Hi everyone...concerning SWT

[nelsonfwebster]

Hi, i'm an ex railway man and ex conductor/guard of 22 years, and so is my wife who has 10 years as a conductor, we have both got a role play and interview for guards at Waterloo, having waited since march.
Is this normal and what should we expect?


regards

 

[185]

Well done both of you, and good luck... it's a shame that a lot of companies now use these pointless assessments which are just totally stupid, and nothing to do with skill, ability or suitability. Originally in 1997, the only ones daft enough to use them were Virgin, but other companies seem to feel they are important now.

The original standard guard assessment was a discussion based exercise where one candidate would talk about a controversial subject (I got 'smoking for babies is great') written on a card, and try defend it, while another candidate would challenge it. This was good, as it brought out how a potential guard would challenge (professionally) a customers behaviour, and was easy to score for assessors.

The new rubbish with cutting out bits of newspaper in a 'team' ( or 'youre all trapped on a spaceship, who dies first?' do nothing to bring out real skills in candidates. All these unfair exercises serve to do is expose who has the biggest gob in the group.

 

[wibble]

it's a shame that a lot of companies now use these pointless assessments which are just totally stupid, and nothing to do with skill, ability or suitability. Originally in 1997, the only ones daft enough to use them were Virgin, but other companies seem to feel they are important now.

Is the based on the fact that you know the content of he SWT role play, or are you making a sweeping statement for all TOCs?

 

[Greenback]

If the assessments are so useless, then surely we would be seeing quite a lot of totally unsuitable, yet mouthy guards coming through for all the TOC's that use them?

No recruitment system is fool proof, and none is 100% guaranteed to ensure that the best candidate is appointed every single time.

 

[185]

Doing interviewing is the best way to assess candidates after the ordinary group standard tests. Had to do interviewing myself several times a few years back.

Ability to do the job and showing interest in the role should always come first. I always say that people doing interviewing should have done the job being recruited for at least a few years, and not some 'graduate' from the human remains department.

 

[Greenback]

It seems like a no brainer. If you have done the job, or a very similar one, you will at least understand first hand what is involved, and the type of person that would be suited to it.

However, there is always a chance that relying on something like that would only make the person conducting the interview more likely to want to select someone who is like themselves. Just watch The Apprentice and you wills ee how Lord Sugar is swayed by people he perceives as being like himself!

 

[Matt Taylor]

I applied internally for Strawberry Hill in May, got an assessment in July which was attended by a couple of guys (civvies) who had been waiting for two years! The interview and role play was in November and I only found out today that I was successful subject to medical.

PM me if you need more information as I'm guessing that you applied for a non commercial role at Waterloo?