Bilguun, a senior at National University of Mongolia majoring in International Relations is one of the very first group of volunteers that the Volunteer Management Team recruited early in April. He volunteered in Transportation and Security Working Group for more than 3 months till the end of ASEM Summit on July 16.

As a transportation and logistics volunteer, Bilguun welcomed more than 3000 international delegates at the airport and escorted as many during the meetings throughout his volunteer assignments. As a college student majoring in International Relations, volunteering for the ASEM11 offered many benefits to him.

Bilguun speaking on stage, sharing his volunteer experience during the ASEM Volunteer Talks
Commenting on his volunteer assignment, Bilguun says “For the past 3 months, I think I have learned many practical aspects of International Relations in fact it is more than I studied in classroom, especially on diplomatic services and protocols”.

Bilguun emphasized the importance of volunteering for an organization that is related to one’s academic interests and career prospects. Nature of his volunteer assignment involved interacting with officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs which helped him to experience what it is like to work for a Ministry in general.

He remarks “Most people think that people who work in the Ministries, especially in Ministry of Foreign Affairs don’t do much work except writing emails and doing translations. However in reality, the work of an official of Ministries are very demanding. It requires great deal of coordination from the very beginning till the end”.

Volunteering for the ASEM11 brought many positive changes for him. His communication and decision making skills have improved significantly he states. As a leader of 10 other volunteers who also worked with him, Bilguun displayed his leadership in coordinating with his supervisor and delivering effective messages to his peers as well as in sharing his expectation and experience in volunteering for the ASEM11 at the ASEM Volunteer Talks session which took place on June 24 during the ASEM Volunteer Day.

Bilguun now looks forward to applying the skills he learned to his studies. “I think I will manage my time better from now on. There are many things I should do from internships to writing my thesis for my senior year. Working in such demanding assignments during the ASEM helped me to better prioritize my tasks to be honest” he remarks.

He will start his senior year at the National University of Mongolia this September and he hopes that his recent volunteer experience and skills he gained from it will play an important role in landing him his first job in the future.