What is the structured interview trying to ascertain?

[choo~choo]

During the actual interview what are the interviewers actually looking at? How can it be scored?

 

[TDK]

During the actual interview what are the interviewers actually looking at? How can it be scored?

They are trying to ascertain whether a candidate is suitable for the role of a train driver. There are many factors to consider from personality, working with others, flexibility, honsty, attitude.

It can be scored on the answers given for example if I asked a candidate what experience they had in mechanics and one answered I used to maintain jet engines and work on aircraft, or was in the forces and maintained tanks etc this would score very highly, if I got an answer of well I have looked under the bonnet of my car and changed the wires in a plug this would score a low result.

Appearance I used to score, attitude was a big factor as well. There are many factors to consider with an individual. You could ask someone what their hobbies were, they may reply fast cars, you could ask what speed they had got from theit old Rover SD1 and 125mph on the M1 aint a good answer to be fair as the interviewer would have visions of this individual pushing a class 150 to 90 to see what it could do!

Just an example and not an advisary pattern to follow by the way!

 

[londonwall]

It can be scored on the answers given for example if I asked a candidate what experience they had in mechanics and one answered I used to maintain jet engines and work on aircraft, or was in the forces and maintained tanks etc this would score very highly, if I got an answer of well I have looked under the bonnet of my car and changed the wires in a plug this would score a low result.

Is this likely to be a question or are you just giving an example?

Thanks!

 

[TDK]

Is this likely to be a question or are you just giving an example?

Thanks!

An example. As an intervier your job is to ask questions to ensure the candidate is the correct person for the job, if the answers given are not correct then you will ask the question again or expand on the original question. All interviewers are pretty consistant however different companies have different questions to a degree but are still looking for the same criteria.

The best advice I can give anyone is to memorise what they put in their original applications so there are not any discrepencies.

 

[choo~choo]

Bring on Friday

 

[Beveridges]

During the actual interview what are the interviewers actually looking at? How can it be scored?

Which Interview are you on about the one with the Assessors that forms part of the psychometric test or the one with the TOC's driver managers?

 

[scotraildriver]

DO NOT MAKE UP THE ANSWERS ON YOUR APPLICATION!!!! Thats the biggest error you can make and loads of people do it to try to sound good but then the interviewer ALWAYS catches you out and thats the "honest and integrity" bit out the window.

 

[142094]

They will no doubt go through the same questions in different ways to try and see if you are consistent. Apparently can last upto an hour.

 

[choo~choo]

Which Interview are you on about the one with the Assessors that forms part of the psychometric test or the one with the TOC's driver managers?

The psychometric one. Criteria based..

 

[arthurtwosheds]

Does anyone know how long you have to wait to receive feed back from an interview? I have a very interesting story to share with the forum but I am still waiting to hear back from the TOC before I can share.

 

[choo~choo]

Does anyone know how long you have to wait to receive feed back from an interview? I have a very interesting story to share with the forum but I am still waiting to hear back from the TOC before I can share.

Which TOC? Sometimes you may not get any

 

[Beveridges]

The psychometric one. Criteria based..

The criteria for the psycho test interview is:
1) Ability to work alone
2) Able to remain calm in an emergency or unexpected situation
3) Is pro-active and tenacious
4) Exceeds training course demands
5) Able to follow rules and instructions
6) Can communicate clearly and effectively
thats what it was when I did mine anyway in 2008... this interview is supposedly standardised across the country for all MDD and Driver roles.

 

[choo~choo]

The criteria for the psycho test interview is:
1) Ability to work alone
2) Able to remain calm in an emergency or unexpected situation
3) Is pro-active and tenacious
4) Exceeds training course demands
5) Able to follow rules and instructions
6) Can communicate clearly and effectively
thats what it was when I did mine anyway in 2008... this interview is supposedly standardised across the country for all MDD and Driver roles.

Pretty much what I thought, just nice to ask lol... Two sleeps now

 

[Woody67]

Pretty much what I thought, just nice to ask lol... Two sleeps now

Any updates choo~choo? Got an SI coming up soon so any tips would be most appreciated.

 

[choo~choo]

Which TOC mate?

 

[Woody67]

Which TOC mate?

Hi choo~choo, my SI is with GA in a couple of weeks so would gladly accept any pointers (and thanks also to Dave1987 for your message - much appreciated).

So, how did you get on? Do tell......

 

[Daniel84]

I'm up on Wednesday with DBS. I'm quite comfortable with the 5 questions and criteria they are looking for and am pretty comfortable with my answers. What sort of questions will they ask when drilling down, I presume it will be things like what challenges did you face, would you do anything differently etc?

 

[Beveridges]

Yes, on the question about solving a difficult problem, they ask "How well did you think you coped" and "Would you do anything different next time"

Now I REALLY HATE those two probing questions!

They may ask those two on the question about dealing with an emergency as well!