13 Reasons Why You Should Run In The Students' Union Officer Elections...

Every year Sheffield Hallam Students' Union holds an Election where YOU decide on the students that you want to represent you in your Students' Union. But before you can vote, we need people for you to vote for and that's where you come in because all Hallam students can nominate themselves for one of 5 full time Officer roles (or a Part-Time role) if you would prefer. Not sure what the benefits of running would be then read on...

1) It will look pretty amazing on your CV!

Having a degree is no longer enough to set you apart from the competition, being able to say that you have led a multi-million pound organisation on the other hand will! You will be able to demonstrate loads of skills to future employers such as leadership, initiative and creativity. Even if you don't get elected you will still be able to demonstrate loads of these skills.

2) You get to travel

Yup, you get to live the glam life! Our Officers have done a lot of travelling, nationally, to places like London, Brighton, Leeds, Newcastle and more. The Sports Officer also gets whisked away on some international assignments to places like Croatia and Val D’Isere…pretty cool huh!

3) Not winning the Elections could actually be the start of something pretty awesome for you!

What do I mean by this? Well, we have a number of full time Students' Union Staff that ran in the Elections and didn't win but ended up getting permanent jobs here at the SU! So honestly not winning an Election could be the start of something even bigger for you! Just remember - everything happens for a reason.

4) You get paid a salary of £17,000

Yup, I bet you didn't know that did you? This is a real job with real responsibilities and therefore comes with real £££

5) Improve your self confidence

This is so true. The only way to grow is to do something a little out of your comfort zone, so come on what are you waiting for?

6) Gain a better understanding of what we do at the Students' Union

Don't be that person that gets to final year regretting the fact that they only just discovered the Students' Union because believe it or not, every year we have students tell us that they wish they got involved earlier!

7) You won't be on your own!

You will get full support from Students' Union staff and your fellow student representatives both during the nominations and voting periods and also throughout your whole time as an Officer. You will receive free training, mentoring and more. There will also be an opportunity for you to bag some qualifications while you are here ;)

8) It is open to all students, all years, no experience required.

That's right, all the roles are open to all students, first year, second year, final year, mature students, postgraduates everyone. And you need not have any prior experience because as mentioned above, you get full training and support from your Students' Union!

9) You have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.

It is definitely better to try and fail than fail to try!

10) It is not a popularity contest.

There have been many instances where people thought they would win because they knew more people but it doesn’t always pan out that way. Here is a little hint for you. People tend to remember the candidates that speak to them so make sure to get out there and speak to as many students as you can during voting week.

11) It means you get to shape Sheffield Hallam Students' Union and Sheffield Hallam University! That's a pretty big deal

Forget employers, how good would it be to tell your friends and family what you do!

12) Be part of a huge movement!

By running for an Officer position, you could be setting yourself up for a great career in the movement, whether it be in a leadership role or other support and coordinator roles. Take last year's Students' Union President, Emily for example. She now works in the higher education sector right here at Hallam. Loads of our former student representatives now work in Students ' Union's nationally and other higher education institutions.

13) You can change your mind later

So you are not 100% sure if you want to nominate yourself for a role? Then we'd advise that you go ahead and do it because you can always change your mind later whereas you can't submit a nomination after the deadline (15th February)

Ready to nominate yourself or a mate for a role in the Spring Elections? Click HERE . Maybe you want to represent your fellow students but don't want to do it on a full time basis, in which case we do also have loads of equally important Part-Time Rep positions available for you to nominate yourself or a mate for.