just like it sounds, this team manages all of the budgeting, and money flow that goes on behind the scenes of our local committee. With every exchange experience we create, our income increases and the finance team tells us what we can do with that money. They allot a certain amount of funds to go to events or supplies and manage refunds. Because we are a non-profit, they have also been working really hard to gain external funds by hosting fund raisers and doing grant writing.

I hope these brief descriptions give you a better idea of what each of our teams roles are within AIESEC Chapel Hill. Every single person has their own job description and should know exactly where they fit within the organization.