A new board for the Haaga-Helia’s Student Union Helga will be elected by the Representative Council at its organization meeting on Thursday the 24th of November 2021. Are you the right person to lead the student union next year?
Helga’s operates in four different teams: Advocacy, Community, Support and Communication. These four teams form the ordinary operations of Helga. The board members are divided evenly to the teams. The Student Union has four full time employees which support the board’s operations: the executive director and three specialists, one for each team.
Advocacy team represents students in Haaga-Helia’s different work groups trying to improve the quality of education and students’ wellbeing in the university. This work is done through regular meetings with the people working with UAS management as well as various stakeholders, such as political youth and student organizations. The team carries out advocacy activities both locally and nationally.
Community team duties include organizing and coordinating tutoring and events. Additionally, all activities related to the community and student participation opportunities and their continuous development. The Community team is also responsible for club activities and our international action groups IDS and ESN.
Support team plans and does member services as well as develops administration support. The support team includes all those processes and activities that are not directly under Advocacy, Community, or Communication. Such processes include Helga Point and the products, cooperation agreements, product orders, and campus godparenting.
Communication team’s tasks include making Splash newsletters, maintaining website, implementing a communication strategy, promoting brand visibility, designing and producing marketing materials, developing communications, updating and maintaining Helga presentations, and communicating Helga’s operations with process managers.
Even though the board divides into teams that have their own processes to handle, the work is done together. Many of the processes such as tutor training, spring and fall freshmen party, and orientation week demand participation from the entire board. The board is a collective that is responsible for all operations together. Good communication skills and the creating a community spirit are vital to ensuring a successful year and division of the workload.
Being on the board demands a lot of time from every board member. The chairperson of the board is expected to work full-time, and the vice chairperson of the board is expected to work at least half-time. The board members work part-time, but sometimes are required to work more hours. When needed or during rush periods, the whole board works full-time. Because of the workload, fitting in the board, studying and working all into one’s schedule is very challenging. The board is a working organization, which is why everyone gets a monthly monetary compensation. The purpose of the compensation is to allow the board members to focus on Helga work so that they don’t have to have a job, in addition to studying and being on the board. The amount of monetary compensation will be approved by the Representative Council during the Fall meeting on November 16, 2021. If the work done falls short of expectations, the compensation or a part of it can be denied. The workload is evaluated on at least a monthly basis.
Being on the board does not require any prior experience and all board members will receive a thorough training for their duties. A genuine will to work and common sense is enough! Being on the board broadens your network, teaches you about project management, performance skills, and how to use many different office tools and working in nonprofits. In addition to this, you get to learn about educational politics and social politics, event coordination, corporate collaborations and volunteering.
The board’s term is the calendar year of 2022, the training period for the new board will take place on 16th to 17th of December and January 3rd to 5th. If you’re applying for the board, please make sure you’re available during the training period. The orientation will continue at the beginning of the term.
You can apply for the board by sending a free-form application and if you want, your CV, to edustajisto2023@helga.fi or by standing as candidate at the Representative Council organization meeting. Remember to tell in your application which position you’re applying for, chairperson, vice chairperson or board member. All applicants are expected to be at the representative council’s organization meeting on 24th of November 2021 at 1 p.m in Haaga-Helia’s Pasila campus’ Helia-auditorium. In the meeting you get to introduce yourself, and the council members will ask further questions that test your fit.
