Experience

York St John Students' Union

• United Kingdom
• Political Organizations
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Advice and Representation Coordinator

  • Sep 2019 - Present

  The Advice and Representation Coordinator role is part of the wider Student Opportunities team. My role is broadly split into two parts. The first includes democracy and representation; I oversee the academic rep system at the university and hire an academic rep support assistant to help with the operational aspects. I organise the rep elections and train the reps at the beginning of the academic year. I also work closely with the full time and part time officers in facilitating the work they do and ensure it gains the publicity it should within the university and beyond. I help prepare and brief the officers for meetings within the university.The second part of my role is offering academic advice. This primarily involves assisting students with appeals against termination of studies, academic misconduct, unfair grades and complaints against the university. The number of appeals are growing and I am keen to develop the advice service in the future.



National Union of Students (UK)

• United Kingdom
• Non-profit Organizations
• 1 - 100 Employee

• NUS Higher Education Zone Committee

  • Oct 2017 - Jun 2018

  I was elected along with a select few Education Officers nationally to sit on National Union of Students Higher Education Zone Committee. The role of the committee was to hold the Vice President of Higher Education to account and to draft policy towards the Spring national conference. One of the highlights of the work I did on the committee was the challenge to tackle the BME attainment gap in British Universities. Working in conjunction with the NUS Black Students Officer and the rest of the committee policy was drafted, lobbied for and ultimately accepted with regards to addressing the shocking attainment gap.

• NUS Delegate

  • Mar 2018 - Mar 2018

  I was elected by my peers as a delegate to the annual National Union of Students Conference in Glasgow. Along with another 8 of my university colleagues, I was elected to represent the views of 35,000 students at my University at the NUS National Conference focusing on pertinent issues affecting students. These included the marketisation of education, the problems of counselling cuts within universities and the challenges of Brexit towards the student body. As a sabbatical officer, I was the delegate lead and ensured that the Leeds delegates were settled and comfortable and would vote in line with Leeds University Union policy when required.



Leeds University Union

• United Kingdom
• Higher Education
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Education Officer

  • Jul 2017 - Jun 2018

  In my role as elected Education Officer at Leeds University Union, I represented, lobbied and acted as an advocate for over 35,000 students at the University of Leeds in all matters relating to their education. Elected on a set of manifesto promises, I championed the student voice and focussed on enhancing the student experience. My overall vision for the year was to ensure students enjoyed a holistic educational experience. Student Education should no longer revolve around results but how instead how to prepare students for life beyond graduation - whatever that may be. I view education as fundamentally taking place just as much outside the classroom as inside it and my work on improving personal tuition and lobbying for a diversification of assessment methods reflects this.I played a crucial role in liaising daily with the Senior Leadership Team, CEO, and my fellow elected officers by providing strategic oversight of the £12 million charitable organisation, as well as leading a team of over 60 School Reps, ensuring the student voice was heard on all degree programmes.DUTIES:Strategy, Governance and Finances- I was a trustee of LUU and would scrutinise its finances and ensure it fulfilled its legal aims as a charity. - I played a crucial role in the data collation, analysis and subsequent post analysis work streams in preparation for a new strategic plan for 2018 - 2022. Social Media and Communications- Utilising social media (Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat) as a brand ambassador for promotion of events and manifesto progress, as well as writing articles and providing quotes for the media outlets (both local and national).Recruitment- Interviewing and hiring of new staff for Leeds University Union.Mediation- I have acted as part of an independent committee and managed difficult decisions regarding student appeals within the Student Union.Professional Training- Delivery of training and presentations in conferences to colleagues.



Pinsent Masons

• United Kingdom
• Law Practice
• 700 & Above Employee

• Vacation Placement

  • Jul 2017 - Jul 2017

  I spent two weeks at Pinsent Masons which gave me a real insight into life as a trainee solicitor at an international commercial law firm.I was involved in client meetings, drafted documents for court, undertook legal research on leasehold estates and freehold estates and had the opportunity to feedback and present to the property law team on my activities. Due to my interest in the Higher Education Sector, I had the opportunity to attend legal providers for Higher Education Institutions conference in Huddersfield with a Senior Associate where the it became particularly clear how law firms offered expert commercial as well as legal advice to universities and how the would respond to the rising challenges of the sector including Brexit and the Teaching Excellence Framework.I had the opportunity to attend numerous networking and social events put on by the firm, including a YPM event delivered by Richard Foley, Senior Partner of Pinsent Masons on 'building your own brand' which reiterated just how important a USP is to anyone; individual or employer.



Blavatnik School of Government

• United Kingdom
• Higher Education
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Research Intern

  • Jul 2016 - Jul 2016

  I was involved in a research project jointly commissioned by the University of Oxford and the University of California on researching the experiences of refugees in various cities in the UK including London, Leicester, Sheffield and Bradford; cities with large migrant and refugee diasporas.The role involved arranging focus groups and surveying different groups on their thoughts of life in the UK and being creative in our approach to data collection. As a native Arabic speaker, I relied heavily on my skills within the language to make inroads with various groups who would otherwise have been difficult to reach.



Hollister Co.

• United States
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Sales Associate

  • Nov 2015 - Jul 2016

  As a sales associate, I have gained a multitude of useful transferrable skills which would prepare me well for various challenges. The importance of outstanding customer service was amongst the most important things I learnt and I picked up the skill of how to tactfully deal with customer complaints which aided both my communication and problem solving skills. During the Christmas period in particular it was peak season so I was amongst a team who were working under pressure to ensure that the company made sufficient profits during the busiest times. Amongst the most crucial skills I honed were those of my commercial awareness. Working for an international company with branches worldwide and playing a part in its profits, I was able to see how a fast paced business operates first hand. Ensuring that we were continuously making sales, with the clothing that we stocked and being proactive in the market setting trends, as well as maintaining our immaculate customer service went a long way to achieving elite worldwide status as a clothing company.



ITV

• United Kingdom
• Broadcast Media Production and Distribution
• 700 & Above Employee

• Intern at ITV

  • Jun 2016 - Jun 2016

  During the build-up to the 2016 EU Referendum I had the opportunity to spend two weeks at ITV Calendar and shadow producers and journalists as well as cameramen. It was a fascinating opprtunity; I gained a real insight into the operations of a newsroom as the UK was about to make such a momentous decision about its future relationship with the EU.



University of Leeds

• United Kingdom
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Student Ambassador

  • Feb 2015 - Jul 2015

  As a Student Ambassador I was responsible for working with a team of students convincing students and their parents that the University of Leeds was the right choice for them. My role included presenting to students which improved my public speaking skills as well as making prospective students feel at ease with their surroundings and able to ask any questions they may have had. With the team I delegated responsibilities with first years normally spending more time speaking to prospective students and students with different experiences (like a year abroad for example) presenting so in this way working to everyone's strengths.



Bradford Arabic School

• Teacher Assistant

  • Sep 2012 - Jul 2013

  I have previously held a part time job as a teacher assistant at Bradford Arabic School working with the GCSE class. As part of my role, I worked closely with the teacher to plan lessons during the year and ensure that the syllabus was completely covered in good time to plan for revision during the last few weeks. As teacher assistant, I also had the responsibility of making sure that all the children were progressing at roughly the same rate so there would be no real disparity between them which meant that I would sit one to one individually with the students who were struggling and try to bring them up to speed. I would encourage them and try and instil confidence in their abilities whilst trying to motivate them too. Thankfully the year was a success; from the five students who took the GCSE Arabic exam all five passed with two achieving A* grades, two achieving A grades and one achieving a B grade. This was an outstanding accomplishment considering the fact that none of these children were native Arabic speakers and this was done by an intensive once a week class on a Sunday (as well as homework during the week). I have experience working with young people at a school and ensuring that lesson planning is done and solving real issues with young people who could not access support away from class but were still successful in their exams.