As I've stated elsewhere recently, and have seen from my own experience, enthusiasts come across as knowing it all already, and they can be incredibly difficult to train. A lot of TOCs prefer to start with a clean sheet.
I wouldn’t say that’s the representative of ALL enthusiasts. There are enthusiasts, the spotters, and then there are those who are enthused by the subject matter and it’s intracacies.
Some enthusiasts are easy to train because they ARE interested in the job for what it is; they want to learn, they want to be the best they can at the job by taking pride in their skills and work ethic.
Those without even a passing interest in the railway, or its operation
per se, and when asked why they want to be a driver, are on the whole only applying because they are interested in the high salary, four-day week, working as much overtime as possible.
The latter for their lack of enthusiasm, aren’t neccesarily going to be good at the job, or take pride in their work during, or after training.
It’s about evidencing you not only have the right mental attitude, interest and commitment to do the job, along with the shift work, but the right life skills and any other skills that are transferable to the role.
It’s a very long training period, with the course pressure akin to that of becoming an airline pilot, so those who lack tenacity, or cannot demonstrate any track record of long-term achievement, will be binned at interview stage.