Our commercial outlets are currently looking for a new crop of enthusiastic staff for the new academic year. This includes new Bar Staff and Kitchen Assitants in our Union bars (and soon we’ll be looking for new staff for h-bar too) as well as Retail Staff at the Union Shop and Shop Extra. I thought this was a good opportunity to tell you why I found working at the Union to be of great use during my degree.

I decided to take up a position as Bar Staff during my first year at Imperial. For me, bar work was perfect - I got to chat to people at the bar which is something I enjoy, without spending money on drinks all evening and the inevitable hangover that would result. In addition I earned a little spending money every week which helped me continue to enjoy my social life and hobbies without having to rely too much on the bank of parent or my student loan.

Now, with tuition fees going up and up and the cost of living in London rising faster than student loans do, taking up some extra work can be a great way to make enjoying your time at university a little easier. Whether that’s having some extra cash for a night out, to do something you love or to keep your all-important collection of whatever up to date. Working for the Union is a great start for that; it’s a great way to gain experience that you can put on your CV when applying for summer work or even other work away from campus and we try to make sure the hours are flexible enough to work around people’s degrees and activities so it shouldn’t interfere with your work.

This year I’ll be looking into how we can make the most of those opportunities for students. We’re investigating Cask Marque accreditation right now and if that’s something we can offer to our student staff somehow. I think it would be a great way to help you get the most out of a student job as well as helping to keep our bar standards high to get all our bar customers a great service. Watch out for the first vote for a guest ale when term starts too!