FROM THE SECURE ROOM: Starting Out in Exams

[00:00:16] Right, so today we're going to talk about your experience of starting out as an exams officer.

[00:00:24] So John, do you want to tell the listeners, we have touched on this before, but a little bit about how you ended up as an exams officer.

[00:00:29] Because it wasn't, let's say, planned.

[00:00:31] No, no. A common theme of our conversations with other exams officers as well is that most people have come into the role by accident.

[00:00:39] So no one set out planning to be an exams officer. We've had the odd person maybe who kind of knew what...

[00:00:45] Who knew what the role was?

[00:00:46] Who knew what they were getting themselves in for. But I think most people who've taken on the role don't know what they're getting themselves in for.

[00:00:54] And it can come as something of a shock when you do actually find out.

[00:00:59] So yeah, so I kind of fell into it a bit by accident.

[00:01:05] I mean completely?

[00:01:06] Yeah, completely by accident.

[00:01:08] We were living in London and I was working at London Bridge doing something completely different.

[00:01:18] I was working in...

[00:01:19] I got a job in a school in Bryson.

[00:01:21] You did, yeah.

[00:01:22] So we sort of moved down here.

[00:01:23] Yeah, I was working in communications in a job in central London.

[00:01:29] And you got a job in Bryson and initially you were commuting to Bryson, weren't you?

[00:01:35] I mean...

[00:01:35] Which involves you getting up at some ungodly hour.

[00:01:38] It was crazy, yeah.

[00:01:38] So we thought a better solution to this would be...

[00:01:41] And because you were working in a school, like you couldn't be late. There was no like...

[00:01:45] I had SOT meetings at 7.30 in the morning.

[00:01:48] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we decided, right, we need to move to Bryson and then I can get the train every day.

[00:01:53] I worked at London Bridge so it was just direct train line up to where I worked.

[00:01:58] And we do that.

[00:01:59] So we moved, we started doing it.

[00:02:02] And the job I was working in I didn't really like.

[00:02:05] And the journey, anyone who's ever done that train journey, it's not a long one, but it is constantly kind of messed up.

[00:02:13] Like trains are running.

[00:02:14] And you had a really hilly walk at the end of it.

[00:02:16] Yeah, yeah.

[00:02:16] After a long day.

[00:02:17] And I found myself like, you know, leaving the house at like kind of six in the morning,

[00:02:21] not getting home until after eight o'clock in the evening.

[00:02:24] And I just thought this isn't really that much of a life, you know.

[00:02:27] And so I did the foolish thing, which you should never do kids, of quitting my job without having a job.

[00:02:37] So, and you were delighted about that.

[00:02:39] I was delighted because also we were only temporarily moving to Brighton as well, wasn't we?

[00:02:43] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:02:44] But suddenly, yeah, you'd quit a job.

[00:02:47] And you didn't actually tell me about this job, did you?

[00:02:49] I didn't tell you I'd applied for it.

[00:02:51] No, all the interviews.

[00:02:52] I think you were kind of quietly like, what the hell are you doing?

[00:02:55] What are you playing at?

[00:02:56] I remember you sitting me down in a Greek restaurant in Brighton and saying, I've got a new job.

[00:03:01] Yeah.

[00:03:01] And I was like, what is it?

[00:03:02] And you were like, exams officer.

[00:03:04] And obviously, I was working to school as I knew what that was.

[00:03:06] But you'd obviously never expressed any interest in being an exams officer.

[00:03:10] And one thing that's interesting about Brighton is like, Brighton is like London in that it's really expensive.

[00:03:18] But it's not like London in that it doesn't have loads of jobs to apply for.

[00:03:21] No.

[00:03:22] So I was just constantly all the time, like looking on the council jobs board and things like that, just looking for anything that came up.

[00:03:30] And this job came up at the school I work at now.

[00:03:33] And so I went and I'm really, I was just going, you know, honestly, because I hadn't had an interview in a while.

[00:03:40] And I was just like, I need to go and give this a go.

[00:03:42] I'm not, I don't have any experience.

[00:03:44] I don't know anything about this.

[00:03:46] I've worked in a school.

[00:03:47] So, you know, maybe.

[00:03:48] And you liked working in school.

[00:03:50] Yeah.

[00:03:50] But I was like, I think it's really unlikely I'm going to get this job.

[00:03:53] So I went in, I interviewed for the job.

[00:03:59] And I think actually, if I remember this correctly, I may be wrong here, but I think I interviewed for the exams assistant role.

[00:04:08] I think you did.

[00:04:09] Yeah.

[00:04:12] And as it turned out, they didn't have anybody, I think, who'd ever been an exams officer or applied for the exams officer role.

[00:04:18] And I think probably of the people who interviewed for the exams assistant role, I did the best job of the interview.

[00:04:27] And so I got offered the exams officer job, which, you know, I wasn't expecting to get the exams assistant job, I don't think.

[00:04:34] So when they offered me the exams officer job, I was like, OK, cool.

[00:04:37] That sounds good.

[00:04:38] And so, yeah, so I took it and then I got thrown into this world.

[00:04:43] But you loved it, didn't you?

[00:04:44] Instantly, you loved being in the school.

[00:04:45] I think so.

[00:04:46] I mean, I have a memory of like being about like around about the first half term and like nearly having a breakdown because I was like, I can't do this.

[00:04:56] It's mad.

[00:04:57] It's insane how much work this is.

[00:04:59] I mean, how many years ago was that now?

[00:05:01] So that was in 2011.

[00:05:04] So it was September 2011 that I started.

[00:05:07] And it was different back then.

[00:05:10] So there were modular exams.

[00:05:11] There were a lot more exams to sort out.

[00:05:13] So, yeah.

[00:05:15] And there were controlled assessments in schools as well, which I was in charge of.

[00:05:19] And obviously mock exams too.

[00:05:22] And then all the different modular exams.

[00:05:24] We had a big sixth form at the time as well, which we don't now.

[00:05:27] So it was a huge task.

[00:05:29] It was a huge job.

[00:05:30] And also, so they recruited me as the exams officer and also then they recruited an exams assistant as well.

[00:05:38] And she was brand new too.

[00:05:40] She'd never done it before either.

[00:05:41] She was great though.

[00:05:41] Which was great in a way because although maybe it would have been nice for one of us to have some experience, we were both in the same boat.

[00:05:48] And we were both quite determined to do this thing well.

[00:05:52] And I think there is a bit of thing of like when people are expecting you to fail, it gives you that sort of like, right, we'll show them kind of thing.

[00:06:01] But I'm sure what, you know, the team that interviewed you, they were just looking for people who, you know, were committed, had energy, you know, and would give it a go.

[00:06:12] Yeah, I mean, I think like most things, you know, it's not like you have to have been an examiner for exams officer for 10 years to be able to do it.

[00:06:20] I think like, I think a lot of things are like this if we're all brutally honest about it, that if you have the right kind of attitude and you're willing to learn, then there are lots of jobs that people can pick up and they can develop, you know, good skills out quite quickly.

[00:06:37] And it's such an important job, isn't it?

[00:06:38] So yeah, yeah. And you feel like it's important, like you feel like I can't, I can't mess about here.

[00:06:44] I do remember you being very overwhelmed by it. Like, oh my God, you were very like white as a sheet.

[00:06:50] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:06:51] But you loved it. I do remember you being instantly like, yeah, this is mad.

[00:06:55] I think as well, I'd worked in jobs before that where I never really saw kind of tangible that tangible kind of outcome from what I was doing.

[00:07:03] Whereas I think with exams, you really see it like you're really like, right, I need to, I'm going to do this job.

[00:07:11] And when this job is done, it's going to have this outcome.

[00:07:14] And I'm going to see that I'm going to get that feedback fairly instantly.

[00:07:17] And if I've organized it well, then it will run well.

[00:07:19] And if I've organized it poorly, it will run poorly.

[00:07:22] So did anyone give you any advice on, were there structures in place?

[00:07:26] Because there wasn't anything.

[00:07:27] No, I mean, I obviously picked up, I inherited stuff from my predecessor, but they'd only been in the job for a year.

[00:07:34] The turnover is via exams officers is high.

[00:07:36] Yeah.

[00:07:37] So, and I think she'd done a really good job, but she had only been in it for a year.

[00:07:42] So I inherited, you know, the sort of systems that she had in place.

[00:07:46] But you were able to design it.

[00:07:47] We changed some of them, we kept some of them.

[00:07:50] And some of them I probably didn't change for like four or five years until I sort of realized, oh, you know, like actually there might be a more efficient way of doing this.

[00:08:00] So, yeah, so it was kind of overwhelming.

[00:08:04] The other thing is that the first ever exam season that we ran, which was November 2011, for about three weeks in the school, the entire, and this doesn't, I don't think you hear about this happening in schools very often now.

[00:08:17] But it was a thing back then, is that the entire basically school network went down.

[00:08:24] So there were no IT systems at all.

[00:08:27] And what we had to do was do everything manually.

[00:08:31] Like, and we had like, you know, 190 kids sitting science exams and stuff like that when they used to do modular science exams in November.

[00:08:40] But it was actually, I think, in retrospect, a really good experience because what it showed us was that we could do it.

[00:08:48] Like, even if everything was sort of like loaded against us being able to do it, we could do it.

[00:08:54] We could pull it off and we can make it work.

[00:08:56] And I think that from that point on, we had a lot more confidence.

[00:09:02] And we also, I think, had a lot more trust as well from kind of senior management and stuff that we were able to take this job on and tackle it properly.

[00:09:12] Cope under pressure as well.

[00:09:13] Cope under pressure, yeah.

[00:09:15] And to be honest, I sort of surprised myself as well.

[00:09:19] I don't think I would have, before that, would have said that I was someone who coped necessarily that well under pressure.

[00:09:27] But there's something about the job which means that I do, where I hadn't maybe necessarily in like other circumstances before.

[00:09:34] I don't know really what that is.

[00:09:37] But I do find that I'm able to remain relatively calm when I'm running exams, you know, at the odd day like everyone does.

[00:09:46] But like on the whole.

[00:09:47] What mistakes did you make though?

[00:09:49] Being new to exams, there must have been a few howlers in the first year or so.

[00:09:54] I remember one exam where we hadn't checked whether or not students were allowed calculators.

[00:09:59] And our school is one of those schools a little bit where we sort of, we tend to supply equipment for the students.

[00:10:07] There's a good reason for doing that, which is it's not about spoon feeding.

[00:10:11] It's about ensuring that everyone's compliant with the rules.

[00:10:13] Yeah.

[00:10:14] And also it eases the burden on invigilators if they're not having to check everyone's calculator and that sort of thing to make sure that they fit the regulations.

[00:10:22] But we, I remember like we got everything out.

[00:10:27] We were ready to go.

[00:10:27] Papers were there and being distributed and whatever.

[00:10:30] And it was like literally about five minutes before the exam was about to start.

[00:10:34] And someone looked at the paper and like this paper needs calculators.

[00:10:38] And that was the first time where I'd ever had one of those moments of like, oh, and I've had plenty of them since where it's like, oh, crap.

[00:10:45] You know, there's so much you have to remember.

[00:10:47] You've got to remember to look at all these different things.

[00:10:49] And I remember it was just like running around like mad.

[00:10:52] Well, no, we did have a store.

[00:10:54] But then it's like getting them out, getting them out to everyone in all the access rooms and stuff like that, getting them handed out.

[00:11:00] But everyone's like going mad, mad, mad, mad, mad panic right before our first ever public exam.

[00:11:05] It's really unsettling with the kids, isn't it?

[00:11:06] Very unsettling.

[00:11:07] And obviously then the invigilators, this is the first time they've run exams with us.

[00:11:11] They're looking at us a bit like, come on, what's going on here?

[00:11:13] So that was hard.

[00:11:15] But again, you know, things like that, you learn and you learn to check everything.

[00:11:18] And now obviously, you know, I make sure that I always am checking these things very thoroughly.

[00:11:22] Trust the battle of your team, doesn't it, as well?

[00:11:24] Yeah.

[00:11:24] How everyone copes.

[00:11:25] You get to see how everyone works together.

[00:11:27] Exactly, exactly.

[00:11:28] And obviously, like when you start as well, you're inheriting a team of invigilators.

[00:11:34] We've talked about, you know, recruiting invigilators and things.

[00:11:37] But you inherit a team.

[00:11:39] I remember my first ever meeting with them, like being incredibly nervous before that.

[00:11:46] Because you're like, you're just introducing yourself to like 30 strangers, all of whom were at that time, you know, I was in my, well, I just about turned 30, I think.

[00:11:56] So I was young compared to all of them.

[00:11:59] And all of a sudden, you're like, you're right, I'm in charge of you guys, you know, and I've never done this job before.

[00:12:06] And I haven't been in the exam room since I did my exam.

[00:12:08] Exactly.

[00:12:10] And so I remember being really, really nervous about that.

[00:12:14] But again, Jules, who was my assistant at the time, she was really, really supportive in helping me prepare that meeting and taking care of, you know, a lot of the admin and things like that.

[00:12:28] So that I could just focus on, like presenting and talking to people and stuff.

[00:12:34] And I was very lucky to inherit, you know, a really, really good team.

[00:12:39] But, you know, it was difficult as well.

[00:12:41] There were some people who, you know, who either were not that happy with what had gone before and were expecting me to sort it out.

[00:12:47] Or, you know, like were unsure about me and that kind of thing.

[00:12:55] So there's a lot to take on when you start.

[00:12:58] There's a lot to take on.

[00:13:00] What would your top tips be then for a new exams officer coming into the role if they've not worked in exams before?

[00:13:06] I think it would be to not sit in your office too much because you've got a lot to get your head around.

[00:13:13] It must be tempting when you need to learn so much of the technical stuff.

[00:13:16] You've got so much to learn.

[00:13:17] Yeah.

[00:13:17] And you've got to learn how to use, you know, you've got to learn all the technicalities of like, you know, how do I make entries?

[00:13:24] How do I seat students?

[00:13:26] How do I do all the organizational stuff?

[00:13:29] But I think what you come to learn is that you are like one function within a big organization.

[00:13:38] And you have to sort of coexist with all the other things that are going on in the school.

[00:13:42] And so you have to, I think, get yourself out there early on and sort of try and make some relationships with kind of like heads of subjects, senior leaders, people working in support staff roles.

[00:14:00] Like, you know, like the site manager is going to be one of your most important people, for example.

[00:14:05] You know, you need to have a good relationship with the site manager because they're going to be setting up all the desks potentially for you and things like that.

[00:14:12] Organizing the exam venue, row two and things like that.

[00:14:15] So it's really important to get out there.

[00:14:18] I remember my line manager at the time, who's now actually the head teacher.

[00:14:23] He asked me, like, in my first week to come to, like, they had a big meeting of all the heads of subjects.

[00:14:30] And he asked me to come and present to them about the kind of the upcoming year in exams.

[00:14:39] So to talk through, you know, mock exams and when we're going to do my entries and bear in mind, I'd been in the job for about three days when he asked me to do this.

[00:14:47] And I didn't have a clue about anything.

[00:14:49] And and at the time I was like, oh, why has he asked me to do this?

[00:14:53] But actually, in retrospect, it was a really good thing to do because it meant that everybody, you know, within that group of middle leaders knew who I was.

[00:15:03] And they knew that even if I didn't know everything, that was trying.

[00:15:07] And I was, you know, I, you know, that I would be there to try and give them information if they needed it.

[00:15:14] And, you know, I was open to working with them and that kind of thing.

[00:15:18] Um, so as difficult as I think it is when you're starting off, like, um, just to trust that people won't, you know, kind of.

[00:15:27] Well, it's in everyone's benefit, isn't it?

[00:15:29] That you do your job well.

[00:15:31] Yeah.

[00:15:31] And also one thing you should remember is that we've talked about it a lot in this podcast is that a lot of people don't really know what you do.

[00:15:37] So it's not like everyone's going to be there sitting there going, oh, this person doesn't know what they're doing because they don't know what you're meant to be doing.

[00:15:43] They just want the exams to happen.

[00:15:45] Yeah.

[00:15:45] Um, so, um, so I think, yeah, making, making relationships with people, um, and getting yourself out there so that people know who you are.

[00:15:55] Yeah.

[00:15:55] Um, I think in the long run that really helps you to, to do your job effectively.

[00:16:00] So, so I'll definitely, definitely recommend that.

[00:16:03] But you'd had a bit of a varied career before, uh, you became an exams officer, which we've covered in a previous episode.

[00:16:09] Um, but what do you think, which of those roles really helped you being an exams officer?

[00:16:17] Oh, well, I, I think possibly they all did to some degree.

[00:16:24] Um, I think that, um, one of, one of the things that I had, uh, skills that I developed through probably all of the jobs that I did was communicate effective communication.

[00:16:34] So both written, um, and interpersonal communication.

[00:16:38] So, um, one job I did, um, was as a special needs case worker.

[00:16:44] So I was writing the equivalent of what are now EHCPs.

[00:16:47] Yeah.

[00:16:47] So that, yeah, you have to communicate very clearly, effectively and sensitively in that area.

[00:16:53] And you had to deal with a lot of different stakeholders in that role, didn't you as well?

[00:16:56] Yeah.

[00:16:57] Yeah.

[00:16:57] Yeah.

[00:16:57] Yeah.

[00:16:58] Um, and, um, I'd also worked in communications as well.

[00:17:03] So, um, for a, um, kind of government organization, worked in communications as well.

[00:17:10] So, um, I think that, um, while I didn't necessarily want to work in that area, I think that I probably gained valuable skills from that in terms of, um, of presenting information clearly to people and concisely.

[00:17:27] And also, um, understanding the value of like making relationships with people and how that can, um, have a positive impact on how you deliver your, your job.

[00:17:38] Um, so, um, yeah.

[00:17:41] And what about working as a TA?

[00:17:42] Because you're a TA in a school.

[00:17:43] That's why I thought when you, when you started working as an exams officer, I did think, oh, you'll probably like a lot of this because you really loved being a TA in a school.

[00:17:52] Yeah, I did.

[00:17:52] What was transferable about that?

[00:17:54] That must have been quite helpful.

[00:17:55] Yeah, I think, I think it was.

[00:17:56] I mean, firstly, you understand how schools operate.

[00:17:58] Yeah.

[00:17:59] Um, so.

[00:18:00] Not to be underestimated.

[00:18:01] No, it really isn't.

[00:18:02] I mean, I think a lot of people get shocked.

[00:18:04] Like people who switch into working schools, whether it's in admin role or, or as a teacher, like that you, um, the, the, the, the very specific kinds of environment.

[00:18:14] They are.

[00:18:15] And they're not really replicated anywhere else.

[00:18:17] I don't think.

[00:18:17] No, I don't think so.

[00:18:18] Um, and so I think they take a real kind of, um, they take a bit of time to, to wrap your head around.

[00:18:24] So I'd sort of already had that experience a little bit.

[00:18:26] And obviously I'd worked with teenagers as well.

[00:18:30] So, um, I think, uh, you know, the way that.

[00:18:35] You mainly a one-to-one or did you do group stuff as a TA?

[00:18:39] I did both.

[00:18:39] So I would work in classes and I would do one-to-one as well.

[00:18:42] Um, but often I'd be working with some of the most sort of challenging students as well.

[00:18:47] So, um, and with the students who were struggling as well.

[00:18:51] So, uh, I think I have some experience of that, which is sort of helpful as well.

[00:18:57] Because quite a few exam officers said that they find that aspect of it a bit intimidating at first, which is understandable.

[00:19:03] I guess you didn't.

[00:19:04] So I think some of the skills that you need to be an exams officer are just kind of not related to that at all.

[00:19:09] Yeah.

[00:19:09] So like, for example, if you were a really good events planner, um, or you had had a career in logistics, you could make a very, very good exam officer.

[00:19:17] But you would potentially have had no experience of dealing with teenagers or working in an environment like in school before.

[00:19:23] Hundreds of teenagers in a room.

[00:19:24] So, um, those are the things that you have to, that you'd really have to learn if you were coming from those kind of backgrounds.

[00:19:29] And I guess, um, I was a bit more the other way around in that I hadn't really had that much experience of working in kind of planning and logistics.

[00:19:38] Um, so that's the bit that I had to really learn.

[00:19:41] But as I, as I found that kind of appealed to me, actually, that was a, that was almost something that I'd been missing from my career is something that I was good at and I actually enjoyed doing.

[00:19:50] Um, but the, the other stuff, the kind of work in schools, working with teenagers, communicating with teachers and staff across the organization.

[00:19:59] Those were things that I had some experience of.

[00:20:02] Um, so it was a combination really of, of, I think the reason I enjoyed the job was that it used some of the skills that I already had, but the new skills I had to learn were things that I really found out that I really enjoyed doing.

[00:20:16] And so that combination, I think is what's made it kind of like, almost like the job, a sort of ideal job for me really.

[00:20:23] And, and totally by chance, because like you say, like when I went to get the job, I didn't really know what it was.

[00:20:29] I wasn't expecting to get it.

[00:20:30] And so the idea that, you know, kind of 13 years later, I'd be sat here saying, oh yeah, I really enjoy doing that job.

[00:20:37] It just shows you to some extent, I think as well, like people will often talk about, you know, kids knowing what they want to do when they're a certain age and things like that.

[00:20:47] And obviously there can be benefits to that.

[00:20:49] But sometimes the things that you really enjoy doing or you get a lot out of can happen completely by chance.

[00:20:56] Oh yeah, definitely.

[00:20:57] You know, so I'm grateful that, that the sort of the stars aligned in that respect.

[00:21:05] What did you think were the best bits about the job?

[00:21:09] And is that still the same 13 years on?

[00:21:14] I still like the buzz of running exams.

[00:21:21] So, and in particular, the high stakes ones, the GCSE and A level exams, like there's,

[00:21:28] it's almost like a bit, other people have said this to me that it's almost weirdly like a kind of adrenaline junkie job.

[00:21:36] People wouldn't think that at all from the title.

[00:21:38] It sounds kind of boring, doesn't it?

[00:21:39] But actually it's, it's very fast paced when you're doing it.

[00:21:45] There's a lot of pressure.

[00:21:47] You've got a lot that can go wrong.

[00:21:49] There's a lot that can go wrong.

[00:21:52] It's very high stakes for the students.

[00:21:55] You've got a lot of people to manage.

[00:22:00] And yeah, so, so there's quite a lot of jeopardy.

[00:22:02] And teenagers are very unpredictable.

[00:22:03] Teenagers are unpredictable.

[00:22:04] There's a lot of jeopardy involved in it.

[00:22:07] And yeah, I think I like that.

[00:22:09] I do think I like that.

[00:22:10] Like, I think that I always found the jobs that I'd done in the past, they were, they tended to be kind of office based jobs.

[00:22:17] And while there are aspects of them that I enjoyed, I think I just always got quite bored.

[00:22:22] And like I said, I think one of the beauties of this is that it gives you a mix of things to do.

[00:22:28] So some of the years you will be kind of confined, sorry, some of the time you will be confined to your office doing logistical tasks.

[00:22:38] But you have a considerable chunk of the year as well when you're out there, you're doing things under pressure, you're dealing with people.

[00:22:44] And I think I like that mix and that combination.

[00:22:50] And I think, like I said, I couldn't do either of those things all the time.

[00:22:54] I think the office work, I'd find it, I'd get bored if I was doing that all the time.

[00:22:58] But the other stuff, I think I'd burn out, obviously, if I was doing it all the time.

[00:23:02] So that mix is very, very appealing.

[00:23:06] So anyone, I think, who feels like it's a good job for anyone who feels that they are sort of a bit bored just doing a regular office job.

[00:23:16] But also for someone who is like, if they're in a very, very high pressure job and they're just struggling with it, but they don't want to lose some aspects of that, you know, feeling that it's important and there's a bit of pressure.

[00:23:31] It's a good compromise position.

[00:23:34] So I'd recommend it to anyone in either of those positions.

[00:23:41] Thank you so much for listening to the Exam Man podcast.

[00:23:44] We really, really appreciate your support.

[00:23:46] Remember that you can access it on all the major podcast platforms.

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[00:23:52] And we will catch you next time.

[00:23:54] Bye.

[00:23:55] Bye.