Secretary at Asset | Financials
As Secretary you support the entire board. You’re always ready to help, which allows you to develop a variety of skills. In addition, you have standard responsibilities such as managing the member administration, keeping track of the email inbox, taking minutes during board meetings, planning dates and coordinating committees. You also organize training sessions for the board and are responsible for sending out constitution, Christmas and birthday cards. Additionally you manage the incoming and outgoing communication of the association. This task takes up a small part of your time, leaving plenty of room for other responsibilities. The variety in this role is what makes it so enjoyable. No two weeks are the same. It gives you the opportunity to experience all aspects of the association. For example, during the summer, you can participate in partner meetings. The Secretary role taught me to be critical of different aspects, switch quickly between tasks, and stay on top of multiple responsibilities at once.
Once a week, you have a meeting with SM, where all secretaries from the departments come together to discuss things like the distribution of membership fees, the member database, and the annual planning. It’s important that you represent Financials’ interests well in these meetings to ensure we get the best possible outcomes. For example, in the annual planning, you need to make sure our event dates stay as planned and that there’s minimal overlap with other events. Another big topic is the fee distribution. Membership fees are one of the biggest sources of income for our department, so it’s crucial everything is done fairly and according to guidelines to avoid harming Financials.
Besides the standard tasks, there’s plenty of room to take on additional projects. For example, you can take on responsibility for making TikToks. This requires some creativity and is totally voluntary, so next year someone else might take it over. These are typically tasks that are easily overlooked, but they help take Asset | Financials to the next level.
One of the committees you coordinate as Secretary is the Faces Committee. You’ll work with this committee throughout the year, focusing on delivering high-quality articles. As coordinator, it’s important to stay aware of trends, both individually and as a team. An article is published each week, and we use Canva to create accompanying images. Faces has its own website, so you’ll become familiar with WordPress. You also want the articles to be read as much as possible, which means writing the perfect meta description and promoting content well on social media.
This year, I was also responsible for the StudyTour. With committees, it’s important not to become a committee member yourself. it can be tempting to pick up small tasks quickly. But as coordinator, you must be involved from the beginning and keep an overview, as there’s a lot to manage. A committee like the StudyTour can be stressful, but with the right people, good coordination, and a bit of luck, it’s manageable and results in a great event.
Lastly, you’re responsible for the Accounting Activity, which I found very educational. During this event, you connect 5 accounting firms with 20 students. I organized a cooking workshop for this, which involved requesting quotes and collaborating with the treasurer to compare prices.
In short, the Secretary role gives you exposure to most aspects of the association. Alongside your core responsibilities, you have the freedom to take on different tasks and focus on what interests you. No week is ever the same; and that’s what makes it so fun!
Vice-Chairman at Asset | Financials
As Vice-Chairman of Asset | Financials, you have the freedom to structure the majority of your portfolio to suit your own interests. The core responsibilities involve recruiting and retaining active members, organizing informal events, and promoting the association. Among all board roles, the Vice-Chairman has the most diverse and varied workload.
As Vice-Chairman, you’re the first point of contact for (potential) members and responsible for committee allocation. You recruit new members through promotion and by organizing events, sometimes in collaboration with other Asset departments. You’re also responsible for maintaining and improving the website with full creative freedom to design it how you see fit.
To increase visibility for Financials among our target audience, promotion is key. This can take many forms such as through social media, narrowcasting, our website and campus promotions. As a study association we have two sides. On one hand we present ourselves as a fun community for all students in Accountancy, Economics and Finance offering the best student experience. On the other hand we offer high-quality formal events to help students explore career opportunities. Both aspects should be reflected in your promotional plan so that students clearly understand what we offer.
One of the best parts of this role is the freedom it provides. The Vice-Chairman has relatively few fixed tasks, giving you many opportunities to start your own projects or support other board members. This means you’ll often have multiple projects running simultaneously, such as designing promotional material or organizing events.
The Vice-Chairman also acts as a backup for the Chairman in case they can’t attend a (board) meeting. If the Chairman is unavailable for an Asset general board meeting, the Vice-Chairman may attend in their place. Additionally, you’ll have weekly meetings with all other Vices from the Asset departments to coordinate joint promotions and organize large events like Pre-Carnaval and the kick-off party.
Over the years, different Vice-Chairmen have worked in very different ways. Some focused more on active members others on promotion and others on policy. While you should never lose sight of your core responsibilities, you get to choose your own focus areas depending on what you think is most valuable for the association and what you want to accomplish by the end of your board year.
