The Business World & Being active
In addition to extracurricular activities being fun, they are also very useful later in life. By participating in extracurricular activities you will gain experience that will come in handy throughout your career. Dutch and International companies are certainly aware of this. Conversations with companies and former students confirm that during job interviews companies often pay attention to a student’s extracurricular activities.
To prevent you from finding this out at your first job interview, the Student Union has requested companies to emphasize the fact that they prefer active students.
See a list of companies that value students with extracurricular experiences:
Gerrit Grotenhuis - Chairman Rabobank Enschede-Haaksbergen:
'You are about to start a new phase in your life. Studentlife! Is it all about study or is it more besides learning from a text book? I think it’s very important to participate in activities. It contributes to your personal development. Besides that, you’ re also building a very large network , which can be usefull in your future career.
My advice: Don’t just study but combine your study whith other activities, you’ll will benefit from it the rest of your life.'
Joop Munsterman - Chairman supervisory board FC Twente:
Cause of the increase of the pressure of studying, as student you don’t have time left for a trip abroad, work on a temporary assignment , join a commission or a board. Though it’s very important to be active in the society complementary to your study. The experiences you pick up in a company a social organization or otherwise , are very useful in your future career. It will give you confidence and you can develop yourself on a social level. Moreover activities you practise beside your study weigh heavy in the judgement of aplicants. It tells something about working in a team, how to deal with people and other skills. All these aspects are very interesting for a potential employer.
Besides, it can be very important to learn the ‘ mentality’ of a company in order to see what it takes to work in such an organization. As student you need to take your chances and invest in your personal development. The industry recognizes and appreciates your effort.
Would you like to know where you can become active?
An overview of the various associations can be found here.