It’s that time of the year again, Mercurius is looking for the new board for the schoolyear 2021/2022. With the end of the pandemic finally in sight, it’s going to be an exciting year for Mercurius. 2 years of new students are incredibly excited to experience the real life Mercurius events that everyone has been craving. You can be the board that makes history! Does that sound like something that you want on your resume? Apply for a board position right now! In order to apply, you can send your motivation letter and resume to [email protected]. Don’t know what position to apply for? Check out an overview of all the positions here:
Chair:
The Chair of Mercurius is responsible for the board and is the first person of contact for the association for staff members of the department studies. The Chair coordinates the board and the association as a whole. The chair has the final responsibility for everything that happens within the association. It is important that the chair is well-informed about any matters that play an important role at the association level. As the face of the association, the Chair is expected to speak during official occasions such as the mandatory Introduction days for Bachelor’s and Master’s students. At least 4 times a year, the Chair leads the General Assemblies. During General Assemblies, the board gives to the members of Mercurius updates regarding their work throughout the year and is the perfect opportunity for general and active members to question the board, vote on proposals and even put forward such proposals for the board to work on. Other than Mercurius, the Chair is also a part of the Fv-FMG Student Association of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and is a part of the Alumni Circle for Communication Science Graduates at the UvA. The Chair is the coordinator of the International Committee which aims to organize activities for international students and overall help them adapt to life in Amsterdam. Keeping contact with the Brother associations is also a very important tasks, the Brother Associations being the 7 other Associations within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. Such contact proves fruitful on numerous occasions, associations’ board forming bonds and helping each other when needed as well as collaborating towards organizing events.
Tasks:
- Chairing and planning weekly board meetings
- Chairing General Assemblies
- Coordinating the International Committee
- Keeping in contact with the brother associations within the Fv-FMG
- Part of the Alumni Circle Board
Secretary:
As the Secretary, you form the daily board of Mercurius together with the Chair and the Treasurer. You have a very wide range of tasks including being responsible for all internal and external communication. Your main task is managing the various media channels, such as the website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Additionally, you are responsible for the Weekly, which is the weekly Mercurius newsletter. You are also responsible for all incoming and outgoing mail, the membership administration, as well as keeping track of registrations for events. Another important task of the secretary is to take minutes during meetings such as board meetings and General Assemblies. Moreover, as a secretary, you are the coordinator of the Promotion Committee. With the help of the various media channels, you and your committee will take care of the promotion of the association itself, for example by designing merchandise or posters. Besides that, you promote all of Mercurius’ activities. Therefore, you are constantly in contact with the other committee members to discuss Mercurius’ events. Experience with programs such as WordPress, Mailchimp, Photoshop, and Illustrator is an advantage, but not a requirement. As the secretary, you also stay in contact with the sister associations in regular meetings and talk about the annual National Day of Communication.
Tasks:
- Responsible for all communication
- Managing media channels
- Website management
- Coordinating Promotion Committee
- Contact with sister associations
Treasurer:
The treasurer is responsible for the finances of the association. The main goal of a treasurer is keeping Mercurius financially healthy. The treasurer takes care of the bank accounts and administration, as well as making budgets and results. You keep track of everything in the accounting system. The goal is to keep the accounting system up to date at all times. As Treasurer, you have a great responsibility within the association, since you are closely involved in the finances of every committee, as well as the association as a whole. You decide on every decision that needs to be made regarding money, and you work closely together with the committees to discuss everything related to finances. You don’t need to have any experiences in finances to hold this position. However, there are some important skills that will help a treasurer in doing a good job. Those include keeping a good overview at all times and working secure, accurately and carefully. Experience with accounting and finances is an advantage, but not a requirement. The treasurer also coordinates the sales committee. The main goal is to acquire money for the association. Companies are looking to promote their products and services. Examples of what we can offer companies include our vacancy bank on the Mercurius website, promotion through our social media channels, but also offline promotions like flyers. In this way, we try to offer relevant opportunities for our members, while also gaining money for the
association. Another responsibility is the book sales, which takes place at the beginning of each semester. For the book sale you will work together with all the other people who are responsible for the book sales of other FMG associations. You make sure that the book sale runs smoothly. The book sale is a great opportunity to get to know a lot of the members and is a crucial point of contact with first years.
Tasks:
- Managing the bank accounts
- Financial administration
- Making budgets & results
- Writing financial reports
- Managing invoices & declarations
- Coordinating sales committee & book sales
Social Commissioner:
The Social Commissioner of Mercurius is responsible for the well-being of the social life of the students within events of the association. In this function, I oversee different committees, which are the social committee, the trip committee and the Introduction committee. Moreover, I am in contact with the other associations of the faculty to organize events in collaboration altogether. First, the social committee (SoCo), which helps to organize all social events for members, such as parties and borrels. In addition, events such as the annual borrel of former board members and the special activity of active members are under the responsibility of SoCo. You are in touch with the venues for the events, you create a budget and apply your creative skills to offer various fun events. SoCo also works with other faculty associations to organize annual collaborative events such as the FMG Gala and Party. Then the Trip Committee. With this committee, you will be mainly in charge of organizing the annual weekend trip to another city in Europe. In addition, you organize the Batavierenrace, which is a sporting event. Finally, you organize day trips, such as going to an amusement park, or exploring another city in the country, etc. Finally, you coordinate the Introduction Committee, which will organize the first events of the following academic year, to welcome first-year students and make them feel at home. Your main event is the introduction weekend, alongside the activities of the Intreeweek, the first borrel and the market of the committee. If you are social, enthusiastic, and with a high desire of creating fun memories with fellow students, this position is made for you!
Tasks:
- Organize social-related events for all the members
- Organize events for the active members and past board members
- Coordinate the Social Committee
- Coordinate the Trip Committee
- Coordinate the Introduction Committee
- Have a lot of fun
Study Commissioner
As the Study Commissioner, you are mainly in charge of improving student’s overall study experience by providing them with additional support with the programme. This implies coordinating the study committee, which consists of organising study related events and workshops. Such events are for example the so called “Panic Sessions”, which are the exam preparation sessions for first years to help them pass their exams. Other types of events can be more culture-oriented, such as organising museum visits, since it is also important for students to have a culturally enriching experience during their studies. With the study committee, you will also organise other events such as the parent meeting, which is a lecture held at the beginning of the academic year with the goal of providing parents with important information about the Communication Science programme. You also form part of the programme committee, where you discuss current issues within the programme with students, lecturers and coordinators in order to improve the Communication Science programme overall. Furthermore, you will also get the chance to organise the Annual Study Congress, which is a yearly company event with a special focus on a specific communication science field. This is also a great opportunity to get in contact with working professionals strategically in order to have several guests representing different companies at the event. Last but not least, you are also in charge of coordinating the travel committee, which implies organising a travel towards the end of the academic year. This travel is organised because discovering different cities and travelling with others is a very enriching experience. Past trips have been organised all around the world which have included cultural activities and company visits, with the goal of maximising the student travel experience.
Tasks:
- Coordinate the Study Committee & Travel Committee
- Organise study-related events
- Part of Programme Committee
- Organise the Study Congress
External Affairs Commissioner:
As External Affairs Commissioner, you are responsible for maintaining contact with organizations outside of Mercurius and the UvA. These attributions are divided into three main functions: obtaining acquisition with the Sales Committee, organizing career-related events with the Career Committee and organizing Mercurius’ annual career congress, Communication360. During the 2020/2021 academic year, the External Affairs Commissioner also coordinates Medium Magazine as part of its editorial board. Firstly, you will coordinate and chair the Career Committee. Alongside its members, you are responsible for organizing career-related events that give students insight into practical applications of their study. This implies developing a contacting strategy, email and telephone scripts, as well as holding meetings with company representatives. Examples of possible events include company visits, workshops, and lectures. You will also be responsible for organizing our association’s largest annual conference, Communication360. As the External Affairs Commissioner, you will also coordinate and chair the Communication360 committee. The event typically involves 4 to 6 workshops given by companies working within the 4 main fields of communication. Secondly, you will also coordinate and chair the Sales Committee. Alongside its members, you are responsible for obtaining money for the association through brokering deals with various companies whose work can benefit and interest students. This implies developing a sales strategy, email and telephone scripts, negotiating as well as holding meetings with company representatives. Examples of deals can include obtaining sponsorships, discounts and promoting vacancies. Finally, the External Affairs Commissioner also coordinated Medium Magazine as part of its editorial board. You represent the liaison between Mercurius and its largest committee, frequently meeting with the editorial board and keeping track of Medium’s activity. Coordinating Medium Magazine is not one of the usual tasks of the External Affairs Commissioner and may be assigned to a different board member for the 2021/2022 board.
Tasks:
- Maintain contact and relationships with third party-organizations
- Coordinate Career Committee
- Coordinate Sales Committee
- Coordinate Communication360 Committee
- Coordinate Medium Magazine*