New conductor positions ATW next year.

[LRV3004]

Hi guys and girls!
I applied for the Conductor position at Crewe. I got through the initial application sifting and through to the General Ability and SCAAT tests. I passed those and have been informed I now have a telephone interview.
I have applied for this post several times and have always fallen at the assessment/interview stage, however on all of those occasions the telephone interview stage was bypassed. I have never been given feedback which is frustrating as I can't root out where I'm going wrong!
Anyway.....does anyone have any idea what questions will/may be asked on the telephone interview? The e-mail says to prepare for this as though it were a face to face interview.
Any guidance or advice would be hugely appreciated!
Many thanks in advance everyone!

 

[Lynette Hill]

Hi there
I found the telephone interview quite an easy process. The start by asking you to tell them a bit about yourself (know your CV/application) and what you think the role of a conductor is. They focused a lot on customer service/interaction and then they ask you what do.you know about Arriva. I researched using the Internet and Arriva site.... make sure you know Arriva are not putting a tender in for the new contract and how many people they employ etc... I think that was it. My call lasted 16 min's but she told me it would be 10min. Just be yourself and prep well.

 

[Lynette Hill]

If you have gotten to the interview stage before and failed I would say work on your compentancy examples ... they need to be strong. I had things like Tell me when you had to defend your employers reputation, (in a work environment) when did you have to give someone bad news and how did you deal with this. When did you have to get something done to a tight deadline and what was the outcome..... had a few more but it's a bit of a blur. Hope some of this works.
I made the talent pool this time so it's a waiting game for me

 

[LRV3004]

Thanks Lynette Hill!
With regard to the "bad news" question, does that mean in work also, or just in general? Think I'm going to struggle with that one in either context to be honest!

 

[Lynette Hill]

Thanks Lynette Hill!
With regard to the "bad news" question, does that mean in work also, or just in general? Think I'm going to struggle with that one in either context to be honest!

The conductor manager asked me that one, he worded it differently so had to ask him to clarify. I used to be in a job where I stopped people's benefits (sorry!) so was able to use an experience from that. I'm lucky that I've had a varied career so pretty much covered everything they asked but it's hard to think on yr feet sometimes.

 

[Lynette Hill]

That was assessment day /interview tho not telephone interview.

 

[aimmee]

That was assessment day /interview tho not telephone interview.

hi everyone im through to phone interview for crewe, not sure what to practise except why i want the job and arriva information can anyone advise
thankyou

 

[Spikeylado]

hi everyone im through to phone interview for crewe, not sure what to practise except why i want the job and arriva information can anyone advise
thankyou

Hi,
I'm a conductor at Crewe, I would say that Lynette Hill has the best advice as she recently had the telephone interview and was successful. When is your interview?
Good luck!

 

[aimmee]

ok thankyou im just going to focus on basics for phone interview, try not to over think it, phone interview wednesday

QUOTE="Spikeylado, post:
3307076, member: 33390"]Hi,
I'm a conductor at Crewe, I would say that Lynette Hill has the best advice as she recently had the telephone interview and was successful. When is your interview?
Good luck![/QUOTE]

 

[LS.CYMRU]

Sorry for the inactivity, I'm currently on nights and a bit of a zombie...

@LRV3004 & @aimmee with regards to the telephone interview If I remember correctly they asked me;

- about the franchise (so length, when its up, the fact that WAG took responsibility in 2005, 5 yearly performance reviews)
- a little bit about the routes not exact knowledge but an understanding (so operates north to south service, and most services in wales and english border counties etc)
- personal questions about hobbies
- the role of the conductor (asked me to talk them through what I thought a day of a conductor would be)

I think that's roughly everything, as lynette said its not a long process and mine lasted around 15 minutes.
I think they're looking to see if you've actually read anything about the company and probably if you speak clearly

If you have any questions let me know.
And if I remember any more when I wake up a bit more then I'll add it!

Kind regards

Lewis

 

[LRV3004]

Lewis that's legendary - many thanks indeed!

 

[LS.CYMRU]

Lewis that's legendary - many thanks indeed!

No worries at all mate, let us know how you get on!

 

[LRV3004]

No worries at all mate, let us know how you get on!

Will do sir, hopefully be 8th (I think) time lucky!!!

 

[Lynette Hill]

No worries at all mate, let us know how you get on!

Lewis do you have any idea how Cymrulass got on after the assessment/interview?

 

[LS.CYMRU]

Lewis do you have any idea how Cymrulass got on after the assessment/interview?

I’m really not sure. I think she works nights too so hopefully she can update us this week. Also you might find out where you are in the talent pool today!

 

[Spikeylado]

Good luck to you all! And i hope those of you who made it to the talent pool have good news at some point!

 

[aimmee]

how long are you in the talent bank for does it expire after a year

 

[Lynette Hill]

I found out today that I am 4th position in the 'talent pool'. This is what they said about the next course.

Due to the fact we are due to be under new ownership in October, we are not planning many future courses at this stage. We have a Chester course scheduled for June but no courses planned for after that. It may well be Autumn earliest before the next Cardiff course happens.
I'm currently looking for a job as I'm being made redundant soon so it's a difficult one for me. I'm worried that their successor will want to do things differently and forget about us.....

 

[Lynette Hill]

how long are you in the talent bank for does it expire after a year

24 months

 

[LS.CYMRU]

I found out today that I am 4th position in the 'talent pool'. This is what they said about the next course.

Due to the fact we are due to be under new ownership in October, we are not planning many future courses at this stage. We have a Chester course scheduled for June but no courses planned for after that. It may well be Autumn earliest before the next Cardiff course happens.
I'm currently looking for a job as I'm being made redundant soon so it's a difficult one for me. I'm worried that their successor will want to do things differently and forget about us.....

Hi lynette
That's really good news.
I'll be honest I don't think we need to worry ourselves about it, I might be optimistic but I think we'll get ourselves on a course.
Hopefully this year but I definitely think it will happen.
It looks like there's going to be a lot of investment (especially in the Cardiff area) so I'm sure it'll happen

Just got to wait it out and hope I'm right.
concerning your job offer If I was you I'd take it up then when/if you get the call for ATW take the offer.
If it's really what you want to do then nothing should stand in your way

best wishes

Lewis

 

[LS.CYMRU]

Good luck to you all! And i hope those of you who made it to the talent pool have good news at some point!

Thanks mate

I don't mind when it happens I just hope it does

 

[Lynette Hill]

Hi lynette
That's really good news.
I'll be honest I don't think we need to worry ourselves about it, I might be optimistic but I think we'll get ourselves on a course.
Hopefully this year but I definitely think it will happen.
It looks like there's going to be a lot of investment (especially in the Cardiff area) so I'm sure it'll happen

Just got to wait it out and hope I'm right.
concerning your job offer If I was you I'd take it up then when/if you get the call for ATW take the offer.
If it's really what you want to do then nothing should stand in your way

best wishes

Lewis

Thank you Lewis...good luck to you and you never know we may be working together one day lol

 

[craigybagel]

I'm worried that their successor will want to do things differently and forget about us.....

Obviously nobody can say for definite what's going to happen at the moment, especially with the new franchise coming in - but whatever happens recruitment will still need to take place. They can't go forever without running a training course, there is always a turnover of employers - especially in the valleys where there are over 100 guards just in the Valleys side of Cardiff depot alone! And the same lovely people you've been dealing with up till now will still be in their office when the TOC comes in, so hopefully they'll be able to just go straight back to their talent pool when that time comes.

 

[LS.CYMRU]

Thanks @craigybagel

Its just a waiting game now!

 

[LS.CYMRU]

Out of curiosity,
can anyone who’s experienced the talent pool advise how far in advance you found out of the course start?

Thanks in advance!

 

[craigybagel]

Out of curiosity,
can anyone who’s experienced the talent pool advise how far in advance you found out of the course start?

Thanks in advance!

In my case, it was very tight - less then 5 weeks.

 

[LS.CYMRU]

In my case, it was very tight - less then 5 weeks.

That's very tight!

Thanks for the info.

 

[LRV3004]

Well, phone interview done! Lasted 17 minutes; just hope I've done enough to reach the next stage! Will know my fate next week apparently!

 

[aimmee]

ive done mine think it went ok ge said by 6th i will know was hoping earlier then that incase need to prepare for next stage and get the day of work

 

[Lynette Hill]

Well done ... had mine on a Tuesday they said they would let me know by the Thursday but had a successful email on the Wednesday. Good luck