Student association life: how do recruitments work nowadays?

Do you remember your first days at the School? The associations’ jacket parades, the recruitment campaigns, evening events, interviews, and all the rest? September is a rather unusual period, one that is specific to the EDHEC spirit: the association recruitments. For one month, new arrivals to EDHEC are swept up in the maelstrom of association life. On the agenda: after-work sessions, unforgettable evenings, conferences, etc. 

The EDHEC family is expanding

Since 1954 and the creation of the Student Bureau (BDE), EDHEC has seen many student associations come and go, much to the chagrin of their founders. Today, the School’s Master’s programmes include 56 associations divided into several categories: sports, arts, culture, consulting, humanitarian, education, media & audiovisual, public speaking, fashion, entrepreneurship, etc. And these don’t even include the many associations in the Bachelor’s programmes. Did you leave EDHEC more than 5 years ago? Here are 5 new associations you probably haven’t heard of: 

• EDHEC Inspiring Women (2018) which aims to develop and promote all initiatives designed to encourage female students at EDHEC to target careers of excellence.  
• Vox Borealis (2018) organises several public speaking competitions and helps secondary school students from Roubaix to develop their oratorical skills to optimise their success in the Baccalaureate. 
• Sunset (2019) shares knowledge of the Maghreb region on campus and promotes the School’s image and that of its graduates in the region.
• Rise (2020) aims to raise awareness among students of the LGBT cause, combat homophobia and other forms of discrimination, run preventive health campaigns and promote gay culture.
• Namaste EDHEC (2021) aims to promote the Indian culture on campus through traditional celebrations.

Each association has its own “spirit”, values and projects. The aim is to find the right balance between the association’s projects and student life. Do you remember the evenings you spent with your peers? Rest assured, they’re not a thing of the past.

Choosing an association wisely: a thorny dilemma

At the beginning of each year, Total EDHEC Entreprendre is responsible for organising a major Inter-Association Competition to help new arrivals get their bearings! 

How does it work?

Each association chooses 2 members to represent it and make a pitch to future recruits. Audiences then vote for the best pitch and the winning associations receive a cheque for €500. This year, Le Perno, Objectif Réussite and Etna were awarded prizes at the competition’s 10^th edition. 

Following the brief presentation in a lecture hall, potential recruits have the chance to meet with the associations. This involves flags, a giant marquee provided by the Course Croisière EDHEC, goodies and, above all, a photo chart with short bios. This short 10-page pamphlet gives first years (more often known as 1As) the chance to discover association members and learn about their projects. In the vast "Salle des Pas-Perdus", at the heart of the new campus, a peculiar spectacle unfolds: dozens of stands with numerous goodies, flags and jackets. Second years (also known as 2As) go on the prowl to recruit future generations and encourage them to sign up for recruitment interviews. 

All EDHEC associations, from the Student Bureau to Rise and from BDS to Talons Aiguilles, follow the same process involving two rounds of interviews. The first round is about learning more about the person, while the second is a way to understand them in more detail and determine their suitability for a particular position. 

But how to attract potential recruits? 

It’s quite simple: all that is needed is to make them want to join the association and demonstrate what our spirit is all about. The Welcome Weeks are a way for the associations to run after-work sessions to meet with first years and chat to them. Together with the Student Bureau, some associations also organise evenings in nightclubs. There are 3 of these: BDExRISE gets the ball rolling with a colourful event, followed by BDExECDC with an evening of hip-hop, and lastly BDExJE, which gives participants the chance to learn more about the EDHEC spirit over the course of an unforgettable evening in an unknown location. 

After a momentous month of September, first years finally join their association(s) and this tumultuous period ends with the membership ceremony.

Why did they choose their association?

With 56 associations, it’s sometimes difficult to choose. We caught up with 2 current Master’s students to find out how they chose their associations. 

Lauris, who opted to double up with BDE-ECDC, tells us that the choice was hard at first. “When I arrived at EDHEC, I didn’t necessarily have any ideas about the School’s association projects. I had just got a brief overview from the admissions staff and my own research ahead of the orals”, he says. But thanks to the Welcome Weeks and various events organised by the different associations, he was able to take part in more informal discussions. “It was through those discussions that I met members of the Student Bureau and ECDC, and I very quickly gelled with their personalities as well as the projects and values of their associations. The Student Bureau had a strong dimension of regaling others, which is part of my personality, while the ECDC has an urban culture which is one of my great passions. As the recruitment process unfolded, I increasingly felt at ease with these two atmospheres which, although different, had something in common since in each one I got the impression I was joining a family”. It is possible for some associations to offer students the chance to join several different ones. Remember when you were at EDHEC, some of your friends were part of two associations and were very good at juggling them both. Lauris made that same choice: “I don’t regret my choice because it allows me to take part and make the most of the student association life at EDHEC and also to express different facets of my personality”. 

Xavier chose EDHEC Junior Etudes (EJE), which he says “perfectly symbolises what an association at EDHEC should represent for students: an over-arching career project, unrivalled cohesion between members, an introduction to student life that will allow you to develop your personal network, and memories that will last a lifetime”. But these are not the only reasons he opted for EJE. He also referred to the professional experience that the association will allow him add to his CV. In particular, it marks an excellent first step towards the working world (valuable CV, EJEx network) and “expands all of our boundaries with the implementation of large scale projects (OxyJEne) and studies that we would otherwise have thought unattainable (e.g. Heineken)”.