Being a part of a student organisation can be a great way to spend fruitful time and gain experience while studying at university. Student organisations vary depending on their goals and activities but the point that everyone agrees on is that they can teach you many skills and provide with an insight into what you might want in your future career.
Having thousands of volunteers around the European continent, ESN is a great example of a progressive volunteer organisation that appeals to many students. However, ESN is not your ordinary student organisation. ESN has become an integral part of the Erasmus Exchange program. Providing assistance and assigning buddies to students having exchange programs in different universities is one of many jobs or responsibilities ESN gives to it student volunteers. Nevertheless, the main question that we want to answer in this blog is how ESN prepares its volunteers for a future career?
ESN Will Look Great On Your CV
Volunteering for ESN shows how committed you are as a person or a student and that you have surely gained some skills and experiences the will benefit you in any career. Employers generally look for experienced individuals and most regular students struggle to provide that as the majority of them are completely consumed by their studies and did not have some kind of serious work or responsibilities. Well here is where ESN gives you a boost and vital advantages compared to regular students. All ESNers are assigned with duties that they must fulfil or risk being suspended. Being in such a position teaches a person to be more committed and learn the weight of responsibility and learning this skill or behaviour is important for any job and even for our regular lives.
You’ve Probably Mastered Multitasking
Multitasking is another skill employers search for as a workplace can be a complex atmosphere and deadlines may collide together and this can put pressure on any inexperienced employee. Most ESNers mastered or grasped some multitasking attributes. We can find ourselves studying for our exams and helping a buddy at the same time and even organising an event as well. Such situations make ESNers struggle to manage time, multitask and create tight time schedules. Even though such situations can be difficult to manage and control. However, at the end of the day, we end up with a solution and an extra skill learnt that benefits us for life.
ESN Boosts Your Job Search Skills
Ever find yourself struggling to choose an ESN position that fits you the most? or even applying to different positions at the same time?
Well then congrats, because you have just acquired another skill you vitally need in the future. Experiencing such situations before being in any workplace is a great thing as you have learnt more about yourself through this process. You have learnt more about what appeals to you the most, what fits your skills and what you want in your future career.
ESN Makes You Multicultural
Sitting in a coffee shop and hearing multiple languages at the same time is something all ESNers have experienced. In these days, multinational or multicultural workplaces are increasing on a fast phase and most ESNers are already used to such environments. Sufficed to say ESNers are 100% applicable to such workplaces and they will not struggle to adapt.
ESN Prepares You For Job Interviews
The longer you have been an ESNer the more interviews you probably had and prepared for. ESNers apply to different positions as they go up their volunteer career ladder, they fill up application forms, motivation letters and most important of all they have several interviews. This experience is great because eventually you will master this and you will be ready for any future job interview.
The main lesson here is, being an ESNer give you great advantages over other student not because you are arrogant but because you have skills and experiences which are learnt by hard work and motivation.
Written by Malik Fahaid