JÁN SIVIČEK

1. Can you please introduce yourself (who are you, where are you from, what do you study)?

My name is Ján and I am from a small village next to a small town Lučenec in the south of central Slovakia. Currently I am studying a master degree in Stochastics and Financial Mathematics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. My bachelor degree is in Financial Mathematics from Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of Comenius University.

2. How long have you been a member of ESN and what were your roles before becoming active in the international world of ESN?

I am member of ESN for about 3 years, since December 2014. As almost everybody, I started as an active member of ESN Comenius University. During my Erasmus+ exchange semester in Finland in 2015 I was active member of the local section, ESN Uni Turku. During 2016 I was Local Representative of ESN Comenius University and I joined ESN Finance Committee in June 2016 as a member of Audit team.

3. What is your position within FICO and how long have you been doing it?

After I became National Representative I unfortunately had to resign from FICO because members of Audit team cannot be National Representatives. I spent in FICO exactly a year (June 2016 - June 2017) and my position during the whole year was a regular Audit team member.

4. Can you describe your main tasks and responsibilities?

There are several projects in FICO running at the same and members are divided into smaller groups of around 5 people to work on them. The biggest project, I was a part of, was a Local Treasury Pack. Local Treasury Pack was a set of financial tools and documents aimed to help Local Treasurers to keep track of section’s cash flow, plan budget, etc. During the year these smaller teams usually work on their projects and communicate online and during FICO meetings in Brussels they usually do audit of ESN.

5. Can you describe some other interesting tasks on which FICO is working on?

The structure of FICO has been changed (enlarged) recently but during my time in FICO the Committee consisted of 2 teams: Audit and Sponsorship. Sponsorship team was responsible for looking at partnerships of ESN and trying to find solutions to issues linked with them as well as help Partnership Managers around the network by providing a support.

6. What was your most valuable experience connected to being in FICO so far?

Since Audit was the area I wanted to discover more (to see if I like it and potentially want to work with it in the future) I am happy that I had a chance to experience real auditing in ESN. Moreover, I had a look into the finances of ESN International, a big multinational organisation, in more detail, which was an interesting experience.

7. What were the most challenging tasks that you had to deal with?

Time-management was definitely the biggest challenge for me. My university studies weren’t easy and required a lot of time. However, if you really like and want it, there is always a way how to make it work.

8. Have you attended any international events related to FICO? If so, which ones and what was the best about them?

I have attended FICO Winter Meeting in November 2016 where we worked in the new ESN office on a partial audit of ESN before the upcoming AGM (partial audit is finished during FICO Spring Meeting in February/March and report for AGM is prepared then). I got a chance to meet some very talented and friendly people as well as to visit THAT place every ESNer wants to see or live there - the ESN house. :)

9. What is your message for people who can’t decide whether to join FICO or not?

Join and you won’t regret it! If you are at least a bit interested in finance or partnership, join the committee, get some valuable knowledge and experience, meet inspirational people and become friends with them and last but not least - improve your professional CV by a valuable experience in finance as well as your ESN CV by being involved in the international level.