Planet AIESEC calling!
After a beak of hardly 3 month,
AIESEC is sneaking back to my life: in last 2 weeks I got 3 invitations to chair a conference!
Unfortunately, I had to turn down 2 offers due to not enough days off until the end of this year…
But, I will facilitate at LC Bratislava’s Local Training Conference this weekend – after 3 years.
And, I was invited to speak about my international leadership experience in an info meeting last Tuesday.
Cool, huh?
... simpsonised me :)
well, i went to see the Simpsons movie quite some time ago
... and then found a
place to make me (and Sami, hihi) a part of that game
hmm, it's not exactly me, but ok
Sami is much more alike
anyways, today i spoke to the person, who was designing that site - a good friend of my boss...
the world is small!
Job-hunting - the best self-reflection tool
If there is a period when I learned most about myself, it certainly was last couple of months starting from a cool feedback session with Mairi and Majken in a café in Milano city center ending now as I am getting into my current job.
The whole job-hunting period, applications I wrote, interviews and assessment centers I went through, helped me incredibly to define things that are important for me in my work life:
- Environment encouraging pro-activity and initiative
- Clear leadership with a concrete vision where I can relate to and through which I understand my contribution
- Open communication and ongoing feedback in all directions (not only downwards but also upwards)
- Holistic projects rather than individual unrelated tasks
- Possibility to switch between various tasks to be able to keep focused
I learned that I need a balance between open-minded communicative people and meaningful tasks with a clear responsibility and outcome.
When student ideas hit the reality…
This is already in my head for quite a long time I clearly remember a couple of passionate debates over recent years discussing the famous “JD vs. big name” dilemma.
As an idealist and obviously influenced by AIESEC, I was always saying that I’d prefer an interesting job description in a smaller company with a vision to fulfilling meaningless tasks at a global player’s office. Learning comes before a line in my CV. It’s quite easy to make such a statement when talking about a clearly hypothetical situation.
… and then it comes, real life kicking in.
I started job-hunting quite some time ago, just when I finished my studies. I was looking around for interesting opportunities, focusing on promising JDs – exactly in line with my previous statements. Just for fun and for the possibility to go through a high-quality Assessment Center, I applied with a “big name” as well.
I really enjoyed the Assessment Centre, especially the other participants – current competitors and potential colleagues. What a funny feeling to be suddenly on the other side of the table – being tested, observed, evaluated… Spending a lot of time directly in the national headquarters while getting through the interview rounds, interacting with the employees and having the opportunity to ask as many questions as I wanted also during direct interviews made me somehow hooked up… Learning more and more about the “big name” company created a certain comfort with the environment. Suddenly, I felt confused: Why are they actually the “bad” ones?
More and more doubts coming to my head: how can one line in my CV further influence my life? If I know we won’t stay living in Bratislava, what would increase my chances to get an interesting job in another country in the future? Would a “big name” provide me with a better starting position compared to working for an unknown company? Especially in the context of a recent survey where people start a successful career… Well, then my decision to reject an offer of one of the top 5 career boosters doesn’t look like the best choice of my life.
Despite that, I trust my gut feeling and I am extremely happy in my new job. Since a bit more than 2 months, I work for a start-up company with a clear vision and defined values, creating a concrete benefit for the society I live in. This benefit is rather in the economic area, it has nothing to do with social issues through which I tend to define the “contribution to the society”. Time to re-define my measures, I guess…
I learn every day from my inspiring colleagues. We work together as a team. And we do have fun together. We create dynamic environment, full of creativity and new challenges. Man, this sounds either like a slogan or a dream coming true! I never believed that I could experience something like this outside AIESEC.
I already got my very own project – a baby I will be responsible for from the beginning until the end. Lucky me!
The transition from a student to a junior consultant seems to be smooth :)
judging by appearence
early evening shopping in a local food store, queueing in a line to get
strangely enough, behind the same desk, you can get all sorts of cheese, bread spreads, meat & ham as well as bottles of spirits
in front of me, in the line, a man dressed up like a construction worker, dirty, coming directly from a nearby construction site
the shop assistant asking him immediately which spirit he wants assuming that he is one of the "alcoholics" of such an occupation
his real shopping - a veggie burger and a bit of tofu bread spread, later on dark bread and a bottle of milk
why do we judge people by appearance and our prejudices?why don't we wait and let people around us express themselves BEFORE we make conclusions?we are a weird species, influenced by the appearance...
how can i avoid judging?
more openness and listening before jumping into conclusionsa useful lesson of tonight's unexpected shopping
looking for a job
doing my first steps as a fresh graduate was in a way quite challenging. My mind was full of questions.
Where do i see myself in a few years from now? What is important for me in my job? What do i want to learn? Where and from whom? What do i expect of myself and the others? And finally,
where do i apply?I remembered all the vision building excercises, hours spent on setting the direction of my life. Somehow, pretty useless for a concrete step but very useful to figure out a couple of basics.
I want a meaningful job. It also needs to have an essence of altruism, so that i know that i am contributing to something bigger, something that makes lives of people better, more enjoyable.We've spent a great afternoon in Milano with my two girls - Majken and Mairi - suggesting each other occupations and activities we can imagine the other two doing. Getting a list of skills the people you've worked with see in you was a priceless help for my first steps. Thank you, my dears :) I am thinking of you! I wonder how our chat influenced/will influence your choices...
graduated...
It's been ages since i posted last time. Somehow, i didn't feel like writing recently. Too many things were happening, no time to stop and reflect, catch ideas... but moving on fast.
So, I successfully finished my thesis and defended it. Increasing efficiency towards the end meant, that about one third of my thesis was actually born on the last night before deadline. Not necessarily because I wanted, but because there was so much to write about. I really enjoyed my about the future of EU and the suitable concept of its enlargement. It seemed to me like a nice closing of my studies. I wonder if i ever use it somewhere or in some context. Who knows...
Final exams were a bit of disappointment. I expected a bit more from my university in terms of approach of professors and students as well as a higher level of demand. With a bit of presentation skills and structured thoughts, there was not much of a challenge.
After all, i am a graduated "Ingeneer of International Relations" :)
i am curious what this is going to mean in practice. So far, it only meant a change of my name in all official documents: Ing. Zuzana Leiser Rosova. Sounds like a different person to me, ay!
BUT, the graduation party was great! Wonderful atmosphere, great people, little family gathering and an opportunity for Sami's parents to finaly pay us a visit. Oh, I forgot the tasty food in the restaurant we went to. A perfect start into a new chapter of my life.
one day of our life in Petrzalka
our household in April is very writing driven. Both of us are supposed to produce a lot of pages with more than decent content.
Sami's working on his market research report and I am into typing my thesis.
Despite summer-like weather outside when even
Petrzalka shows its beauty, we are sitting inside.
writing writing writing
creating
deleting
rephrasing
saving
focusing on our laptops more than on each other
luckily, tonight, we are going jogging
without computers that are stealing us from each other
i love those common moments of our days: moving, chatting, joking, being silly and especially enjoying our life
togethersimply, another typical day of our common life:)
shrek 3 is coming
ladies and gentlemen,
mark
May 18th in your calendars because the new
Shrek is coming!
more info as well as previews and trailers
hereaaaah, can't wait!
i wonder when it actually comes to Slovakia....
litánie frustrovaného študenta
writing writing writingmy quest to discuss the possible future of EU enlargement took me through history of about 3000 years, different faces and policies of the EU starting from social policy ending with establishing the military units of rapid reaction, different law papers and original texts of the most important EU treaties, discussions of the EU identity and what it possibly comprises of...
writing writing writingand i am still not done!
reading various articles, books, essays...
daily average of 5 (hopefully high quality) pages including research and formulation of scientificly sounding sentences
i can't focus for more than 10 hours a day
writing writing writingstructuring my thoughts, preparing arguments and searching evidence for it
came across interesting websites, such as
this one, knowing the
portal of the EU sturcture by heart and still finding it difficult to orientate myself there...
found an
online information portal with concentrated EU related and quite interesting stuff, good background for quick orientation in the EU things
writing writing writing... and still not done
everything else had to be cancelled from my agenda, including my visit to Switzerland to be part of
this spectacular event and meet all the friends I haven't seen in ages...
writing writing writingand going to sleep now
my dear thesis,
see you tomorrow morning
we will spend another memorable day together:)
at least I loooooooove your topic
EU eurocentrism
currently working on my thesis, i came across quite a few interesting readings. One of them being a book called
Europe's Next Frontiers from
Olli Rehn, the current Commissioner for Enlargement. Quite an interesting piece, if you are into EU issues, especially about its current challenges. Besides other information, it reveals that the author is a huge football fan :) But that's not what I got most concerned about - I am used to that as for example Sami is at the moment sitting in front of the TV screen and watching Bayern vs. Milano.
Anyways, back to business.
There is one big idea re-appearing all the time: European Union is based on common values, such as
democracy,
human rights,
rule of law.
That's fine with me. Values I feel comfortable with, no problem.These, together with functional market economy as well as institutional capacity to take up all the obligations and benefits EU membership brings are known as
Copenhagen criteria. Each country with European ambitions is measured against them to be allowed to join the club.
Logical. EU needs some kind of objective criteria. And everyone needs to live up to them.And then it comes: EU is very proud that through perspective of being accepted to "Europe" it managed to push reforms in CEE countries and now it is working on Western Balkans. It showcases how much have the countries changed to become as the EU wants them to be -
Westernised. All the adjustments they've made to be "
European" and "
according to the EU standards".
This raises two big concerns in my eyes:
is it correct/ethical trying to Westernise everyone?Well, the countries underwent the expected reforms out of their free will. They chose to be part of the EU, they chose the "European way". Fair enough.
But I wonder...
... why is Europe so "eurocentrist"?The whole world has already been through a similar period. During the colonisation of the world, when European powers were building their empires imposing their values and norms on everybody. Being white meant to be considered more worthier than the others. Also the way how the society was supposed to be organised needed to be according to European standards.
Result - many civilisations lost, some loosing their order and not being able to adapt to new conditions (e.g. native Americans or Aborigines); culture, customs and traditional knowledge lost because it was not modern enough hence not good enough; so much diversity lost in order to comply to the rules and standards...
Who gave the European Union the right to say what is good and bad? Is it aware of the consequences of its actions? Can we learn from the past?
... what else could Europe be doing?Certain common basis is crucial if the European Union wants to continue functioning. Setting the respect for commonly defined values and the ability to live up to them is definitely a big step that should ensure higher homogeneity of the Union and less controversy in taking decisions. Everybody would have the same bottom line, knew what is being expected of him/her. But still, why do the EU members feel the urge to create their own clones? Is it good to be all the same?
On the other hand, the EU can't be redefining itself with every newcomer joining. It would be too unstable and it would threaten continuity as well as integrity of the EU. It wouldn't be a trustworthy partner any more, as other states/entities wouldn't want to rely on the EU because one doesn't know exactly when the new info/circumstances come out.
... what is the EU finally going to do?honestly, I don't know. Finding the right balance between harmonisation and individuality is not an easy question. For sure, the EU needs to become more flexible and learn how to master this process. Some of the member countries already do have experience with running a multi-cultural and multi-religious community. Let's see this time.
Secondly,
are countries joining for the right reasons?The EU expects them to join because they have the same values as the EU defined to itself in 1993. They are being tested on them and they do pass.
But, is this the real reason why they've decided to undergo all the whole procedure of applying for membership and the whole negotiation process? Are they really interested in joining the club of alike to share the values and the worldview?
Or are the reasons more "prosaic", such as hoping to reach the same level of prosperity, living standards and opportunities?
And what happens when the values are imposed on them? Will we respect and live up to them on long-term or did we just do our best to get in and then we come back to our "true" nature?
... I would like to know.
I don't want to be Westernised so much. Western values bring a lot of individualism into my society. It is not so natural over here. Belonging to your family, having certain expectations on you is strongly valued over here. It is a tax for having the security and home in your family. Western life style that comes with the Western values erodes the traditional society. It creates chaos and mismatch in expectations between generations if not managed carefully.To be fair, it brings a lot of advantages to everyone's life - the quality of life has undoubtedly risen, more opportunities are available, etc.I want to respect the EU for what it is but I also want the EU to respect me and my values that were shaped in partially different context. None of us has in my opinion the "patent for truth", both sides have something to learn and gain.Maybe that's why the EU suffers from the "democratic deficit" and lack of "feeling European" among its population. It is supposed to be an organisation for everyone, with the values that everyone respects. Based on consensus and unanimous decisions. Did it end up being nobody's?The future will show. How will we act?
hmm, it's not exactly me, but ok
The transition from a student to a junior consultant seems to be smooth :)
writing writing writing
writing writing writing
