Gents,
Thanks for those figures. It gives a little hope I may be successful in the future maybe.
To give more information, for a fairer view, all three were conductor postings. Two were specifically 'trainee' and one was 'train manager'.
I currently work in a role which is in a shifts based, safety critical, random drug testing environment.
However it has given me a lot of decision making, customer handling and safety critical experience. Prior to this I have a shedload of customer service / telesales/complaint handling/sensitive issues experience. Mostly call centre based but in the complaint handler and the last job before the operations, I did have a few face to face experiences.
When I was a volunteer on a little railway, I was in the train staff and so had plenty of ticket, face to face, signposting experience picked up. One day I recall conducting a tour round the shed for an American visitor and reeling off the history of said line, he left quite impressed. Editor's note: the passengers was the good bit.
TOCswise
The first was in late September -this one actually got me a place in their 'reserve pool' / 'pipeline'. I am hoping, fervently, that with the "good news" that came today, this would mean that said pool would be opening up and perhaps a call-up will come soon. I confirmed this via a chaser email end of October, where the replied and said I was "definitely in the pipeline". A little Xmas miracle, but you can't rely on this I understand?
The second was end of October. This didn't go so well.
The third was last week and was a day trip. This one was the 'golden opportunity' I'd have liked as a relocation as well would have been fantastic. Initial apps, fine. Testing, fine. Group exercise - seemingly fine as I got to final interview. Problem was that on this I got 'hard mode' and also lost my nerve in the interview. I could say more but don't wish to project 'personal speculation' which could be unfair. The rejection for that came today.
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Preparation is a must must must. I thoroughly agree with this. For TOC #1 I quit a weekend vacation in Wales [meant to leave Monday morning; left Sunday morning instead] to come home and prepare like hell for the tests - dots testing [had to find out about this online] and the rapid-fire ticket sales and checking tests. This paid off at the testing stage.
For TOC #2 I spent a day revising the same near nonstop. This was ultimately in vain.
TOC #3 did online testing and sent mails across - this was the hardest of the three TOCs as they had math-manipulation, non-verbal reasoning [pick which shape follows the pattern next] and close-follow-reasoning questions "All people in A have dogs. Some people in B have cats. Do people in B have dogS?" etc. Nailed it though and got to the group + interview round.
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I am aware that "I like railways" alone means nothing. And rightly so really because although if you find a job that you're passionate about, if you're not right for the role just because, then really, don't do it. Railway staff need to be safety conscious at all times and attentive as well as have a thick skin - as any public role requires.
I guess I'm going to have to bide my time methinks. Further thoughts always appreciated.
. Mostly lighthearted, that comment, but remember that they will be looking for attention to detail.
