h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Back in the days of applying to Univerisitys, I was lugging around my Record Of Achivement file, this was meant to be a summery of what I have achived at school (hence the name). All the departments at my school added their comment. I had to remove one page though bcause Brentwood County High School's PE staff were rather lazy and (computer) illerate, so everybody had the same thing.

Jonathan was well motived and .... and also represented the school in atheltics.

Now imagine the interview having read this, sees a waddling 13st kid lumber in. They wouldn't belive a single thing the rest of the school had written.

I made a fuss about this, and since I had represented the school at rugby, and played represative Basketball and Football within the school, they could have mentioned this. Having to remove the page also meant that I had to lose other complimentary comments from other teachers.

I used to carry that around too but no one ever asked for it. Eventually it went mouldy under my bed (in our fetid previous flat) so went the way of the bin. That's how much use it was.....

I just use my RoA to keep results printouts in, that's the only use I found for it.

The plastic inserts in my ROA ripped all the type off the pages that were in it. I was particularly fed-up as I had put some certificates in and a nice letter I had got from someone. I ended up cutting the pages out and using them as plastic wallets with the documents still stuck inside them.

I had to show mine at my college interview and I will take it to the job interview I have on Monday so they can be useful! Not everyone looks at them, but it is worth doing a good one!

My first boss (after uni) suggested creating one of these books but using work-related items. I am a PA & I've found it particularly useful for actually showing people that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to my computer skills - it contains screen prints of Access databases I've built & presentations, (as opposed to just talking about it, which could be blagging). It also has some items relating to my hobbies / degree including letters I've had published in specialist publications.

I find it useful as it acts a prompt for me and gives the interviewer something to look at. Maybe it means you stand out as a bit different. Even if it's only a prop for me, it seems to help.

Good idea. The woman who interviewed me on Monday actually looked at it properly and asked me questions about it, I was quite surprised.

It's definately worth putting the effort in, it can pay dividends, leading to questions that you can answer well (I explained to my interviewer about h2g2 which she read about in my RoA)which created a good impression, it being a BBC site. It can allow them to ask more about your personal life and get a better idea of how you'd fit in with the company, and it gives you a chance to show off a bit (not too much though...)