We're really proud of all our previous officers and we like to think that working at the students' union has given them skills and experience that has helped them further along their career.
Jump to a past officer:
Becky Thomson, Union President 2020-2021, President (Development) 2019-2020
Chloe Woolaway, President (Sports & Engagement) 2018-2020
Jamie Harris, President (Wellbeing) 2018-2020
Famous Faces who were SU Officers
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Why I applied to be a Full Time Students’ Union Officer
I started at CCCU at a mature (ish) age, a parent to a 3 month old with half a part time degree. CCCU was a place which took a chance on me and I grabbed it, graduating from both my Bsc Psychology and Msc Forensic Psychology with top grades. During my time, I realised that as a student parent, I really didn't feel represented within the Union, even though our average age of students is 27, and I wanted to change that. Being a full time officer gave me the chance to make a positive impact for students just like me, learning from my experiences.
What I got out of it
I can't even begin to explain what my two years in office gave me.. but I will try. It broadened my (already broad) horizons and provided a national platform for me to make real and substantial change for students. I had some incredible opportunities such as speaking to Parliament on the needs of student parents, was published in a government paper which addresses the changes required in finance, spoke on television too many times to count, on subjects such as covid related educational issues, politics (local and national) amongst other topics. I was even able to go for Chair of the National Student Fundraising Association and be in a position to influence national fundraising policy. All of this is small fry in comparison to the skills I have developed whilst doing all of this. The team at the Union helped develop my public speaking, confidence, governance knowledge (being chair of the Board of Trustees will do that for you) and even my report writing skills. The list is truly endless...
What I’m doing now
I took my passion for people, campaigns and large scale change and landed a job at Kent County Council as a Project Officer within Adult Social Care. I also sit as Vice Chair on a local primary schools Governing Body.
How being an SU Officer influenced my career
Being an SU officer completely changed my outlook on my career path, helped me build incredible networks which I will utilise for years to come and opened me up to experiences which I reflect on every day in my job. Spending two years as a President, sitting in senior management meetings, holding Vice Chancellors to account, definitely make you look at everyone in the same light. You realise that you have a voice and an opinion which is valid. It promotes self awareness and self assuredness which, now, enables me to complete large scale projects across the county. I can comfortably present my report so senior stakeholders with confidence, having previously presented to an entire university SMT team!
Being a Sabb is more than just a job. It changes your life and its the best decision I ever made.
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Going for an Officer role is something that I will never regret doing. It’s a completely unique role that you will never get the opportunity to experience ever again after University. If the idea of being an Officer has crossed your mind even for a split second my advice is to just go for it, what have you got to lose? From experience, I learned more about myself and my professional character in the elections period alone than I probably did in my whole time as an Officer. It’s one of the experiences where it’s such a challenging yet rewarding week, that even if you go on to be unsuccessful you can take so much away from it and you can still include it in your CV, which I can confirm does amazing things for your professional career no matter what you end up going into.
Just before I went into my first year as an Officer I completed my degree in Film and Television production. Once my 2 years as an Officer were complete I landed myself a job in the live TV industry working on some amazing sporting events such as the Olympics, Wimbledon, The Ashes for some of the biggest sports broadcasters in the world. Yes, being a sabbatical officer compared to where I am now are two completely different jobs, but no matter where your career takes you the transferable skills that being an officer gives you are so invaluable. These specific sets of skills can range in anything from public speaking to chairing meetings, or conflict resolution to events management. For me, the most important one I developed is confidence. I am a completely different person now from who I was before being an Officer and in the industry I’m in now you definitely need to be thick-skinned, a confident person and know your self-worth and none of that would have been possible if it wasn’t for the CCSU Leadership Elections.
Remember, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and don’t ever think you’re not good enough or you won’t do a good job because you will never know what you are capable of if you don’t try and push yourself.
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Being a sabbatical officer is a once in a lifetime opportunity and the best experience ever! I was the President (Wellbeing) for 2 years from 2018-2020 and loved every minute of it! To lead a Students’ Union not only looks good for your CV but the happiness you feel when you have made a difference to a student’s life, it is so rewarding.
Honestly, you could not wish for a better experience to boost your knowledge and skills even further. It is such a unique experience which I can’t recommend enough.
The role allows you to meet and work with senior people in the University, which at first was a bit daunting but the experience and confidence to input into meetings improves throughout and I always endeavoured to put the students first in whatever I was doing.
The Union did a lot for me in terms of giving me a good student experience so I thought this would be a good thing to do to give back to the union. My advice to you would be to embrace all of the opportunities that you can whilst at university, and an added bonus is that all of these options look good on your CV!
I feel I have made a big legacy, it’s good to see my event Chooseday Chill still thriving. Being an SU officer really helped me to get to know a range of people across the community and make lifelong friends for life. I am more decisive and confident person now then I was before I undertook the President role.
Now I am doing something a bit different to what I was doing at the union but still something I had a desire to get involved with, following my degree in Primary Education. I now work for Kent Cricket Club in Canterbury in the Community department where I coach in schools, help run school programmes, run cricket competitions, teacher CPD where I help teachers become more confident in cricket in their schools. I do a wide range of other things cricket related as well! I have also helped run workshops in how Cricket and physical activity can help to enhance peoples Mental Health. My experience I learnt in this role as President was valuable for this. My passion is cricket and I have a background in Education so couldn’t have asked for a better combination for my job now.
Overall, I had fantastic time as President, it was the best decision I have ever made, it has been great learning and developing skills in leadership, campaigning and how to create change at our university. As well as building networks and creating new friends. It is a fantastic stepping stone into future job avenues and you are constantly learning throughout your time in office.
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