Freightliner interview help

[Canonite]

Applied for this position quite a while ago for 'multi-skilled operative' and trying to get as much info and background on the role.
I'd thought I hadn't got through but received a letter inviting me to interview.
Any help and advice is appreciated

 

[Canonite]

I've read up on the company as I've been looking into it all for months, I thought there might be someone helpful on here who may work for Freightliner who could shed some light on the actual duties involved, in addition to what the job description says.

 

[Timpg]

Applied for this position quite a while ago for 'multi-skilled operative' and trying to get as much info and background on the role.
I'd thought I hadn't got through but received a letter inviting me to interview.
Any help and advice is appreciated

Hi mate, I'm a multi skilled operative, but at a different terminal. The job varies from terminal to terminal. At my terminal I am purely a shunter, many of our trains are either too long for the terminal and have to be split and shunted about, or wagons remartialled to a different service.,I arrive trains, I carry out pre departure exams, I also carry out carriage and wagon examinations. In other terminals this may very, I've heard of some driving heavy plant, e.g cranes, tugs, reach stackers, straddle carriers etc.

 

[Jace69er]

I've read up on the company as I've been looking into it all for months, I thought there might be someone helpful on here who may work for Freightliner who could shed some light on the actual duties involved.

You tried asking if you can visit a depot for a walk round? Maybe even get a chance to see what the guys do and ask face to face?

Worth a try

 

[Rocket]

Hi mate, I'm a multi skilled operative, but at a different terminal. The job varies from terminal to terminal. At my terminal I am purely a shunter, many of our trains are either too long for the terminal and have to be split and shunted about, or wagons remartialled to a different service.,I arrive trains, I carry out pre departure exams, I also carry out carriage and wagon examinations. In other terminals this may very, I've heard of some driving heavy plant, e.g cranes, tugs, reach stackers, straddle carriers etc.

You also have to make the tea for the drivers, something TIMPG as not learnt yet, he makes one cup's !!

 

[red2005]

There is quite a lot of information in the advert itself that will aid you at the interview in terms of the duties undertaken.

A quality they look for on the railway is initiative.

 

[Timpg]

Doncaster they drive reach stackers, as sometimes we have to wait for the guy to shunt our trains.

You also have to make the tea for the drivers, something TIMPG as not learnt yet, he makes one cup's !!

Not on my terminal rocket!! Far too busy to make tea for myself let alone make tea for drivers as well!! Although as its you... I may make an exception hahaa!!

 

[Jace69er]

As someone who has done dozens of interviews within the railway, I would say this is him using his initiative by asking for a more personal run down of the job. Anyone thay goes for the job will have done the Google search and he clearly has "used his initiative " to try and show that he knows a bit more.

 

[Canonite]

Hi mate, I'm a multi skilled operative, but at a different terminal. The job varies from terminal to terminal. At my terminal I am purely a shunter, many of our trains are either too long for the terminal and have to be split and shunted about, or wagons remartialled to a different service.,I arrive trains, I carry out pre departure exams, I also carry out carriage and wagon examinations. In other terminals this may very, I've heard of some driving heavy plant, e.g cranes, tugs, reach stackers, straddle carriers etc.

Thanks for that, I had noticed that reach stackers are mentioned in other jobs advertised but not the one I applied for so wondered if there are varying roles within terminals that you've confirmed.
Do they provide training for reach stackers and shunters then where it forms part of the role or did you already have them?

I had done a lot of reading on here and other places on the net covering various roles within the industry prior to deciding to join here as it seemed a helpful place full of well experienced guys.
No better help than from the horses mouth as they say and Timpg has given some good insight. That's all I asked for.

Ive set up and run motoring forums and I understand totally that there are people who will come on and ask the most stupid questions, I use google to search as the Vbulletin search forum is generally pretty poor at yielding accurate results. I also see the bashing newbies get from time to time for it too which I personally keep to a minimum on my site as it doesn't give a good impression to potential new members.
Come on, we're all here to help each other aren't we.

 

[red2005]

Thanks for that, I had noticed that reach stackers are mentioned in other jobs advertised but not the one I applied for so wondered if there are varying roles within terminals that you've confirmed.
Do they provide training for reach stackers and shunters then where it forms part of the role or did you already have them?

I had done a lot of reading on here and other places on the net covering various roles within the industry prior to deciding to join here as it seemed a helpful place full of well experienced guys.
No better help than from the horses mouth as they say and Timpg has given some good insight. That's all I asked for.

Ive set up and run motoring forums and I understand totally that there are people who will come on and ask the most stupid questions, I use google to search as the Vbulletin search forum is generally pretty poor at yielding accurate results. I also see the bashing newbies get from time to time for it too which I personally keep to a minimum on my site as it doesn't give a good impression to potential new members.
Come on, we're all here to help each other aren't we.

Some people will come on here and try to let others do the work for them!.......now i don't mean you when i say that but people do come on here and it's clear they haven't or don't even intend to do their own work so the numptys are there!

one thing any newbie on here will NEVER get is aggro or bashing, as i say it's a very helpful site!

.as i say TDK probably didn't know you had read that simply because some people won't bother to do the obvious and look on company websites or google so i suppose he was catering for everybody.

i stand by what i say though TDK is one of the best people to speak to on here, a very knowledgeable chap

 

[Canonite]

Its all good, I've compiled a list of possible questions I may be asked based on what I've read and I'm just going to keep trying. An old friend of mine worked for EWS in the yard and then moved on to the cranes and finally freight driver at what is now DBS.
Hard to get hold of sometimes and I never know what shift pattern he's on or if the number I have is right. He gave me a bit of information a while ago but at the time there had been a lot of redundancies so any jobs available would quickly be filled with those chaps.

 

[Jace69er]

Its all good, I've compiled a list of possible questions I may be asked based on what I've read and I'm just going to keep trying. An old friend of mine worked for EWS in the yard and then moved on to the cranes and finally freight driver at what is now DBS.
Hard to get hold of sometimes and I never know what shift pattern he's on or if the number I have is right. He gave me a bit of information a while ago but at the time there had been a lot of redundancies so any jobs available would quickly be filled with those chaps.

Do you have an interview for the role?

 

[bb21]

To be fair I don't read any attitude in the OP's posts so I think this was probably down to a bit of misunderstanding. Some people tried to be as comprehensive as they could with their help but that obviously went wrong and was perceived differently.

Can I just ask everyone to report thing which they think may have broken forum rules. We strive to be a friendly place but with so many new posts we cannot read every single one of them, so rely on reports to a certain degree.

As to the OP, good luck with the next stage.

 

[Canonite]

Just an update chaps, had my interview with Freightliner today and overall it went really well. For those interested or searching for some info the interview was conducted by two men, it was relaxed and friendly.
The MSO (multi skilled operative) role in this instance primarily involves unloading trains and trucks using reach stackers and the overhead crane with other yard works as and when needed.
There was a lot of talk about the company and what they do, fortunately I had done my homework so this was more of a 3 way chat which went well. I seemed to tick a lot of the boxes they need as it progressed and showed good examples of working in a safety critical environment, as well as working under pressure to strict timescales. Pretty standard questions I was expecting really. Thanks to some of the replies on this thread earlier and some googling I'd done a bit more specific research which really helped.

The salary and benefits are good, and potential for progression.
I was asked how much notice I have to give with my current employer and also if I have any holidays booked and also if I'm ok to travel to Birmingham or Manchester for training which is fine.

They said I'll receive a call before the end of tomorrow if not the end of the week.

 

[Timpg]

Just an update chaps, had my interview with Freightliner today and overall it went really well. For those interested or searching for some info the interview was conducted by two men, it was relaxed and friendly.
The MSO (multi skilled operative) role in this instance primarily involves unloading trains and trucks using reach stackers and the overhead crane with other yard works as and when needed.
There was a lot of talk about the company and what they do, fortunately I had done my homework so this was more of a 3 way chat which went well. I seemed to tick a lot of the boxes they need as it progressed and showed good examples of working in a safety critical environment, as well as working under pressure to strict timescales. Pretty standard questions I was expecting really. Thanks to some of the replies on this thread earlier and some googling I'd done a bit more specific research which really helped.

The salary and benefits are good, and potential for progression.
I was asked how much notice I have to give with my current employer and also if I have any holidays booked and also if I'm ok to travel to Birmingham or Manchester for training which is fine.

They said I'll receive a call before the end of tomorrow if not the end of the week.

Well done mate, I hope you get it. I've been with the company for two years now and haven't looked back. Its interesting to hear what your duties will intail, as I'm an mso myself, but purely shunting and carriage and wagon as apossed to driving reach stackers etc.
All the best mate

 

[Canonite]

Well done mate, I hope you get it. I've been with the company for two years now and haven't looked back. Its interesting to hear what your duties will intail, as I'm an mso myself, but purely shunting and carriage and wagon as apossed to driving reach stackers etc.
All the best mate

We could see the yard and it did seem primarily road trucks as opposed to rail wagons. They have two reach stackers that I could see and an empty container handler, there were rows stacked 5 high and the queue of trucks outside went down pretty quick and that was that.

Regarding pay the training rates were lower, rising after qualifying.

 

[Nic nic]

Millbrook?