I had my P2 Presentation yesterday and thought I'd write a few notes on what happened for anyone who has theirs soon.
The presentation itself was approx. 2.5 hours delivered by the commanding officer.
TIP: Arrive minimum of 15 minutes(20 to be safe) before the allotted time, one girl turned up at 12.30 (time of ours) and was told he was late, not a good start, and it will have been noted on the fire safety sheet.
The presentation itself covers history of the RAF, equipment and aircraft, expectations of you as an officer or NCO, considerations e.g have you thought about the fact you will be directly or indirectly involved in killing people? living away from home (sounds minor but homesickness is a common occurence in the forces), OASC, IOT, current affairs etc- all this stuff you should be expecting to hear, and you should have a good knowledge of all of these things before you go to the presentation- This will help you A LOT. It will give you confidence because you can answer the questions aimed at the group.
I found that with everyone so keen to make even the smallest impression, answering the questions before anyone else was hard- you must be quick, it was almost like being on a game show-knowing the answer is not enough, you have to say it first. And people will talk over you if you begin to hesitate so be loud and confident.
Although it is an opportunity to make an impression, you're not being assessed and I got the feeling that the Flight Lieutenant didn't ask enough to any individual to go away remembering anyone specifically by the time of their interview, he was more impressed with us as a group because we could answer all the questions, and quickly.
The presentation will cement what you already (should) know, and more importantly, this presentation is a brilliant indicator to show what you DON'T know so you can tailor your research.
We were asked if any of us were ready for interview by the Corporal that showed us to the room and settled us in. 4 or 5 out of 15 put their hands up and the Corporal asked one of them to name some RAF bases. They did that, and after mentioning Ascension Island and Brize Norton the Corporal asked what aircraft were there and his answer quickly dried up.
Considering this is bread and butter stuff, they were not ready for interview and now realise that. This is definitely a positive outcome for them though, now they know they need to do more research and in more detail.
The Corporal was not trying to embarass anyone, just making a point about how good you need to be.
They also mentioned that statistically, 1 out of 17 of us would get a job! Not to put us off, but to give us a reality check and emphasise how competitive and tough the application process is.
I'm now going to go away and get my research done, practice my answers with a friend- because how you communicate your answers is very important- they want to see how well you communicate orally, so practice, practice, practice.
I'm going for Intelligence Officer and Air Traffic Control Officer.
Any questions on the P2 give me a shout