Student Elections - Why should you take part?
Saturday 25-04-2020 - 17:12
Why should you take part in student elections?
When you get involved in Clubs, Societies and the student’s union it gives you valuable experience that you can put onto your CV to boost your job prospects. The same goes for standing for election, the skills you will learn just by standing for election never mind if you are successful are endless. Find out how standing for election can help you below.
Being involved with enrichment activities at college can impact your career opportunities when you finish your course at The College. Employers are looking for your grades, but they also want more, they want to know that you get involved with other activities whilst you are studying. BPCSU offer a range of extra-curricular enrichment that you can get involved with to enhance your CV and job prospects.
At BPCSU we offer a range of positions to suit your interests. We have a role to suit everybody. Some of these roles require must more involvement than others but a member of BPCSU can help you to decide the role for you. Where the BPCSU President position has much more responsibility than the Vice – President Roles or the Officer Roles each role offers something different in terms of time commitment, skills you will learn and activities you will participate in over the year.
No matter what position that attracts you to nominate yourself for, volunteering for BPCSU has many positives. Here are a few things you should consider before running for election.
The Advantages
Firstly, elected officers have the ability to drive change at The College. By leading campaigns, organising events or through the meetings you attend, you can steer the direction of The College and make positive changes that students want to see implemented. This will give you great satisfaction knowing that you did something that was good for others at The College however it will also teach or develop skills that you might not know you have. It will also allow you to empathise with your fellow students and what they want and need changed to make their Student Life better.
Roles like BPCSU President and other members of the Senior Executive Committee attend high profile meetings with the principal, the board of governors or other senior members of staff at The College. You really get an understanding of what The College does and how it works from the inside which is also a great thing to put onto your CV and be able to explain to employers how your role fitted into the structure.
When you take an active role within BPCSU you will meet and interact with a wide range of students from different backgrounds, which could result in you creating new friendships. You will meet people from different courses and different countries. As an Officer you will work with a diverse range of people, including teachers, senior college staff, college staff, other students and also people from the community. This experience enables you to develop your interpersonal and communication skills with different groups of people.
The biggest advantage of getting involved in BPCSU is hands down the impact you will have on your employability prospects. Tasks such as budgeting, running meetings and developing action plans allow you to develop skills that future employers will find attractive. You will also develop qualities such as drive, leadership, influencing, multitasking, organising and negotiating. Having to make decisions that some people don’t like will also increase your resilience.
Becoming part of The Student Executive Committee will provide you with the most varied volunteering opportunity, one minute you will be campaigning with students, sat in front of the principal recommending changes to systems at The College. You will learn to negotiate and influence decisions and most of all you will have fun doing it.
The advantages are endless however it’s like everything we do. The more you put into your role the more you will get back out of it.
The Disadvantages
Like everything there are also some drawbacks. The main one being that the more you are involved within the role you choose the more time it takes. For the more demanding roles there will be more time commitment and for the less demanding roles the time commitment will be significantly less however BPCSU will never let your role duties interfere with your academic studies, at the end of the day you are attending college to further your education we recognise this and we will do everything we can to help you along the way.
As an Officer you are in the eye of The College. This means that you will be noticed around by students and staff. Your name will be known and you will be expected to have exemplary attendance as well as behaviour when at The College. This can make officer feel exposed and sometimes this could be a disadvantage however BPCSU have staff available to help if this should happen to you.
There are many more advantages to you getting involved with BPCSU and this is only one part there are many many more ways to get involved. Have a look at the Student First Website to find out more here.
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