You’ll gain skills, you’ll boost your confidence, you’ll meet new people…

Are you a current Undergraduate student? Do you want to boost your confidence, make new friends, and build on your professional skills before you leave Uni?

An Undergraduate Senior Rep role might be just what you’re looking for. Senior Reps represent the student voice on matters affecting students within each school, support and lead a team of Undergraduate Course Reps within each department, and work to ensure that positive changes are being made throughout every school.

This is a part-time voluntary role that will not get in the way of your degree – rather, it will enhance it! You will gain volunteering hours that count towards the University of Reading RED Award and are included in your University transcript upon graduation.

We spoke to past Senior Reps on how the roles proved invaluable for their next steps:

Build your skill set

The skills you’ll gain as a Senior Rep will make your LinkedIn profile and CV stand out from the crowd, and will put you in good stead for interviews for future jobs or further studies:

Being a Senior Rep and engaging with both students and academic staff on a regular basis doesn’t only boost your confidence, but also helps you improve on key skills such as communication and teamworking. These are skills that I’ve used in presentations, group projects, communication with other students and professors, and also helped me get elected as Student Councillor here at City University.

Both Universities and companies, whether you’re applying for a masters, a PhD, or a job, they ask you to showcase whether you’ve had any extra-curricular activities during your university years. Being a senior rep not only allows you to elaborate on that question, but also to answer effectively with real-life examples and skills that you’ve gained that they would require.

Nicolas Dimitriou, Senior Rep for Politics, Economics and International Relations 2019/20

I’m glad I had the opportunity to lead as a student rep by chairing meetings and running campaigns, and I use these skills every day now in my job as Inclusivity & Sustainability Coordinator. Working and gaining experience in the charity sector is great and it’s a career path that gives you a lot of options for the future!

Kyle Smith, Course Rep for Zoology 2016/17 & Senior Rep for Biological Sciences 2017/18

Boost your confidence

It can be nerve-wracking to put yourself forward for a role, but pushing through the nerves will reward you with increased confidence and allow you to feel more assured in job interviews. As Senior Reps lead a group of Course Reps, confidence is built through leadership, as well as through enacting positive change:

When running to be Senior Rep, not only did it give me great insight of how campaigns work, it gave me an opportunity to realise that a lot of things we have anxiety about, such as talking to new people and presenting our ideas, we’re actually better at than we think we are.

Nicolas Dimitriou

When I applied to be an Undergraduate course rep I was a little bit nervous at first, but I was really happy I got involved in RUSU. The community was very welcoming, very friendly, and it was really easy to put ideas across as everyone was so supportive – whatever the idea was.

Ryan Morris, Course rep for Biological Sciences 2015/16 & Molecular Medicine PG Rep in 2017/18

Grow your network

As there are two Senior Reps per school, the role is a job-share, allowing you to build your teamwork and collaboration skills. You’ll also meet like-minded students, University staff and RUSU staff, allowing you to build your network and open doors to a wealth of contacts:

The contacts I made through all of the roles I held have been really useful references, helping me to first get my MSc, and later my current role at RUSU. I think the fact I’ve stayed around for so long is a good sign of what a nice place it is to work!

Kyle Smith

I really enjoyed my time involved in RUSU and gained lots of invaluable skills – the most being teamwork […] I was involved on a regular basis with small teams to achieve a common goal.

Ryan Morris

Not only did I make new friends, I boosted my confidence and communication skills throughout the process.

Nicolas Dimitriou

Interested in being a Senior Rep? You have until 5th February to put yourself forward, Find out more about the role and how to apply at rusu.co.uk/elections