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ScotRail Conductor applicants
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Hello, I've just joined the forum. I applied through Blue Arrow a couple of days ago for the Conductor job at Queen Street and I've to go to the Assessment Centre on Wednesday. Sorry if you have all discussed this before, but what tests do I need to do? I worked for Scotrail in the distant past and remember the dots test and I think the maths and reading comprehension - are these tests still done? Have only just got the practice booklet and it seems harder than I remembered (or my brain no longer works). Thanks
Me again. I have the practice booklet and for some reason, I'm not doing well in the verbal reasoning in the booklet (even though this is usually a strength). I've bought 3 books on verbal reasoning/psychometric tests etc and have done a few online tests, including the one for the civil service, where I scored in the 93rd percentile out of tens of thousands of people, yet in the railway practice ones, I'm getting answers wrong and can't even complete half of them! Argh. The ticket selling test was much easier and I just made one tiny mistake on that. Away to do the concentration tests now. I only have 2 days before the assessment centre, so panicking a bit here...
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Scotrail84
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That is very surprising, never seen that before. You mentioned you got a guards job. What depot, and how quickly were you interviewed after your psychometric tests?
The tests on the day are:
SCAAT Symbols (there’s a tool for this in the driver assessment thread - Windows only and you can print the sheets to practice also)
Reading a short railway based paragraph and answering questions on this, this is timed.
Customer service scenarios, they give a scenario where something goes wrong for a customer in different contexts and you have to score the answers in order of likelihood of that being your actions.
Won’t answer the first question as I like the anonymity of the forum.
Assessments, interview and medical were all done within 2 weeks total. Very little notice given for them bar the medical.
Scotrail84
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Thats an incredibly quick turnaround from tests to being successful at interview including a medical. I may be wrong but I suspect you're at a depot that is toiling for numbers for it to be done so quickly.
Scotrail84
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You need to bear in mind there are not training schools starting every week, they will be set dates for these to start throughout the year and they will need enough numbers to fill these. Does your application actually say 'pending' on you profile page? Some depots are more proactive than others as well.
What is it that you’re waiting on? What stage in the process are you at?
Scotrail84
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Just ask my mate who has passed the tests if he has heard anything yet and he hasn't. He sat the test about 2 weeks ago I think.
Would anticipate that being the case myself, apparently 11 vacancies in the depot I’d applied for according to the CTM who’d interviewed me.
Scotrail84
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Thats a lot of jobs to cover on a daily basis relying on overtime and apare coverage, no wonder you were fast tracked through the process.
That was the case in my current position, now over compliment and not enough space in links to accommodate the recent influx.
I've been told after numerous attempts at contacting them that there are currently no assessment dates and they'll be in touch.
I applied in July last year. Heard from them in November to attend an assessment day, which I couldn't and it's taken 2 months for me to finally get that response which is disheartening to say the least. When I check my application progress is says it is under further consideration. So I'm not holding out much hope now unfortunately.
I applied in July last year. Heard from them in November to attend an assessment day, which I couldn't and it's taken 2 months for me to finally get that response which is disheartening to say the least. When I check my application progress is says it is under further consideration. So I'm not holding out much hope now unfortunately.
zilmed
Member
Same here except I did the assessment in November but nowhere near the interview. Also had response that no interview dates yet. Also under consideration in the website
What are the questions like at the interview (if I ever get one) if you don't mind sharing?
Scotrail84
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You'll likely be asked what you know about ScotRail for sure. Maybe asked when you've dealt with an emergency situation, excellent customer service etc. Best to have some examples ready so you don't get caught short.
Charladenz
Member
It's such long waiting times isn't it? Never known anything like it.
I applied last March for a conductor role, and the application sat for months as under consideration - nothing further from it, I chased it up a couple of times to ask; as similarly to what you’ve said the role was re-advertised twice but they just replied all applications are reviewed as a rolling process and to wait for an update.... waited so long the application expired
So here I've done it to myself again in applying. Good luck Don't lose hope.
OK guys, this is my experience with Scotrail. I'm currently employed with them but in early 2019 I applied for a Ticket Examiner job with them, never had a reply to say whether I was successful or unsuccessful, then out of the blue in March 2020 I had a reply from them asking if I was still interested (well duh) and passed the online test and was told "We'll be in touch soon". Of course COVID happened and that was that but just because you haven't heard doesn't mean you haven't been unsuccessful.
zilmed
Member
Thank you
Hi Everyone, just a wee update about my experience. I saw an advert last week post by Blue Arrow, for conductors at Queen Street and applied. I had previously applied for a Ticket Examiner at Central and had no reply, so I called the agency to check they had received my application and got a Teams interview next day (this was late last week). Today. I had the assessment in Glasgow. The tests were actually different from the practice booklet I had been sent. The practice booklet had a ticket selling and checking exercise, plus role playing scenarios, mock interviews, verbal reasoning and a letter based version of the "dots" or Group Bourdon or concentration test (known as SCAAT).
At the assessment centre today, there was about 12 people (maybe more) all for conductors roles at either Queen Street or Oban. The tests were RAAT (rules based questions with multiple choice answers - 19 questions in 22 minutes, I think); SCAAT (which was the concentration test that was made up of special keyboard symbols. For the first SCAAT test, you had to mark off 1 symbol over the course of 3 pages; then 2 symbols; then 1 fixed symbol and 1 changing symbol that changed every row.
The 3rd test was customer service scenarios with 4 multiple choice answers that you had to rank in order. I think there was about 20 of these? I might be mistaken. No-one I spoke to felt confident afterwards. Most of the people I spoke with didn't finish any of the tests. The only one I didn't finish was the SCAAT, which is probably impossible to finish. I have no idea how I got on. I am hoping that I've passed.
The Assessor told us to go away and start preparing for our interviews as these are being held by managers on Friday and the medical will be next week, with a start shortly after. The assessor said that a fair few conductors have moved up to drivers and others left/retired. She said there has been a lot of movement internally and that they are creating new jobs so they are expecting to be running the classroom based training every couple of weeks for a bit.
Fingers crossed for me that I've passed the assessment and do well in my interview (if I get one) on Friday.
Any news from anyone else?
FOR INFO: Scotrail are currently advertising (as of yesterday) conductor roles in: Perth, Inverness, Dundee and Glasgow Queen Street. If I had applied several months ago and hadn't heard anything back, I would be re-applying.
Be quick! These vacancies will likely be taken down in a day or 2.
At the assessment centre today, there was about 12 people (maybe more) all for conductors roles at either Queen Street or Oban. The tests were RAAT (rules based questions with multiple choice answers - 19 questions in 22 minutes, I think); SCAAT (which was the concentration test that was made up of special keyboard symbols. For the first SCAAT test, you had to mark off 1 symbol over the course of 3 pages; then 2 symbols; then 1 fixed symbol and 1 changing symbol that changed every row.
The 3rd test was customer service scenarios with 4 multiple choice answers that you had to rank in order. I think there was about 20 of these? I might be mistaken. No-one I spoke to felt confident afterwards. Most of the people I spoke with didn't finish any of the tests. The only one I didn't finish was the SCAAT, which is probably impossible to finish. I have no idea how I got on. I am hoping that I've passed.
The Assessor told us to go away and start preparing for our interviews as these are being held by managers on Friday and the medical will be next week, with a start shortly after. The assessor said that a fair few conductors have moved up to drivers and others left/retired. She said there has been a lot of movement internally and that they are creating new jobs so they are expecting to be running the classroom based training every couple of weeks for a bit.
Fingers crossed for me that I've passed the assessment and do well in my interview (if I get one) on Friday.
Any news from anyone else?
Thanks so much for telling me what tests they would give - you were totally spot on!
FOR INFO: Scotrail are currently advertising (as of yesterday) conductor roles in: Perth, Inverness, Dundee and Glasgow Queen Street. If I had applied several months ago and hadn't heard anything back, I would be re-applying.
Be quick! These vacancies will likely be taken down in a day or 2.
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Scotrail84
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Tests on a Wednesday an interviews 2 days later? Surely no chance they can expect potential candidates to be free at such short notice. It usually takes a week or so to get results back as these need to be checked then checked again just to make sure.
zilmed
Member
Thank you for such a detailed description,will sure help many. Let us know how /if the interview goes
FOR INFO: Scotrail are currently advertising (as of yesterday) conductor roles in: Perth, Inverness, Dundee and Glasgow Queen Street. If I had applied several months ago and hadn't heard anything back, I would be re-applying.
Be quick! These vacancies will likely be taken down in a day or 2.
Be quick! These vacancies will likely be taken down in a day or 2.
I passed the assessment centre and have an interview tomorrow. I've been working all day today so won't have as much time to prepare as I'd have liked, but I'm still really hoping I do well. I will let you all know how I get on. Fingers crossed!
Charladenz
Member
Good luck! Keep us posted
Hi everyone, had my interview this afternoon. Questions were based around team work; working to targets; good customer service; problem solving; challenging situation; communication etc. Passed it and medical is on Monday morning. Was told the next training school session begins in 2 weeks and another 2 weeks after that. Hopefully, I'll be on one of them!
During the past week (as per my earlier post) a number of conductor posts were advertised online by both ScotRail and by Blue Arrow. Hope some of you on here expressed your interest. They do ask you if you have already had your assessment and the date of it and it is valid for a few years, so there is no harm in re-applying if you haven't heard anything back from a few months ago.
During the past week (as per my earlier post) a number of conductor posts were advertised online by both ScotRail and by Blue Arrow. Hope some of you on here expressed your interest. They do ask you if you have already had your assessment and the date of it and it is valid for a few years, so there is no harm in re-applying if you haven't heard anything back from a few months ago.
Thank you!Good luck! Keep us posted
Borders1994
Member
Thank you for the tips - congratulations on passing the interview!Hi everyone, had my interview this afternoon. Questions were based around team work; working to targets; good customer service; problem solving; challenging situation; communication etc. Passed it and medical is on Monday morning. Was told the next training school session begins in 2 weeks and another 2 weeks after that. Hopefully, I'll be on one of them!
During the past week (as per my earlier post) a number of conductor posts were advertised online by both ScotRail and by Blue Arrow. Hope some of you on here expressed your interest. They do ask you if you have already had your assessment and the date of it and it is valid for a few years, so there is no harm in re-applying if you haven't heard anything back from a few months ago.
Thank you!
Thank you! Hope we can all meet at some point during training or on the job.
Any idea of your start date? I’m in post now, all moved very quickly indeed. The training flies by.Hi everyone, had my interview this afternoon. Questions were based around team work; working to targets; good customer service; problem solving; challenging situation; communication etc. Passed it and medical is on Monday morning. Was told the next training school session begins in 2 weeks and another 2 weeks after that. Hopefully, I'll be on one of them!
During the past week (as per my earlier post) a number of conductor posts were advertised online by both ScotRail and by Blue Arrow. Hope some of you on here expressed your interest. They do ask you if you have already had your assessment and the date of it and it is valid for a few years, so there is no harm in re-applying if you haven't heard anything back from a few months ago.
Thank you!
When did you get your contract and details of the training location etc etc before you started in post?
It was very quick, within a week or so. The training is done in Glasgow at Atrium Court.