Hola Amigos! A couple of days ago, I received a question on “How to become a student ambassador?” And I thought” Wow, that’s a good question.” To be honest, it was question I had in the back of my mind, when I started applying to universities. Every university website you visit would have Student Ambassador testimonials and blogs. I have always wanted to be one of them. I still remember thinking “how cool it would be to share my experiences with the rest of the world”. I think its better to say I have been eyeing for this position even before I got my admission at Surrey.

At Surrey, we have lots of Student Ambassadors. As you know, Antara and I are the International Student Ambassadors for India. There are students like us for other countries as well. Then there is the Widening Participation and Outreach, Marketing, communications, and digital and social media. Check out our Student Ambassador Scheme here: https://campus.surrey.ac.uk/student-ambassadors. You can find the job description for each role in the link above.

As you can see from the above link, there is an option to apply. Once they are open you can apply for the position. Now, sometimes there might be vacancy for 1 or 2 positions and you would receive emails at that time, notifying you about the opening. This was how I got to know about the opening. We had to express our interest in the position. This means that you just have to drop an email to the specified person, mentioning that you are interested in the position. Like every other job, you have an interview. Now I had to write a sample blog of 300 words before my interview. The topic would be mostly something related to the Uni. Once you complete this task and send your sample blog, they will shortlist you for the interview. My student ambassador interview was amazing. I was really excited, like I said I have been eyeing for this position for a long time. 😉 The interview would typically last for 15-20 mins and you will be asked around 5-6 generic questions, mostly like “why do you want to be a student ambassador?”, some situational questions like “what advice will you give to a prospective student who is asking you for something?” and so on. Remember there is no right or wrong answer. They are only looking for people who are passionate about the role. If you are some one who loves to interact with people, share your stories and experiences, help prospective students with any questions they have and interested in writing blogs, you are pretty much the right person for the job. Just be yourself when you answer the questions. I clearly remember my interview; it took only 20 mins. After 3 days I received an email saying, “We are very excited to let you know that you have been selected for the Student Ambassador program for the duration of your course.” I was so happy and excited when I read that email.🤩🤩 This was something that I have always loved- write blogs, share my stories, represent the institution that I study in. This was the first part time job I had at the Uni and the best one so far. I love to write and I normally write about my experiences and days in my journal. I also write short stories at times. So writing is pretty much my hobby. Now every time I am tired of studying or doing other works, I take a break and write a blog. The best part is that I get paid for my hobby, how amazing is that. 😍

As a student ambassador I also take part in webinars conducted for prospective students. If you are from India, you might have seen me during the Offer holder webinars. Well, if you haven’t then you can see me in the next one. I also did a profile photoshoot for university website and brochures.

As an international student you can work up to 20 hours a week. Our uni has lots of opportunities for part time roles. Make sure you register with Unitemps and keep an eye out for the roles. Once you reach here, you can sign-up using this link: https://www.unitemps.com/

For last two weeks I have been working as a graduation student ambassador at the Uni. This was again an amazing experience. It was such a joyous and lovely occasion to be part of. You could see the pride in parents’ eyes as their children stood in the graduation gown and cap. After a difficult year with little to no social life, graduation provided an opportunity to be reunited with friends. To be honest watching the parents along with their kids, made me miss my family back in India. There is no greater happiness than seeing your parents look at you with pride and joy in their eyes.  I mostly worked at information point and was responsible for guiding people to respective locations and answering their queries. I also worked in the staff event. The staff event is held exclusively for the staff and family to thank them for their yearlong hard work. I have added some of the pictures here. It was lively and wonderful; the kids loved the event. From Ferris wheel to stalls selling candy floss, the day was just perfect for families. Watching the kids play and run around kind of reminded me of my childhood and my first experience on a Ferris Wheel. Jobs like graduation student ambassadors are short term ones. These could last anywhere from few days to few weeks. Though graduation was a 2-week event, I only worked for 2 days.

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The next part-time job I do at the Uni is: Engagement Assistant for Student Enterprise, IKEEP and SETsquared. Student Enterprise programme offers practical business support to entrepreneurial students from all disciplines. SETsquared is a business incubator network run by 5 universities in Southern England – Bath, Bristol, Southampton, Surrey, and Exeter. SETsquared is located within the Surrey Research Park, and they have an amazing office space. IKEEP is a SETsquared partnership initiative that provides intrapreneurial training to students. As an engagement assistant I get to work across all three of them. I create content for social media pages, promote start-ups in SETsquared by sharing their good news stories and is responsible for promoting and handling various admin tasks for IKEEP. This was yet another incredible opportunity to meet some brilliant minds. I get to meet various start-ups and know more about their work and the technology they work in. This role comes roughly around 10-14 hours of work per week (sometimes less).

There are a lot more opportunities within the uni like admin related tasks at HIVE, student’s union, Rubix(night club within uni), Wates house and lots more. You can also find lots of part-time jobs in Guildford through websites like Indeed. One of the best things about working within the uni is that your time would be flexible. As a student your first priorities are your studies, and the university acknowledges this fact as well. Whereas, when you work outside the university this might not always be possible. So, as soon as you reach here, get registered with Unitemps and keep an eye out for the various openings. They do tend to fill out quickly.

Yup, I’m done for today. If you have any queries do get in touch with me either by comments or drop an email at: india@surrey.ac.uk.

Have a great week folks!!! 😊