Didnt pass the Interviews.

I failed the Interview stage,got told today.Gutted,but i can apply again in 6 months. Good luck to the rest of you though.

jf1969 said:

I failed the Interview stage,got told today.Gutted,but i can apply again in 6 months. Good luck to the rest of you though.

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Hard luck mate, see you in 6 months.

I've only got 3 months left before I can have another go!!

Bad luck mate. Did they at least tell you why you failed or give you any kind of feedback?

Funny you should ask that,i just said to my wife,they haven't given me a reason why etc. Would be nice to know for future reference.

Which interview did you fail? Structured or the Manager interview?

Structered one.

I'm very sorry to hear that bud. Did they ring and yell you??

Have you got an assessment soon francisoldfield?

Sorry to hear that mate.

Did they phone you or email you??

they sent me a letter,so if u havent got a letter then maybe u have got through.
I am gutted,but nothing i can do.

Mate honestly I know how you feel. But you have proved you can pass the rest of the tests.

You know what questions they will ask you next time so look at it as a 6 month opportunity to fine tune it and get it 100% right next time. Get some good stories about yourself and rehearse them, from what I know the same 5 or 6 questions are used by most TOCs.

I know it hurts but 6 months is not far away and there WILL be another chance at this.

All the supporting info is available from this forum and most if not all of the guys and girls here including me will help you and answer any questions you need to know.

All the best!

congratulations to you navydavy, two jobs! The luxury of choice! Commiserations to those who didn't succeed, keep those chins up and hopefully the next time you will be successful.

I also got the bad news today.

My letter was dated 28th April though, so were we doomed from the start?

Charlie,just checked my date too,it also says 28th April! Maybe we should tell them they would not of passed the Exam either!

lol, well, better luck next time Matey. Will they even still be recruiting in 6 months?

Well 6 months from the date they put,would be October.....thats 6 months after April!
They cant argue the case can they! lol

Hey, Good thinking! Never thought of it like that.

Hi,

Can anyone tell me what sort of questions you get grilled on during the structured interview please?

Whatever you put down on the questionaire in the 25 minutes at the start, You'll get quizzed on that.
I got asked all about courses I'd done in my previous job.
It was BRUTAL!!!

Q1. Describe a time when you dealt with an emergency situation.
Q2. Describe a time when you had to solve a difficult problem.
Q3. Describe a time when you had to attend a training course longer than 2 weeks.
Q4. Describe a time when you have had to work alone for long periods.
Q5. Describe a time when you had to follow procedures.

The structured interview lasts about an hour and IMO was the most difficult part of the assessment process.
They really do grill you on these questions and if they are not satisfied with your answers they will just keep grilling you until they are satisfied or until they decide that you can't answer the question.

Q1 is always going to be a difficult one to answer...unless you are lucky (or unlucky) enough to have been in such a situation.

GB said:

Q1 is always going to be a difficult one to answer...unless you are lucky (or unlucky) enough to have been in such a situation.

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Exactly. It's come as quite a blessing that I witnessed one such situation on the railway as a passenger a couple of years back and reacted correctly to it. It's been useful for many application forms.

I can imagine some people making something up for those sections.

Got a letter today from FCC telling me that I have passed all of the assessments and interviews for trainee train driver.
Hooray I cried !!
Then came the "however..."
"However we are limited to a set number of trainee drivers that we can offer contracts to and unfortunately we have reached our quota."
Funny how only last Tuesday at the interviews I asked the two managers when I would start if successful and they said August or September.
Either HR and train managers don't talk to each other or FCC have suddenly decided they need no more trainees.
Talk about having the carpet pulled from under me.
It's not much of a consolation being told that my test results are valid for 3 years and if any vacancies arise in the future I will be offered a job.
I really can't see FCC taking on anymore in the near future, but who knows??
To all those in the same boat, well done on passing everything. So near but yet so far!!

charlie873 said:

I also got the bad news today.

My letter was dated 28th April though, so were we doomed from the start?

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Listen to this one then I did not get the job either and my letter was dated March 15th.Not very professional

Has anyone applied to Lorol?

How many times can you take the trainee driver assessment if you keep passing that part? I know if you fail twice then it's the end.

If you fail at interview, but pass the assessment, is there a limit on applying?

Albert said:

How many times can you take the trainee driver assessment if you keep passing that part? I know if you fail twice then it's the end.

If you fail at interview, but pass the assessment, is there a limit on applying?

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Which toc did you apply to?

Hi anonymous0101

I have applied recently for a trainee conductor with FSR at Dumfries and was unsuccesful at interview. I know that the conductor assessment is slightly different than the driver one, as no reaction test. I do not have to wait 6 months to apply for a trainee driver position with FSR as it is a different grade.

I just wondered what happened if the same where to happen with a trainee driver application i.e. pass assessmen then fail at interview?

Topgun said:

Q1. Describe a time when you dealt with an emergency situation.
Q2. Describe a time when you had to solve a difficult problem.
Q3. Describe a time when you had to attend a training course longer than 2 weeks.
Q4. Describe a time when you have had to work alone for long periods.
Q5. Describe a time when you had to follow procedures.

The structured interview lasts about an hour and IMO was the most difficult part of the assessment process.
They really do grill you on these questions and if they are not satisfied with your answers they will just keep grilling you until they are satisfied or until they decide that you can't answer the question.

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Spot on, had my lorol structured interview recently and was unsuccessfull.

The funny thing is i had prepared 2-3 examples of work related incidents for a range of possible q's they would ask but none of them were good enough for the interviewer, she was constantly pressing for more info.

E.g.

Q1. Describe a time when you dealt with an emergency situation.

I started talking about an incident where there were 3 train fatalities, how it affected the services at my station and how i responded. The interviewer stopped me and wasnt happy with my answer.

She then asked me "can you tell me an incident YOU have been directly involved in"

Now i havent been in a train crash, car crash etc so its hard to think of a situation "YOU" have been directly involved in.

I ended up having to speak about a very touchy personal matter because it was the only thing that I could think of, however it wasnt work related at all!!

Q5. Describe a time when you had to follow procedures.

I started talking about an incident where there was a station evacuation and the procedure i had to follow. The interviewer stopped me, then asked "What are the rules within your current role"

Now that wasnt something I expected n i had to pause 4 a second before answering the question.

Imo the structured interview was the hardest part because everything i prepared pretty much wasnt good enough!!

My advice to everyone is work out at least 3 VERY VERY GOOD answers to each possible interview question!!

How do you cope with stress?
How do you cope with fatigue?
Have you had to undertake studying for something before?
How do you think you would cope in the event of a fatality?
Have you done shift work before
Why do you want to be a driver
If a work colleage had to describe you what would they say about you
Explain a time when you have worked in a team
Tell me what you know about the company
How would you get to work at 3am in the morning!
Describe a time when you dealt with an emergency situation.
Describe a time when you had to solve a difficult problem.
Describe a time when you had to attend a training course longer than 2 weeks.
Describe a time when you have had to work alone for long periods.
Describe a time when you had to follow procedures.

Thats what i plan to do within 6mths n keep my eye open.

marvelle said:

The funny thing is i had prepared 2-3 examples of work related incidents for a range of possible q's they would ask but none of them were good enough for the interviewer, she was constantly pressing for more info.

E.g.

Q1. Describe a time when you dealt with an emergency situation.

I started talking about an incident where there were 3 train fatalities, how it affected the services at my station and how i responded. The interviewer stopped me and wasnt happy with my answer.

She then asked me "can you tell me an incident YOU have been directly involved in"

Now i havent been in a train crash, car crash etc so its hard to think of a situation "YOU" have been directly involved in.

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Rather than just attempting the selection process again, can I suggest a different approach?

It may be that your present job isn't giving you the exposure/ responsibility to be able to answer these questions. Take a step back, look at what competencies they are trying to detect, and think about how you might be able to develop them in your current workplace. Until you've done so, you'll risk falling foul of the same questions.

I hadn't dealt with a train crash or a car accident either when I sat the interview. I gave the example of my being the duty manager in a large public building when the fire alarm went off; the procedure being to treat it is a real emergency, until the fire brigade told you it wasn't.