Elections are among the most important exercises SUs carry out each year. How do we make sure we’re looking after candidates that lose?
Election season in SUs is stupid busy, exciting and a fair bit stressful all at once (not just for re-running officers and candidates, there’s loads going on for staff as well!)
It’s the largest democratic exercise unions undertake and makes the sector so special.
Crucially there’s a lot of thought from staff in SUs to best support candidates during elections, from making sure they understand how their election works, preparing candidates with workshops for the election ahead, to giving wellbeing support and advice.
What staff provide for students before and during elections is incredible and the amount of planning, time and energy in elections is immense.
During my time in the sector though, I realised the starkest gap in support for candidates comes at the time they need it most – just after they’ve lost.
SUs are busy places. I know there’s only so much that can be stacked on the endless to-do list, but there are real risks of getting this wrong or simply doing nothing.
When it’s over
At the end of the process, I think there’s three things that it’s crucial that SUs do.
Unless you’re certain they’re fine, speak to them 1-1. Keep runners-up future-focussed.
And make time to speak to them after the election, normalise with all candidates pre-election you want to do this with runners-up.
Elections are tough for candidates, win or lose. We know all too well the pressures on students who are likely to be your election candidates. They are more likely to be in the final year of their degrees when it all gets “serious”, or in crunch-time of postgraduate programmes.
They were just as time-poor as other students before the election and have now given up considerable amounts of what little time they had for an election. The sector-wide barometer of student mental health shows there’s a crisis for students’ mental wellbeing and candidates aren’t immune. And now they’ve just thrown themselves into an incredibly exciting but stressful experience.
In another article on the site talking about the financial challenges officers face, I’ve spoken about the costs candidates are likely to incur while campaigning that simply can’t be covered by the budget your SU might give to candidates for their campaigns.
The maybe overly bleak-sounding scene I’m painting above? These students had lots of reasons to be stressed and now they’ve just spent huge amounts of time, energy and money fighting an election campaign… and they’ve lost. So, what now?
These candidates need to have the support network to deal with the loss.
SUs don’t completely ignore looking after runners-up like this. In the sector we’re good at reviewing and getting feedback and there’s lots of good practice of SUs reaching out to runners-up.
Post election emails asking for feedback on what the candidate experience was like, how the SU can make it better in the future and links to Careers Services and Wellbeing support isn’t the wrong thing to do, but it’s a bit superficial.
It can be a little personally awkward having conversations with runners-up and it takes time but the aftercare we give these students can be life changing and saving.
What’s next?
The last election I saw as an outgoing officer, there was a candidate running for my position who spurred me on to write this. They lost their election, had been in touch with Student Voice colleagues about their wellbeing during the campaign period, and after the dust settled following the results they came into the SU and asked me if I had time to chat.
They had accepted the loss and even shared they felt a little relieved about it all.
What they were troubled about though, was what the future held. They didn’t know what they wanted to do after university and shared they didn’t want to go home in the UK and have to live with their family, even for the short-term.
They spoke about how they loved the idea of working somewhere like an SU and saw being a Sabbatical Officer as an opportunity to stay in an area they loved, doing something that looks cool and not need to go home.
I sat with them for a while and it struck me how common this situation must be. For many students, running in elections is not just about leading their union – it’s a chance to carve out a path for their future, to explore a career they hadn’t considered before, and in some cases, it’s the first time they’ve thrown themselves into something with so much personal investment.
Chatting to the student was an opportunity to help them think about some of the next steps and keep them thinking about how to positively develop their future rather than panicking about what comes next.
They were really interested in marketing and enjoyed the social media part of the election campaigns, so advising them to look at SU and charity comms jobs and showing them where to find them was possibly the best 30 minutes I spent that month. I genuinely helped someone and you could see the relief in their eyes.
As unions we have a real opportunity to step up and support these students. They’ve given so much to their campaigns, put themselves out there, and taken an emotional risk. The least we can do is be there for them afterwards, offering not just a few follow-up emails but genuine, ongoing support.
Some students won’t need you, some might be annoyed you’re trying to chat to them. If they don’t need you that’s totally fine.
This is about meaningfully checking in to make sure.
What does that look like? It’s making time for those who didn’t win, checking in with them personally, and inviting them back into the SU for a conversation or going to them. Chat about their future plans, offer guidance on careers they might be interested in, and share any job openings you know of. We need to be the ones asking if they need references, linking them with our careers services, or even pointing them towards our networks that could help them get their foot in the door somewhere else.
Encourage them to come into the SU to talk about how they’re feeling, face-to-face. Sometimes just having someone listen and offer practical next steps makes all the difference. It doesn’t have to be a formal careers advice session, but a friendly conversation that keeps them future-focused and lets them know that even though they didn’t win, they’re still valued by the SU community.
After all, that’s what we’re here for. We’re more than just the body that organises elections – we’re here to support our members, win or lose. If we only offer support to students mid election, we’re missing out on helping those who could benefit from it the most when they need it most.
We’ve got to remember that for some, losing an election might feel like a failure, but it’s our job to help them see it as a stepping stone, not the end of the road. The aftercare we provide can shape how these students view their futures.
Let’s commit to being there, not just during the campaigns, but afterwards too, with real, meaningful support that helps these students see their futures aren’t ruined after the count.
Insightful and thought provoking.