Doing A Board Year At FSG

• The FSG Board 2022-2023 is looking for its successors. 
• This article gives a small insight in the different functions, and the experience you gain when you are doing a board year. 
• If you are interested, please schedule a coffee date with one of the board members to show your interest.

VICE-CHAIRMAN

Hi! I am Rick van den Berg, 23 years old and the Vice-Chairman of the FSG board. In addition, I am currently doing the Master Finance. I have an interest in all kinds of different things. For example, I personally invest in stocks, which I've learned a lot about by being in the Investment Team. Furthermore, I have a love for cooking and playing and watching all kinds of different sports.

In short, I'm responsible for the strategy of the association together with the Chair and I have 20 companies as contacts. To elaborate on this, as strategy always sounds a bit vague, we are busy with the association for the long run. There are loads of day-to-day tasks, but are these still necessary and is there a better way of doing these? Also, where do we want to bring FSG in the future? Furthermore, I am the contact person for the recruiters or businesspeople of 20 companies. For example, they reach out to me if they want to upload a new vacancy on our website. But also briefing them on how an event of ours is going to look like and if they want to participate, is one of my responsibilities. Another aspect of being the Vice Chairman is that you are responsible for a couple committees. For some committees it is useful to have a person with external relations and for others it is to see if the future strategy of FSG can also be implemented in the committee.

What I like the most about my position is that it is open to own interpretation. You have the time to come up with some amazing new and innovative ideas throughout the year. Personally, I’m really proud of all the trainings we organised for our students this year. Furthermore, what I liked most about my board year is meeting all kinds of new people and learning a lot about yourself and your fellow board members.

SECRETARY

Hi! My name is Jasper, and I am 22 years old. Currently, I am in my last year of the Bachelor Business Administration, where I follow the track Accountancy & Controlling. Before I became the Secretary of the FSG Board, I was actively involved within the Activity Committee. In my spare time, I like to play and watch different sports (mainly football), cook for my roommates and have drinks with my friends. 

As secretary, you are responsible for all external communication. This means for example social media posts, but also the FSG Website and the FSG Magazine. Besides, you are responsible for all contact with FSG Alumni and organising the alumni activities. The fun part of this position is that you work together a lot with all board members, which means you are always aware of what everyone is busy with, but you also have a real good view over the association. You are really the spider in the middle of the web, the helicopter that flies over the association and supports where needed. Besides that, every board member guides several committees. This year I guide the FSG Conference, which I find really fun to do!

What I like most about my position is that you are really absorbed in every part of the association. You know about most of the internal processes, and are in contact with all the board members. As the secretary, you have to be decisive and a solution-oriented thinker. This position also contains a lot of opportunity to be innovative. As you have a great view on the internal processes, you can discover opportunities for development in the association. 

What I like most about my board year so far, is that I got to meet so many new people, and made many new friends who I will see for the rest of my life for sure! The connection with the other associations at the “interim” are also very nice to have. Next to that, I feel like I developed myself massively and learned a lot about myself, how to work together and so many more!

TREASURER

Hi! My name is Stijn van Poelje, 23 years old, and I am the treasurer of the FSG Board 2022-2023. As treasurer, you are responsible for the financial side of the association. This contains activities like the annual and committee budgets, in- and outgoing cash flows, VAT declarations and of course the bookkeeping. Besides these tasks, you are also busy with guiding committees and making financial decisions on a daily basis.

For the role of treasurer, you need to have a thick skin. You should not be afraid to speak up and to give your opinion, so good communication skills are necessary. In addition, you need to be able to handle the responsibility you have as the treasurer of the board. You are responsible for big amounts of money and therefore the position of treasurer is sometimes hard but challenging.

Currently, I am doing my master Accountancy & Controlling. After the board year, I am planning on finishing my master degree and moving to Amsterdam for a thesis internship. Doing a board at FSG is a perfect way to orientate what you want to do in your future career. The good mix of both formal and informal events at FSG makes it an interesting and fun year together with your fellow board members!

EXTERNAL RELATIONS 

Hi, my name is Dyllan. I am 24 years old, and within the board of FSG, I am the External Relations Officer. At the end of my Bachelor, I was eager to develop myself in a more practical way instead of building theories on theories. I then came across the opportunity to apply for a board year at the financial study association of Groningen, which I immediately knew I should take advantage of. 

Every Monday morning (and Thursday), we start the day with a board meeting. We discuss strategy, committees, events etc. On a typical day, I have many calls with our partners to discuss our ongoing collaboration. Since I am responsible for all our partnerships, I process all emailing and make sure that agreements with our partners are met. The contracts containing all deals are designed by me, so I know exactly what my partners and I agreed on.

During the summer, I visited all of our partners (in total, FSG has around 70 partnerships) to evaluate our collaboration of last year, look at the company's needs and discuss the collaboration opportunities for the new academic year. During these visits, I got the chance to see all these companies from the inside. Furthermore, during these visits, I agreed to participate in FSG Events, which I finalized by creating a contract. The primary responsibility of the External Relations Officer is to maintain and develop partnerships for FSG. You can operate relatively freely within this function compared to other functions, which I like. At the beginning of the board year, you will set a target for your acquisition revenue and partnerships and in the end, achieving these goals is the best part of being an External Relations Officer. Being an External Relations Officer has helped me develop my work ethic, skills in sales and professional communication.

FSG has a lot of both formal and informal activities. The fun part of a board year is that these two go hand in hand. During the day, you work in the office with your fellow board members, but you have different options in the evening. For example, socials, constitutional drinks, events, activities etc. This year has been the perfect balance between work and social life, and I have made many new connections and friendships.

INTERNAL RELATIONS

Hi! My name is Silke, and I am 22 years old. Within the FSG Board, I am responsible for the Internal Relations. I am studying Business Administration and the track Accountancy & Controlling. After being active at FSG for almost three years, I decided to apply for the Risk Board. In my time of being an Active member, I’ve had the opportunity to meet lots of great people and expand my network. I wanted to develop myself further within the association by applying for the FSG Board. 

I usually start my day by checking my emails, and take a look at my calendar for the day. After that, I drink a cup of coffee or have a video call with someone who is interested in joining a committee at FSG, so I can tell all about the active membership of our Association and answer a lot of questions about the committee work and the other possibilities. Thereafter, I have a meeting with one of the four committees that I coordinate. After this meeting, I help an active member responsible for the Promotion & Logistics with the design of the promotion material for his or her event. I have the overview of all the promotion of FSG, so I make sure all the promotion of FSG looks professional at all times. Also organizing the Active Members activities is one of my tasks, so on a typical day I am also busy contacting companies for our weekends, trainings and other activities. I close the day with scheduling job interviews for the incoming committee applications, and set up the interview questions. 

Doing Board year is always a good choice! I wanted to develop myself the way I could not within my study. Working together with my motivated fellow board members and meeting new active members are some of the things that I value the most in the past year. Next to that, I got to know a lot of new people that really made my year a year that I will never forget.