First Scotrail HR/Communication

[Freightliner66]

Hi, dont mean to offend anyone who may work for First Scotrail but does anyone else think that they are a bit of a nightmare to deal with? You just dont hear anything from them. I've tried different email addresses as well but no reply I had also written some letters again no reply. I also read on here that courses keep getting put back, then delayed again and again and even cancelled it appears that some folk have been waiting 18 months? Lets be honest is this good enough for a company who are operating Scotlands Rail Franchise? To be honest I would have expected them to be a little more efficient and organised, especially with the prices that they charge for journeys

 

[CarterUSM]

Hi, dont mean to offend anyone who may work for First Scotrail but does anyone else think that they are a bit of a nightmare to deal with? You just dont hear anything from them. I've tried different email addresses as well but no reply I had also written some letters again no reply. I also read on here that courses keep getting put back, then delayed again and again and even cancelled it appears that some folk have been waiting 18 months? Lets be honest is this good enough for a company who are operating Scotlands Rail Franchise? To be honest I would have expected them to be a little more efficient and organised, especially with the prices that they charge for journeys

I agree with you, I work for them, and almost every new entrant I have spoken too has complained of poor communication regarding posts, course dates, test materials etc. It wasn't always so though, when I joined, I couldn't have been more satisfied. No idea why things seem to have slipped.

 

[Freightliner66]

I agree with you, I work for them, and almost every new entrant I have spoken too has complained of poor communication regarding posts, course dates, test materials etc. It wasn't always so though, when I joined, I couldn't have been more satisfied. No idea why things seem to have slipped.

Hi there thanks for the reply, yes I can understand that a lot of new entrants are a bit unsatisfied. I know they are a busy company and im sure their HR department will receive a lot of enquiries and be very busy. Also im sure it would take a lot of planning as well as expense to run a trainee driver course but having people waiting about for 18 months, especially when more often than not their current employer will know they are leaving is a bit unprofessional IMO.

 

[CarterUSM]

Hi there thanks for the reply, yes I can understand that a lot of new entrants are a bit unsatisfied. I know they are a busy company and im sure their HR department will receive a lot of enquiries and be very busy. Also im sure it would take a lot of planning as well as expense to run a trainee driver course but having people waiting about for 18 months, especially when more often than not their current employer will know they are leaving is a bit unprofessional IMO.

I agree,a poor show to speculative employees! Let us know if you hear anything though.

 

[185]

Not surprising. They told me I did not have the required experience for a job I applied for, despite having done it for nine years.

Then they changed their excuse to "oh the vacancy was actually withdrawn".

:roll: Same all across the UK with WorstGroup :roll:

 

[Gazscotland]

Totally agree with everything you say m8,i experienced issues with them last year when applying for a position,going by my experience with their HR Department i found they contradict themselves continually,what they mean and what they say are totally different.Though i must admit i always recieved reply`s to any emails i sent maybe not the truth but a reply.My Application still said awaiting shortlisting 6 weeks after the closing date when i enquired about this i was informed shortlisting hadnt yet taken place,i then found out through this forum that interviews took place a week after the closing date, so i was basically waiting to hear about a job i had no chance of getting and despite them saying they always inform applicants the outcome of there application either way, i have to this day yet to recieve a word from the HR dept.

 

[apestyler]

My experiences are similar, FSR Recruitment is awful and unfair, I've been trying to get a guard/driver/depot operator job with them for over 4 years now and I'm still gobsmacked at how they treat and respond to my queries.

My OH works for FSR and from what I've seen FSR HR is a different story, they were very organised once she had got through the recruitment process. She's in a good team now with very fair and reasonable managers, obviously this won't be the case for all of FSR but it seems to be a much brighter story once you get through the damn recruitment stage.

 

[Gazscotland]

Yeah m8,getting through the Recruitment stage is not an easy task as we have all found out & i think its shocking they get away with it and personally speaking the only reason i never questioned anything is incase it would ruin any future attempts as depite what has happened in the past i will try again.

 

[Freightliner66]

In a way im kind of relieved its not just me that has had problems with them. I know a couple of other people who have applied for jobs with them, been successful, given a start date so obviously informed their current employers and started to work their notice only for the start date to be put back again and again and again. I understand that it wont be the easiest of tasks to get courses etc in place but I think if in an audit situation this was looked at then First Scotrail would look like a poor show of a company. Some people I have spoken to also seem to think that basically they dont care and they know they can treat people however they like as prospective trainee drivers have very few other options. They are one of the few company's that actually run a training course. To my knowledge there is no independent company's in the UK never mind Scotland that run a Trainee Driver course the same way you can go to a company and learn how to operate Plant Machinery etc by paying. The only time i've ever saw other company's recruit is for qualified drivers so your kind of stuck with Scotrail it would be great if there was a way into some of the Freight operators.

 

[CarterUSM]

In a way im kind of relieved its not just me that has had problems with them. I know a couple of other people who have applied for jobs with them, been successful, given a start date so obviously informed their current employers and started to work their notice only for the start date to be put back again and again and again. I understand that it wont be the easiest of tasks to get courses etc in place but I think if in an audit situation this was looked at then First Scotrail would look like a poor show of a company. Some people I have spoken to also seem to think that basically they dont care and they know they can treat people however they like as prospective trainee drivers have very few other options. They are one of the few company's that actually run a training course. To my knowledge there is no independent company's in the UK never mind Scotland that run a Trainee Driver course the same way you can go to a company and learn how to operate Plant Machinery etc by paying. The only time i've ever saw other company's recruit is for qualified drivers so your kind of stuck with Scotrail it would be great if there was a way into some of the Freight operators.

It is funny you should say that, I think a lot of the problems with courses being put back is because of the amount of freight men that have been taken on by ScotRail due to redundancy. I may be wrong though.

 

[Corrado]

It is funny you should say that, I think a lot of the problems with courses being put back is because of the amount of freight men that have been taken on by ScotRail due to redundancy. I may be wrong though.

I would say that you're spot on with that one. It certainly accounts for a fair few.