My job

So it occurred to me some of you may not actually know what I am doing, so let me explain.

Since I got here last September I realised was hard to raise sponsorship. Companies didn't really see how we could help their recruitment, not believe we could (lack of credibility, track record and products). Similarly not that many were interested in taking on trainees (not any cheaper than Chinese grads, will leave at one point, won't know Chinese market and might not speak Chinese).

Thus the idea of getting the companies engaged with AIESEC (i.e. impressed) was born, through CSR (hot topic, personal interest, AIESEC globally highly involved). Its the idea that companies should be more socially responsible. Its inherently part of the broader 'sustainable development' but with a specific focus on how companies can play a role in this; and the current thinking is that a) companies should aim to make money, otherwise they will not have a future and b) by beeing good to the environment, to their stakeholders and economically prudent this will ensure they have a future. Its commonly referred to caring about the 3Ps: 'people, profit, planet'.

So I got some people involved in explaining this concept to the AIESEC students, then organise a big 1 dya conference with a bunch of charities, companies and academics running workshops and case studies about what they do. Idea being, when our students get into positions of eladership, they have the tools, ideas, knowledge and (most of all) desire to do things in a responsible way.

Everything went well..I organised some online courses, another (smaller) conference and some more seminars with guest speakers. Come June, the students started taking exams, so I had afternoons free (for my internship at British Chamber of Commerce), and then decided that a) I really liked was I was doing and it was making a difference, b) I was establishing a name for myself (which helped future career prospects and contacts) and c) that if I left most likely nothing would happen again due to lack of suitable people in AIESEC here.

Having made the leap of faith that I would be able to raise sponsorship to pay for myself, I committed to doing another year, but making things bigger and better:
-More activites, with more structure and an accreditation scheme for the students
-More involvement with, and training for, the AIESEC members here, so someone is able to replace me
-More involvement with Universities and more activities for non-AIESECers (plus inviting companies to attend our companies) so that more people can benefit from the high quality of organisations involved
-Better newletters, online learning activities and networking opportunities for the people we are in touch with to meet each other to develop their own networks.
-More partnerships with relevant organisations to grow our network, build credibility and create exhchange and other opportunities (want to create more opportunities!)

so thats about it. First small activities will be during recruitment in September, then the bigger activities will start; I'll be travelling to help the AIESEC branches in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin (with their CSR activities) and currently focusing on the learning aspects (relaunching webpages etc) , partnerships and growing our network.

Hope its a little interesting for you, and of course, feel free to ask me about it (or see if you can help me!).