January 5, 2021, by aeyaebr
Being a Social Secretary and What I Learned
By Annie Brown, MA Creative Writing student blogger
Being part of a committee while at university can be a great experience. Last year I accepted the role of social secretary for the English committee. This role gave me many great opportunities and the skills I learned has boosted my CV enormously. Here is what I have learned from the role and how being on a committee can benefit you.
Training
Before this, I had never been on a committee before. However, there was lots of support in place to help me. The Students’ Union has an easy to follow guide on Moodle that explains all the details of your required role. In the case of being a social secretary, it explained the different event forms and their uses, rules and regulations. It also had an easy quiz at the end to guarantee I had learned the information, meaning I felt confident and prepared.
New opportunities
As social secretary, I helped plan and organise most of the events for our society. These included bar crawls, pub quizzes, coffee crawls, and even a centennial arts ball and a trip to Prague. It was a wonderful opportunity to make new friends and see new places.
Networking
The biggest benefit of being a social secretary was exactly that. It allowed me to be social. My role ensured I got to meet lots of new people and socialise frequently. I made lots of new friends within the society. But the role also allowed me to interact professionally with various organisations and personnel to arrange and run events. The connections with businesses taught me how to behave and interact professionally. This experience in establishing professional relationships was great practice for networking in the real world.
Skills
Being a social secretary also enhanced my organisation skills. Precision, effective time-management and having a confident work ethic are all things I learned from the role. The administrative side of the role involved submitting forms, emailing and making sure everything was ready to go on time. When hosting, it was important to be confident and approachable. These are valuable skills that employers will notice on your CV. Being a social secretary was excellent practice for the skills required for the real world.
Being a social secretary has been a fun and great way to enhance my CV, as well as getting to experience new things and make new friends.
To get involved with a Society, check out the SU Society Page.
Find out more information about developing your CV here or why not book a CV review with a careers adviser via MyCareer.
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