GTR Social media advisor, interview this week

[br0llz]

Got my first interview for a career in the railway industry this week, it's for the position of "external social media advisor" at Southern Rail, if anyone here has any advice generally, and indeed specifically to both the GTR interview process and TOC social media interviews in general, please let me know!

They have, inexplicably asked to do a drugs and alcohol test...

 

[grumblingalong]

You're a brave person to volunteer for Southern's twitter at the moment. Best of luck.

 

[Blindtraveler]

As a mear passenger and enthusiast I rarely post in this area of the forum but, all jokes aside, I would be ready for some pritty nasty treatment by the public and for interview try to dredge up any past experience you have of managing conflict and working with the abusive and angry people who, with some grounds admitedly right now are venting their feelings on twitter.

This might be easy or not depending on what you currently do/have done for a living. Good luck anyways, I wouldnt mind that job for the most part but wouldnt do it for that TOC right now.

 

[br0llz]

You're a brave person to volunteer for Southern's twitter at the moment. Best of luck.

No where near as brave as the front line staff, conductors and drivers who face verbal abuse every day!

I've managed a relatively unpopular public figures social media for the last two years so I'm used to a certain level of Twitter abuse

I meant more in terms of if I'll be grilled on my railway knowledge, or if there's any particular question that often comes up when applying for positions in the rail sector?

 

[AlterEgo]

Got my first interview for a career in the railway industry this week, it's for the position of "external social media advisor" at Southern Rail, if anyone here has any advice generally, and indeed specifically to both the GTR interview process and TOC social media interviews in general, please let me know!

They have, inexplicably asked to do a drugs and alcohol test...

The drugs and alcohol test is standard for all railway employees.

Good luck. I used to operate Virgin and XC's accounts. Just remember the job is as easy as you want to make it.

 

[LBSCR Times]

I meant more in terms of if I'll be grilled on my railway knowledge, or if there's any particular question that often comes up when applying for positions in the rail sector?

I doubt it, it's usually more to do with processes and procedures these days.

 

[LBSCR Times]

No where near as brave as the front line staff, conductors and drivers who face verbal abuse every day!

I've managed a relatively unpopular public figures social media for the last two years so I'm used to a certain level of Twitter abuse

A lot of the abuse is very personal, there are occasions when BTP have been based in the Control and take further action against those concerned!

 

[JohnFM]

They have, inexplicably asked to do a drugs and alcohol test...

How is it inexplicable?

If you cannot understand why drugs and excessive alcohol is bad for someone who wants to be part of the public face for a company why bother applying?

Twitter abuse? :roll: Try being spat at simply for doing your job - that's abuse!

 

[Islineclear3_1]

No where near as brave as the front line staff, conductors and drivers who face verbal abuse every day!

I've managed a relatively unpopular public figures social media for the last two years so I'm used to a certain level of Twitter abuse

I meant more in terms of if I'll be grilled on my railway knowledge, or if there's any particular question that often comes up when applying for positions in the rail sector?

Good morning sir...

Can you tell the panel when you've had to handle a challenging situation?

How do you think you could have handled it better?

 

[Gemz91]

A lot of the abuse is very personal, there are occasions when BTP have been based in the Control and take further action against those concerned!

Personal abuse via Twitter? I would have thought it was less personal via Twitter than it is in face to face roles.

 

[transportphoto]

You will become the anonymous initials of the company, there will be bad days, there will be good days! There will be the Twitter handles you start to love because of how often they vent their anger at you. Be aware that any cancellation across the network, you'll probably find out from an external source before you do from an internal one… probably before the decision to cancel has even been taken!

Focus on customer excellence, don't be too blunt, and throw in some personality!

Oh, the interview! Good luck with that! D&A screening is industry standard.

 

[br0llz]

How is it inexplicable?

If you cannot understand why drugs and excessive alcohol is bad for someone who wants to be part of the public face for a company why bother applying?

Twitter abuse? :roll: Try being spat at simply for doing your job - that's abuse!

In my whole career of representing brands and companies in person and online I've never been asked for it! Like someone else said, must be a specifically rail thing!

Thanks transportphoto! I'm genuinely very excited to have the opportunity to help run southern schools twitter, like you say adding the personal touch can make all the difference!

 

[transportphoto]

As an aside, you've always got to remember the risks associated with Social Media. Say it in person, it's your word against the others, tweet it on Twitter? You're game. That delete button won't help you, someone will have a screen grab and will quite happily quote it back at you.

Be prepared for performance management, whilst Govia Thameslink Railway's performance in terms of their trains ain't great - things like response times and such can be monitored and targeted… which of course isn't always a bad thing!

Learn the ins and outs of the company, build up your knowledge of how things work - become confident in what you're doing, but question yourself before you speak… if that makes sense?

 

[grumblingalong]

No where near as brave as the front line staff, conductors and drivers who face verbal abuse every day!

I've managed a relatively unpopular public figures social media for the last two years so I'm used to a certain level of Twitter abuse

I meant more in terms of if I'll be grilled on my railway knowledge, or if there's any particular question that often comes up when applying for positions in the rail sector?

Fair enough, as one of the above mentioned I appreciate your understanding!

 

[Stigy]

As a mear passenger and enthusiast I rarely post in this area of the forum but, all jokes aside, I would be ready for some pritty nasty treatment by the public and for interview try to dredge up any past experience you have of managing conflict and working with the abusive and angry people who, with some grounds admitedly right now are venting their feelings on twitter.

This might be easy or not depending on what you currently do/have done for a living. Good luck anyways, I wouldnt mind that job for the most part but wouldnt do it for that TOC right now.

It's the same for pretty much all TOCs to be honest, the only difference with Southern is that all the negative tweets is a true reflection on the overall opinion of their customers. With other TOCs (i'll use SWT as an example), 95% of tweets by their customers are negative, making it appear as if they're a pretty poor organisation, however those who tweet only account for a relatively small number of over all passengers, therefore the general consensus is that they're an okay sort of TOC.