Asking for advice on interview questions:

[TDK]

A lot of folks are asking for advice on interview questions on this forum, this is in my opinion a slight danger, a lot of people view these forums and if you get someone giving you a good answer and say 4 applicants read this post do you not think when interviewed if 3 candidates say give the same answers the interviewer will see through you?

I think that the best way is to be original and give your own answers by doing this the interviewer will be more impressed with individuality!

Your thoughts?

 

[CarterUSM]

A lot of folks are asking for advice on interview questions on this forum, this is in my opinion a slight danger, a lot of people view these forums and if you get someone giving you a good answer and say 4 applicants read this post do you not think when interviewed if 3 candidates say give the same answers the interviewer will see through you?

I think that the best way is to be original and give your own answers by doing this the interviewer will be more impressed with individuality!

Your thoughts?

I think the forum is an ideal place to ask for advice, though there is the slight danger of more than the one who received it, using it. I'd say in this climate, it is worth the risk. Advice and heads up on questions asked can ignite good original answers in people themselves too.

 

[Waiting]

A lot of folks are asking for advice on interview questions on this forum, this is in my opinion a slight danger, a lot of people view these forums and if you get someone giving you a good answer and say 4 applicants read this post do you not think when interviewed if 3 candidates say give the same answers the interviewer will see through you?

I think that the best way is to be original and give your own answers by doing this the interviewer will be more impressed with individuality!

Your thoughts?

I recently asked for help on a couple of questions i have been asked at previous interviews, the help i was given will hopefully help me frame my answer more succinctly this time. I am preparing now for an interview i hope to have December or January and use this forum as invaluable reference tool. I hope to get general ideas on here and then draw from my personal experience to format my answers.

 

[142094]

I think a lot of people know the basics of the answer but just don't know how to say it in the correct terms. I'm sure most people could look at a Rule Book and get the answer exactly the same as that.

 

[TDK]

I recently asked for help on a couple of questions i have been asked at previous interviews, the help i was given will hopefully help me frame my answer more succinctly this time. I am preparing now for an interview i hope to have December or January and use this forum as invaluable reference tool. I hope to get general ideas on here and then draw from my personal experience to format my answers.

That is a good way of doing it, however, I have interviewed before and have had 3 potential drivers all answer the same for their emergency situation, it was railway related and it was obvious that the candidates had got this information off a train driver as they would not all known the emergency procedures, I asked them all for another incident that they could explain and only one of them could give me another incident, I am not saying it is not a good idea to take advice but if you want success you have to be original with your answers.

 

[Rjhsteel]

I haven't copied answers from any forum, just needed an idea what to expect and i have used my own experiences to answer.

 

[hants-man]

Out of interest, if you are recruiting staff from outside the railways, what is the reason for asking questions about railway procedures? What are you looking for the candidate to demonstrate?

Is it expected that the candidates should have a basic knowledge in this area. Or are you looking for general awareness of safe systems of working?

 

[Waiting]

That is a good way of doing it, however, I have interviewed before and have had 3 potential drivers all answer the same for their emergency situation, it was railway related and it was obvious that the candidates had got this information off a train driver as they would not all known the emergency procedures, I asked them all for another incident that they could explain and only one of them could give me another incident, I am not saying it is not a good idea to take advice but if you want success you have to be original with your answers.

Yes i can understand that, for me personally it was having no Metro experience at all trying find out what my responsibilities would be, i am guessing these questions are asked to see if you apply a logical approach to problem solving. When interviewed in Feb i had only been in my current role 3 months and tried to draw my scenarios from that role (I am ex BT and we were only ever allowed to use examples under 6 month old) and i got myself a bit confused with my answers. I hope to perform better next time round.

 

[Beveridges]

It sounds a hard interview if you can only use examples from up to 6 months ago! I often find myself having to dig up relatively ancient work history in my interview examples often from 4 or more years ago

 

[Waiting]

It sounds a hard interview if you can only use examples from up to 6 months ago! I often find myself having to dig up relatively ancient work history in my interview examples often from 4 or more years ago

That was with BT, the idea being you would only have specific recall that far back as they really liked to drill down and keep o asking why you did things, after 25 years i guess i was institutionalized and somehow in the interview i tried using all current examples, and to be honest i did not have solid examples. So far i have had 8 interviews since leaving BT and i am finding the interview styles to be less confrontational, its taken a bit getting used to. I think the reason for this maybe that i am moving between industries and the interviewer wants to establish my reasoning in situations, at BT the interviewer knew what my role consisted of and wanted hard financials/facts/figures.

 

[TDK]

Out of interest, if you are recruiting staff from outside the railways, what is the reason for asking questions about railway procedures? What are you looking for the candidate to demonstrate?

Is it expected that the candidates should have a basic knowledge in this area. Or are you looking for general awareness of safe systems of working?

I never asked any questions on Railway procedures when interviewing candidates with no railway experience, I did however ask questions relating to the drivers role in general.

 

[GNER 373]

I've asked for advice from a number of Railway Staff who are on this forum. I have my own mind and have a rough idea what to expect if I'm successful with a recent application and make the interview stage. My reasons for asking for advice from those in the know was more to do with peace of mind i.e am I on the right tracks (no pun intended) and for re-assurance. Most of the answers were what I had predicted but this info would be used and given my take on it in an interview!

Also, Thanks very much to those who replied to me, you know who you are!