Commercial Guard Assessment - South West Trains

[RailNewbie]

Hi to everyone at Rail UK Forums!!

Having wanting to become a Guard for South West Trains for a very long time, I have at last been given an assessment date which I am really pleased about!!!

Can anyone give me any tips regarding the assessment day for Commercial Guard?? I have been sent revision papers which I am studying at present, but any information from current Guards or people who have sat the assessments would be gladly appreciated??

I have waited a very a long time for this and it has always been my dream job to work for South West Trains as a Guard and work with the general public!!

I look forward to reading your informative replies!!

 

[PudseyBearHST]

Hi to everyone at Rail UK Forums!!

Having wanting to become a Guard for South West Trains for a very long time, I have at last been given an assessment date which I am really pleased about!!!

Can anyone give me any tips regarding the assessment day for Commercial Guard?? I have been sent revision papers which I am studying at present, but any information from current Guards or people who have sat the assessments would be gladly appreciated??

I have waited a very a long time for this and it has always been my dream job to work for South West Trains as a Guard and work with the general public!!

I look forward to reading your informative replies!!

Hi. I don't have any tips but thought I would wish you good luck because I have applied for a Train Manager at London Paddington (GWR) so I guess we're on the same boat. So if you are have an assessment day for a Commercial Guard, you must be a Guard already? Or are you applying for a depot that only has Commercial Guards such as Salisbury?

 

[Lasbrisas]

Hi to everyone at Rail UK Forums!!

Having wanting to become a Guard for South West Trains for a very long time, I have at last been given an assessment date which I am really pleased about!!!

Can anyone give me any tips regarding the assessment day for Commercial Guard?? I have been sent revision papers which I am studying at present, but any information from current Guards or people who have sat the assessments would be gladly appreciated??

I have waited a very a long time for this and it has always been my dream job to work for South West Trains as a Guard and work with the general public!!

I look forward to reading your informative replies!!

I have passed the assessments and just waiting on an interview, all I can say is practice all of the test material they sent you, brush up on your maths, ie percentages etc. I found the concentration test the most demanding as you need to be on the ball for quite long time and my hand was shaking after, this is the one where you have to pick out the shapes but it gets more complicated as you go along. You will see as the day progresses that people get called out of the rest room, this means they were unsucessful in the test that has just been completed and are going home, so just make sure your name is not called, if you make it to around 3-4pm your safe. It's been 3 months since my assessment day and I haven't heard thing but I gather this is the norm.

 

[Kermit1]

I wouldn't worry about the long wait. It has taken me a year from original application to start date.
It had been a long time since I had used my brain for any maths, and I spent a lot of time reminding myself of the basics with a GCSE maths book, before the assessment day. But the most useful thing you can do is practice your mental maths as this will speed up your performance on the numerical reasoning test, as well as the ticket selling test..... two birds with one stone..... There are lots of really good videos on Youtube, with mathematical shortcuts to memorise. I also practised my times tables ..... (since forgotten!) ...that really helped.

 

[PudseyBearHST]

I wouldn't worry about the long wait. It has taken me a year from original application to start date.
It had been a long time since I had used my brain for any maths, and I spent a lot of time reminding myself of the basics with a GCSE maths book, before the assessment day. But the most useful thing you can do is practice your mental maths as this will speed up your performance on the numerical reasoning test, as well as the ticket selling test..... two birds with one stone..... There are lots of really good videos on Youtube, with mathematical shortcuts to memorise. I also practised my times tables ..... (since forgotten!) ...that really helped.

Whats the different between the Guards' and Commercial Guards' assessment? And were you a Guard before you became a Commercial Guard?

 

[Kermit1]

I had never worked for a TOC in any role before applying to be a commercial guard. Total newbie from an unrelated profession. The difference in the assessment between guard and commercial guard, is the addition of the ticket selling and checking test. You should have some examples to practice with in the material SWT sent you. Just photocopy it and time yourself repeatedly. You'll get faster. How long have you got before your assessment date? I trawled these forums for advice before tests and interview and there is a lot of very useful information tucked away in various threads, but you have to look for it!

 

[RailNewbie]

Thank you everyone for all your replies regarding my question, it's very much appreciated!!

The post is for a position at Salisbury, I originally wanted to apply for a regular Guard position and maybe in the future work my way up to Commercial Guard, but unfortunately Salisbury, Bournemouth locations where I live close to only have Commercial Guard positions.

I am brushing up on my maths and ticket selling skills from the revision notes sent from SWT.....just need to clear the cobwebs out first as it's been a while!!

Thank you, thank you again to everyone who replied to my message, it really is very much appreciated and very kind of you all to take the time to give me advice!!

 

[PudseyBearHST]

Thank you everyone for all your replies regarding my question, it's very much appreciated!!

The post is for a position at Salisbury, I originally wanted to apply for a regular Guard position and maybe in the future work my way up to Commercial Guard, but unfortunately Salisbury, Bournemouth locations where I live close to only have Commercial Guard positions.

I am brushing up on my maths and ticket selling skills from the revision notes sent from SWT.....just need to clear the cobwebs out first as it's been a while!!

Thank you, thank you again to everyone who replied to my message, it really is very much appreciated and very kind of you all to take the time to give me advice!!

Thats a good thing that you can become a Commercial Guard straight away Unfortunately I live on the other side of the line where you have to become a guard first

 

[Derlisz]

Hi. I have just passed the assessment for Commercial Guard for Bournemouth depot. I have already been invited for the interview and would like to ask for your help in preparation for that. Also does anyone know if an immediate interview means a vacancy will be available soon or it doesn't really mean anything of the sort. Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[Alex Lambert]

Hi to everyone at Rail UK Forums!!

Having wanting to become a Guard for South West Trains for a very long time, I have at last been given an assessment date which I am really pleased about!!!

Can anyone give me any tips regarding the assessment day for Commercial Guard?? I have been sent revision papers which I am studying at present, but any information from current Guards or people who have sat the assessments would be gladly appreciated??

I have waited a very a long time for this and it has always been my dream job to work for South West Trains as a Guard and work with the general public!!

I look forward to reading your informative replies!!

Hi Rail Newbie et al,

I have applied to be a commercial train guard based in Salisbury however i can't find anything that says how long the training takes to complete. As i'm sure you would all appreciate, there is a significant difference in the training wage to what you would take home once qualified. I am curious to know as it would potentially influence my decision to pursue this as a career change or not.

Any input would be appreciated.

Many thanks,

Another Rail Newb

 

[BazzaCFC]

Training for commercial guard will be at least 15 weeks in total.. it's 1 week longer than guard (which is 14 weeks) because commercial guard does an extra week in the classroom for the ticketing course... You are told 12 weeks for training in the interview, but it's actually longer...