Three Way Swap
Often the trading can become confused. Last year for instance 85 Germans wanted to work in the United States while only 22 Americans wanted jobs in Germany. To solve the problem a "triangular trade" was made with Yugoslavia in which Americans went to Yugoslavia, Yugoslavs to Germany and Germans to America. In some instances five-way and six-way trades have been negotiated.
The United States national committee for AIESEC encountered several problems at the Princeton Congress. Because of the American educational system, most U.S. undergraduates who become trainees, are less well prepared than their European counterparts. Few have the proper language training, and many have yet to specialize in one particular field of economics or business. Several students consequently failed to satisfy the qualifications of European firms.
The major difficulty of AIESEC in the United States, however, is jobs for Europeans in American firms. While France and Germany arrange nearly 1500 jobs between them last year, the United States was able to set up only 275. American firms have traditionally been reluctant to hire foreign trainees for the summer. The firms hesitate because they do not know the capabilities of the students and fear their knowledge of English will be inadequate.
The attitude of European industry to an exchange program is more receptive. European firms have always been very free in doling out traineeships. If they can not lure their particular trainee into future work with the company, they assume they can hire someone who has been trained elsewhere.
In the United States, however, businessmen seek assurance that they can hire the trainee for later work. AIESEC's greatest success has been among American firms with international branches; these companies hope in most cases to hire the student for future work in overseas branches.
In strictly domestic firms, other approaches must be tried. Many jobs are arranged through personal contacts. In other cases, emphasis must be placed on the intangibles of cultural exchange, promoting good will and cultivating foreign business. To a profit-conscious American businessmen the intangible is usually a very weak argument.
U.S. Receptions Poor
Another failure of the American local committees has been in receiving foreign trainees. Almost all of the European national and local committees have extensive activities and programs planned for their visiting trainees. The German National Committee provides a week-long trip to Berlin at minimal cost. In France, trainees are given a 14-day seminar to prepare them for their jobs.
In the United States, on the other hand, relatively few reception activities are planned. Most of the reception work is done during the summer, when few undergraduates remain at their colleges.
Many of the problems of AIESECUS stem from financial difficulties. While the German National Committee is almost completely subsidized by the German government, the American committee receives very little help from either the government or foundations. The National Committee is unable to publish an annual report, and solicitors sorely miss a compilation of past traineeships offered in American firms.
The American committee has also been unable to duplicate the extensive variety of economic seminars which European countries hold toward the end of the summer. Created solely for AIESEC trainees, the seminars last for about ten days, and have featured such luminaries as Ludwig Erhard, the German Economics minister. They usually treat such problems as European economic integration and the problems of rapid industrialization.
Enthusiastic AIESEC organizations in both European and non-European countries have made AIESEC a very profitable experience for Harvard students in the past few years. It seems unfortunate that American industry's reluctance to accept foreign trainees has limited the number of Americans who may participate.