“There’s definitely no way I would be in the position I am today without the experience and skills that I gained at RUSU”

Thinking of running for a Full-time Officer (FTO) role in the Leadership Elections, but not sure what's in it for you? Being a Full-time Officer will help kick-start your career by giving you an abundance of invaluable skills in the short space of one year, making your CV and LinkedIn profile stand out in the competitive job market.

We spoke to Officers from RUSU’s past who shared how the experience they gained in their roles helped forge their careers.

Kick-start your career

I gained so much from my time at RUSU. I would say it’s almost three or four years’ worth of experience crammed into one year. There’s no doubt when you’re in an interview and you talk about the level of responsibility you had at RUSU, being the leaders of a multimillion-pound organisation for your first graduate job, is always really impressive to people who are interviewing you.

Oli Ratcliffe, President 2015/16

You can say at a pretty young age that you’ve been a company director and you’ve overseen budgets of six or seven figures, you’ve organised events for thousands of people [….] It’s an incredible job opportunity and you do not get it once you leave University.

Daisy O’Connor, Activities Officer 2019/20

The experience that I gained has been crucial to me. I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now without the year that I had at RUSU. When I went for my interview with my boss a number of things that he said stood out to him were the experience that I had from a financial and commercial aspect from RUSU. There’s definitely no way I would be in the position I am today without the experience and skills that I gained at RUSU.

James Hart, Engagement and Communications Officer (now called Activities Officer) 2015/16

Gain invaluable skills

From leadership and networking to campaigning and managing budgets, skills learned in these roles will undoubtedly enhance your career prospects and make your CV stand out from the crowd.

I use some of the skills I learnt at RUSU every day. Being in a sales-based role, I do a lot of customer-facing presentation work so a lot of public speaking experience I got from my RUSU role, and also time management and working in various different committees and meetings was invaluable experience and gave me a number of skills I use on a daily basis.

James Hart

My main takeaways are that it improved my communications skills, whether that’s social media, report writing or public speaking; it improved my teamwork skills because you work very closely with your fellow student officers; and my relationship building skills, where you identify key contacts and build bridges with them to help you get things done for your campaign, and that’s been really helpful in my current role and my career.

Oli Ratcliffe

I gained a lot of valuable experience that couldn’t be gained from any other fresh graduate role! As Trustees of RUSU and as leaders in our respective areas, FTOs get the opportunity to be in decision-making spaces and make positive changes. Most roles don’t offer you the opportunity to be able to make such direct positive changes and run campaigns that make RUSU and the University a better place for students and staff!

Nozomi Tolworthy, Diversity Officer 2018/19

Networking

We all know the saying ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’, but it’s been difficult to meet new people this year. Running for an FTO role mean that many future friends and colleagues are just around the corner (even if that is virtually for now!)

You’ll make friends for life. You really will. Some of my best friends are the people I served at RUSU with and we still speak to each other all the time and see each other as much as we can.

James Fletcher, President 2012/13

I think the main thing I got out of the experience was the people I met, obviously the other Officers - literally nothing can bring you closer than working with people that intensely – and also just everyone else I met at RUSU, everyone was just super lovely and I’ve stayed in touch with lots of people.

Daisy O’Connor

Not only was it great for my career, but I met so many amazing people along the way.

Oli Ratcliffe

In terms of the people you’re running alongside - everyone’s fantastic – it gives you a great sense of community at the university and you meet people you’ll probably stay in touch with forever, so go for it, you’ve got nothing to lose.

James Hart

These are just three of many benefits that being a RUSU Full-Time Officer will afford you.

Want to know more? Check out our YouTube Playlist of videos from past Officers, and visit rusu.co.uk/elections for more information on the individual roles.