Employability Week

Name:
Lou Crane

Position:
Student Activities Assistant

Responsibilities:
Day to day organisation of the inVOLved volunteer scheme: inputting data, dealing with volunteer inductions, promoting the scheme, contacting external voluntary organisations, taking phone calls, conducting CRB workshops, making and keeping contact with volunteers via email and using the Union’s content management system. If help is needed with Student Activities I jump in and help with checking forms, answering the phone, dealing with queries from students and other organisations and organising events.

Skills learnt/used:
• Working as part of a team in an office based environment.
• Organising and maintaining data via different mediums such as Excel, Outlook and Access.
• Dealing with confidential data.
• Making, utilising and keeping external contacts.
• Good customer service practice.
• Marketing events and opportunities using a variety of different mediums.
• Different ways of dealing with different demographics of people i.e. students/colleagues/contacts.

Can you give an example of how a skill you’ve learnt at the Union will help when you go into full-time work?
I think that having spent two years working in a professional environment a potential employer will see this as a benefit as I have gained a level of understanding of how this environment works. I also feel that working for the Union makes you deal with such a wide demographic of people and tasks that you become more flexible, adaptable and well rounded. So when presented with scenarios in interviews or application forms you are able to draw from a multitude of examples which would provide suitable answers.

Name:
Kate McCracken

Position:
Sales Coordinator

Responsibilities:
Organising the Freshers’ Fair, meeting targets through selling advertising space to external companies, promoting and selling NUS Extra cards and looking after contracts held with external companies.

Skills learnt/used:
Being organised, time management, events and project management, mathematical skills, negotiation and communication skills, relationship management, management skills... lots and lots of other skills too!

Can you give an example of how a skill you’ve learnt at the Union will help when you go into full-time work?
Pretty much all of the skills which I've learnt will help me in full time employment, as I'm looking at going into the events management industry. The hands-on experience I've had with organising the Freshers’ Fair for the past three years has helped. Plus I’ve got a list of contacts from selling advertising space to other companies that I can refer back to should I wish to organise another event.

Name:
Jamie Robertson

Position:
President of Staffordshire University Students' Union

Responsibilities:
To lead the SU as an organisation along with the rest of the Officer Team and as Chair of Trustees. A focus on strategy, financial health and staffing as a Trustee; a focus on representing student issues to various levels of University staff, external groups/individuals and nationally as the "lead" of the organisation.

Skills learnt/used:
Team building, accountability (holding and being held), time management, vastly improved financial scrutiny skills, project management, conflict management, planning skills, research skills, democratic knowledge (and practical implementation of) and public speaking.

Can you give an example of how a skill you’ve learnt at the Union will help when you go into full-time work?
While studying my Drama degree, I discovered my people skills were a strength. In that kind of environment, you are often faced with a situation where you have to deal with big personalities who can have conflicting views or opinions, while maintaining a focus on what needs to be achieved. Moving into a team leader position in situations where a disagreement must be handled to come to the best conclusion for students (for example, at Student Council or when meeting the University), I believe this skill has developed and has become a real asset, allowing me to stay positive and not lose sight of the end goal of what my team are working towards.