The Guild is, and always has been, a meritocracy. Those who do the most work, add the most value to the society, and best serve our members and peers, are rewarded most. We take our responsibility very seriously: it was this framework coupled with our diligence and care that resulted in the Guild becoming a hugely successful society in just four years since its re-launch in 2011 and the largest careers society in the UK. Our ambition, dedication, and subsequent results have been repeatedly acknowledged through regional and national awards, and in national and international press (over 100 countries in the past calendar year). These achievements stem from the values we instil in our committee and unique system, which provides excellent training, education, guidance and encouragement to successive generations of Guild committee members from experienced committee members from our board who wrote our constitution and which includes former Chairpeople, Presidents, founders, and senior committee members who went above and beyond in their time on committee. None of what the Guild has achieved and continues to achieve would be possible otherwise. Most importantly, year on year, people reiterate the role that the Guild played in their development – not just in terms of their careers, securing internships, jobs (not just their first graduate role but beyond as well), but the connections they developed and the important skills and lessons they learnt and as a result, volunteer large amounts of their time and energy to the Guild. In ‘giving back’ many of our alumni and former committee have helped in any way they can in a wide range of areas: providing guidance and advice, making introductions, helping to provide funding and sponsorship, or returning to campus to share their own experiences or as representatives of their firms at events (from specific talks, to the champagne social). The city is filled with Guild alumni, many of whom are influential business figures; accordingly, we received nominations for the best alumni engagement award in the national RBS ESSA awards two years ago and our strong alumni network continues to improve even further in terms of people in industry. With over 100 committee members and representatives serving across each year and countless more alumni and board members continuing to engage with current students, the Guild is not only a meritocracy that provides a vital service to our members, but it is a community that extends far beyond any small number of individuals.
Our over-arching goal is to help Oxford students and graduates with their careers and personal networks. Crucially, our aim does not, and has never, extended to committee politicking, popularity contest elections, or providing an opportunity for CV filling. In order to best serve our members, we interview all our recruits who have to apply with CVs and cover letters for roles. We select and reward people on merit, who have demonstrated tangible results, shown real hard work and long-term vision, rather than just a desire for CV points. Indeed, such continued dedication is appreciated by many employers looking for evidence of ability and commitment when hiring. It is a pity that some individuals looking for quick CV scoring may find our preference for proven ability and contribution through hard work amongst committee members abhorrent to their own self-interests. Many of the individuals that recently left did not fit this profile: some had only been members for a couple of weeks, some were former members that were no longer active (not attending committee meetings or events, missing enough to lead to automatic resignation), others were members that were frustrated at missing out on promotions which they sought, but which their lack of proven contribution, performance and commitment did not justify or merit. Despite their apparent claims about their hard work and contributions, it is interesting that some took the liberty to erroneously give themselves inflated and in some cases false titles and roles that do not even exist. We were baffled to hear that all the people boasting of work on sponsorship had not in fact spoken to a single sponsor let alone raise any money. Those in question include individuals who wanted Presidency and Vice-Presidency roles but were not up to the right standard for these important positions, and some whose tenures on committee were due to come to an end this term. The only thing that has been ‘counterproductive’, to quote their words, is their own agendas in dishonourably seeking to promote themselves and their own venture through unfounded and petty criticism of the Guild. The fact that this small faction of individuals involved have staged this to promote their own organisation which they wish to set up in this way and sent this to Cherwell well in advance of sending it to us but never raised any concerns whatsoever or discussed any issues internally before behaving in this manner clearly shows their malice and insincerity. Having helped many of these juniors with their CVs, cover letters and internship applications, we wish them the best with this and with their own organisation that they have sought to promote in this dishonourable manner and genuinely hope that this kind of backhanded behaviour and tactics are not values that they wish to have as foundations for their futures or organisations.
The Guild goes far beyond any small number of individuals in serving as Oxford’s largest society. We have the biggest committee in Oxford and our best and most promising talent are very actively involved. Moving forward, our board continues to be key to our success whether it is to do with suggesting ideas for growth and long-term strategy, coming back to offer talks to the next generation, attending the Guild’s networking events, or providing mentoring to committee members. Just last weekend the Guild won the Innovation of the Year prize and runner up prize for Event of the Year in the Oxford University Student Union Student Awards 2016. The Guild was also recently a finalist in the national best university society awards run by RMP, runner-up in their national Society Showcase awards, and has been positively featured in the past few months in The Times, the Financial Times, The Telegraph, the BBC, the Chinese press, Indian press and South American press amongst other news outlets from print and online to radio and TV (over 1,000 in over 100 countries in the past year). The Guild has many exciting events, initiatives, innovations and developments lined up soon and we will continue our rapid growth and nationally recognised successes. We will continue to work harder than any organisation to ensure as many people as possible can develop skills and achieve their career goals and broaden our reach and impact even further and benefit as many different people with varying interests as possible. We have received more applications in the past week and this term than in any Hilary Term ever before from people wanting to contribute to this goal. We encourage members to attend a series of special events and initiatives in the coming months to mark our five year anniversary since the relaunch and our strongest ever position, size and reach.
