Nijmegen Career Event

February 26th, 2021

Christin Adams

The Nijmegen Career Event (NCE) took place in mid-February. The event, which connects students and potential employers and is the largest of its kind in the whole province of Gelderland, was held entirely online. We spoke with some of the members of the NCE committee responsible for the organization of the event about their work, what it was like to organize the first ever online NCE and what it means to be a member of their committee.

For those who have never been to the NCE, it is a two-day long career event that includes workshops held by companies, wine and dines with small groups of students and recruiters and one-on-one conversations between students and potential employers, as well as other small activities. In addition, there is the business market, where students can walk up to company stands and chat to recruiters about potential internships, thesis positions and post-graduation opportunities. 

An online Nijmegen Career Event
Originally, the NCE was planned to happen in November at Sanadome, a hotel and conference halls in Nijmegen. When it became obvious that such a physical event would not be possible, the event was moved to February in the hopes that an in-person event could be held then. However, as it became apparent that this was not going to happen a decision was made in December, right before the Christmas break - everything would have to be online, giving the committee about two months to move the entire event. 

As the committee members told us, while there is a handbook handed down from previous committees that gives advice on how to organize the NCE, there was no information on how to move the event online. In addition, many companies that had signed up for the event insisted on using MS Teams as a medium, which most team members had no relevant experience with. So, as one team member put it, it was certainly a challenge to reinvent everything.

Nevertheless, the committee managed to transform all activities that are part of the NCE to be MS Teams viable. Students who had signed up for parts of the event would receive the invitation to MS Teams they needed to attend everything, and some team members were available for technical support when needed. However, due to the thorough advance planning, barely any support was needed.

And this was true not just from a technical point of view! Overall, the feedback received by the NCE committee was overwhelmingly positive. Students were satisfied with the organization of the event and how they were able to talk to many companies at a time. Companies, many of whom had originally been skeptical of holding the event online, ended up positively surprised as well – there were still frequent interactions and students were actively participating in all of the events.

Subcommittees
After talking about the technicalities of the event, we also asked the committee members what it was like to organize this major event. The committee usually consists of ten members from Synergy and the ESV study association, who are chosen based on an application and an interview with last years president and the Synergy board members. Once it is clear who will be part of the committee, the subcommittees are formed, and the roles get distributed. These are the different subcommittees/ roles of the NCE committee:

  • Chairman: Handles the overall communication and ensures that everyone is on track.
  • Treasurer: Handles the financial aspect of the NCE, and this year was also responsible for finding an opening speaker.
  • Internal relations subcommittee: Handles social media, the website and are responsible for the magazine that participants receive weeks before the event.
  • External relations subcommittee: Handles the contact with companies attending the NCE and write up the corresponding contracts.
  • Organization subcommittee: Handles the participant subscriptions, goodie bags and all organizational planning behind the scenes.
  • Technical aspects subcommittee: This newly implemented committee handles the set up of the online environment and made sure that everyone knew what to do. According to another committee member the guideline they provided on how to access everything on MS Teams was written so well, that even a “digibeet” would have been able to manage. They also instructed about 30 people that guided the event with technical support.

The entire committee was very diverse in terms of age and background, which made it all the more interesting to work in. Due to these different stages of university life everyone had different ideas that could be implemented.


Nijmegen Career Event Committee 2020

Working as a great team
In order to ensure the NCE would be a success, each of the members had to spend a lot of time on it. Officially, each member should plan to spend around five to six hours a week on planning the NCE. However, this is an average and the time spent in the weeks directly before the event is closer to ten hours a week for the subcomittee organization, making it the probably busiest Synergy committee. Other committee members were busier in the months before the event took place. So the exact time spent on the committee also depends on the position within the committee.

Due to all of this time organizing the NCE, the members ended up spending a lot of time together. While the inability to meet in person made building a connection with each other more difficult, the committee still grew close. When asked what makes working on the NCE special to them, the immediate reaction of one member was “A lot of fun”. The team spirit that developed within the committee was an important factor in ensuring that everyone was enjoying their time. If anyone ever had a hard time with their tasks, they could always reach out and someone else would help – the entire event was a large team effort!

During the NCE itself, the team members would usually walk around, ensuring that everything is in order. With the online event, some members had to man the technical help desk to ensure that everything continued to go smoothly, but there were some opportunities for team members to attend workshops or talk to companies themselves, giving them the chance to see their efforts play out first-hand. After the two days, and after spending so much energy on it, team members were really tired but also happy and satisfied with how everything turned out.

While the committee members are proud of themselves and each other for how the event turned out, they are finding it “hard to let go” of their event after investing so much time in it. In addition to the memories, there is a lot that they will be taking with them from the experience. As one member said, their improved skill sets will be useful both in their further studies and on the job market, making them a long-lasting advantage. These new/ improved skills include general organizational skills (especially for the chairman, who also gets some valuable experience in people management skills) and new skills for teamwork. Perseverance was asked while organizing the event, and they have learned a lot about that. In addition, subcommittee/ role relevant skills can also be improved by working in the committee. Participating in the committee can also be a good way to learn more about what working in a company will be like. The practical experience is a good preparation that can give you some ideas on what to do after eventually graduating university.

In conclusion
Finally, the NCE is a great way to meet new people and make friends! Had the lockdown not happened, the committee would also have loved to spend some more time together, and they are planning to meet up once that the restrictions are loosened. For now, an online environment will have to do.

Overall, the committee members that we talked to are very satisfied with how the NCE went. While they admit that there are always potential points of improvement and that they have some ideas to share with the next committee, the overall agreement is that the big picture matters: And with the positive feedback that they received, the consensus is that the NCE went well.