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What does your job actually entail? What do you see as your main responsibilities?
The President's role requires you to be involved with, and have a knowledge of, many different aspects of the Students' Union. As the Chief Executive of Cardiff Union Services Limited you have a responsibility for all the commercial aspects of the Union. The President is required to sit on many University committees, groups and panels where it is vital that you are prepared to represent students to the best of your ability. The President also has to co-ordinate and lead the executive providing support for any officers that require it.
What do you think the job demands in terms of personal attributes or skills?
The attributes that are vital for an aspiring President are organisation, leadership and confidence. Organisation is necessary as there are so many different aspects to the job and so many different ongoing projects. If you are not organised it is easy to get confused and struggle to be as effective as you can. As the leader of the executive, leadership skills are ver important. Being in university meetings can often be intimidating, making confidence essential if you are to represent students as best you can.
What do you enjoy most about the job?
I really enjoy the variety in my job, no day is ever the same and there is always something happening that you can get involved with.
What are the challenges/obstacles you face?
Whilst variety is something that I enjoy most, it is also one of the main challenges and obstacles. A sabbatical year is exactly what it says on the tin - a year. It is important that priorities are made, as it is not possible to change the world in a year. To maximise effectiveness you need to choose 3 or 4 PRIORITIES for your year as this will maximise your effectiveness and is also achievable. This ties in with another challenge, that being the vagueness of the President's role in the constitution. This occasionally makes it difficult to know where your time and efforts should be spent.
What have you achieved since coming into your position?
For the President a lot of achievements come in meetings and through applying pressure to the University.
This year I have got the university committed to creating and implementing a communications strategy. This aims to address the poor communication that the University has with the students and will allow students to see exactly what they should expect from their University.
I have also got additional/improvement of sports facilities at Cardiff University onto the strategy for infrastructural developments at Cardiff University. This addresses what I believe to be one of Cardiff University's main weakness - its sports facilities.
I am also heading the first Union run 'Go Green' campaign. I hope this is something that, in future years, is built on and continued within the Union.
What's next?
Next I am looking to address the University's investments and apply pressure to ensure that the University's investments are in ethical companies as this has historically been a problem. The most effective lobbying is done through meetings and as I regularly meet with the Vice Chancellor and Directors of the University, this is how I hope to go about achieving this.
The Sound Impact awards are a national environmental award which look at the environmental and ethical performance of students' unions. This year we are hoping to excel in the awards, and this is a current objective of mine.
Would you recommend your role? If so, why?
I would recommend being President. I think I am a natural leader and therefore fit into the role. It also allows you to work with all the other officers on all their different projects. This means that being President is extremely dynamic and always interesting. There's never a boring moment being President.
