Prior Experience for a Guard

I'm really interested in joining the rail industry as a guard prefereably or on train host etc but I currently only have a retail job at a supermarket part time whilst studying at University. I found lots of stuff about becoming a driver on this forum but I'm not interested in that for now. Due to my current job, I am used to working early and late shifts and providing customer experience but thats about it. What can I do to prepare myself/acquire experience to become a guard?

Edit: I'm based in Bristol so GWR or CrossCountry if that makes a difference.

Presumably you're going to be a guard after graduating uni? Hopefully someone can answer this because I have also got a guard application in for SWR and intrigued

Bucephalus said:

Presumably you're going to be a guard after graduating uni? Hopefully someone can answer this because I have also got a guard application in for SWR and intrigued

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Thanks for the reply, actually I'm thinking of dropping out. I'm studying Music and have had a change of mind about a future career. That combined with covid19 affecting everything.

How far into the application process for SWR are you?

43 302 said:

Thanks for the reply, actually I'm thinking of dropping out. I'm studying Music and have had a change of mind about a future career. That combined with covid19 affecting everything.

How far into the application process for SWR are you?

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Hi 43 302
I've done the online tests so waiting to pass the paper (application form) sift and go on to assessments. I do also have two train driver and one shunter application on the go to to be fair. Funnily enough, I graduated uni with music technology back in 2007. Never actually applied for a music job though

Hi,
Yeah I don't think anyone ever does anything music related with a degree in music, I know a couple of musicians and neither of them have a qualification in it. Do you have a preference out of those jobs? From reading some things on this forum it seems a lot of people think all guards etc want to be drivers but I'm not sure I'd want to in my early 20s. perhaps once I have a family. For now I'd much rather be a guard and interact with people.

Hey there. Actually shunter (mobile groundstaff db cargo) actually is the job that intrigues me the most. I'd be happy with anything railway to be honest. It's at that point of working in it, I believe I will have a proper understanding of the industry. Recruiters in my opinion, don't seem to understand that when they ask "why do you want work as a x"

So any guards on here that could offer their assistance to the OP?

Hi all
I was previous guard / Train manager for LNer
The things That any company will be looking for when recruiting a guard will be;
Safety focused - to help see risks and prevent anything from happening - dealing with safety incidents this could be how you put a fire out in a cigarette bin to save further spread or simple as moving a fire extinguisher from a fire door
Customer service this is a biggie as that's a huge part of the role
Time keeping
Shift work
Preparation for duty - how you would prepare for work, good nights sleep uniform and bait ready the night before stops you rushing the next morning, if you rush then things tend to go wrong
That your willingness to self learn if needs be
Proactive
Happy and full of energy - dont be like the other 100's candidates that have been interviewed take energy with you. Be different.

Fire any questions at me will try answer

43 302 said:

I'm really interested in joining the rail industry as a guard prefereably or on train host etc but I currently only have a retail job at a supermarket part time whilst studying at University. I found lots of stuff about becoming a driver on this forum but I'm not interested in that for now. Due to my current job, I am used to working early and late shifts and providing customer experience but thats about it. What can I do to prepare myself/acquire experience to become a guard?

Edit: I'm based in Bristol so GWR or CrossCountry if that makes a difference.

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It’s all about how and what you can sell about yourself. Customer service is very important for as a conductor/guard, but what’s more important is ultimately your control of what happens onboard your train, and the safety of your passengers.

Prior to myself achieving Trainee Conductor role, I also spent the last 8 years working in food and clothing retail alongside university, the previous 2 within a management role for a global fashion giant.

Personally my experience from working 8hrs part time differs greatly to what I can say about myself being given the challenge to run my own declining store and turn it into a profitable one. From this I’ve had to make really risky decisions on my own that have had a huge impactful consequences for the business and my former team. The positives that stem from this is that not only can I demonstrate how important the impact of customer service is to a business/brand, but also that I personally could manage a variety of challenging situations which vary from fire evacuations, dealing with repairs, dealing with customer/staff assaults, vulnerable/challenging customers, police incidents, first aid, and challenging company regulations all without guidance as often I would be the most senior person in the building (as you would be on a train in a conductor role).

If you are going for a conductor/guard role, my advice to you would be to read the many threads on the MMI questions, and if you can answer these with personal experiences to yourself, you would be absolutely fine and ready for the interview stage, but if this was something you find yourself struggling with, you may require more experience for the role in question as your conductor manager interview and MMI will be largely be competency based.

I can’t speak personally for customer host roles, but I would imagine the requirements for the role are less competency based and geared more towards providing a great customer experience, in which working front-line in a retail would be ideal. As a conductor, the role has a greater focus on the safety and welfare of everyone onboard as well as customer service, and that is probably the largest variance between the two.

I hope this helps out a little bit, but as with any job, it’s all about the experiences and what you can bring to the role personally, that will be your best preparation. I’d highly recommend the MMI threads on here will really help you out, and there’s also quite a few threads on previous interview questions that guards and hosts have had

Best of luck!

I reckon pool lifeguard is a good accessible shout
Meanwhile a CV showing you're literate; a degree does no harm, despite the stigma

Tbh though it all comes down to the online assessments, if you don't ace them your chances of an interview in a well paid railway job these days are bleak
I wouldn't say you are too inexperienced even now to join the railway. My dad has been driver for loòooooong time and I think even now they value brain over experience, as far as recruitment goes

Hi I've just come across this thread and funnily enough I was in pretty much the same position as yourself when I applied last year. However, instead of dropping out in thought I'd finish my final year and I'm hoping to graduate this year. With regards to previous experience, I've only ever worked in a supermarket part time and I got the job.

There are 5 assessments to do at the test centre, you will be given 3 tests initially and you must pass all 3 (if you fail they'll remove you unfortunately) before you move onto the final 2 tests.

In regards to the interview, what they want to hear from you;
is how you've dealt with an emergency situation, making a difficult decision, working under pressure- role as a guard is safety critical, passenger safety is no.1 at all times! Also don't forget to mention your customer service skills as well as you will be interacting with passengers. And that reminds me, another question will be based around how you've dealt with a difficult customer etc. So don't worry about your previous experience! Practice your answers, come up with examples (they won't know) if need be! Just be confident and you'll get the job.

Hope this helped somewhat, I'll be happy to help if you have any questions

I'm currently a driver; until very recently a guard, and also a holder of a music degree.

I got in to the railway through the catering side, as an onboard CSA at Virgin. I'd been working for a few months in a restaurant so I got some customer service skills through that, and for all the team working questions and so on in the interview I could use examples from within the music world. Because of being used to performing on a stage, I didn't find it as hard as some do to adapt to the Virgin way, we're they're looking for people to be very outgoing and approachable all the time.

Once I was on the railway, it was just a case of gaining as much experience as I could, and keeping my nose clean. After less then a year I got a transfer to platforms, which got me safety critical experience. After a year of that, I got a guards job at another TOC, by which stage almost all the examples on my application and in my interview were from my railway experience.

The big thing they look for these days is customer service skills. Find some way of showing that and getting in, and then you'd be surprised how useful a musical education can be on the railway.

I worked permanent nights for a year at various stations with some dispatch duties. The main benefit was it ticked the lone working box and saw me deal with undesirables and the like.

There are many ways in. I know ex bus drivers are often favoured too . Similar backgrounds to trainee drivers

9tfrizzco said:

I reckon pool lifeguard is a good accessible shout
Meanwhile a CV showing you're literate; a degree does no harm, despite the stigma

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Is there a stigma to having a degree?

43066 said:

Is there a stigma to having a degree?

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You know it's funny but I thought about that when applying, I wasn't sure whether it would fall into either 'over-qualified' or 'academic and thus not practical' kind of stereotyping. I only say that because I have been told that at previous non-railway related interviews, where having a degree certainly did not help my case [and I was told that bluntly and directly].

However, having just successfully made it (due to start once the current situation is resolved), I have to admit that having a degree didn't seem to do me any disfavours with regards to the railways. That being said, I certainly didn't emphasise it, as I figured my qualification had zero relevance to the railway world and thus I assume wasn't a contributing factor either way.

I certainly think that 'skills' - life based and transferrable - particularly managing difficult situations, teamworking, working solo, safety critical thinking, working under pressure etc. outweight any academic qualification by a massive margin. So I'd advise that those are the areas you want to be hitting.

I used obtaining my degree as an example of persevering at a long task for my Driver's MMI, so it definitely can be looked upon favourably in the right circumstances.

Mat17 said:

You know it's funny but I thought about that when applying, I wasn't sure whether it would fall into either 'over-qualified' or 'academic and thus not practical' kind of stereotyping. I only say that because I have been told that at previous non-railway related interviews, where having a degree certainly did not help my case [and I was told that bluntly and directly].

However, having just successfully made it (due to start once the current situation is resolved), I have to admit that having a degree didn't seem to do me any disfavours with regards to the railways. That being said, I certainly didn't emphasise it, as I figured my qualification had zero relevance to the railway world and thus I assume wasn't a contributing factor either way.

I certainly think that 'skills' - life based and transferrable - particularly managing difficult situations, teamworking, working solo, safety critical thinking, working under pressure etc. outweight any academic qualification by a massive margin. So I'd advise that those are the areas you want to be hitting.

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It’s an interesting one.

I can’t say I’ve ever had any comments, either positive or negative, in interviews but then I’ve taken the same approach is you and been fairly low key about it. It simply isn’t relevant to the role.

I have heard the odd throw away comment along the lines you describe. Which is a stereotype perpetuated by those with a chip on their shoulder. That’s no less stupid than looking down on those without a degree.

The reality is that it everyone is an individual and academic qualifications are completely irrelevant to many operational roles. The only question that should ever be asked is whether the person has the necessary skills and attributes to perform well in the role.

Thanks for the comments everyone. I had sort of come to the conlusion that academic qualifiations were not as important as skills and experience. There are some openings with CrossCountry for first class hosts, I may try applying for that and I'll look into lifeguard training as I think thats a good skill that will povide me with some safety critical experience in order to progress, not to mention it'll be good exercise.

I find it interesting there being a stigma about having a degree. I've only ever seen it the other way around (and not that much).

I've only ever known degrees to get you into the HR/Management side of the industry. The operational side is mainly based on assessments and experiences as many have touched on.

Goodluck regardless in your endeavours.

craigybagel said:

I didn't find it as hard as some do to adapt to the Virgin way, we're they're looking for people to be very outgoing and approachable all the time.

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They had twenty years to find people like that to staff their barriers at Euston and failed miserably!

In all seriousness though, its as people have said above. Tick the boxes they want in the application/interview process and prepare for the tests. I've never heard any stigma attached to someone having a degree. I studied for a degree myself while working on the railway and found colleagues to be interested and supportive. The only time I could see it as a problem would be if a small-minded manager carrying out interviews saw you had a degree and decided that if they took you on you might be coming after their job next. There are a few individuals like that on the railway but even I'm not cynical enough to suggest they represent more than a fraction of train crew managers. Bottom line is, best way to get on in the railway is to get on the railway.

43066 said:

Is there a stigma to having a degree?

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Sort of. The general view is too many people are going to university- which I agree with

Either take a degree or don't But if you pull out after having started one I'd see that as a bad sign if i was interviewing you.

Having said that one of my biggest regrets in life is that i took an HND rather than a degree when i had the chance.

Rockhopper said:

Either take a degree or don't But if you pull out after having started one I'd see that as a bad sign if i was interviewing you.

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Do people tend to put qualifications they didnt get on job applications? I failed my Science GCSE but I didnt put that down when I went for jobs, I only put the ones I passed.

Not often but some do. Sometimes you can see a gap between leaving school and starting work.