Interview questions (Thameslink)

[Ralt]

Hello,

Soon I'll attend the final stage of the recruitment process for the Trainee Train Planner position with Thameslink and was wondering what questions to expect?

Anyone had Trainee Train Planner interview and could share what questions they were asked?

I think they will ask questions like 'why do you want that position?', 'what do you know about Thameslink in general and about company's specific projects?' and some questions such as 'tell me about the situation when you solved a problem at work' and so on (generic ones).

Do you think they will ask questions more connected to the railway industry, such as 'how would you plan a timetable when one train driver called sick and on top of that there are some signaling problems and amendments need to be made quickly'? Or that's too much to ask for trainee and I should rather focus on more generic questions?

I know I have to use the STAR method but any further advice will be useful as I didn't receive any practice material from the HR.

Thank you.

 

[Bucephalus]

Good luck ralt. Hopefully someone here will have some insight into what a govia interview looks like. I know that from my experience with (a different toc) it wasn't a case of either or, I got at least all of the types of questions you mentioned above asked of me.

 

[postye]

Hello,

Soon I'll attend the final stage of the recruitment process for the Trainee Train Planner position with Thameslink and was wondering what questions to expect?

Anyone had Trainee Train Planner interview and could share what questions they were asked?

I think they will ask questions like 'why do you want that position?', 'what do you know about Thameslink in general and about company's specific projects?' and some questions such as 'tell me about the situation when you solved a problem at work' and so on (generic ones).
.

Congratulations on getting to the interview stage.

At the interview They will expect you to have a reasonable knowledge of the company, e.g. routes and rolling stock
The Size of the company
And most importantly Their company values

Most of the questions will be competency based questions, e.g tell me a time when you went the extra mile for a customer (remember there are internal customers as well as passengers etc)

Try and think if any of your competency based answers could include words from their values.

Do you think they will ask questions more connected to the railway industry, such as 'how would you plan a timetable when one train driver called sick and on top of that there are some signaling problems and amendments need to be made quickly'? Or that's too much to ask for trainee and I should rather focus on more generic questions? .

These sort of things are not really train planning, stuff that short notice would be rosters or control issues. As a train planner you would concentrate on the timetable or diagrams for crew, rosters would allocate drivers etc.

I know I have to use the STAR method but any further advice will be useful as I didn't receive any practice material from the HR.

Thank you.

Expect the odd curveball question, it’ll be something obscure so they can see how you think quickly.
I (and I know at least one others) was asked “can you tell me a time when you used integrity at work”. It’s all about giving precise and confident answers.

Good luck

 

[Ralt]

Congratulations on getting to the interview stage.




Expect the odd curveball question, it’ll be something obscure so they can see how you think quickly.
I (and I know at least one others) was asked “can you tell me a time when you used integrity at work”. It’s all about giving precise and confident answers.

Good luck

Thank you very much for your answer. That's very helpful.