Economics and Finance Society: Welfare Officer

Hello EFS members,

I’m Tristan Wong, a second-year Economics student running to be your Welfare Officer.

As the current Vice President of Business at EFS and Secretary of the UCL Museum Society, I’ve organised events across both career-focused and hobby-based societies, bringing together students across a wide range of disciplines. Within EFS, I’ve helped organise events such as the McKinsey Analyst-led Case Study Walkthrough and hosting the UK Investment Competition at UCL, where ensuring students felt comfortable participating, asking questions, and engaging with speakers was just as important as the technical content itself.

For many students, EFS is their first introduction to finance and networking, which can feel intimidating at first. That’s why welfare is so important: creating an environment where people feel welcomed, confident attending events, to allow students to build meaningful connections.

Having worked closely with the current committee, my priorities going forward:

Community – Organise more varied and frequent socials (finance pub quizzes, golf socials, hikes) to help members build friendships beyond formal networking events.

Connection – Encourage post-event socials and smaller group meetups after speaker events so members can connect with each other and committee members.

Inclusivity – Ensure members feel comfortable attending talks and socials by fostering an open and supportive environment where students feel confident asking questions and meeting new people.

UCL can be a pressure cooker. Between the cut-throat nature of internship applications and the constant "LinkedIn-glare" of others' successes, it’s easy to feel like you’re only as valuable as your next offer from a top-tier firm. I’m standing for Welfare Officer because I’ve seen too many of us sacrifice our mental health for a CV, feeling like we’re the only ones struggling to keep up.

Last year, I hit a wall. I was balancing a heavy workload with the relentless cycle of HireVues and technical prep, and I felt like admitting I was burnt out was a sign of weakness in such a competitive field. It wasn’t. But it took me a long time to realize that most of us are feeling the exact same "imposter syndrome" behind the polished professional personas. I realized that while our society is incredible for career placement, we’ve neglected the "human" cost of the grind.

This gap is where I want to step in.  I want to build a tangible support network that acknowledges our specific industry pressures. Whether it’s the high-stakes anxiety of a final-round interview or the isolation of the library during a 16-hour day, nobody should feel like they’re navigating it alone. My focus will be on creating regular ‘Off-the-Clock’ socials—spaces where the only requirement is to leave the "finance talk" at the door.

I want to change the narrative from "surviving" the recruitment cycle to actually supporting each other through it. My goal is to build a community where we truly look out for each other.