• Job shop experiences

► Job shop experiences

Here are a few words from some job shop participants from previous years

• Jo Evans, University of Gloucestershire
• Shona Howie, Aberdeen University
• Jennifer Hardwick, University of Exeter

Jo Evans, Jobshop Coordinator, University of Gloucestershire

OK so I am a little biased being the current JobShop responsible for 2010's winning Student Employee of the Year but I would really like to encourage all Student Employment Services to take part. Here’s a brief low down on how it worked for us last year….

After attending a NASES regional meeting where SEOTY comes up I am struck by the enthusiasm of the people talking about it. I had not entered the competition before - ‘not enough time’ always being the reason. But I am so inspired I want to do something. I’m not sure when it hit me but I worked out that for a small JobShop like ours it did not have to be about numbers.
With this in mind I targeted employers I knew who thought their students were amazing. I then rang them and asked if they wanted to nominate and was careful to guide them through the nomination process. I set reminders and contacted those who I knew were busy and might forget to give them a gentle push.
Some of my employers were worried about the formality of nominating but I advised them to write from the heart and not worry too much, this really seemed to help.
We didn’t have to do loads of marketing and NASES provided everything we needed.
We only ended up with 5 nominations but this is better than none and the winner was in those 5.

To be honest the process was easy and most of the hard work is done by NASES so even if you only have 1 employer in mind I would still enter because that 1 might be a winner.

I can say without hesitation that entering SEOTY was a fantastic experience for us and we will definitely be doing it again this year. Our student was literally overwhelmed and her employers were really impressed too especially as we were all able to make it to the Gala dinner to pick up the award – tears were shed!!! Our student has graduated now and the award certainly helped her gain a great graduate position.

SEOTY has helped the service in many ways:

• Exposure in the local press
• Fantastic opportunities to raise our profile internally
• Brilliant example of why part time/temporary work matters
• Positive stories about students and their contribution to our community
• Recognition of the hard work students do
• Taking part in a national competition
• A massive winner’s shield!

Shona Howie, Joblink coordinator, Aberdeen University

AUSA Joblink decided to participate in the SEOTY Awards as it was a great recognition to the students who combine work & Study.

2010 was a great year for us here in Aberdeen at the SEOTY Awards,
although we had a small number of entrants (9) we were still able to win
the International Student Employee of the Year and the On-Campus Student
Employee of the Year categories. Saskia Wischnewski (International
Student Employee of the Year) and Rachael Hayward (On-Campus Student
Employee of the Year) were highly delighted to have won these awards and
we were equally delighted for them.

A great recognition and a great award for our students.

Jennifer Hardwick, University of Exeter

SEOTY is very important to us here at Exeter and it looked forward to with a huge amount of excitement . . .
In the first year of The Works being created one of our student staff won National Student Employee of the Year Award – Jobshop Category. This started our addiction and The Works has entered every year since!

For the past four years Exeter University has had the highest number of students nominated, which is a huge achievement and will continue to push the awards both internally and externally. It is hard to tell you the main reason why SEOTY is such a special and successful event at Exeter. It may be due to the creator and manager for 6 years of The Works, Leanne Fennell, is so passionate about it, the fact that the student staff we have had working here are amazing, and how much we love student staff in the Students’ Guild would be up there in the top three!

In the first year of The Works being created one of our student staff won National Student Employee of the Year Award – Jobshop Category. This started our addiction and The Works has entered every year since!

For the past four years Exeter University has had the highest number of students nominated, which is a huge achievement and will continue to push the awards both internally and externally. It is hard to tell you the main reason why SEOTY is such a special and successful event at Exeter. It may be due to the creator and manager for 6 years of The Works, Leanne Fennell, is so passionate about it, the fact that the student staff we have had working here are amazing, and how much we love student staff in the Students’ Guild would be up there in the top three!

Last year a student who worked with us, Nathan Dilliway, won the NATIONAL Student Employee of the Year Awards - Jobshop category. This is the third time we have had a student win the award and we were really brimming over with pride. It is a truly satisfactory event when someone who we had personally seen work so hard and so effectively, wins a very well deserved award. Because we are very proud of all our student staff every year we hold a celebration to show this. All student staff, their employers including those at the University and externally are invited to our Annual Celebration of Student Staff (ACSS). This is put together by the Works with support from Exeter Guild's Catering Manager & Bars Manager. The Careers Advisors, a Sabbatical and the Chief Executive act as judges and decide who we put forward to the regional rounds. We announce these winners on the night as well as give out other certificates for outstanding service.
The ACSS has free food and drink, gives out awards, certificates and bottles of wine for the winners and the employers who nominated!! It is a great event for everyone.

This year we, again, aim to speak to our external employers in person about the benefits of entering and how much they would get out of it. We'll keep trying to show them the benefits of nominating and the benefits it gives to their student employees and the recognition it gives to them as an employer. Fingers crossed we'll have even more nominations this year!