Being Vice-President (Activities) is a commitment to showcasing the City and Guilds College Union. The events you will organise will be the most visible side of the actions led by CGCU, they are the face of the Union, what people see and remember. From formal dinners to club nights to sports-days, you can let your imagination take control to come up with the best events.

The role gives you a substantial amount of autonomy to organise events that you believe will please your fellow engineers, and it doesn’t even require much – if any – experience. Two major attributes are necessary though; you must be fairly outspoken and believe in what you want. But do not fear, if you want to do this, you can; whoever you are. This role requires planning events for Fresher’s week over the summer, so be ready to help around during September.

As the VPFS of the CGCU, you’ll be ultimately responsible of the finances of the CGCU Executive Committee, as well as managing and representing the clubs in the CGCU management group. What does this mean? You’ll be meeting with clubs, ensuring their finances are sound and helping them grow. It is a role that requires vision and a will to help clubs improve. An average day in the life of a VPFS includes going through eActivities (the online Union system) approving claims, purchase orders… As well as responding to emails from clubs. Apart from this, you will have to organise management group meetings, as well as attending the CGCU Exec meetings and CSPB (Clubs, Societies and Projects Board) where you will represent your clubs’ interests. The role will take you approximately 3-5 hours a week.

The Honorary Secretary is more than just minute-taking - they are one of the core members of the Executive Committee. If you happen to be in this position, you are expected to liaise with all committee members. You will be managing a lot of emails on a daily basis, and our reputation lies in your prompt and succinct responses. Your vigilance is equally required - plus your English competency and communication skills will come to their tests, as various materials (both in professional communication and internal publicity) will await your cautious proofreading.

The Honorary Treasurer is responsible of assisting the VPFS in the daily running of the CGCU Exec. Ideally, you would be helping the VPFS with management group finances, as well as keeping the finances of the CGCU Exec up to date (approving claims, creating event budgets…). You will be going to CGCU Exec meetings, and potentially to management group meetings with the VPFS. This role will take around an hour or two a week of your time.

The primary role is to schedule and arrange meetings for the CGCU Executive Committee. As Chairman, he/she has to ensure the agreed action points during these meetings being delivered properly. This involves regularly making minutes of each meeting and following up the progress of each Officer.

At the heart of CGCU, the AAO’s role is to solve academic issues and help to improve teaching standards across the Faculty of Engineering, working closely with Dep Reps and Faculty staff. The role also includes constant communication with the Deputy President (Education) to ensure that the Faculty of Engineering is heading in the right direction compared to other Faculties. This role will be great for you if you have had previous experience of student academic representation and now feel keen to widen your perspective from your Department to the entire Faculty. As CGCU AAO you will go to the Faculty Teaching Committee meetings, Faculty Education Committee meetings and Student-Staff departmental meetings each term. In addition to this you will also sit on the Education and Representatives Board, Union Council and the CGCU Exec Committee which meet more frequently.

The Sports Officer role is a fun and enjoyable one. The responsibilities are much lower than when compared to some of the other roles, but this does not mean that people do not take you seriously. You have a say in many of the happenings within the CGCU and you are offered the chance to make a difference. This role is perfect for either a final year who wants to have a say in how the Guilds works, or for a second or third year, who wants some experience before running for a major position within the Guilds.

As Welfare Officer you will represent the non-academic concerns of all undergraduate engineering students, whatever those concerns may be. An understanding of the personal issues faced by students across all sections of the community is important for the role. This should include, but is not limited to: sexual assault and consent issues, sexual health, mental health, perceived pressures/expectations, LGBT+ representation, or any other topical issue arising during your tenure: it’s important to keep your finger on the pulse of what students are concerned about.

The Welfare Officer is an ex-officio member of both the Union Council and of the Community and Welfare Board (CWB). The position carries voting rights on Union Council, and active participation at both positions is one of the key ways you can make a difference to welfare at the college level. To reassure students who may seek advice with personal matters is an important responsibility. Signposting to support services, internal and external, is crucial – you cannot be a counsellor!

Promoting welfare issues to the student body is another key aspect of the role. You have a lot of potential to run a variety of events, but will be limited by time. Consider key campaigns or events you’d like to run, as well as collaborating with the Union’s deputy president (welfare) to maximise lasting positive impact on the college. Everyone loves feel-good events, but a legacy of changing attitudes and cultures is a much more exciting prospect, within the reach of your role!

Don’t be overwhelmed by the wide scope of ‘welfare’! You’ll have a handover, as well as the support of brilliant union staff at your fingertips. Bring your enthusiasm, a never-give-up attitude and believe in the difference small, good actions can make, and you’ll make a great Welfare Officer!

As Deputy Welfare Officer, you will work with the Welfare Officer to represent the non-academic concerns of all undergraduate engineering students, whatever those concerns may be. An understanding of the personal issues faced by students across all sections of the community is important for the role. This should include, but is not limited to: sexual assault and consent issues, sexual health, mental health, perceived pressures/expectations, LGBT+ representation, or any other topical issue arising during your tenure: it’s important to keep your finger on the pulse of what students are concerned about.

While the Welfare Officer must sit on Union Council and the Community and Welfare Board, you will be able to help organise campaigns, events and co-ordinate the CGCU’s welfare strategy.

To reassure students who may seek advice with personal matters is an important responsibility. Signposting to support services, internal and external, is crucial – you cannot be a counsellor!

Promoting welfare issues to the student body is another key aspect of the role. You have a lot of potential to run a variety of events, but will be limited by time. Consider key campaigns or events you’d like to run, as well as collaborating with the Union’s Deputy President (Welfare) to maximise lasting positive impact on the college. Everyone loves feel-good events, but a legacy of changing attitudes and cultures is a much more exciting prospect, within the reach of your role!

Don’t be overwhelmed by the wide scope of ‘welfare’! You’ll have a handover, as well as the support of brilliant union staff at your fingertips. Bring your enthusiasm, a never-give-up attitude and believe in the difference small, good actions can make, and you’ll make a great Deputy Welfare Officer!

The position of CGCU Events Officer is a fun one, your opinions and views are listened to and considered by both the Vice President (Activities) and the President. There are two positions and essentially you are there to help in both organising the events and running them on the night.

The events vary from Freshers’ Fair to the Annual Dinner. It is an exciting role and allows you to get an insight into organising dates, analysing venues, and making the events a success on a budget - all of which are made that much better by being in London, as quite often the options are endless.

The CGCU has a stock pile of regalia. Ties, scarves and other goodies that are being sold online at the Union Shop. The Regalia Officer’s responsibility is to manage the stock level, ship goods, deal with enquires and order new stock. This Officer is required to work closely with the Vice President (Finance & Societies).

RAG Co-ordinator is responsible for liaising with IC RAG. Its job is to create exciting and interesting events for the CGCU and raise money for charity. This is a very important role and will be involved in high profile events such as Prison Break, Lost and mascotry. This year CGCU RAG has been the best it has been for years, and we would like this to continue.

As a mascot bearer, your job is mainly focused on the pride of the CGCU, our mascot Bolt. You’ll be responsible for our much adored 68lb of metal at all of our events. You’ll have to watch out though to stop RSMU and RSCU from stealing our mascots for ransom. There is reciprocal, however, as a bearer and you will also attend the events of the other Constituent Unions to try to steal their mascots to ransom. This is an incredibly fun and social position and requires people of cunning to run for it.

This is not as easy as it sounds as there are always students or alumni from RSMU and RCSU looking to steal our mascots for ransom, therefore you will always have to be vigilant lest we lose the mascots to rival students. There is a reciprocal, however, as a bearer and you also attend the events of the other Constituent Unions to try to steal their mascots to ransom at RAG. This is an incredibly fun and social position and requires people of cunning to run for it.

You’ll be responsible for our other mascot, the Spanner. You’ll work closely with the Bolt Bearer on securing the mascots safety at our events. While its not strictly a requirement be prepared to be taunted by Alumni to lift the Spanner above your head during the BOOMALAKA, no easy feat with it weighing 64lb. You’ll also be involved with all the fun of mascotry, in which you should aim to bring pride and glory to the CGCU.

This is not as easy as it sounds as there are always students or alumni from RSMU and RCSU looking to steal our mascots for ransom, therefore you will always have to be vigilant lest we lose the mascots to rival students. There is a reciprocal, however, as a bearer and you also attend the events of the other Constituent Unions to try to steal their mascots to ransom at RAG. This is an incredibly fun and social position and requires people of cunning to run for it.

The role of the Media & Marketing Officer is to manage and care for the City & Guilds College Union as a brand and identity within Imperial College London. Whether that means maintaining the CGCU’s presence within social networks, producing posters and leaflets or designing the Freshers’ Handbook, this role requires a dash of creativity. So if you think you have the potential to drive the CGCU’s publicity machine and an eye for design then sign up to be next year’s Media and Marketing Officer!

The Webmaster is responsible for the IT side of CGCU. This not only involves a day-to-day role of keeping cgcu.net up to date and maintained, but also the longer term aim of finding and utilising technology to aid the running of the Union.

The CGCU website is in the process of being rewritten this year, using the bootstrap framework with a PHP administration portal. The source code is available at cgcu.net/cgcu/links/github/cgcu-website.

If you have any questions or for more information, the current webmaster, Andrew Hill, can be contacted at guilds@imperial.ac.uk.

Your main responsibilities will be to always be on the search for sponsorship opportunities from corporates for the CGCU and DepSocs. You will also sit on the CGCU Exec and have a key role in decision making. The success of this position is based on your ability to communicate, negotiate and be innovative.