Archive for the 'Student Union/Politics' Category

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In the news again

Published on 13 August 2005 in Internet and Student Union/Politics. 0 Comments

My last few days as President of Imperial College Union saw a flurry of media activity in the aftermath of the London bombings.

First, the Guardian’s Education supplement got all excited about universities allegedly being infested with Al-Qaeda brainwashers.

Then Peter Taylor’s documentary, “the new Al-Qaeda: jihad.com” was aired on prime time on the BBC. Apparently I featured on this for one minute explaining that actually universities aren’t that infested with Al-Qaeda brianwashers. I say “apparently” because I didn’t actually see the programme. I’d forgotten about it (my interview was filmed in March/April time) and it didn’t click that this was the same documentary until people started sending me text messages to remind me that I needed a hair cut back then! I’ve heard mixed reports as to how I came across and how my words were used though it seems the programme did not portray Babar Ahmad in a very positive light. I shal reserve judgement until after I have seen a copy.

The day after Taylor’s documentary was broadcast, the Washington Post’s Eurpean bureau in Berlin got in touch me. They later ran another less than friendly piece on Babar.

And then, on a lighter note, Josh got into a hissy-fit about Imperial College invoking the right to award degrees under its own title (as opposed to degrees awarded, at present, in the name of the University of London). None of the other KCLSU sabbaticals seemed to care but Josh decided to send emails left, right and centre across the University and media circles. Unsurprisingly, only the Guardian were really interested who some how managed to turn one overly dramatic article into two!

Anyway, it’s unlikely you’ll be hearing much more about me in the near-future. I’m no longer in a political position and, in many ways, that feels rather nice! Though I expect I’ll be back, at some point.

DoC Ummah

Published on 30 June 2005 in Student Union/Politics. 0 Comments

A blast from the past… I received the following email today. 

On 6/29/05, Omar Ahmed  wrote:
> 
> 
> Salaams all! A rare opportunity to be reunited, through a website that took
> the mick over 4 years ago, and probably still holds well today?

 :)  
> 
> http://www.mozster.com/doc_ummah/> 
> Forward on to anyone who may have been missed insh'Allah.

The email above (and the DoC Ummah web page referenced) will make sense to you if you fulfil all of the following criteria:

  1. You are a member of the Department of Computing (DoC) at Imperial College and are familiar with their online photo database of all students since c. 1997 (I think, I can’t check any more since I am no longer a member and do not have a login). Yes, the site has been redesigned since then so anyone who joined DoC after c. 2003 may not recognise the page format.
  2. You were a DoC member of the ICU Islamic Society, at the time, or otherwise knew the cohort in question.

Just in case you are wondering, ummah is an Arabic word for which there is an entry in the online Islamic Glossary.

I’m back

Published on 3 May 2004 in Journal and Student Union/Politics. 1 Comment

My first article on Live! for over a year has just been published. I’m finding it difficult to believe it’s been so long – given that I helped found the site and at one time was posting 2-3 articles a week…

Ah well. Click through to my indignant repost to criticism of the 2004 ICU Summer Ball if you are in the mood.

Job interviews are torture

Published on 23 April 2004 in Student Union/Politics. 0 Comments

Interviews can be a nightmarish experience. Up until this year my main experience of them had been as a candidate. Even then, I’d not been through a formal interview/assessment process for some time. (Most of my jobs in the last few years I’ve managed to get through referrals / networking with interviews that can be described as “informal” at best).

So, it was a bit of a culture-shock for me to act as an interviewer for new staff when I became President of Imperial College Union. My arrival in office co-incided with the departure of several long-serving members of staff (not related, I think…) and so I’ve actually been involved in quite a few interviews. This still didn’t quite prepare me, I don’t think for the somewhat hellish task of recruiting a new Union Manager.

It would not be an understatement to say that recruiting the new Union Manager will probably be one of the biggest tasks I undertake whilst in office. The person who is hired will have a major influence in the development (or not) of the Union over the next five to ten years. And whilst I am involving a number of my fellow student officers in the process, as well as external advisers, it is ultimately my responsibility to get it right.

We held our first round interviews yesterday. Going through the shortlisting had been bad enough. That’s not to say that the day went badly. It actually wen’t quite well. However, the thing I find really difficult is giving feedback to candidates afterwards when I call to let them know that they are not being invited to a second interview. I don’t really like telephones – I find them too impersonal and much harder to get my message across. Of course, it’s difficult for the candidates too. At the end of the day it’s their future at stake and they are convinced that they are right for the job. It’s difficult to deal with someone who wants to keep telling you about how good they are and can’t accept they are not going to get a second interview.

What’s worse is dealing with the subjectivity. We try to make recruitment somewhat scientific. Candidates are assessed against a published job description and person specification. There are a standard set of (initial) interview questions to ensure that everyone is explored in the same way. To a limited extent, scoring is possible. However, to a large extent the decision is going to be made on instinct. Is this person going to ‘fit’ in the organisation? Are they going to be able to work with my team? If the answer is no, how do you get across those judgements, fairly, in a way that gives them useful feedback.

I’m not sure I know the answer. But I think I’ve just learnt that when I’m tired is a bad time to try.