Rail companies do not like employing....

[Jonfun]

Those of you who say mention it, its fine etc then your line managers must be spotters.

I don't follow. I don't think my manager's a trainspotter, and even if he was, I'm not sure why he'd have a preference over a non trainspotting manager to employ heritage rail staff, unless he thought he'd be able to blag some free tickets or something.

 

[cf111]

Showing a little bit of background knowlege in an interview is always a good thing. You are supposed to research jobs when you apply for them, after all.

The important part is using relevant parts and applying it to the job you're applying for and the questions you're being asked, not just reeling off everything you know about the design of the Class 158 and hoping the manager is impressed!

 

[LowLevel]

I'm not a spotter, but I am an enthusiast. I'm also a volunteer signalman, guard, controller and so on and so forth on a pretty big heritage railway. I was perfectly candid about this in my interview (the managers definitely not being spotters) and I've got both jobs I applied for within the company, both safety critical operational roles (dispatch and guard). I know plenty of other people in the same situation who have been taken on throughout the company in all sorts of grades from ops to managers to guards to drivers to back office having been honest about it so I would actually say that unless you are a proper obsessive cabbage then it's no bad thing. It's all useful experience, it just requires presenting properly, IE rather than saying I know everything, use it as examples of working to regulations and cash handling, with the added point that you are aware it's best to put it all out of your head when training for your new role.

 

[scotraildriver]

I like others always had an interest in railways but I've never been a spotter or anything, but read magazines and books and thought I knew a bit about railway operation. I didn't. I didn't have a clue. Outside of the industry few people really know what happens/ how things work so best not to go to interview and say you know all about this,that or the next thing because I can guarantee you don't. Only when you start a training course do you find out the reality of railway operation so my advice is don't say anything about your railway operational knowledge unless you have genuine experience.

 

[steamybrian]

In my early days in 1960s and 1970s it was not considered the "in thing" to be an enthusiast. On my former days as a BR manager I was on both sides of the interview table and in my latter years I was interviewing people for promotion.
My view was that enthusiasts had an initial start because they showed an interest in the job and had some knowledge. This can quickly evaporate if the candidate said he knew everything.
Another candidate thought he could get a head start by saying he was a member of the same preservation society I belonged to but I responded that it was not one of qualifications for the position I was looking for.
Enthusiasts in the workplace are ideal for dealing with other enthusiasts such as planning railtours, steam specials or negotiations with heritage railways which have an interface with NR.

 

[The Snap]

Remember, there are too many recent stories about enthusiasts giving out a bad message (that bloke at Derby on the floor squeeling at the 37s is a prime example).

Please tell me there's a video of this somewhere?!?

 

[Beveridges]

There are a few who frown on spotters "on the job" but I'll tell you now if a 37 (or similar) is passing the depot then I am going to go and have a look at it, without question, and couldn't care less what others think.

 

[Bluejuice]

I've been trying to break into the industry for nearly a year now. Have an alright job at the moment but, know that this is where my heart wants to be. I'm not a trainspotter by any means but, feel that it would be a highly rewarding industry to work for

 

[edwin_m]

AS JFK nearly said

"ask not what the industry can do for you, ask what you can do for the industry".

 

[i7demon]

I know i am new on here and no one knows me but what i have done in the past 3 weeks was communicate with the very top people in NR & i contacted them to ask why the industry is so hard to get in? without going into too much details a meeting they had last last year was about this very topic and things are going to change!

 

[455driver]

It isnt difficult to get into, if youare the best candidate then you will get in first time!

The 'problem' is the number of applicants for each role advertised and I dont see how that can be fixed unless you have to have a valid PTS (or some other rail related qualification) before you can apply, as it is for pilots (who have to pay for their own training). That is one road we really dont want to go down!

 

[A-driver]

It isnt difficult to get into, if youare the best candidate then you will get in first time!



The 'problem' is the number of applicants for each role advertised and I dont see how that can be fixed unless you have to have a valid PTS (or some other rail related qualification) before you can apply, as it is for pilots (who have to pay for their own training). That is one road we really dont want to go down!

Sadly that is exactly the road we are starting to go down now though. The European licence will be a big stumbling block to that removed. Any EU driver will have the same qualifications so they can just move to a uk toc as easily as we can move between uk TOCs. There is already at least one company being set up to attempt to cash in on this and offer people a European train drivers licence for a fee which they can use to (try) and gain employment with a toc.

Of course quite how successful this is and what happens in reality is yet to be seen and I would hope ASLEF are fully tuned into all this.

 

[TDK]

The problem when interviewing an enthusiast is the way an enthusiast sometimes answers the questions relating to the fact that they know everything that needs to be known about the railway, sometimes an enthusiast does know a lot but it will come over at interview that some individuals may be a hindrance rather than an asset to the group who are going to be trained. It certainly does not go down well saying that the job and the training will be easy as there isn't much you don't know about trains and the railway. I know hundreds of enthusiasts on the railway and there are a minority who should never have got the job initially but only a minority.

It isn't a problem answering yes if or when you are asked if you have an interest in the railway but do not be tempted to put to the interviewer that anything will be easier because you are!