Hello again dear AEGEEans! We had the pleasure of interviewing another candidate that will be at the Agora in Novi Sad. It’s Job Velthuis and the position he applied for is the Audit Commission.
Hello, can you introduce yourself to the AEGEE-network? When did you join AEGEE and what were your best experiences with AEGEE so far?
I am Job Velthuis. I have been a member of AEGEE-Enschede since August of 2018, where I joined during our introduction period of our university. In my first year I joined one of the smaller committees and have been active in bigger ones ever since. For the last academic year I was a board member of our local, where I was the Treasurer, European Affairs, and Delegate. I have a decent amount of experience at our European level. In my first year I was a visitor during Spring Agora Bucuresti 2019 and went to the Summer University of AEGEE-Firenze. During Corona times I joined some online activities and was lucky to join a sailing trip organised by some friends from AEGEE-Zagreb. I would say the sailing trip and my first SU have been my best experiences so far. The pure AEGEE experience of getting to know people I have never met and go on holiday with them is something you can only do here.
What are in your opinion the best and worst parts of the position you are candidating for?
For me, the best part is the pure auditing of the bookkeeping. I really like looking through this kind of documentation and I find entries of interest. The systematic and structured way of checking is something I am good at and just enjoy doing. Besides that, I am eager to learn more about auditing bookkeeping with more project-based grants and how they are documented.
I think the lesser side of the position is that the connection with the network has reduced. But I have been raised not to just complain about something but to also act against it. This is the reason why I have some actions to improve this in my program as I really think communication between locals and audit can help in some financial situations for the local.
Do you have any plans for AEGEE? Which aspects of our organisation could be improved and which aspects are working quite well at the moment?
Well, I do not have any big plans for AEGEE outside of my own program for the Audit Commission. I would like to see more people applying for the other positions, but that is a big problem that I would not solve on my own. If we as the whole network work together here then I think we can improve this.
On the other hand, I would say that our projects are currently our strong point. Of what I know of projects like Where Does Europe End, Europe on Track, and Summer University is that they currently run well and attract attention from people outside AEGEE.
Is there something you want to tell us? Now it’s your time to do so.
I want to thank AEGEE-Novi Sad for organising this Agora. Doing this after 2 years of online Agorae makes this a very special event in my opinion. I hope everyone will have an amazing time.