Exchange Fast Track
Welcome to Fast Track 3: Exchange, the AIESEC UK people development award for your work abroad experience!
The award is designed to help, reward and recognise Exchange Participants to get the most out of their Exchange Experience.
As an Exchange Participant and member of AIESEC you will have countless opportunities to pick up and practise a vast array of skills; from team working and time management to sales skills and client management.
By the end of your AIESEC exchange experience you will have abilities and experiences that will far exceed those of your peers and will help you no matter what you decide to do in the future.
This booklet will be a framework to track this effort and development so that you fully appreciate how you are benefiting from your AIESEC experience. You can use Fast Track as proof of your skills to future employers; as an explanation of AIESEC to friends and family, or as your own reminder of your progression.
Whatever you want to do in the future, whether it is a CEO of a big company, or teaching underprivileged children in Africa, you will need to develop a number of skills and competencies. The book is designed to record the things you can achieve during your AIESEC exchange.
The booklet is arranged in a flexible, skills-orientated format to allow you to effectively record the skills you are developing. The Award is also about developing competencies. But, what does this mean?
Skills are technical in nature and relate directly to a role/job e.g. presentation skills. Competencies are non-technical. They are an attitude, behaviour, or personal characteristic that accompany any role, e.g. self-confidence. The two link together; if you are developing your presentation skills, your self confidence will in turn increase. However, competencies are not bound to any one skill; they can be used across all of them!
In order to complete Fast Track Three: Exchange, you must act accordingly:
- If your traineeship duration is less than 6 months, you must select a minimum of two skills to focus on during your Exchange stage;
- If your traineeship duration is between 6 and 12 months, you must select a minimum of three skills to focus on during your Exchange stage;
- And if your traineeship duration is greater than 12 months, you must select five skills to focus on during your Exchange stage.
The skills that you choose to focus on should be challenging enough to drive your development.
Why complete the award?
"I'm going on exchange through AIESEC; isn't that enough?" That's up to you! If you don’t want to do Fast Track Three: Exchange, nobody's going to force you.
But consider this: wouldn’t it be great to have a record of your development in the most challenging time of your life?
Wouldn’t it be great to frame your experience in a way that challenges you and helps you make sense of it all?
Fast Track can help you with all of these.
"There is nothing more critical in today's shrinking world than to provide young people with a global perspective AIESEC achieves this better than any programme I know. The ultimate winner is our global society"
John Allen, Spring Investment Corporation.
Good luck!
The AIESEC Experience