I applied, and they hired me, after I had only been in the UK for a few weeks Hi! My name is Gwyneth. I am an international student from Canada studying an MSc in Biotechnology. More importantly, though, I am one of many student ambassadors here at the University of Edinburgh. I found the student ambassador job on MyCareer Hub (a platform that advertises both on and off-campus jobs, among other things like events) when I had just moved to Edinburgh and was starting my degree. As a student ambassador, I have had the opportunity to represent the university and engage in a wide variety of roles, while meeting and developing lasting relationships with other ambassadors. Most frequently, I lead campus tours for prospective students and their families, and even the occasional tourist interested in the university, but not in studying. I have especially loved giving tours because it has taught me more about our historic campus (did you know that Teviot Row House is the oldest students’ union building in the world). In addition to campus tours, I have assisted during in-person and online open days, helped at conferences, wrote this blog, and even got paid to attend a career development session. Other cool opportunities for ambassadors include social media content creation and participating in photo and video shoots. There is truly a wide variety of work you can get involved with as an ambassador that will suit your interests. You will also receive specific training for various roles, allowing you to develop key skills to highlight on your CV and future job applications. For instance, giving tours demonstrates public speaking skills, providing back-end support during online open days demonstrates tech skills, and writing blog posts demonstrates written communication skills. The list truly goes on and on, however, above all, working part time as a student will help highlight your excellent time management and organizational skills. If you are looking for a flexible job while studying at the University of Edinburgh, I could not recommend applying to become a new member of the student ambassador team enough! There are no minimum weekly hour requirements, making it easy to work around your busy class schedule. Also, don’t be deterred if you are a new student or even new to the UK and don’t think you know enough about the university, academics, or student life yet to be a successful candidate. I applied, and they hired me, after I had only been in the UK for a few weeks and truly knew next to nothing about anything, I didn’t even know how many years a typical undergraduate degree in Scotland was until I started giving tours! Gwyneth, Student Ambassador 2022-2023 This article was published on 2024-07-22
