The day goes like this:

- Register

- Talks by the assessors

- 3 min presentation 

- Group work

- Maths test

- Short break (30 mins)

- Find out if through to the afternoon

- Situational questions

- One-to-one interview. 

You start the day by sitting in the bar area of your hotel or somewhere similar with the other applicants (there were around 40 of us but have heard there can be as little as 20). The TUI people register everyone by going through and making sure all the documents you need are there. This takes a while so make sure you chat to people while you're waiting and show that you are comfortable talking to anyone. Once this is done the assessors do a presentation on Thomson & First Choice and the different sections of the company and somewhat of a job overview. 

They then explain that you have 15 minutes to prepare a 3 minute presentation. You will be given a brief with the subject and target audience. Ours was "sell something you can't live without" and I got the age group of 55-65 year olds. This time goes reaaaaaally quickly so while they are talking try to be thinking of what you're going to do before the time starts! Cannot stress this enough! Unfortunately for me, I got called up to do the very first presentation out of everyone and this put me off a little bit because I wasn't expecting that...so be prepared! I don't actually think that my presentation was good at all, and I can't remember much of it, but I do remember reading on the brief that they wanted to see things like:

- Projection in your voice (different tones, animation, expression)

- Smiling and eye contact

- Sticking to the point 

- Not reading from a script

I don't think that the presentation is the most important aspect of the day, because I mucked my words up and got a little bit flustered during mine and still got through. Just keep smiling :) They aren't looking for a perfected 3 minute speech (many people barely did a minute). Try to show that you are confident and comfortable talking in front of a big group of people and that should be enough. 

After the presentation they start you with the group work. First of all you get 5 minutes to sit by yourself and do a task where you sort through different customers and build a holiday for them. This is quite easy and is totally down to opinion so there are no wrong answers. 5 minutes is not long though so try to work very quickly and get as much as you can done. You are then split in to groups of about 6 people and are taken into another room to discuss your answers. Everyone will be trying to get their opinion in and some people will most likely talk over you to get their voice heard but don't let this put you off. Some people will just not say anything! Just make sure you don't get left out! This is also timed - 15 minutes - and it goes very quickly.

This maths test is 10 questions long and you get 20 minutes to complete it as well as a calculator. The questions are all about converting euros in to pounds and getting different percentages. Just make sure you brush up on how to work out percentage and how to convert currencies. This is fairly easy as long as you work quickly again. 

An example would be:

5 customers booked an excursion at 35E each. They give you £200. Work out how much you have to give them in euros.

You get 30 minutes break time. This is literally the only time you have to yourself all day! It is a chance to sit and talk to people or eat or smoke blah blah blah. At the end of this break you find out if you are through to the afternoon. Basically, if you don't get through to the afternoon then you definitely don't get the job. If you get through to the afternoon then I think (and hope) that you have a pretty decent chance because it means they have noticed you enough to put you through. It is quite brutal though not going to lie! Many people had travelled far and still didn't get through to the afternoon.