Sscreening questions.

[cab43]

Hi all.
Newbie on here.

I'm in the middle of my application for trainee driver and I've come to a question asking "What challenges do you think you might face if you where sucessful in your application?

I answered, machine/signal failure, vandalism, unhappy passengers, objects/animals/people on the track etc etc.
Thinking I'd covered most things, the next question asked how would I deal with these challenges?
Apart from writing calmly and professionally I'm not entirely sure what they're looking for, as I'm not trained and don't know what company policy would be.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

Paul.

 

[rriley27]

Hi all.
Newbie on here.

I'm in the middle of my application for trainee driver and I've come to a question asking "What challenges do you think you might face if you where sucessful in your application?

I answered, machine/signal failure, vandalism, unhappy passengers, objects/animals/people on the track etc etc.
Thinking I'd covered most things, the next question asked how would I deal with these challenges?
Apart from writing calmly and professionally I'm not entirely sure what they're looking for, as I'm not trained and don't know what company policy would be.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

Paul.

When you answer the 'challenges you think you might face in the role' question, don't write down things that you will be taught in your training - though this can vary from one role to another.
Good luck
I have deleted the post as I'm not revealing answers.
I will send you a PM once you have posted 5 times.

 

[LCC106]

Hi cab43, welcome to the forums. It's important to work in a safe manner and have the ability to follow rules and procedures but you may also need to use your common sense, diffuse situations in a calm but confident manner etc. This may give you food for further thought...

 

[TDK]

Hi all.
Newbie on here.

I'm in the middle of my application for trainee driver and I've come to a question asking "What challenges do you think you might face if you where sucessful in your application?

I answered, machine/signal failure, vandalism, unhappy passengers, objects/animals/people on the track etc etc.
Thinking I'd covered most things, the next question asked how would I deal with these challenges?
Apart from writing calmly and professionally I'm not entirely sure what they're looking for, as I'm not trained and don't know what company policy would be.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

Paul.

Put down what you would do in this situation for instance unhappy passengers is easy - what would expect as a passenger if unhappy?

Objects on the track if dangerous - arrange for trains to be stopped to avoid a collision

Vandalism - report it to the BTP

To be honest a challenge is not only a safety incident, a challenge would be to pass the traing, to ensure you are on time, to work to the set rules and procedures, all these are challenges as such

 

[cab43]

Thanks for the replies peeps.

Definately given me some food for thought, I was thinking more worst case scenario than daily grind.

Thanks again.
Paul.

 

[Nym]

I wouldn't put ensuring you're on time as a allege, if I had that come to me on an application it would immediately put me off...

Challenges could be things like adapting to a new work environment, stuff like that, try not to expose problems with yourself through the challenges you're admitting.

eg. If it's going to be a challenge for you to be on time, you're generally going to be late, and I don't want to employ you. If a challenge was adapting to a new way of working to a shift pattern and ensuring continued punctuality then it's a different story.

 

[Latecomer]

I may be on a different slant, but I'm not reading the question at all as to what challenges might you face in the role as driver (maybe 8 months after training commences) but what challenges you might face if successful after application ie in the training faze and in possibly a totally new environment depending on your circumstances. If it was me I might be thinking about potential drop in salary during training and how you cope with it, the training itself - lots of of rules learning, the pressure of assessment, lifestye change, etc, etc?

Am I the only one to read it this way?

 

[TDK]

I wouldn't put ensuring you're on time as a allege, if I had that come to me on an application it would immediately put me off...

If you haven't done shifts before that is a challenge, it's not what you say it's how you say it when being interviewed
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I may be on a different slant, but I'm not reading the question at all as to what challenges might you face in the role as driver (maybe 8 months after training commences) but what challenges you might face if successful after application ie in the training faze and in possibly a totally new environment depending on your circumstances. If it was me I might be thinking about potential drop in salary during training and how you cope with it, the training itself - lots of of rules learning, the pressure of assessment, lifestye change, etc, etc?

Am I the only one to read it this way?

If you mention salary or money or income this is not a good factor, when passed out as a driver the challenges get a lot less challenging - the biggest challenge for me when I started was, training, shifts and the new environment in that order - now to be honest after driving for yonks the challenges are far and few between
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Thanks for the replies peeps.

Definately given me some food for thought, I was thinking more worst case scenario than daily grind.

Thanks again.
Paul.

The thing with the railway and the drivers role to be honest when I have trained drivers up they always look too deep, think simple as most things to be honest are common sence. For instance if I asked you a question always think of the simplist answer, if an interviewer wants more they will ask for more.

 

[cab43]

Well that's the application sent off.

Thanks for the pointers gents, I wasn't looking for just straight answers that could simply cut and paste, it's been a very long time since I've applied for any job and I think I was over analysing everything.


Cheers.

Paul.