Trainee Depot Driver Structured Interview help??

luck_123 said:

Hello,

I recently passed the assessment day for a trainee depot driver for C2C but went up to stratford to take it. I passed so i have to go back up there for a structured interview i was just wondering if anyones knows any of the questions i will be asked?

Also if i make it to the interview with the line manager do you know what questions they will ask then? and will they ask about criminal convictions in either of these interviews?

Any help i would be very grateful! Thanks.

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ghost said:

But if they are spent and they are not that serious like for example murder, serious fraud

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ghost said:

Hi, If you have a criminal record then my advice is don't bother going to the interview or continuing. If you are selected, when they send you your contract in the post it will have a CRB form for you to fill out and they will find out if you have any unspent convictions. But if they are spent and they are not that serious like for example murder, serious fraud, they will not appear of a basic disclosure, obviously the serious ones do and will never clear anyone’s record. You can do a check yourself at disclosure Scotland. The last thing you want to do is leave a job for another knowing what the risk are in this current economic climate. Hope this helps.
Good luck anyway.

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plannerman said:

Jesus, what do you count as serious then?

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ghost said:

Hi, If you have a criminal record then my advice is don't bother going to the interview or continuing. If you are selected, when they send you your contract in the post it will have a CRB form for you to fill out and they will find out if you have any unspent convictions. But if they are spent and they are not that serious they will not appear of a basic disclosure, obviously the serious ones like for example murder, serious fraud, do and will never clear anyone’s record. You can do a check yourself at disclosure Scotland. The last thing you want to do is leave a job for another knowing what the risk are in this current economic climate. Hope this helps.
Good luck anyway.

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Supersaint said:

CRB checks will bring everything up, I’m in Care work as a Senior Support Worker, I also work p/t elsewhere doing the same, I have to fill in a CRB form yearly for the p/t job & every 3 years for the f/t job. I have a few things on mine that are spent but they will stay there. Best thing to do is be upfront, there more than likely looking to see on CRB forms if there’s “Sex offences” or worse things. Like me I made a few mistakes when I was younger but hasn’t really effected the work I do now !

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luck_123 said:

I have got a criminal record for drugs and its only petty really.

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luck_123 said:

Can anyone help me with the interview Q&A's at all?

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1. Name a time when you dealt with an emergency situation.
2. Name a time when you had to follow rules and procedures to get a job done.
3. Name a time when you were working on your own.
4. Name a time when you had to deal with a difficult situation.
5. Name a time when you undertook a training course / studied (for at least 2 weeks) OR name a time when you achieved a goal.

1. Ability to communicate effectively
2. Ability to follow rules and procedures
3. Calm in an emergency
4. Being conscientious.
5. Being proactive / tenacious.
6. Ability to work alone.

E&W Lucas said:

Drugs could be regarded as relevant to the job in question, but if you've got this far, you might as well have a go, and see what happens.

I find the whole CRB business a bit repressive. Any idea of allowing someone to "learn their lesson" seems to have been lost, as any conviction or even caution will be shown up to a prospective employer for life. So things someone wouldn't need to declare on the form, like spent convictions and cautions, still get revealed. To my mind, the whole system needs toning down a bit. Perhaps the record reviewed against guidelines for the post in question by the CRB, and only a "Yes" or "No" being sent to the employer. As stated above, people can mess up, and if they learn from it, they should be allowed to move on with their lives. The whole thing seems to be an attempt to criminalise as much of the population as possible.

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paulravuslante said:

I have done the structured interview twice this year (thankfully passed second time). On both occasions the questions I was asked were something like this:

1. Name a time when you dealt with an emergency situation.
2. Name a time when you had to follow rules and procedures to get a job done.
3. Name a time when you were working on your own.
4. Name a time when you had to deal with a difficult situation.
5. Name a time when you undertook a training course / studied (for at least 2 weeks) OR name a time when you achieved a goal.

On both occasions, they also threw in questions (that you hadn't prepared) on when you had completed checks and when you had to work to a set standard. These came in after the question on following rules and procedures.

After my first attempt, I was fortunate enough to be told by the assessor the qualities that they are looking for in a train driver when conducting the interview, which were:

1. Ability to communicate effectively
2. Ability to follow rules and procedures
3. Calm in an emergency
4. Being conscientious.
5. Being proactive / tenacious.
6. Ability to work alone.

Obviously some of the qualities apply directly to some of the questions, but you're assessed on all of the qualities throughout the interview, so bear these qualities in mind throughout the interview.

Have they asked you to do a Safe Personality Questionnaire as well? I was asked to do this (so have the qualities they assess on this too), with questions on your 'results' being discussed after the main structured interview. Mind you, I suppose different TOCs use different tests, and possibly different test centres might operate in slightly different ways (I atteneded The OPC, Watford).

Still, I hope this info has helped in some way.
Paul.

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On both occasions, they also threw in questions (that you hadn't prepared) on when you had completed checks and when you had to work to a set standard

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luck_123 said:

Cheers Paul, this is very helpful. Appreciate it!
Will they ask for more then one example of each question?
I will be taking the interview at the Academy in Stratford so it may be a bit different to yours. As far as i know they haven't asked me to do a Safe Personality Questionnaire.

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GB said:

How did you answer the standards question if you don't mind me asking? I ask becuase that is the question that tripped most people up (me included) when we had our interviews back in September/October.

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paulravuslante said:

I have done the structured interview twice this year (thankfully passed second time). On both occasions the questions I was asked were something like this:

1. Name a time when you dealt with an emergency situation.
2. Name a time when you had to follow rules and procedures to get a job done.
3. Name a time when you were working on your own.
4. Name a time when you had to deal with a difficult situation.
5. Name a time when you undertook a training course / studied (for at least 2 weeks) OR name a time when you achieved a goal.

On both occasions, they also threw in questions (that you hadn't prepared) on when you had completed checks and when you had to work to a set standard. These came in after the question on following rules and procedures.

After my first attempt, I was fortunate enough to be told by the assessor the qualities that they are looking for in a train driver when conducting the interview, which were:

1. Ability to communicate effectively
2. Ability to follow rules and procedures
3. Calm in an emergency
4. Being conscientious.
5. Being proactive / tenacious.
6. Ability to work alone.

Obviously some of the qualities apply directly to some of the questions, but you're assessed on all of the qualities throughout the interview, so bear these qualities in mind throughout the interview.

Have they asked you to do a Safe Personality Questionnaire as well? I was asked to do this (so have the qualities they assess on this too), with questions on your 'results' being discussed after the main structured interview. Mind you, I suppose different TOCs use different tests, and possibly different test centres might operate in slightly different ways (I atteneded The OPC, Watford).

Still, I hope this info has helped in some way.
Paul.

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notadriver said:

Does anyone know if c2c and National Express East Anglia are companies which force all new starters on depot work even if they are already qualified drivers from another TOC?

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the_one1 said:

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Hey paul some very usefull information you have given on here.

Do u know what questions they ask you in the personality questionaire (after the 115 questions you have to do on a palm). I think they ask u 3 or 4 different question which you have to give examples for. Any idea what them questions are or what u were asked in yours?

Your help is much appreciated..

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• Follows rules and procedures
• Is calm in an Emergency
• Is concerned over detail in their work
• Is cautious and patient

paulravuslante said:

Hi there,

If I remember rightly, the questions asked are based on the answers you gave in relation to the statements in the questionnaire. Some statements are clear in the way you should answer e.g. I enjoy taking the occasional risk - disagree strongly. Others are not so clear cut and it's debatable whether these statements actually make much impact on the 'results' of the questionnaire e.g. I always use my vote. At the bottom of this post I'll mention the qualities that I was told they look for at the assessment centre in the 'results' of this questionnaire.

The 'results' will pinpoint the interviewer to read out a one or more specific phrases, along the lines of (this was similar to what I had):

Your results show you as a cautious and patient individual. You prefer to complete your work methodically and accurately even though you may not complete work to deadlines as a result.

Then they ask whether you agree or disagree with the result, why you agree / disagree with the result and for you to provide an example of when you demonstrated being like / not like what the statement is saying. I'm not sure whether you'll be given more than one result to comment on.

In my experience I remember getting a bit confused and thinking that as a driver you'd need to be an all-rounder and be content to work cautiously when it suited and then quickly when under pressure. So my answer was that I would be happy to work in either environment and I provided an example of times at work where I would be in a ticket office and it would be very quiet and other times very busy. The interviewer wasn't satisfied with this and kept pressing me to choose whether I preferred working cautiously or not. I thought it through logically and obviously you should be working cautiously when driving (not taking risks) and chose that as my answer.

So I think a good strategy to employ during the question and answer sections of this part of you day is to remember the qualities that the interviewer is looking for and answer accordingly, but obviously have some examples of times when you demonstrated these qualities for the inevitable questioning from the interviewer.

The qualities I was told the interviewer is looking for during the Safe Personality Questionnaire are:

• Follows rules and procedures
• Is calm in an Emergency
• Is concerned over detail in their work
• Is cautious and patient

That's all I can remember from my day, hope it helps you.

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slick said:

No. It depends where your applying for...

If vaccancies arise on the West Anglia side of national express ie Chingford, Bishops Stortford, Cambridge, its straight to mainline, we dont have depot drivers at all.

If vaccancies arise on the Great Eastern or Anglia side ie Ilford, Gidea Park, Norwich, Southend etc then usually yes you will start as a depot driver and work your way into the main drivers link.

This is due to National Express East Anglia retaining the style of working from former WAGN, First Great Eastern, and Anglia franchises. Although we all wear the same uniform and work for the same company, how things are run are still kept to how they were from former franchises in the main..

As far as I know c2c have always used the latter system of depot drivers too.

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elgin eagle said:

Yes, thats what happened in my case. I applied for a trainee driver position at chingford having done my opc with scotrail, but as I understand it those were all taken by depot drivers from ilford moving across. This left 6 full time depot driver vacancies at Ilford, one of which I was lucky enough to get.

There's no set time when it will go to mainline driving though, it could be anytime from 3 months to 3 or even 5 years, but there is plenty of overtime available so the lower salary shouldn't be too much of an issue hopefully. Having said that it may all change under a new franchise i suppose.

I left a part time customer services position that i'd just got with heathrow express that would probably have led on to mainline driving as well and possibly sooner, but i couldn't afford to gamble that overtime would always be available in the meantime with two kids.

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