I joined AIESEC in 2006 in my university : ICHEC. Since the moment I entered, I had the opportunity to take several leadership positions : project manager, sales coordinator, national coordinator of Career Days. Today, I’m doing a management traineeship in a company called Sustainable Carbon, in São Paulo, Brazil. I am responsible to plan and execute sales and marketing strategies that are enabling the company to grow on the European market.

Thanks to this combined experience, I have developed personal and professional skills and competencies such as negotiation, planning, strategic thinking, flexibility, stakeholder focus, solution thinking, account management, coaching,… In both leadership and exchange, I also had the opportunity to work in an international environment with people from different countries, which enlarged my vision of the world and was pushing me to explore new directions. Living in another country allowed me to discover my inner self, my true passions but most of all, I discovered not one but many new cultures by working and living with people from different nationalities.

For me, the only way to fully explore your potential and discover what you are your limits, is exchange + leadership ! I would not exchange this experience for any other ! I can definitely say that AIESEC changed my life !

My name is Ruben D’Hauwers from the Local Commitee of Ghent in Belgium.

During the summer of 2010 I had an amazing exchange experience in AIESEC Jaipur, India where I did a management traineeship in the marketing department of Siyaram Exports, a globally operative textile exporter. My responsibilities were to generate new sales leads, set up a database of the products and web promotion. Furthermore, I had the possibility to advise them, using my academic background, on their enterprise resource planning system.

India kept on amazing me by its diversity and different views on life which has enriched and confronted my mindset. I travelled through Rajasthan, one of the most traditional regions of India. Also, I did an adventurous trip to Northern India, where I even met the ‘Dalai Lama’. Further, I had the opportunity to attend a national conference with approximately 700 delegates from all over India. India will always stay in my heart…One year later, I still dream about it.

After my exchange, I became Vice President External Relations in AIESEC Ghent, where I learned to network and to sell. On a weekly basis I was in contact with Human Ressources managers, CEOs and marketing managers.  I also improved leading skills by being a member of the executive board of a committee. Further, I initiated a social project involving AIDS/HIV where we inducted over 300 children on the topic through which we reached a new market segment for AIESEC in Belgium. Now, I’m ready to take the next step, to lead the sales department of AIESEC in Belgium being part of a team consisting of 5 different nationalities.

After only one year in AIESEC, my life has changed tremendously in a professional and personal way. The way AIESEC opens perspectives and opportunities is astonishing, and I believe it does for everyone who dares to take the step.

Hi travelers of the WORLD,

My  name  is  Pieter,  I’m  from AIESEC Antwerp. At the moment I’m doing an internship  in  Curitiba,  Brasil.  I’m  working  as financial assistant at Electrolux.  This  is  a perfect example of a Management Traineeship in the finance  area.  Since  I  work  in  the  controlling  team, I have a lot of communication  with  the  different  departments, so my financial skills as well  as  communication  skills  increased  a  lot. Working in this kind of department generates a lot of responsibilities and pressure but I learned a in the past 8 months.

The experience I’m currently living in Electrolux is very much in line with the  experience  I  gained in AIESEC as the VP Incoming Exchange in Antwerp from  2009 – 2010. People that have lived a leadership experience in AIESEC will  get  much  more  out  of their exchange because of their flexibility, communication  and  drive  for  results that they have improved during this leadership  experience.  This  combined  with  the international part of an exchange  will  make  this the most unforgettable experience, personally as well as professionally!

Another  important part is the contact with the local culture. To live this experience  to  the full I decided to learn Portuguese because if you don’t speak  their  language,  how can you understand their culture? And this was necessary because “Life in Brasil” is very different compared with Belgium, I  learned  a lot from the people here, so much that I will probably stay a bit longer!

So  my  advice  to you: take up a Leadership Role, go for the eXchange that matches with your future and blend in to the Culture. BUT be aware, it WILL be DIFFERENT!

Hi AIESEC !

I’m Alexander Mackaay and I’m part of Aiesec UA in Antwerp, Belgium.  At the moment I’m in the USA and doing an internship in Minneapolis, Minnesota a beautiful city full of surprises and surrounded with a lot of nature! I work downtown at CH Robinson, a third party logistics provider. I could subscribe my internship as ‘transportation sales’. I try to move all kinds of goods around the US, and especially going to the west (California, Nevada,….) because I’m in the west zone. So what I do? All day long I’m in contact with trucking companies and try to convince them to ship our loads. At the same I also need to take care that my goods arrive well and solve all kinds of problems and issues that could come up during a shipment (you would be surprised how many there are).  So what am I especially developing/learning? I think the ability to build business relationships, a lot of negotiation skills, team work, being patient and of course a lot about the transportation/logistics industry. This internship gives me a good insight how it is to work with the American spirit (slightly different than the European) and to live abroad where you need to do everything yourself. I think doing an internship increases your independence and also makes you think outside the box.

I would say, go and do international internship, you will never regret it and you will gain new experiences and meet new interesting people!

Hi, I am Dorien, I was an AIESEC Member of AIESEC HUB, Belgium from 2002 until 2005 and I completed my AIESEC experience by going on exchange in the summer of 2010 to Serdang in Malaysia. During my development traineeship of two months I worked on a project called HOPE together with other AIESEC trainees. The aim of the project was to raise awareness amongst youth about HIV/AIDS. Our main responsability was to conduct workshops of 1,5 hour in high schools and universities where we were warmly welcomed. Next to the workshops we also visited NGO’s and various shelters where people who are HIV positive can get information, support and medical care. I really loved my traineeship experience for various reasons. First of all because I learned so much from talking to people who are HIV positive. What blew my mind was how they still have a really positive outlook dispite the challenges they face. This made me realise to never take things for granted and to be grateful for the life I have. It was so fulfilling to be able to spend time with them, to work with people from the NGO’s who are extremely devoted and to share these stories with the students. Secondly I really loved discovering Malaysia, which is a truely Asian country because you get to discover three cultures in one country: Malay, Chinees and Indian culture. Thirdly it was really great to share this experience with the other AIESEC trainees. Because of them I got to experience 7 other cultures and we had a lot of fun travelling to beautiful cities and mesmerizing islands together. To summerize I had an amazing and unforgetable experience and would recommend it to every single person!

]]> http://aiesec.be/stephen-coote-ichec-trainee-in-hungary/feed/ 0 http://aiesec.be/sophie-van-mulders-vub/ http://aiesec.be/sophie-van-mulders-vub/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:51:37 +0000 admin http://staging.aiesec.be/?p=109 I am performing an internship for one year in Fortaleza, a big city on the cost of Nort-East of Brazil. The purpose of the internship is for me to prepare Botployee (a company that provides software solutions for companies) with their future expansion to Europe. ICX Fortaleza, found me a great appartement on 5 minutes walking from the sea, where I live together with an Indian guy and two Chinese girls, who are all here to perform a one year internship. In the weekends, I hang out with Brazilian friends or other trainees from the US, South America, Europe, Asia, … this really leads to interesting conversations and we never had conflicts, unbelievable how open-minded all trainees are.
This really is THE international experience and a dream for everybody who doesn’t always wanne chose the easy path in life. I am getting my first work experience and enjoying the Brazilian life, while learning about the Chinese and Indian culture and making friends all over the world!

Thank you so much AIESEC!

These many reasons convinced me to abandon all I was doing in my everyday life and just leave and go for adventure to a far and mysterious country: China.

Doing an internship thanks to the AIESEC is not just about being a tourist because you take part in something much bigger. You breathe, live and work as a native while adding your own mindset and your own culture to the benefit of a company. You bring more than just your academic skills and knowledge.

For my part, my internship in China lasted 6 weeks in the educational and marketing field. Teaching English to children brought me such a human dimension in learning the Chinese culture. The interactions with my students were amazing.

I also discovered other cultures than the Chinese one. We were actually four foreign teachers from the AIESEC: an English girl, a Polish girl and a Lithuanian boy. Again, the interactions between us were amazing and we became close friends.

All these elements contributed to make me spend a wonderful internship abroad. And you know what? I am going back to China in August for 6 months.”

Best regards!