Oh boy. It's harder once you're in the industry if you get lumped in with a bad TOC to move on.
Joining the railway took me four applications, one at four different TOCs. One claimed I hadn't passed the SCAAT etc tests, so got sent home early. Three I got to final interview.
One, the interviewing manager just wanted to go home and verbally skewered me, so no dice. The second, I ticked all the boxes and the manager had really wanted to hire me, but, as I'd had no frontline / face to face experience, he had to choose a numner of ex air cabin crew, and the third I managed to get into the talent pool and nine months later started at my franchise when it was run by good people.
2019 I decided to change franchises and it has been an uphill battle. I'm now in the mid-20s of how many times I've applied elsewhere. Five TOCs?
A)Applied 11 times for differing roles. Offered four interviews.
B)Applied 8 times, most recent most successful but am waiting to hear back on the interview process...(fingers crossed. Please please PLEASE.)
C)Applied once, a freak incident where they could trace an enquiry email but said TOC 'lost' an email with safety of line paperwork meant that they washed out my application.
D)Applied once, was shortlisted for interview but never heard back.
E)Applied for driver, I messed up at the MMI stage.