Mark Andrew

Think you should get more money for doing your job? At times we can all feel undervalued in our job but have you really thought about what you are worth? If your current role is not your dream job – the chances are you could be underperforming. You can’t just expect to get a pay rise without first building a case.  Here’s how to argue getting a pay rise – making your life in London better.

Evidence

Don’t just beg. You need evidence proving you deserve a pay rise. Without the evidence justifying a pay rise, you have little chance in actually getting one. You need concrete evidence to prove you deserve the extra money you are asking for.

Go through your job description and contract – highlight your responsibilities and key tasks and:

1) Prove how you have completed the tasks as expected or even better, how you have performed better than expected.

2) Prove how you have gone beyond the description to deliver – this could be anything from working late to taking on extra tasks.

3) Have you taken on extra responsibility? Taking on extra roles involving managing money or people are great ways to prove you are worth more.

4) Can you prove you have made or saved the company money? – This can include attracting more clients.

If you can prove any of this, you may have a case to ask for a pay rise.

Take on extra responsibility

If you can’t prove any of the above and you still think you should get a pay rise, the only way you can justify it is by actually taking on more responsibility. Asking your employer for more responsibility is a pragmatic approach, even if they can’t offer you more now, ask for more in the future.

Research

There’s no point going into a pitch without understanding the industry standard for salary.  Search for similar job titles – note the responsibilities – if they are similar record the salary. You could also compare jobs within your company that share the same roles and responsibilities.

Timing

Don’t think of asking for a pay rise on a Monday morning or a Friday afternoon. Or, for that matter, when you or your boss are too busy to talk. You need to work out, based on your company’s working practices, when would be the best time to ask for a pay rise.

The results of a poll suggests Wednesday as the most successful day to ask for a pay rise. Remember, rather than just mentioning it in passing to your boss, you need to set up a meeting – when you both have time to address your issues and go through your argument in the detail it fully deserves.

When setting up the meeting to discuss a pay rise, don’t tell your bossthe  purpose of the meeting – to discuss a pay rise – chances are, you’ll get a straight ‘no’ and you’ll miss your opportunity to present you case objectively.  Tell them it’s to discuss personal matters or development.

Use your Brain

If your company has just announced job cuts – it’s obvious that it’s not an appropriate moment to suggest you deserve a pay rise. On the other hand, if  they’ve just announced a huge profit increase, go for it – youll have a much better chance of successfully asking for a pay rise.

Performance Related Pay

You may have worked particularly hard this year but that alone may not justify a pay rise – have you achieved all of your objectives? Have you gone beyond your job description?

You could suggest a performance related bonus or a pay rise subject to greater achievement i.e. if your performance is better than expectations you should get more money. This is a pragmatic approach and your employer should respond to the suggestion well as, rather than just asking for more money, you are actually offering something for it.

How much value are you adding?

Remember when you present your case, it’s got to be about what you can do for company that makes you deserve a pay rise – rather than just I need a pay rise. When you state your case tell the company what they will be getting for their money.

Each point you raise needs to be backed up with facts and stats i.e., according to industry standards you are underpaid or you attracted X amount of new clients resulting in X of sales/profit.

Get your boss on your side

Most probably your direct boss will not have the authority to agree to pay rises. Make sure you present your case to them clearly, in person, backed up with facts and presented in written form.

Get your pitch ready

Gather all of the information you have gathered – industry standard pay, proof doing more than expected etc – into a written and spoken pitch which shows your boss you are worth more money to the company.

Create a written document detailing your main arguments. This will help your case as your boss will need to justify your pay rise with their bosses.

Practice and preparation = perfect interview confidence. Being confident in a job interview means you believe you have the right skills and knowledge for the job. Confidence affects your body language – the employer will pick up on this and, if you lack confidence, they will notice it and begin to doubt whether you have the skills for the job.

Preparation

If you are well prepared you will have interview confidence. Simple. Make sure you prepare, check out these articles Do your Research and Prepare for Interview Questions

Stay in control

It’s understandable that you’ll be a little stressed – but you need to stay in control. Again, the best approach to beat stress in job interviews is by preparing. Preparation allows you to take control of the situation and reduce interview stress because, you  are confident that you know the processes involved, you have done the research, you have a good idea of the questions you will be asked and that you have prepared an excellent set of thoughtful questions which show your intelligence and knowledge.

The interviewer will ask you questions and you’ll need to answer them clearly and calmly. Use breathing techniques, below, to slow your breathing down, making you calmer.

Breathing techniques

If you are prone to panicking when stressed, try these out:

1. Breath in through your nose but out through your mouth
2. Place a candle 30 centimetres from your lips – you can pretend if you don’t have one – and slowly breath in and out making sure you move the flame without blowing it out.

Practice these so when you become stressed during the interview, your interviewer won’t notice it – furtherincreasing your interview confidence.

Ask confident questions

A great example of a question which would make the interviewer think you are confident – without appearing arrogant or cocky – would be to ask something like:

‘Do you mind if I could have a look at where I’d be working?’ or  ‘Could I meet the people I’d be working with?’

If for some reasons the employer were to say ‘no’, simply ask, ‘may I ask why?’ and tell them youd really like the meet your potential colleagues or see the workplace  – this  question further asserts your confidence by demonstrating that you are in control.

Another question which shows you are confident is:

‘Where do we go next from the end of the interview process?’

With this question, again, you’ll take control of the interview professionally.

Negative thoughts

Don’t let the ‘you can’t do it’ voice win. To help change negative thinking check out How To Stop Negative Programming.

You need to have a strong voice in your head that constantly tells you, ‘you can do it!’ Think of a positive person in your life – a friend, a parent or somebody you look up to.

I’ve said this before; confidence is just another skill you can learn. It doesn’t matter if you are not confident you can learn it.  Think of it this way, the employer thinks you have the skills for the job – they believe in you! This is a great thing to think about that should help you be more confident in your job interview.

Practice

Practicing can really help you be confident in an interview. If you have not been to many interviews or are worried, youll be stressed. Try this application You can choose from interviewers in a variety of fields – they’ll ask difficult questions and give you advise you how to answer them. Go through it, pick the interviewers most relevant to your field then choose some one which are not. Once you have spent a liitle time doing this, and youve read our aticle on interview questions, youll be ready for any interview and any questions asked.

Also, practice walking into a room where someone is sitting at a desk – shake their hand. Have you heard of muscle memory? Let me give you an example – your phone rings – how many times do you notice that your hand moves to pick up the phone without you even thinking? This is muscle memory. What you are doing by practising walking into the room and shaking the person’s hand is training your muscles to react – in case you get nervous and forget what to do as soon as you get into the interview room. This makes sure you know what you need to be doing to appear confident.

Want to make more money in London then get a job in London fast? Failing that here are some great ways to make extra money in London while you are planning to get that dream job. Whether it’s dog walking or posing naked for artists, if you have a little spare time you need not be short of money any longer.

1) Market Research

Companies want your opinion.  And you’ll get paid well for giving it. Does getting paid to talk sound good? You have two options:

Face-to-face – where you’ll meet with a small focus group and discuss certain products or services. Sometimes companies also conduct individual interviews. Either way, the pay for this type of market research is generally quite generous. Plus, there absolutely hundreds of market research companies in London meaning there are plenty of chances for you to get involved and make extra money.

Check out: Saros Research

Pay: around £50 for 1-2 hours

Online Surveys – this is the more boring option and you’ll never get the chance to meet people as you do with face-to-face market research. On the plus side, there are loads of websites which offer online surveys. So, if you have a day or two to spare, you can sign up to a few and complete many surveys. Before registering,  check whether the site  is legitimate (Google it) as there have been many scams.

Check Out: Valued Opinions

Pay: Varies – from Amazon vouchers to £80

2) Clinical Trials

Whilst we do not endorse taking part in clinical trials, it can be a great way to make a lot of extra money in London. Generally, taking part in clinical trials is safe as they subject to a lot of regulation. Furthermore, the medicines which are under trial usually go through extensive testing before they are considered safe for human trials. Of course, you may experience side effects as a result of taking part in medical testing – so don’t take it lightly.

Check out: London Clinical Trials

Pay: from £120 – thousands

3) Flyer-ing

As you can imagine, there are a plethora of companies in London that need people constantly to distribute flyers. This can be anything from handing out venue flyers to queues of people or  at events.  You could also distribute newspapers and magazines at tube stations or door to door. Overall, this is a great way to make extra money in London as work is generally on evenings and weekends.

Check out: Impact or Gumtree

Pay: Can be quite good, around £15 a hour (but you need to take in account travel costs)

4) Mystery Shopper

If you have a few hours spare you can make extra money in London by shopping.  Yes, you can get paid for shopping. It’s a little like spying – so can be quite exciting. Mystery shopping involves visiting shops, restaurants and anywhere that involves customer service – all you have to do is use the service and review it. The work can involve a day shopping for designer clothes or eating a meal in restaurant.

Check out: Retail Eyes

Pay:  Varies. Can be as low as £5 an hour. The advantage is that your expenses will be taken care of – so you get to shop for free.

5) Good at Maths?

You can make a decent second income looking after accounts. You don’t really need to be qualified although a Sage course (around £60) would definitely help you get more work. The best way to find work of this nature in London is on Gumtree.com

Check out: Book Keeping

Pay: Varies

6) Auction It!

You can start an eBay business pretty easy. Start by selling some of the things you have around the house that you don’t need. Then use the profits to find a product or products which you know you could sell easily on eBay. Also, consider selling on Amazon.

You could buy broken items that you could then fix and sell. Selling on eBay and Amazon is a great way to make extra money in London – but do your research first before you spend any money.

7) Dog walking

If you love animals and walking through London’s many green space, walking dogs could be a great way for you to earn extra money in London. In terms of experience, all you need is to have owned a dog at some point in your life. Also, to work as a dog walker you’ll have to go through security checks and some agencies prefer you to have your own transport. Flexibility is a must as some clients will require your services weekdays and weekends – a perfect job for someone who works part time or freelance. A note of caution, it won’t be a walk in the park (haha!); you may have to walk up to six dogs at a time.

Check out: Dog Walking Now or Bone Rangers

Pay: about £15 per hour.

8) Modelling   

There’s more to life than stick-thin clothes hangers! Yeah, I went there. There are many different types of modelling. For example, you could earn extra money as an artists model – which involves you taking your clothes off  (not always, but usually) for a group of artists to draw or paint. Unlike other types of modelling, with life drawing it doesn’t matter what body type you have –  artists would draw anyone.

Check out: Register of Artists Models or the fourum on Life Art

Pay: A life model would make about £7-10 an hour.

Of course, if you have the looks,  a great way to earn extra money in London is by becoming a fashion model. Even if you are plus size you can still be a fashion model – many London agencies work with plus-sized models.

Lamode London.You can also find plenty of modelling jobs on Gumtree.

9) TV extras

Another great way to make extra money in London is by becoming a TV or film extra – you can make hundreds of pounds from the right job. It doesn’t matter what you look like or if you have a particular style – chances are a TV or film casting agent will need someone just like you for their production. The only down size is, as you are just supposed to stand in the background, you’ll never meet the stars.

Pay: TV and film extras can expect to make about £80 a day.

You can also find plenty of extras work on Gumtree.

London Extra Agency or UK Screen

10) Police line up

Yes, you can get paid for appearing in police line-ups (when you have to stand in a line and a witness to a crime picks out whom they think is the real criminal). If you have nothing to hide and have a few hours to spare at some point, go down to your local police station and register. Not all stations have ID parades and some have even kept up with 21st century and gone digital.

Pay: £10 for the first hour, £5 for every hour after that.

11) Work at an event

With many football stadiums and huge music venues such as Wembley and the O2, there are usually plenty of opportunities all year round to make extra money as an events steward.

Pay: From minimum wage.

Job is Job

12) Ironing, cleaning, gardening and the rest

These are tasks which busy people tend not to want to do. And there are plenty of busy people who’d rather pay someone to do their ironing, or whatever, for them. What can you do? Cleaning, gardening, baby sitting there’s always someone who is going to need you meaning ther’s always a way to make extra money in London. Post an advert on Gumtree or in your local shop. Otherwise, check out Grapevine.

Pay: Depend on what you are offering. A great way to find out how much to charge is by checking out the competition.

Jobs Grapevine

London is a vibrant, diverse and multicultural hub with a million and one opportunities on every corner. It’s also fiercely competitive, incredibly expensive and hugely over populated, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying what the great city has to offer and finding your dream job.  Expats looking to make the most of their time here and get a job in London fastwill need to be prepared. If you plan on making a trip to London for work, you’ll need to get clued up on what you need to do and how to go about it.

Preparation

When you start thinking about moving to London, it can very easy to get caught up in the excitement of looking at things to do and places to see. But don’t forget you’ll need to plan this first- and fund it! Before you can even think about stepping on the shores of Old’ Blighty, you will need to make sure you’re fully prepared for the complex visa system,  employment rules and mostly importantly make sure you will get a job in London. Preparation is the key and you will need to make sure everything is in order for your arrival.  If you’ve decided to move to London to boost your career or start one there are a number of things you will need to think about.

Much like a New Year’s resolution list you might high hopes for living in London but will need to be realistic about what you want to do, how possible it is and the time frame you want to do this in. This could mean getting more qualifications and studying in London first to increase your job prospects or taking a lower position to work your way up the career ladder. Whatever your skills and circumstances, getting a job in London can be much easier and quicker if you have clear aims and goals. Job hunting is tough, now more so than ever in this economic climate, but that doesn’t mean jobs are not out there.  UK Employment figures reached a new high in the beginning of 2013 with the employment rate hitting the highest level since records began in 1971.

But, before you can be one of the millions of people working in London, you need to think about what kind of job you want to do. Consider whether you like working in an office environment or if you want to be outdoors, maybe you would like a role that’s more active and practical or one that involves data and analysis. By putting all your job thoughts down on paper, not only could this help  to give you a clearer picture of what you want to do but it also brings you one step closer to getting a job in London.

Do I need a visa and what type?

If you are coming to the UK from overseas to study, visit or work you might need a visa. Visits usually involve coming to the UK for up to six months. However, if you want to work, either paid or unpaid in that time you will need a work visa. It’s incredibly important that you get the right visa-without one it your whole London life could be uprooted, your trip cancelled or worse you could be deported.

Which work visa do I need?

There are several different types of work visa designed for different circumstances and skills.   For example, entrepreneurs, investors and ‘exceptionally talented’ people  can apply for a work visa without needing a job offer first, but they still need to pass the UK points test which looks at your knowledge  of  life the UK, according to the UK Boarder Agency. This is known as a Tier 1 visa.

If you have been offered a job and a UK based employer is going to sponsor you, you can apply to enter the country on a work visa as a skilled worker. You would apply under a Tier 2 visa application. The amount of personal savings you must have to support your application has increased from £800 to £900 for applications made after 14th June 2012. If you’re coming to London to do temporary work, you will need to apply for a work permit under a Tier 5 visa. You must have job offer from a licensed sponsor to apply for it and pass the point system.  For example, if you’re coming over from outside the European Union area to do voluntary/paid charity work in London, you will need a Tier 5 visa.

European nationals or Swiss nationals do not need permission from the UK Boarder Agency to live and work in the UK. They can however, along with Bulgarian and Romanian nationals, apply for a registration certificate rather than a visa which confirms your right of residence in the UK under European law.
If you have lived here for more than five years, you can then apply for a document certifying permanent residence. All European Economic Area and Swiss nationals can apply for a registration certificate at any time and can do this online.

Tier 1 visas

The Tier 1 (General) visa allows highly skilled expats to look for work in the UK and self employment opportunities as well. You cannot apply for this visa if you live outside of the UK. This is for highly skilled workers looking to extend their current stay in the UK.

Even if you are a migrant who is already here, you might not be able to apply. This is the part where it gets complicated because even if you qualify under the specific rules to apply, other reasons like your previous immigration history could see your visa application being refused.

You can apply to have the Tier 1 visa extended if you are one of the following: a highly skilled migrant worked, already on a highly skilled migrant programmer looking to be transferred to Tier 1. A writer, composer or artist, self employed lawyer or come under the Tier 1 General category. In order to meet the Tier 1 visa requirements you must obtain a set number of points. The point system is devised of different categories and you will have to gain a number of points in each one.

The point system

The points system is broken down into the following categories: age, qualification, previous earnings and experience in the UK. You will also be asked about your English language ability and if you have enough money to support yourself whilst in the UK.  The points based calculator will then reveal the possible point you might have scored.  Points are based on the meeting requirements of each section.

You must have a minimum total point score of 95 to continuing staying in the UK under a Tier 1 visa. You will need a total point score of 100 to be eligible for another visa type. When applying for a visa, you will need to provide all the important documents asked of you and in the right format.

Get a job in London fast

Once you’ve got your visa sorted and permission granted you’re on your way to landing that London job- all you need to do now is find it!

One of the first things to think about when looking for jobs is knowing where to look, exactly what you want to do or what kind of industry you would like to get involved. If you are not fussy about the work you do then you could find a job a lot faster. Either way, opportunities are out there and all you have to do is grab them. This could mean going the extra mile and being prepared to take on almost any role, not being afraid to ask about vacancies or sell yourself to potential employers.

There are a number of different job boards, recruitment agencies, newspapers, companies and online communities which list vacancies. And, of course, going into local businesses and shops and seeing what work is available also helps.
Before you can apply for a job you will need to brush up your CV and make it relevant to each company you apply for. CV’s are vital and allow employers to see your skills and previous employment record to see if you are a suitable candidate. Your CV or job application will be one of the first points of contact that your potential employee will have so it has to be up-to-date and make a good first impression. Find out how to create the perfect CV here and find tips and hints on writing cover letters here.

Who should I talk to about getting a job in London fast?

Wherever you’re from, whatever your background or level of qualification when it comes down to it, having the right contacts can really make or break your career. This rule still applies if you want to get a job in London fast. One of the best ways of improving your employment search is by simply having a contact in the industry or company you want to work for.
One of the best things you could do before leaving your home country is see what contacts you have in the UK or London. Someone you know might be able to put you in touch with someone they know and so eventually you could find a contact that could help propel your career in the city.

Not only that , but by knowing someone in London, they could house you until you find your feet, help point you in the right direction for finding a job or help you get to grips with British culture and life.

What could happen if I can’t find the job I want?

Finding work in the capital city can be very difficult for some. Skilled expats with degrees and qualifications could become frustrated if they cannot find work in the field they are specialist in. Many face taking odd jobs or roles they are over qualified for just to make ends meet which can make living in London extremely difficult, both financially and emotionally.

On the other hand, this can also work out really well. Working a job that isn’t necessarily your dream role could help buy you time to find one you have a passion for. You can also use the time to make new contacts, getting a feel for working life in the city and try something different if you don’t know what career path to take.

I’ve got a job! But what are my legal rights as a foreign employee in the UK?

Congratulations, you’ve secured a job in London! Whilst it can be exciting to know that you’re either on your way to stepping up the career ladder or just found a way to support your London lifestyle,  it is important that you know your employment rights so you’re not being mistreated.

For example, in the UK it is discriminatory to fire someone or even not hire them  because  of their race, age, sex, disability,  sexual orientation,  religious beliefs  or because you work part time. Under the basic statutory rights, by law you have the right to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) if you are over the age of 16.But, people living & working within families such as nannies and au pairs are not entitled to the NMW. Those who are self employed are also not entitled to the NMW, according to the Citizens Advice Bureau.

If you work for an agency the laws are very different and expats could be affected. Under new European rules, the rights temporary agency workers have in the UK increased in 2011. There are an estimated 1.4 million agency workers in the UK and they now have the right to paid holiday, no unlawful deductions from wages, protection under health and safety laws and the same access to shared areas and services other employees get such as access to a canteen, car parking, a workplace crèche or a prayer room, providing the employer offers these.

Armed with these tips and hints youll be sure to get a job in London fast.

Employers in London are increasingly using assessment centres to choose between different candidates. One element becoming more and more common is the group exercise. This can often feel like the scariest part of an entire interview process, because you are being assessed alongside your competition. But you have nothing to worry about if you follow the seven simple steps to success below.

I also recommend checking out these great new2london articles: Interview confidence and Interview preparation

The group exercise can take many forms, from a role-play project to building a tower made out of newspaper. Most likely, your team will be given a role-play with accompanying information and a clear outcome for an imaginary project or decision. Whatever the specific requirements, group exercises tend to share the same features so heres how to excel:

Be a team player

One of the most impressive things you can do in a group exercise is to facilitate others becoming more involved. There are certain boxes that the interviewer will be looking to tick and having a positive influence on your team will be central. A piece of crucial evidence that the interviewer will look for is whether you can bring others into the discussion. An easy way to involve others is to choose the person who has spoken the least after five minutes and give them a chance to contribute by saying something like, Alex, what do you think of that? It is excellent to do this kind of thing throughout the exercise, but doing it just once is a million times better than not doing it at all. The interviewer will then be able to evidence you being a great team player who can bring more out of other people and this helps to show you have leadership potential.

One trick aspect of many group exercises is an evaluation stage that you need to go through afterwards. Some companies will incorporate a debrief into their group exercise, either written or with an assessor, where you discuss your own performance and also the performance of the team. You may even be asked to critique another team members strengths and weaknesses. Remember: be a team player. You must remain very positive about your colleagues here; it is a good idea to suggest at least a couple of positives for every negative that you provide. But the interviewers do want to see that you can identify areas of development in other people and not just yourself because this shows you have the potential to manage others. Your interviewer will be impressed if you can offer sensitive but accurate suggestions of how your fellow interviewees could build on their performance.

Be personable

Be as friendly and positive as possible throughout the interview process, and especially within the group exercise. Make sure that you remember the names of your fellow interviewees because this makes it far easier to build rapport with them. Interviewees will normally be wearing nametags during an assessment centre but it is best to avoid needing to scan these during the actual exercise, when you have enough to concentrate on. If you get a chance to speak to people earlier in the day then do start learning names then; once youre comfortable with the names of your team members it will be far easy to involve them and present yourself as personable within the exercise.

This is an important competency that the group interview is designed to test. Do you sometimes struggle to remember names? Try the following: Alliteration, rhyme and other wordplay can be great ways to remember a name. If Ricky is wearing a red shirt them remember red Ricky and if it is Ted who is wearing one, Red Ted. Linking to a visual like this is also an effective way to jog your memory. Repetition is a brilliant way to remember things. Repeat names back straight away, for instance by saying nice to meet you Paul. If you think you will struggle to recall the name, continue to repeat in your head.

Write down the names of team members down if you are in a meeting. You can do this in the shape of the seating plan to make recall even quicker. Writing aids memory because you are processing the information with a different part of your brain and so giving yourself an extra route to remembering. Presence is also crucial. We often dont remember things because we werent actually listening in the first place. It is easy to get distracted during an interview and worry about what you just said, or how your tie is done up, or how you will approach the next task. Nothing will help your interview performance more than learning to be in the moment and actually hearing what people are saying. You need to be clear and concise in your contributions during the group exercise. Every unnecessary word is stopping a team-member from making a contribution and so interviewers will not look kindly on waffle.

Open body language, a smile and good eye contact will go a long way to putting your team at ease and impressing the assessors, who want to see that you have the basic social skills necessary to build work relationships. Start smart- Start the task with purpose and you will be confident throughout so think about the kind of contributions you will be able to make early on. Group exercises normally involve dealing with a lot of information within a relatively short space of time, perhaps as little as fifteen or twenty minutes. So whatever the specifics of the project it is a very good idea to clarify the task with the rest of the team (say something like, so to be clear, we are aiming to…) and agree on a basic plan of approach. Your approach might involve generating ideas together first or, more typically, spending a few minutes reading through information and making notes individually before coming together as a group.

Everyone in the group will be looking to make a good first impression, and this kind of purposeful contribution at the start will quickly show some leadership. Equally, dont get carried away if you find yourself in a group of people who are trying to dominate the start of the exercise. If several interviewees are trying to jump in with contributions about how the task should be approached then be the calming voice that mediates between them and suggests a practical decision. People often dread this kind of scenario and yet it is the perfect chance to make a good first impression on the assessors. If your main aim is to help the team get along then you will succeed whatever your fellow interviewees are like.

Take on a role

Another great tip for success in the group exercise is to take on a role within your team. There may be certain roles that are specific to the task, but there are more general ones you can always take on. Timekeeping for the team is effective way to show leadership. Dont just tell the time randomly like a toddler who has just learned to read a watch; remind the group that there are only ten minutes left and they still need to agree on product ideas and come up with a marketing plan. Again, you are helping the team to perform. Note-taking for the group, whether on paper or a whiteboard, is another common way to contribute and appear prominent.

It is very important to realise that some roles carry dangers with them. Taking notes is a good example of this. I was once in a group exercise and took on the note-taking role. I found myself contributing to the discussion less because I was busy writing down notes; fortunately I realised this in time. Ive heard several stories of candidates who made very few contributions in a group because they took on a designated role like note-taking and became distracted by it. This mistake is a common pitfall but should in no way stop you from taking on responsibilities in the team. If you can avoid getting distracted then your multitasking skills will impress the assessors. When done correctly these kinds of roles show that you have initiative and can manage different tasks, which are very valuable skills in any industry.

Offer ideas

In a group exercise it is crucial that you provide ideas and show that you can think creatively. This may seem daunting if you do not consider yourself to be an ideas person but there are lot of ways you can contribute suggestions and take the discussion forward. The interviewers will be impressed if you can think of innovative and creative solutions for your team, but you certainly dont need to reinvent the wheel with zany contributions. Some group exercises will give different information to each candidate or a couple of different sources that dont initially appear connected. In this case being creative will involve making links between the information in a way that someone else in the group has not yet done. If you develop basic commercial awareness by reading the business sections of newspapers, you will come across lots of ideas that might be relevant in a group exercise.

Many corporate assessment centres, within industries ranging from law to consulting, include exercises where you plan a project with your team. Suggestions such as using social media to promote the product are almost always relevant. The interviewers want to see that you can think of sensible ideas and you will be more than capable of that.

Dont be too loud or too quiet

Its great to stand out in a group exercise, but only for the right reasons. You should not be the quietest person in the group. It is probably a good idea not to be the loudest person in the group either. If you are ticking one competency a lot then try to vary your contributions and show other skills. For instance, you may have facilitated others really well but not come up with many of your own suggestions. Or you may have come up with lots of great ideas but not really showed any leadership in structuring the discussion. Balance your contributions and this will allow you to show all of the skills that the interview wants to see. One way to make sure you are ticking all the boxes is to reflect on what kind of contributions you make the most when you are in group discussions, at work or even in your social circle.

Contributions within a group typically fall into the following categories: 1. Making a new suggestion. 2. Supporting someone elses suggestion. 3. Clarifying and summarising. 4. Opposing someone elses suggestion. Which of these do you tend to do the most?

Suggesting new ideas is excellent and we have seen how this can show your creative side. But remember that timing is everything. New ideas need to be relevant to the current strand of discussion otherwise the team can become sidetracked. Suggesting an idea at the right point in the conversation is as important as the idea itself. Supporting someone elses suggestion is a good way to build rapport and it shows the interviewers that you can promote a positive dynamic. But if you do this too often it can appear as if youre not helping to progress the discussion at all. Equally, opposing someone elses idea can be a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

You should not agree with team members simply because you are trying to appear friendly; a company would lose a lot of money if their employees all did this. However you need to be very tactful when disagreeing with your team members. This is typically the type of contribution you want to make the least because it breaks rapport and can appear aggressive. If the interviewers think that your counterpoints were not accurate or relevant then you will lose credibility with them. But opposition can be the most impressive kind of contribution if done respectfully and with a positive demeanour.

Be adaptable

Group exercises often follow very similar formats but there are some key differences that may be included. For instance, one common format is that the company gives each of you different information and a different viewpoint to defend. Think to yourself, why are they doing this? The employer wants to see if you can defend a particular interest whilst still working for the benefit of the team. So stand up for your viewpoint but if there is a more viable alternative then be willing to back down and support it. If you have made your case but the rest of the team is clearly siding with a different idea, then you will gain nothing from pursuing an argument. Remember that group exercises rarely have a right answer, and so it is your ability to work with others that is most important here.