Come and talk to me about... approval panel!

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A handful of regulars have very recently been approved... Would you share your experiences and advice with me please? We're going to panel next week (provided no bumping of slots).

Did anything happen that you weren't expecting?
Did you get asked tough questions?
How did you dress and do you think it mattered?
Is there anything you wish you had known beforehand?

Or just generally, how did it go? :)

Thanks!

Did anything happen that you weren't expecting? - No, it was just as I expected.

Did you get asked tough questions? - No, we had been well-prepared, but did ask about my aged mum, which I was not expecting

How did you dress and do you think it mattered? I wore a smart dress and jacket, it just felt right!

Is there anything you wish you had known beforehand? - That the awful grinding stomach upset would not affect me in the end!

Good luck.

Did anything happen that you weren't expecting? - No.
Did you get asked tough questions? Nothing we weren't prepared for. They only asked me and OH one question each.
How did you dress? Smart casual - think OH was on smart jeans, shirt and jumper.
Is there anything you wish you'd known beforehand? No, our SW had prepared us well.

Anything you weren't expecting: No
Tough Questions: I believe we were only asked one or two questions each, they were fine.
Dress: we both went fairly smart, I was wearing one of my office dresses. I do remember this being something I really wasn't sure about at the time!

Good Luck :)

Did anything happen that you weren't expecting?

Yes - it was a much more pleasant experience than I thought it would be and I actually enjoyed it (yes, really).

Did you get asked tough questions?

No. We were asked how we found the process, what our plans were for work when the children arrived and what we were most looking forward.

How did you dress and do you think it mattered?

Black below the knee skirt, lacy type top (classic, not racy). Carried a jacket in case it was cold. I don't think it mattered a jot.

Is there anything you wish you had known beforehand?

That it really wasn't going to be as bad as I thought it would be. From meeting the panel chair through to getting the decision, it was a very enjoyable experience. The worst bit was waking at 3am on the morning of and not being able to get back to sleep - and the minutes leading up to it. As soon as we met the panel chair/were taken into the room, everything was fine and they really went out of their way to put us at ease.

Good luck

Thanks everyone! Seems I should just relax... can't go wrong with all the good luck wishes on here can it... ;) and so far no-one has mentioned anything surprising sprung onto them... so it will most probably be a straightforward event.

And yet. These people will be deciding on how our lives are to go from here on. Can't help being nervous!

It was much easier than I expected. The only thing that threw me was when they questioned the amount of time is had off work in the last two years and that if had a warning about my attendance levels. I stumbled out a brief explanation of the attendance at work policies and that is had a bit of an unlucky run of things by getting knocked off my bike by a car shortly after a bout of flu which had triggered the warning (all the while mentally planning how much I was going to rip into my manager if this prevented us from being approved. Anyway it turned out that they only asked that because they had nothing else to really ask us and were really happy with us.
I wore a skater dress and a cardi, my standard winter clothing, except I ironed them for the first time in about seven years.
I was really nervous beforehand, and I felt like throwing up before we went in but relaxed very quickly. The panel members were lovely and were even more friendly and happy two months later when we saw the same panel for matching.
Good luck xxxxx