Atw trainee conductors

[185]

VERY few and far between!.....they have every right to ask though eh!......North wales police for example have plenty of officers who don't speak a word of welsh but that ability or a willingness to learn is something they still ask for and that's their right

For the record, I do speak some very basic Welsh, having gone to school with a few from the other side.

That said, the principle of a job at an English station, then at interview being marked down for not speaking Welsh is something which will follow ATWs HR manager around for some time.

If I remember right, the local press got hold of it at the time, ATW at first claimed the interview never took place, later saying it was simply a desirable skill - which not having could not be a bar from employment, after a young lady (rightly) complained.

 

[red2005]

For the record, I do speak some very basic Welsh, having gone to school with a few from the other side.

That said, the principle of a job at an English station, then at interview being marked down for not speaking Welsh is something which will follow ATWs HR manager around for some time.

If I remember right, the local press got hold of it at the time, ATW at first claimed the interview never took place, later saying it was simply a desirable skill - which not having could not be a bar from employment, after a young lady (rightly) complained.

oooh right!

well as i say it most certainly isn't the be all and end all as if it was i certainly wouldn't have been given a job as i can't speak a word of the language lol.....however they have every right to ask for it and should one application have that as a qualification and one not......i wouldn't be surprised to see that application have the advantage given the work is in a welsh speaking area

 

[LowLevel]

I had the same email.

It does make you wonder what goes on at these recruitment offices, I mean I have a Phd, I am a manager in charge of lots of staff, I deal with hundreds of customers a day, I deal with payments, complaints, drunks, I am health and safety trained, fire regulations trained, first aid trained and give world class customer service to all my customers. What could they possibly find as a negative? It makes you feel useless, I'm not sure what more I can do or say in an application, I even said I would sign a 10 year no compete contract to prove I wouldn't leave for another company. I'm beginning to think they just have monkeys working in HR departments that randomly point to applications for a reward.

Hits me straight away for a start for example - signing a ten year no compete contract? That's not a typical candidate for a guards job speaking, that's a manager or specialist type person. They don't do such things anyway as there's collective bargaining so it's a pointless offer. It's not going to make you stand out as an attractive potential guard. It just makes you sound sort of desperate to get in and opens a whole can of worms.

Stick to emphasising how good you would be and why (safety first in particular as well as customer service) and if you have to do 'tell me' examples, what you did, why, what you achieved and what you learned from it. Get the buzz words in - punctual, friendly, safety conscious, reliable, customer focussed, well presented etc etc. Give a good reason for wanting to change roles - by all means say you like the sound of the job, want a new challenge etc - but do be honest and not afraid to put things like 'the pension scheme seems very good'.

I'm not trying to belittle you - just some advice from someone who has successfully landed several railway jobs and promotions in the last few years. It took a few attempts but you eventually get the 'feel' for it and what they're after. I honestly think I could pass the sift for any front line railway job now and its from just persevering with the application process until you learn what will get you somewhere.

 

[Gareth Marston]

oooh right!

well as i say it most certainly isn't the be all and end all as if it was i certainly wouldn't have been given a job as i can't speak a word of the language lol.....however they have every right to ask for it and should one application have that as a qualification and one not......i wouldn't be surprised to see that application have the advantage given the work is in a welsh speaking area

I'd say English only speaking conductors are in a significant majority at Machynlleth, the ability to speak Welsh is not really an issue on the Cambrian mainline.

 

[craigybagel]

There are at least two conductors at Mach from near London so it's definitely not an issue.

I've had passengers ask me things in Welsh a couple of times but they've worked out quickly enough I don't speak it at all. When I applied for my job there was a question on the form about whether I spoke Welsh (to which I said no) and I never heard about it again.

 

[red2005]

I'd say English only speaking conductors are in a significant majority at Machynlleth, the ability to speak Welsh is not really an issue on the Cambrian mainline.

most of ATW are probably english speakers only!.....but as i say they operate in areas where welsh speakers are still very prominent so they have the right to ask or use it as a decision making quality if they wish!

 

[TDK]

most of ATW are probably english speakers only!.....but as i say they operate in areas where welsh speakers are still very prominent so they have the right to ask or use it as a decision making quality if they wish!

The only time this will happen is when 2 candidates are equal in their application, test results and interview results and this is a rare occurrence, speaking Welsh has little or no weight on whether you get the job or not however if the WG take over the running of the franchise in 2018 this may change slightly but even so I would say that you have just as much of a chance getting the job as long as you can speak fluent English, if there are Welsh speakers who do not speak English don't bother trying for the job as you will never have a chance as you need to be able to speak English for communicating with all the other staff including management, colleagues, signallers etc.