Non-Police to Train Driver

[ILoveLamp]

It would appear that police and emergency services are looked upon favourably by TOC's judging by this forum. Why is that? There are many other professions that show similar skills and maybe better (working alone etc).

It seems that emergency services jobs are seen almost as a given, what other roles have people done before train driving that have shown great crossover skills and really aided their application and training for the job?

 

[NorthernTech]

I wonder if some TOC’s hr teams, being busy, almost automatically select emergency service workers during the initial sift as a matter of course therefore leaving others to get rejected without even being properly considered?. Just a thought but it defo seems that for some reason police and fire jobs are considered to line up well to train driving, yet in reality, apart from rules and safety, seem very different.

 

[Tysoe]

I suppose it is to do with the number of skills that transfer between roles.

Working under pressure, initiative, problem solving, dealing with public In difficult scenarios (and in general) advanced casualty care, learning new skills, working to policies and procedures strictly to name a few.

How many of these can you tick to such a high level?

I'm a firefighter and have been turned away on a number of occasions for the record.

 

[NorthernTech]

Certainly in my role I can tick off all of those except the advanced casualty care, which I’m struggling to see the use of as a Train Driver anyway. Yes, in the likelihood of an incident it could be useful, but how many incidents happen where a train driver has to step in to help a casualty instead of letting the emergency services do it? Many other jobs outside of the Emergency Services work to strict rules and regulations, are safety critical and have a problem solving nature.

 

[martin2345uk]

On my course of 14 trainees there was one firefighter and 13 non-emergency services people so I wouldn't worry about it too much

 

[Fratton Guard?]

True. Many of the skillsets of Emergency Services and Ex Armed Forces applicants are definitely transferable, in fact, in the on-line application for my TOC one of the first questions is "Have you been or are you due to be released from the Armed Forces" . I think it definitely helps you get through the paper sift, but, when it comes down to it EVERYONE needs to pass the psychometric tests on the day whatever they're background. There was 32 on my assessment day and 9 got through to Interview. Only 1 was not already in the industry or ex armed forces/emergency services

 

[scotraildriver]

There are no ex police or firefighters in my depot. There are however ex posties, supermarket managers, RAF, electricians, teachers, pilot, bus drivers, lorry drivers and many more.

 

[NorthernTech]

It’s just whether or not you have a lesser chance of getting sifted if you not emergency services or armed forces that’s the problem. Obviously after that it’s (mainly) your own merit..

 

[LowLevel]

It’s just whether or not you have a lesser chance of getting sifted if you not emergency services or armed forces that’s the problem. Obviously after that it’s (mainly) your own merit..

Their experience gained through their previous work *is* their own merit.

As a guard I work more closely with drivers than any other grade on the passenger railway and the ex forces and emergency services types are generally pretty good. You can't beat the calm approach that they usually bring when it's all going wrong. It's not a universal truth but it certainly helps.

I say that as an ex civil servant who has been a railwayman for over 10 years - I've worked with drivers ranging from the old school 16 year old traction trainee from the 70s to ex supermarket workers who passed the tests and everything in between.

 

[tallpaul82]

I’m an ex-Police officer and currently going through training. As has been said everyone has to get through the psychometrics and when I did mine there were four of us. Three were Police and one military. Only me and the military chap were successful so it’s not a guarantee being ex-Police. I think where I had an advantage was the interview and that the questions were just like a day at work - making decisions, working under pressure etc etc.

 

[NorthernTech]

Their experience gained through their previous work *is* their own merit.

As a guard I work more closely with drivers than any other grade on the passenger railway and the ex forces and emergency services types are generally pretty good. You can't beat the calm approach that they usually bring when it's all going wrong. It's not a universal truth but it certainly helps.

I say that as an ex civil servant who has been a railwayman for over 10 years - I've worked with drivers ranging from the old school 16 year old traction trainee from the 70s to ex supermarket workers who passed the tests and everything in between.

Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant that progressing through the rest of the recruitment may still be helped and not just their own merits. I think all emergency service staff and armed forces are obviously very capable and would have great work examples for the mmi etc but it seems that the TOC’s can possible see those as perfect employees to sift though and perhaps overlook other suitable job roles.

 

[43066]

Not a career as such but I have a PPL and drew from this to answer the questions around following procedures, dealing with an emergency situation (a radio failure was the example I used IIRC).

Think outside the box and don’t be afraid to use hobbies, activities away from work etc.

 

[whoosh]

Bear in mind that there is some form of camaraderie within the police, fire service, ambulance service, and armed forces. If someone gets a good job doing something else as a career (driving trains on the railway), then they tell their mates about how they are getting on and perhaps they should apply as well.

It's knowing vacancies are coming up and being encouraged to apply, which leads to a good proportion of those people joining the railway as well - in it to win it - rather than them being somehow put to the top of the list.
Having examples to draw upon in interviews and assessments helps as well.

There are plenty of non-police - bank managers, supermarket managers and shopfloor workers, postal workers, insurance brokers, electricians, gas engineers, McDonald's workers, bus drivers - there's allsorts.

 

[Astro_Orbiter]

I worked in a coffee shop before I came on the railway, everyone on my original course 10 years ago was not from a police or army background, car sales people, truck drivers etc, ordinary jobs

 

[Horizon22]

There's a lot of transferable skills between the emergency services and railway as alluded to above. The work balance (rosters etc.) as well and general "culture" can be seen as more attractive to those in the emergency services, but that is different as to whether they're successful. I think @whoosh has articulated this well. This forum is also not always completely representative of the wider workforce!

But I've seen courses with people from all walks of life on many courses and throughout various companies. Depends what sort of level of job you're pitching for too.

Nobody is a perfect applicant; if your application is good, meets or exceeds the criteria, you pass tests and have a interview better than other people you will succeed. It's why the application process normally includes different phases to test different skills.

 

[michael74]

6 on my course, 2 guards from a different TOC, internal transfer non guard, myself a Nurse, a postie and a car salesperson. Plenty of staff in the mess who came from non railway and non safety backgrounds.

 

[Heaps92]

It would appear that police and emergency services are looked upon favourably by TOC's judging by this forum. Why is that? There are many other professions that show similar skills and maybe better (working alone etc).

It seems that emergency services jobs are seen almost as a given, what other roles have people done before train driving that have shown great crossover skills and really aided their application and training for the job?

I was a prison officer before becoming a train driver

 

[BWCB]

I’m a lawyer, but soon to be an ex-lawyer when I start driver training next month

When I did psychometrics, there was five of us. A current guard, and an airline pilot both failed the paper tests, but me, a police officer and person who worked in HR got through.

I did fail one computer test that time but did eventually get a second chance, and now I’m about to start training!

 

[si_145653]

From my guards course we had myself ex leisure centre manager, a military electrician, cabin crew and someone who use to work on gate line

At my depot most I net seemed to have joined from “outside”

 

[Zomboida]

Seeing this helps the confidence.
Iv always thought there would be a bias of sorts towards those with a police/bus driver applications or something
But i get as long as you have relevant experience and sell it well then you have a chance no matter the work history?