Becoming part of our Officer Team at De Montfort Students’ Union is a rewarding experience that we encourage you to get involved in.
We have been in touch with some of our past Officers to see what they enjoyed most about their time representing you and how their experience benefited them in their career endeavors.
Caitlin Bloom was the Deputy President Education from 2012-2014. The structure of the Officer team has changed slightly since then, you can find out more about the new roles and what they do here.
Caitlin’s achievements as an Officer
Caitlin worked hard as Deputy President Education during her time at DSU and this shows in the variety of achievements she made. Some of the top changes Caitlin made were:
-
Bringing in a new anonymous marking policy, implemented by the University
-
Creating a new Personal Tutoring policy to ensure every first-year student has an assigned Personal Tutor
-
Changing the phone number of the University from an 0800 number to one more local to Leicester.
Caitlin recalls that changing the number of the University was “a simple change but Clearing is hard enough, it should be free to call.” and we couldn’t agree more!
What made being an Officer such a special time to Caitlin?
Well not to brag or anything, but Caitlin mentioned that both the elected and permanent staff at DSU contributed to some of the most memorable memories. Don’t just take out word for it:
“The most memorable thing has to be coming in every day to the amazing team, both elected and permanent, the SU team was the dream team!”
We’re definitely liking the sound of that!
Caitlin also recalls some of her favorite moments as being re-elected and also speaking at a National Union of Students (NUS) Conference.
How has being an Officer benefitted Caitlin now?
Caitlin’s exact words when we asked her this question were: “It’s hard to say how it hasn’t really.”
Looking back on her time as an Officer, Caitlin recalls that the skills she learned as an Officer set her up for work life in ways she couldn't imagine. “Things that sound silly but are really important such as using Outlook properly and managing a diary are critical skills.” and you definitely get a lot of that working as an Officer.
Along with the more technical skills you pick up, there are a variety of soft skills like “negotiating, articulating a point in a professional way, tone in emails and how to present to a room of peers will all be used during your career.”
So, you’re liking the sound of being an Officer?
Caitlin has some great advice for you if you’re considering nominating yourself in this year's Elections:
“Speak up and say it clearly: you can change things for the better.”
“Use the people around you to help, everyone who works at DSU and DMU want what is best for students both now and in the future.”
Our Officer team are made up of five full-time Executive Officers and seven part-time Liberation Representation Officers. You can find out more about each of the role here.
RELATED NEWS: