Selling Your Student Experience: University Societies and Career Plans
/Selling Your Student Experience
Most university students deal with the same two issues when it comes to figuring out what you want to do when you graduate. First, what job do you want, in what sector, in what city, in what role. Second, how you’re even going to get that job. I found student societies incredibly formative in this process; this article outlines why this is the case and how to utilise societies to find out your interests and to apply for graduate jobs.
Finding what you’re interested in
The best thing about societies is that there is something for everyone! You can continue activities you did in school like football, debating or orchestra or you can try something you’ve never heard of or done before like swing dance, Model United Nations or student cinema.
Societies are the perfect place to try new things and develop interests. If you have an idea as to what sector you want to work in, you can pursue that through relevant student societies. There are groups with entrepreneur grants or student think tanks or even opportunities to volunteer as a teaching assistant. Even if you don’t have a clue what to pursue, societies can still help you figure it out, by allowing you to try out different sectors like media, politics, or charity within your university you can see if this is what you want to do after graduation. Importantly, this isn’t limited to societies that are career-focused, the skills you gain from your sports team, or writing club, or pantomime group can make you a more appealing applicant for jobs as well as allow you to find new passions and interests.
When I started my degree I was focused on a future law conversion course and pursuing a legal career. However, because of my involvement with societies, I discovered that I thoroughly enjoy writing for student publications and am considering journalism as a possible career choice due to my participation in different student publications. I was able to not only write for student newspapers, but also take on an editorial role. I discovered that media wasn’t all about serious news and politics discussion but could enable creativity and discuss issues that were more interesting to me like sex and relationships and books. My commitment to Model United Nations has significantly developed my interests in foreign policy and diplomacy so much so that my dissertation follows this theme and I am planning on studying International Relations for a Master’s Degree. What you can discover through your extra-curricular activities can be just as valuable as the content of your degree, if not more so, as it is based purely on your interests.
How societies will help you get a job
A major obstacle to getting the job you want is not having previous experience, how can you get a job after uni if you need to have years of experience behind you to even get through the door? A little known secret is that you just have to sell your skills right. During your time at university you have learnt new skills, and grown as a person just because you did this on your campus in a society doesn’t mean it has less value than those who’ve learnt it elsewhere. A mistake university students tend to make is underselling their assets; your week-long work placement may seem the strongest attribute on your CV but that doesn’t mean that your university experience, especially the elements we see as ‘the fun bits’ aren’t valuable too. Make sure you include your participation as a member of activities and certainly as a committee member on your CV. If you took on a committee role in your society you may have learnt administrative skills like organising trips or events as social secretary, or demonstrated excellent written command in weekly emails as secretary, you might have exercised strong leadership as president or excellent recruitment skills as brand ambassador or recruitment officer, or reached out to interesting guest speakers as campaigns and speakers officer, the list truly goes on.
Model United Nations
As a fresher, I vaguely knew what the United Nations was, but didn’t have a clue about Model United Nations. I went to the first session and was horrified to find out that every week these people gathered together to simulate the UN through debating foreign policy as a representative of a country. Public speaking to me was more a daunting compulsory presentation to be forced into, not a hobby. Somehow, I stuck to it, returning every Wednesday to face my fear, taking only three weeks to actually get up and speak. By the end of my first term, I went to my first conference in Germany to do it competitively and managed to spend a whole weekend speaking in a room of almost 100 people, in one of the largest MUN committees I’ve been a part of. I still dislike group presentations, but I’m able to public speak to my heart's desire, confidently and (if I must say so myself) at a high standard.
PHOTO OF a united nations association york FLYER
Developing my public speaking has certainly helped me in interviews but more importantly, it has also increased my confidence to apply for more opportunities, attend networking events and utilise them as well as widen my horizons to benefit my future. Graduate schemes appreciate the skills that MUN nurtures; leadership, organisation, and communication are all vital elements to the perfect candidate for a job, and the best way to learn these is through activities and societies. Employers think that MUN is very impressive, which it is! It not only gives you a long list of skills, but also a strong awareness of global issues. You can use your experience and skills from societies in applications, if a job requires event planning, or organisational skills, you can back up your abilities with conference organisation, or duties from a committee role. If you can successfully get the delegate for Saudi Arabia to sign your women’s rights resolution then you can probably handle team meetings! My participation in student societies has certainly been the cause of the majority of my personal growth, my belief in myself and my confidence that I will achieve the goals I set for myself, and I urge any university student to get involved!
Author: Holly Palmer
Holly is a finalist BA History and Politics student at the University of York. She has a passion for international relations and pursues this interest through Model United Nations. She is also a student journalist, and enjoys writing and editing for many publications.
Published 2nd December 2019
PHOTO OF HOLLY PALMER