May 23, 2014, by Beth Dawson

Phillipa’s student helper experience

By Phillipa Ampeire, MPH Public Health 

If you’ve seen any advertisements for student helpers on the Unitemps website, you might be wondering what this work entails. Phillipa shares her experiences of this varied role and tells us how it has helped her career prospects.

Why did you want to be a student helper?

I was first interested in working as a student helper to earn a little extra money, but I can confidently say that I’ve got more than that out of it. As a student undertaking an intensive masters programme, I found that working as a student helper was the best option for me because it fitted around my school and study commitments.

What does a student helper do?

Student helpers are recruited to do various kinds of work for the University. I’ve previously worked at open days, events and on two student outreach campaigns.

Depending on the particular job, as a student helper I was often the first point of contact for students and the general public. For example, as part of an outreach campaign, I went door to door to off-campus residences in order to raise awareness about crime prevention. Although this placement was interesting, I found working at the University’s open days most enjoyable.

The main part of my role as a student helper on these days was to take prospective undergraduates and their parents on campus tours. These tours gave me the opportunity to share my university experience with them and hopefully I helped someone to make a life-changing decision.

What was the application process like?

For all my placements, I applied after seeing adverts on the Unitemps website. The process of getting involved was very simple, in fact a short phone interview was all that was needed. I have to say that I was lucky to be picked more than once, considering the number of applications the Unitemps office handles.

What did you get out of this experience?

The work I’ve done as a student helper may be varied, but one thing stands true. All my placements required me to learn how to work in a team and to appreciate each member’s contribution to a group. Also, my confidence has improved, especially in terms of working with people from different backgrounds.

As I’m training to become a doctor, this experience is not directly related to my future career, but I feel that the interpersonal skills that I’ve developed through working as a student helper will come in handy for interacting with patients.

I have had a really rewarding time working as a student helper and I encourage all current students to grab this opportunity, if for nothing else then for the sheer joy of representing The University of Nottingham!

Does this sound like the kind of work you’d like to do? If you’ve been inspired by Phillipa’s experiences, Unitemps are currently seeking student helpers for this summer’s open days, visit their website for more details. We regularly post featured Unitemps on our Facebook page, so connect with us to find out the latest vacancies.

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