CrossCountry - Train Manager / Senior Conductor Recruitment and Discussion

[D1015]

Good afternoon,
I am considering applying for the XC TM roles currently advertised at Birmingham. However, I'd like to know more about what the role entails before I apply as it would be a relocation for me (if allowed to on the promise of moving and, importantly if successful!)

I've read the Guard Traction and Route card thread, which I quote here:

Birmingham New Street (TMs):
Traction: 220, 221

Common across both links:
New Street to Bournemouth and Plymouth (including via Worcester, Solihull, Newport, and possibly Andover diversions)

Link One:
New Street to Manchester Piccadilly via Macclesfield, Crewe, Alsager, Styal, Nuneaton and Hixon)

Link Two:
New Street to Newcastle via Leeds and Doncaster (including via Leicester, Lichfield, Toton, Barrow Hill, Rotherham, Kilnhurst, Barnsley, S&K & Castleford)

> How far do Birmingham TMs travel then. Do they travel all the way to Bournemouth and Plymouth on duty or do they handover at say Bristol and elsewhere? Same for Newcastle - all the way for a Birmingham TM or handover enroute and work back?

Rotas. What are the rotas like in terms of days on, rest days and allocation of early and late turns please?

A core question also - what is the difference between a Train Manager, and a Conductor/Guard as seen on the likes of SWR, WMR, TFW? Do the TMs have more work/different roles aboard?
Many thanks

Sorry to bump - anyone able to assist please? Job closes next week.

 

[D1015]

Hello again

I have been invited to an assessment day with XC for the conductor roles based at Birmingham. I'm aware that these are the 170-based services going to Nottingham, Bristol and Cardiff as opposed to the 221 Manager roles.

Could anyone tell me what the rostering, shift patterns and Sundays are like please?

 

[LowLevel]

As far as I recall:

Sundays outside the week, don't think there's any commitment.

Standard 4 day week roster with a long weekend Friday to Tuesday every 3 weeks and a Wednesday/Thursday pair of rest days in between that.

Traction is class 170.

I believe New St conductor routes are Nottingham - Cardiff (including the diversions via Kidderminster) and New Street - Leicester - Cambridge - Stansted Airport.

 

[D1015]

As far as I recall:

Sundays outside the week, don't think there's any commitment.

Standard 4 day week roster with a long weekend Friday to Tuesday every 3 weeks and a Wednesday/Thursday pair of rest days in between that.

Traction is class 170.

I believe New St conductor routes are Nottingham - Cardiff (including the diversions via Kidderminster) and New Street - Leicester - Cambridge - Stansted Airport.

That's great, thank you for that information. I've read up on the Guards card thread too.

 

[TraineeD]

Hi, I applied for a Senior Conductor for XC at New Street. I haven't heard anything as of yet but have some questions if anyone can help out.

What's the job really like?

Does anyone have a rosta for New Street I can look at please?

What are the holiday entitlements?

What's the average take home pay? Is it 4 weekly or monthly?

What's the sickness policy? Do you get paid sick?

Many thanks

Dave

 

[Alfpp]

Hello again

I have been invited to an assessment day with XC for the conductor roles based at Birmingham. I'm aware that these are the 170-based services going to Nottingham, Bristol and Cardiff as opposed to the 221 Manager roles.

Could anyone tell me what the rostering, shift patterns and Sundays are like please?

Hi pal, what was the timeline from applying and getting this invite? I’ve applied for a role with these too

 

[D1015]

Hi pal, what was the timeline from applying and getting this invite? I’ve applied for a role with these too

One of the quickest I've experienced with the railway. I applied 4th Dec, got an invite 10th Dec for an assessment and interview day on the 18th. Couldn't make it to the 18th sadly.

 

[Alfpp]

Oh wow, that is a quick turnaround for the railways. What was the assessment like? So what happened? Did they rearrange?

 

[Ridetherails]

I see XC are recruiting TM’s and Senior Conductors for various locations

Manchester Pic - TM
Bristol Temple Meads - SC
Reading - TM
Cambridge - SC

 

[185]

Almost two weeks ago, XC had about 15 candidates in (over two days) for one of those depots, and I am aware over 90% passed all the tests and made it to interview. Several were qualified Train Managers / Guards looking to transfer (weirdly, they had to sit all the OPC tests again), many were XCs internal candidates. For the depot in question, I was looking through their small roster link - they've only got about 25 TMs... so it would be fair to say that by the end of the next two assessment days, their recruitment manager will have brought in around 30 candidates for perhaps one or two vacancies at most. Something not quite right. Good luck to those applying.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Almost two weeks ago, XC had about 15 candidates in (over two days) for one of those depots, and I am aware over 90% passed all the tests and made it to interview. Several were qualified Train Managers / Guards looking to transfer (weirdly, they had to sit all the OPC tests again), many were XCs internal candidates. For the depot in question, I was looking through their small roster link - they've only got about 25 TMs... so it would be fair to say that by the end of the next two assessment days, their recruitment manager will have brought in around 30 candidates for perhaps one or two vacancies at most. Something not quite right. Good luck to those applying.

I applied for a TM vacancy last year, as well as a Revenue Protection vacancy- both with XC and didn't get any notification emails at all. Only after around 6 months of regularly checking my application status on the website did it change to "no longer under consideration."

I wonder why they invited such a large number to the interviews you're referring to.

 

[chris89]

I applied for a TM vacancy last year, as well as a Revenue Protection vacancy- both with XC and didn't get any notification emails at all. Only after around 6 months of regularly checking my application status on the website did it change to "no longer under consideration."

I wonder why they invited such a large number to the interviews you're referring to.

One thing i've noticed with XC seems to take for ever.

With other roles i applied for with XC, it went to under consideration to no longer quite quickly. With the TM roles, one from last year (March) is still pending and one for begining of March this year is also saying pending, so just to wait as always.

 

[voyagerdude220]

One thing i've noticed with XC seems to take for ever.

With other roles i applied for with XC, it went to under consideration to no longer quite quickly. With the TM roles, one from last year (March) is still pending and one for begining of March this year is also saying pending, so just to wait as always.

Yes that's what annoyed me- how long it took. (and the lack of communication)

I understand they must be busy, but several other TOCs have been much quicker at letting me know how I've done and given me updates.

 

[leahpart]

Ive just applied for the Piccadilly TM role, hopefully its not an awfully long wait but we'll see!

 

[I_am_Nobody]

I would have loved to apply for the Reading role, but I'm outside of the cut-off. Reading is about an hour and a half from me by car, but less so by Elizabeth Line. Shame!

 

[D1015]

Apologies that I have left this thread and some questions to me unanswered.

1)Not making my first interview date - did I get a rearrangement? Yes! Their recruitment were very kind in offering a second date in January which I gladly took and attended.

2)Speed of recruitment. I was asked about a March or April start when I went in January. It sounded like a rapid fire recruitment would would have been perfect for me.

Sadly I did not get the role but I graciously accepted the feedback which leads me onto a positive: the fact that they offered individual feedback. The head of recruitment day gave us his telephone number and a date we could contact him which I took up and had a positive conversation with, acknowledging my failure was due to my nerves which influenced the section that let me down.
However, the fact that they offered individual candidate feedback is a positive and gives me a good impression: if they can treat rejected candidates like humans, then surely their employees are treated half decently compared to the last TOC I worked for. This has only spurred me on to learn from my mistake and try again when vacancies in my region come up, which will hopefully be sooner than later.
Best of luck to everyone going for the Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh etc vacancies.

 

[djapp]

I hear alot of great things from people who are actually in XC one of the better TOCs to work for I know their services aren't as reliable as they should be but as a company to work for I only ever hear great things. I applied for the Senior Conductor Role at Birmingham New Street im not expecting much but its been under review for a month or so now and I know the last time I applied (last year) it went to No Longer Under Consideration quite quickly with NO notification from them including my friend had the same outcome. Has anyone applied for any TM/Conductor roles at XC recently and go any further?

 

[leahpart]

Just saw my application has gone from ‘under review’ to ‘pending,’ has anyone had this before and what does it mean?

 

[Ridetherails]

fingers crossed you’ll get an email inviting you to assessment in the next few weeks

Just saw my application has gone from ‘under review’ to ‘pending,’ has anyone had this before and what does it mean?

 

[chris89]

Just saw my application has gone from ‘under review’ to ‘pending,’ has anyone had this before and what does it mean?

One i did last year for Edinburgh is sitting at that and the one from begining of the month is doing so currently. As all this in the rail industry just got to wait.

 

[djapp]

Just seen mine do the same from Under Review to Pending must've happend last week! If you reckon I will be invited for assessments, will they accept my GWR OPC ones? What did people get after it went to Pending? Does it stay at this status for long? Mine last year within a week or 2 went to no longer under consideration so im guessing this is good news? No notifications or emails however...

One thing i've noticed with XC seems to take for ever.

With other roles i applied for with XC, it went to under consideration to no longer quite quickly. With the TM roles, one from last year (March) is still pending and one for begining of March this year is also saying pending, so just to wait as always.

Exact same here last year Under Review to no longer under consideration quite quickly within a couple of weeks! This time its gone to pending so assuming thats good news? I haven't sent anything by email or a notification or anything.

 

[185]

Think some time ago, one of them explained...

Under Review
Someone will look at the form
Pending
Someone's looked at the form
Often 7-14 days later for invite to assessment day
No longer under consideration/ Unsuccessful
They've appointed someone to the post

Clear as klingon.

 

[gobbybobby]

Reading this thread got me to check my Crosscountry Bournemouth train manager application submitted in January and that's showing pending, I interviewed with swr for commercial guard a few days ago but nice to know potentially have this as back up.

 

[Alfpp]

My cross country train manager Leeds has been pending since January too, not heard a peep since. I emailed and got nothing back aswell

 

[C J Snarzell]

I applied for a TM vacancy last year, as well as a Revenue Protection vacancy- both with XC and didn't get any notification emails at all. Only after around 6 months of regularly checking my application status on the website did it change to "no longer under consideration."

I wonder why they invited such a large number to the interviews you're referring to.

I have had two experiences of being ghosted by Cross Country in the last few years.

I applied for a customer service role in 2021 and was invited to take part in an online teams interview with two of their managers. The interview went well and they did say they would expect to get back to me by the end of the month, but nothing. Almost four years later I am non the wiser!!!!

Fast forward to last year (2024), I was invited to an assessment day in Birmingham after applying for one of their control based vacancies. The day consisted of group exercises with other candidates. Most were internal people such as TMs and staff from their social media team, with myself and a couple of external candidates. I made it through to the afternoon when I was interviewed by three managers and again I was advised they would get back to me by the end of the month.

Again - nothing! The first time round the application was done on the DB portal which remained as ‘under consideration’ status until the application eventually expired off my DB account at the end of 2021. When I applied last year, the DB site changed shortly afterwards to the new existing Arriva careers website, so I couldn’t actually access the DB one to view the existing application status.

On both occasions, I did reach out to Cross Country’s recruitment team with a polite e-mail a few weeks after the interviews and I was ignored both times. I am certainly not here to have a gripe at Cross Country or their recruitment process, but all I can do is share two instances where I have been ghosted after an interview. Funnily enough, I have seen reviews on Glassdoor of people experiencing similar issues when they have applied for Cross Country jobs.

Maybe Cross Country’s recruitment team is overwhelmed? I’m sure I once heard a rumour the same team do recruitment for Chiltern and Grand Central but I could be wrong about this? Most decisions to appoint suitable candidates fall down to the hiring managers within the department you apply for so they too have some influence in contacting people but again their own day to day workloads are huge.

What I would say to anyone who might experience this with XC or other TOCs is please do not take it personally. Keep positive and you never know - one day one of us just might get that random phone call out of the blue!

CJ

 

[voyagerdude220]

Ive just applied for the Piccadilly TM role, hopefully its not an awfully long wait but we'll see!

Any updates?

 

[gobbybobby]

My cross country train manager Leeds has been pending since January too, not heard a peep since. I emailed and got nothing back aswell

Had mine rejected a few days ago, but I got the job SWR commercial gaurd start training in July.

 

[leahpart]

Any updates?

Assessment centre on friday!

 

[Ridetherails]

Assessment centre on friday!

Congrats