Interview with Deputy President (Clubs & Societies) Heather Jones

What has been your biggest challenge?

The most obvious challenge for the Deputy President (Clubs & Societies) is Freshers’ Fair but actually since it didn’t rain it wasn’t anywhere near as stressful as it might have been. I personally didn’t really like doing the talk to all the Club Chairs the previous day, as it was certainly the most people I’d ever spoken to in front of at the same time!

What is an average day like?

I get in at or before 10 and spend at least the first hour sorting out e-mail, though this varies day to day. Sometimes I get less than 30 e-mails overnight, on a Monday morning it can be well over 100 though, I think I once received 300 e-mails over a weekend! I’ll generally have 2 or 3 meetings a day which can be with Union staff, with students or with College depending on what I’m working on and the rest of the time I’ll try and keep up with all the e-mail/phone calls coming in as well as getting on with some more long-term projects. I try not to leave at the end of the day until I have fewer than 30 flagged e-mails left as I don’t like keeping people waiting but sometimes it’s just not possible!

What do you enjoy most about your job?

It sounds really cheesy and cliched but it’s definitely the sense of satisfaction from knowing that in some small, or not so small way, you’ve made a real difference to people’s lives every single day. It’s also great to be thanked which happens pleasantly often. The other fun part is getting to have really interesting discussions with people in College about why things are done in a particular way and how to get the best deal for students – on the whole College are happy to help but often don’t know how!

What do you enjoy least?

There are some pretty tedious parts of the job. The 100th time you’ve answered the same question requires a lot of patience and you have to tell yourself that they wouldn’t ask if it was clear so making it clearer for everyone should be your main priority. Also room booking approval can be a fairly dull process but again, it’s important for someone to have oversight over what’s going on so it’s important to mix it in with the more fun stuff to stop yourself getting frustrated.

What is your biggest regret so far?

I really do regret that I forgot to put giant maps up at Freshers’ Fair, there were still plenty of maps but it was frustrating as it was something I’d meant to do and then forgot! Generally any time I forget to deal with a student’s problem, or I could have solved it but didn’t get round to it in time. Those kinds of things make me pretty depressed.

Do you have any advice for anyone considering running for your position?

It’s a pretty high stress position. You often have to work very long hours so you need to be comfortable with that and also get used to the idea that the Union will steal your life; it will almost certainly take over large parts of your social life. Also, it often requires a LOT of patience and being able to multi-task is pretty useful. That said, it’s amazingly rewarding and challenging.

Have you delivered your manifesto promises?

Some but not all of them, however at the same time I think I made the best decisions for clubs – manifestos shouldn’t be set in stone. The two major promises I didn’t keep were a) a buddy system for struggling clubs – which when I asked clubs about they overwhelmingly said they wouldn’t find useful, and b) searchable inventories which has been put on hold to allow an online club finance system to be developed, something that the Clubs & Societies Board said would be much more helpful for club officers.

What will be the most important challenge for your successor?

I would say it’s whatever they make it; everyone comes to the role wanting to achieve something different. I guess if there is anything then perhaps they’ll have to finally work out a fairer system for booking rooms as we’re getting to the point where saturation of certain space types is occurring.