It’s been an atypical year for all of us. COVID-19 forced us to distance ourselves from everyone and everything we were used to. If there’s anything that we’ve all shared during this time is the constant feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty. So, we had no option but to adapt.
Some might be afraid of it, but throughout this journey we discovered many benefits that came from change: different ways of socialization have been normalized and new work methods have been popularized. In fact, companies like Facebook, Twitter and Slack plan to make remote work the new normal.
In this article, we try to understand how being a part of the largest youth-led organization in the world may have affected these AIESECers’ experience during the pandemic. Here are their answers:
Tringa Demiri – B2C team member in LC Graz
“I joined AIESEC very blindly and at first it was hard to meet everyone and feel fully integrated. Little did I know I couldn’t have joined at a better time. Our team meetings were the perfect opportunity to share our feelings about everything that was happening in the world and it’s as if the people I work with gave me a blueprint to bettering myself. The biggest lesson I learned during the pandemic was to be grateful for everything I have and try to see the positive side of things as much as I can.”
Marinela Dimitrova – B2C team member in LC Vienna UV
“AIESEC allowed me to develop my communication skills, both in english and german, with none of them being my first language. Besides that, it was great to be able to connect with my team regularly, we’ve become friends and very supportive of each other. During this time I’ve also learned my level of productivity depends only on myself and my work in the organization has motivated me to procrastinate less.”
Hanna Gsell – Social Media Team Leader in National Support Team
“Personally, as someone who enjoys travelling a lot, I learned to appreciate my family and my surroundings a lot more. Even though working from home allowed me to have a more flexible schedule, after a while I really missed human interaction. Therefore, the social dimension of AIESEC was an important part of my life during quarantine, the organization’s atmosphere is very supportive and it was good to be able to get close to people, even though it was harder to communicate.”
If these stories have something in common, is how helpful the social aspect of AIESEC has been during isolation. In a time when no one knows what the future holds, working with like-minded people towards a similar goal has given our members a sense of security.
You can be part of this community too!! AIESEC is currently recruiting. If you’d like to develop yourself within a supportive circle, you can join here.
