Manager's Interview

[Jaeger]

I have a manager's Interview coming up with SWT. If anyone has gone through this successfully recently, any tips and what were they looking for in you?

Much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[shirleyd286]

Had a management interview today for a different TOC in a high management grade. The questions were nearly all competency based, so for example, "Tell me about a time you had to devise a solution for a problem?" or "Give me an example of how you have managed people through a change? How did you overcome resistance?". The ones that weren't competency based were what I knew about the TOC, it's plans for the future, what performance was measured against and people skills related.

 

[Need2]

I have a manager's Interview coming up with SWT. If anyone has gone through this successfully recently, any tips and what were they looking for in you?

Much appreciated.

Thanks

What role is it for?

 

[Jaeger]

Trainee driver.

 

[Need2]

Trainee driver.

What depot did you apply for and when is the DMI?

Any way, I applied and failed the DMI interview for Woking in March/April 2016.
I had already passed the assessments and MMI with another TOC so 'skipped' straight to the DMI stage.
It was held at Southampton and was conducted by 2 driver managers, 1 male and 1 female. Quite a friendly style, not oppressive and daunting but you HAVE to be prepared. I obviously wasn't :roll:
After the pleasantries and introductions the interview was in this order (could be different order/style so be prepared)

"What do you know about SWT?"

Do as much homework about the company as you can, ie CEO, staff numbers, stock figures, routes etc etc etc. Try and find something as recent as possible in the news or something which will make your research and yourself stand out. For example I found out the time and route of the first SWT run after 'privatisation' and also some very recent news about the SWT contract bid. Make yourself stand out with knowledge, research and enthusiasm.

Then begins the rest of the interview.....
I can only describe mine as an intense MMI, this is where I feel I let myself down as I was not expecting it (compared to a DMI I had with southeatern a few years ago)

It was just that, an MMI type interview, "Give an example of......", "How would you......"
etc etc. The only 2 questions (I think there were 5 or 6 in total) I can remember were

"give an example of when you had a disagreement with a manager and how did you resolve it?"

"Give an example of when you overcame a customers anger and resolved their complaint to their satisfaction"

The only advice I can give is prepare,prepare,prepare
Learn as much as you can about SWT
Research into typical interview questions (give an example type), look into the STAR technique and plan your responses.
I asked for feedback on the interview and the reason I failed was that the interviewers had to keep prompting me for more information to my answers. Looking back I think the answers/response I gave were good, it's just I didn't 'roll' them out as in the STAR system.
The whole interview took about 45mins -1 hour but I have read of people passing (with other TOC's) with the interview lasting 30 mins or slightly less. I guess if you can answer concisely, precisely and with enough information to satisfy the interviewers then this could be easily possible.

Do better than I did, preparation is the key and be confident (but not over!)
As the saying goes "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail"

Good luck and let us know how it went.

 

[Jaeger]

Thanks. Very informative reply. I'll certainly take this on-board. Mine is also at Southampton. I've applied for Waterloo.