Do's

• Turn up early - One of the worst things you can do for a job interview is turn up late. It gives a bad impression. Plan your journey in advance and aim to arrive about 10 to 15 minutes earlier than your interview time
• Be Prepared - Spend time researching the company and the job you're applying for, understand what the company does and what part you'd play in meeting their objectives. If you're asked to bring a portfolio, or examples of work, make sure you have them ready and neatly presented. Take a spare copy of your CV too, in case they ask for it.
• Dress Appropriately - You don't need to purchase a suit and wear it if you're going for a job in a shop. Find out what style of clothes the shop sells, and wear something that reflects their style, whilst still makes you look smart and presentable. If you're going for a job in an office, then a suit a good option, or you could wear a smart dress and a cardigan. Avoiding turning up in jeans and trainers. It's better to overdress than underdress.
• Be Polite - Say 'please' and 'thank you', refer to the interviewers as 'Mr' or 'Ms' or 'Miss' unless your asked to call them by their first names. 
• Ask Questions - Interviewers normally give you a chance at the end to ask some questions about the job or the company. Asking something shows you're taking an interest. Come up with a few before your interview so you have something to say. A good one is asking about future development opportunities. Where as asking 'what's the salary' isn't normally a good question to start with as you can come across as too money focused.
• Positive Mental Attitude - PMA is vital during an interview, you'll come across a lot more confident and give better answers if you think positively.
• Sell Yourself - An interview is your chance to sell yourself. Talk about your experiences, your strengths, your plans, your aspirations. But remember, no one is perfect, and that includes you. Mention some areas for development or some of your weaknesses.

Dont's

• Go Off Topic  - When you're asked a question, make sure you answer it. Don't go off on an tangent avoid telling them what they want to hear
• Show Too Much Skin  - Unless you're applying for a job where showing off your body is a part of your daily role, be conservative in how you dress. You don't want to give of the wrong impression
• Play With Your Hair - It shows your nervous. This goes with any type of fidgeting. Be aware of what your body is doing and try to control your nervous habits.
• Moan About Your Current Job - If you're planning on leaving a job for your current job and you're asked why you want to leave, don't be negative and moan about the job/your boss/the company, no matter how bad it is. 
• Be Too Familiar - Even if you know the person interviewing you, make sure you keep it professional. Don't be over familiar with the person and start telling them stories or chat to them like they're your best friend.
• Lie - Lies always get found out. It's not worth it.
• Stress - Easier said then done, but don't stress about an interview. You can only do your best. Take a few deep breaths and relax. Don't over think it, don't worry and show them why they need you in their company.

Sarah x

8 Tips for Surviving Exam Day

I've lost count of how many exams I've done in my life, and as I get myself ready for my next one I thought I'd share with everyone my eight simple tips for surviving exam day.

1 - Pack your bag the night before

To avoid a last minute rush, and risk forgetting something important, pack your bag the night before. You may only need to take a pen with you, but the last thing you want is to get up on the morning of the exam and not be able to find a working pen.

Here's what I've packed into my bag in case you're struggling to think of what you might need:

From top left to bottom right : Purse (so I can pay to park my car), ID (so I can prove I'm me), pencil case (to keep everything together), revision cards (for last minute refreshers if I think I need them), Exam Entry Form (so that I can sit my exam), Erasers and Pencil, Highlighters, Glasses, Pens (Always take a spare, just in case), Ruler, Calculators x 2 (I once had a calculator stop working on me in the middle of an exam, since then I always take two).

A bottle of water is also a good addition to your bag.

2 - Set your alarm

Sleeping in on the morning of an exam is one of my biggest fear, so I always have at least 3 alarms set. You may only need one to get you out of bed but if you often sleep in, you may want to consider more than one.

3 - Have an early night

Going into an exam tired isn't a good starting point. Have an early night to make sure you're refreshed and ready for the big day. If you worry too, the earlier you go to bed the better, you're more likely to fall asleep at a reasonable time rather than being awake until the early hours of the morning.

4 - Arrive early

Give yourself enough time to get to the exam room. If you have to get a bus, take a train, or drive, factor in for traffic or things running late. Aim to be there at least ten minutes early so you can go to the toilet, find your seat and get settled before you start.

5 - Relax

This is easier said than done, but do try and relax. Take a few deep breaths before opening the paper to settle yourself before you start. If you start the exam panicking you might miss something important in a question or rush and make a very simple mistake.

6 - Read the question carefully

If you're rushing or panicked there's a chance you might mis-read the question and answer it the way you think you should and not the way they're asking. I've done this so many times in practice questions. It's easily done and you do risk loosing marks for it. Take two seconds longer to have a second read of the question.

7 - Don't panic

Again, easier said than done. If you see something you don't understand, don't panic just spend a minute trying to think of an answer, if you can't move on and come back to it. If you still can't figure it out just write down something, a guess has a higher chance of being right than writing nothing does.

8 - Try not to overthink what just happened

When you've finished the exam try not to overthink it. Don't walk out and start questioning yourself, you'll only make the wait between sitting the exam and getting the result torture. You did your best and that's all you could do.

Good luck to you all for your exams, hope this helps! I'm going to follow my own advice now and go for an early night.

Sarah x

Study Tips

It’s that time of year again where a lot of people end up locked in a room, forcing themselves to study. I’m one of those people. But after being in this position for over 9 years now, I’ve learnt a few tips and want to help those out there who may be struggling.

Work out a timetable

If you know the dates of your exams use this as a starting point to work out how many days/weeks/months you’ve got to revise. Then budget this time out to cover all the topics in the exam. Try not to leave everything till the last minute, cram revision doesn’t suit everyone and may make you panic more than prepare you.

Just remember not to push yourself too hard and budget for breaks, exercise, making food, seeing friends etc. Yes you may have to cut back on fun time for a little while to make sure you pass, but don’t cut all the fun out of your diary. 

Find the right time/surroundings to revise

Some people revise better first thing in the morning, some last thing at night. Some prefer silence, whereas some people prefer some background noise. No two people are alike so find what suits you. If you’re uncomfortable or there are too many distractions you would work as hard as you may need to.

I can’t revise unless I’m fully awake, feel clean (I have to shower and wash my hair to be comfortable), have the TV/radio on in the background, and have put my phone on silent and removed it from the area I’m in. If I’m doing paper revision I remove my laptop too so I don’t get distracted. When I was at uni and was struggling to keep myself concentrated on my assignments I ended up blocking all non-educational sites from my website.

Make notes

Start by making notes of the key facts/points/formulas you need to remember. Spider diagrams are a great way to do this. Don’t worry if on your first attempt at looking at a topic you write down hundreds of key points. Writing things down is more likely to make things stick in your mind than just reading it. Over time test yourself to see how many of the key points you can remember, re-write the ones you can’t remember and repeat the process. They should all be memorable after a few attempts.

Highlighters are a great way of adding more depth to your notes, colour coding related points or topics and making extra important stuff easy to spot.

Practice with past papers

Many exam boards provide past papers and there answers for students to look out. If you can get access to some use these to familiarise yourself with how questions are written and what the exam answers are you’ll be more relaxed and confident on the day. You may even be lucky and find some of the exam questions you’ve practiced come up again.

I’ve found with some of my accountancy exams that the questions given to me in the college textbooks are completely different in the way they’re structured and what they ask for to what the exam board questions are. For one of my last exams I didn’t look at any past exams, only used college books and was panicking because I thought they were really hard and I was convinced I was going to fail. On the day, the exam questions were much more comfortable to work from and I ended up passing.

Food and drink 

Like anything, it’s important to keep your body energised and hydrated whilst you’re studying. Avoid eating a big meal and studying at the same time. Use your lunch/dinner times as a break time, but keep by you a bowl of fruit, or sweets that you can munch on as and when you feel the need. Make sure you remember to keep drinking water too. 

Ask for help

If you don’t understand something, don’t suffer in silence. Ask for help. It doesn’t have to be your teacher, ask your friends or family if they can help. Check out forums online to see if there’s anyone else having similar problems. If you’re really struggling see if you can find a personal tutor to explain things.

I’ve found that some of my accountancy exams didn’t make sense when I tried to work it out myself, or when my college teacher explained it. My boss sat me down one day and taught me the theory, applied it to something I was doing it in my job and all of a sudden I understood it completely. Sometimes a new voice telling you something is all you need. 

Relax

I must admit, I’m the worst person for doing this, but it’s important not to panic. The more you panic the more stressed you’ll become. Take a few deep breaths whenever you feel yourself getting worked up, walk away from what you’re doing if you have to, and just remember it’s pointless getting stressed.

From my experience, being stressed tends to make you less likely to remember things and preoccupies your mind in the exam making it harder to find the information you need. It can also lead to a very negative outlook before you’ve even sat the exam, which doesn’t help.

It can be hard to remain positive and relaxed if you’re a natural born worrier, like I am. But just remind yourself why you’re doing this and how good you’ll feel when it’s all over.

Good luck all, I hope it does well.