Its September, and you know what that means…a new year at Uni. As part of any student experience is the opportunity to try something new and join a club or society. But why? If it’s your first year at Uni or even your last year of study I’m sure lots of you will have other ideas on your mind of how you would like to spend your time. However, before its too late have a quick look at the benefits you could get from signing up during freshers week to a new society.
I joined the Business society in my first year and here are some of the benefits of what I have
experienced:
1. Great Networking Opportunity:
The reason why I joined the business society (Oxford Brookes Entrepreneurs) was because I thought it would interesting to go along to one or two of the events and hear from other entrepreneurs about their experiences in business, hoping to be inspired. It
worked & in my second year I ended up as Marketing Director on the
committee!
The first event I went to was a talk given by Graeme Fry, Entrepreneur, Speaker and founder of
OEE, a highly successful operations consultancy in Oxford. The talk was about how he started
out setting up his business and the challenges he faced. I couldn’t believe how down to earth he was and afterwards I went over to have a chat. This initial meeting then escalated in Graeme becoming a mentor who has been fantastic help in the process of setting up my own business. The chance I took to go and speak to him was there and I took it. This is just one example. But that’s just a lucky outcome I’m sure a lot of you are thinking but remember, everyone who signs up to join and then goes along to an event will be thinking in the same frame of mind as you. So you might meet a potential new business partner or just someone new who shares the same interests as you.
2. Looks Good on your CV
Going to Uni is a great experience but we all know that at the end of our 3 (possibly 4) years of study we have to go into the world of work. Many of you will already know what you want to do and some won’t have a clue. The great thing about joining a society is that is shows a different side of you to your potential future employer. Whichever business interviewer from whatever business you find yourself in front of after you graduate, they are sure to ask you, ‘What else do you do outside of University’? I have been asked this countless times for work experience! Joining a society shows you are interested in something and you are dedicated to put aside time for it, time that an employer might see you putting in their business.
It
also shows you are keen. Keen to learn and develop what you already
know and push it further. From joining the entrepreneur society I learnt
lots of essential business know-hows such as; how to organise events;
dealing with sponsorship opportunities; how to write a business plan and loads of other things. All of which can be talked about in your interview.
3. Takes your mind off work!
Uni, as I’m sure you all know is not all about working hard. You need to find the healthy balance.
Joining a society or finding a club is a great way to relax outside of work. This is different from just not being in lectures and going to the pub. Finding something you enjoy doing is great to take your mind of your Monday morning seminar or an impending assignment deadline (although you should probably do your work if its impending) for a few hours and you can commit as much or as little time to it as you’d like. I joined the society as a member to go to the odd one or two talks but ended up going to more because I found them interesting and I actually took away things that I could then apply to my studies before finally joining the committee. Being part of a committee however, is not for everyone, and well it can’t be, but finding something that interests you and getting involved can be really rewarding.
These are just 3 simple benefits to joining a society. Let us know what you got out of your society or even why you decided not to join one.
As always, we are looking for enthusiastic, talented and creative writers to blog about their
thoughts, opinions and ideas on anything to do with business. Get in touch with us through my
Twitter profile: @nickwilliamgale
