Despatcher?

I'm 33. And have worked in retail. I want to work as a train despatcher. What can you expect, what's the interview questions like? how often do opportunities arise? Having worked in retail, how do you demonstrate that you can work in all terrains!

What's the short listing interview process like? Do tocs get 1000 applications for every one job?

Feedback from people who conduct interviews short list candidates would be handy!

I think a few TOCs are advertising at the moment for dispatchers (platform assistants, customer service officers, etc)
Interviews will mainly revolve a lot around things like "name a time you have had to deal with an incident" and then a lot of customer service based questions which you should be pretty fine with, having a retail background.
Wouldn't be sure on the shortlisting, I doubt they'd get 1000's but they wouldn't exactly be unpopular either, they'd shortlist people based on location and there overall experience in work (reliability, customer service experience etc)

Why would you like to work as atrIn dispatcher? what answer would one give?
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Anyone here work at Reading STation? As a dispatcher? Can you tell me what it's like there? nd what they look for in staff?

You want to prove that you can focus on the job at hand without being distracted, complete repetitive tasks with care and attention every time, be able to excellently alone and as a team, and give excellent customer service.

Your priority will always be safety, but the customer is never far behind. You'll have to be a problem solver, and be able to communicate clearly.

Do people who work as dispatchers find it boring an repetitive?
I am terrible at interviews. I pass interviews when I can be myself! I'm terrible at giving "proper" or sophisticated answers. Hence why I've probably been in retail all my life!

whoami said:

Do people who work as dispatchers find it boring an repetitive?
I am terrible at interviews. I pass interviews when I can be myself! I'm terrible at giving "proper" or sophisticated answers. Hence why I've probably been in retail all my life!

Click to expand...

I did dispatching for a while and loved it, it is slightly repetitive in terms of what the duties are but every day is different and its no more repetitive than retail, my only reason for leaving was that I was given a better opportunity, otherwise id happily still be doing it.

If anything it is best to be yourself in an interview, the question "why do you want to be a dispatcher?" is a question only you can answer, as long as the answer isn't just to do with money you'll be fine, all other questions are usually based on personal experience, don't play down even the simplest of things you may have done but obviously don't over exaggerate either.

Anyone here know what it's like to work in Reading. I'm sure there must be a Reading Dispatcher on this forum who's reading this. Perhaps they could DM me in case their employer is reading this!