Starting in the railway industry

[trainp165]

I'm almost 30 years old, and I haven't done anything significant. My current job as a self-employed driver at Deliveroo is destroying me mentally.

In hindsight, I've dreamt of being a train driver, but when I was younger, I couldn't focus on more than one thing. I sat down with my disappointed mother, and she asked, "If there's one job you'd want, what is it? Without hesitation, I said, "Train driver.".

Is it too late to pursue this route? Any extreme roasting of my CV and life choices is greatly accepted, as I deserve it to be honest.

 

[AverageJoe]

Not had chance to look at the cv properly but assuming this is genuine I would say first of all hide your personal details (I would anyway)

You can get a job as a train driver from the street with no prior rail experience.

Consider also applying for other roles like gateline, customer service, conductor roles to get your foot in the door and gain some experience that would help in the application to be a train driver.

If you still have trouble in focusing on a given task then train driving might not be the best choice as it is all about concentration and can be monotonous.

 

[yorkie]

... I couldn't focus on more than one thing...

I'm not sure what this means, but being a driver requires a lot of concentration, so bear that in mind.

Check these threads out, if you haven't already:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trainee-driver-assessment-process-tips.216853/

A career as a train driver

Hey all What tests do prospective train drivers have to pass before being accepted as trainees? Colour blindness? Eyesight? One of my sons is looking at train driving as a potential career - this should help him a lot Advice appreciated. Edit: What would the tests have been like in, say...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[PupCuff]

I'm almost 30 years old, and I haven't done anything significant. My current job as a self-employed driver at Deliveroo is destroying me mentally.

In hindsight, I've dreamt of being a train driver, but when I was younger, I couldn't focus on more than one thing. I sat down with my disappointed mother, and she asked, "If there's one job you'd want, what is it? Without hesitation, I said, "Train driver.".

Is it too late to pursue this route? Any extreme roasting of my CV and life choices is greatly accepted, as I deserve it to be honest.

It's really good to see you're keen and enthusiastic with moving on in your career; 30 isn't too late to go after your first 'real' job if you've done entry level stuff or gig work for a while.

Your CV needs extensive work however, if I was recruiting it wouldn't be likely to be progressed:

• "Why you need me" and "My awesomeness" come across as crass and unprofessional. Unless you're going for a particularly creative job (and even then you need to know when to use appropriate humour) you should write as though the person doing the recruitment is a formal, no-nonsense type of person. I would suggest finding a formal CV template on a job site and trying to emulate the style of their headers.
• "I am able to understand verbally and communication effectively" - if there's one sentence which you shouldn't allow a typo to slip into, it's that one. I would recommend asking a friend or family member to look over with a fresh pair of eyes for typos and grammar mistakes.
• The first page is very vague on detail and doesn't sell your experience. Move at the very least the career section to the front page and try to relate the tasks in those roles to ones you'd be doing in the job you apply for.

You do have some positive things on there - proficiency in both standard IT software (eg MS Office) and some experience in programming I'd definitely consider to be worthwhile skills to show off and it sounds like you've done some interesting projects at university and as part of your entrepreneurship work. Both are probably things I'd look to use as a bit of an icebreaker, or prompts if you were struggling for an answer during competency based questions where you're given a question like "tell me about a time you had to work quickly but accurately to deliver an objective" or "tell me about a time when you have had to work as part of a team".

The key is to relate your experience to the role you are applying for, so if you are going for a train driver role, you're going to want to evidence things like being able to follow rules, work shifts, work independently for long periods of time, be able to work confidently with others and manage conflict situations effectively. If you wanted to look at a Conductor role, you might try and emphasise your skills in customer service, cash handling, working to rules and procedures. You might find an office based role suitable too, there are plenty of head office jobs which look for more general and soft skills like time management, IT proficiency, data entry etc.

Many people move into train driving later in life, so don't be disheartened if you go and do something else for a bit first, where you can build some of the skills that Driver recruitment looks for.

Best of luck and hope your job search goes well.

 

[trainp165]

I'm not sure what this means, but being a driver requires a lot of concentration, so bear that in mind.

Check these threads out, if you haven't already:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trainee-driver-assessment-process-tips.216853/

A career as a train driver

Hey all What tests do prospective train drivers have to pass before being accepted as trainees? Colour blindness? Eyesight? One of my sons is looking at train driving as a potential career - this should help him a lot Advice appreciated. Edit: What would the tests have been like in, say...

www.railforums.co.uk

Sorry I mean in a sense that I had many ideas I wanted to pursue. Spent the majority of my 20s trying and failing entreprenurial projects

 

[trainp165]

It's really good to see you're keen and enthusiastic with moving on in your career; 30 isn't too late to go after your first 'real' job if you've done entry level stuff or gig work for a while.

Your CV needs extensive work however, if I was recruiting it wouldn't be likely to be progressed:

• "Why you need me" and "My awesomeness" come across as crass and unprofessional. Unless you're going for a particularly creative job (and even then you need to know when to use appropriate humour) you should write as though the person doing the recruitment is a formal, no-nonsense type of person. I would suggest finding a formal CV template on a job site and trying to emulate the style of their headers.
• "I am able to understand verbally and communication effectively" - if there's one sentence which you shouldn't allow a typo to slip into, it's that one. I would recommend asking a friend or family member to look over with a fresh pair of eyes for typos and grammar mistakes.
• The first page is very vague on detail and doesn't sell your experience. Move at the very least the career section to the front page and try to relate the tasks in those roles to ones you'd be doing in the job you apply for.

You do have some positive things on there - proficiency in both standard IT software (eg MS Office) and some experience in programming I'd definitely consider to be worthwhile skills to show off and it sounds like you've done some interesting projects at university and as part of your entrepreneurship work. Both are probably things I'd look to use as a bit of an icebreaker, or prompts if you were struggling for an answer during competency based questions where you're given a question like "tell me about a time you had to work quickly but accurately to deliver an objective" or "tell me about a time when you have had to work as part of a team".

The key is to relate your experience to the role you are applying for, so if you are going for a train driver role, you're going to want to evidence things like being able to follow rules, work shifts, work independently for long periods of time, be able to work confidently with others and manage conflict situations effectively. If you wanted to look at a Conductor role, you might try and emphasise your skills in customer service, cash handling, working to rules and procedures. You might find an office based role suitable too, there are plenty of head office jobs which look for more general and soft skills like time management, IT proficiency, data entry etc.

Many people move into train driving later in life, so don't be disheartened if you go and do something else for a bit first, where you can build some of the skills that Driver recruitment looks for.

Best of luck and hope your job search goes well.

I appreciate the feedback and thank you, I have a lot to rewrite.

 

[trainp165]

Not had chance to look at the cv properly but assuming this is genuine I would say first of all hide your personal details (I would anyway)

You can get a job as a train driver from the street with no prior rail experience.

Consider also applying for other roles like gateline, customer service, conductor roles to get your foot in the door and gain some experience that would help in the application to be a train driver.

If you still have trouble in focusing on a given task then train driving might not be the best choice as it is all about concentration and can be monotonous.

Thanks,
I will consider looking at other roles that are more softer in the railway.

Also it's not concentrating I found it hard it's more I was sold the dream of trying to become one of those cool young under-25 entrepreneurs. So I spent a lot of money on failed business ideas/projects in the past.

Not had chance to look at the cv properly but assuming this is genuine I would say first of all hide your personal details (I would anyway)

You can get a job as a train driver from the street with no prior rail experience.

Consider also applying for other roles like gateline, customer service, conductor roles to get your foot in the door and gain some experience that would help in the application to be a train driver.

If you still have trouble in focusing on a given task then train driving might not be the best choice as it is all about concentration and can be monotonous.

Thanks,
I will consider looking at other roles that are more softer in the railway.

Also it's not concentrating I found it hard it's more I was sold the dream of trying to become one of those cool young under-25 entrepreneurs. So I spent a lot of money on failed business ideas/projects in the past.

I'm not sure what this means, but being a driver requires a lot of concentration, so bear that in mind.

Check these threads out, if you haven't already:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trainee-driver-assessment-process-tips.216853/

A career as a train driver

Hey all What tests do prospective train drivers have to pass before being accepted as trainees? Colour blindness? Eyesight? One of my sons is looking at train driving as a potential career - this should help him a lot Advice appreciated. Edit: What would the tests have been like in, say...

www.railforums.co.uk

Thanks for that

 

[baz962]

I'm almost 30 years old, and I haven't done anything significant. My current job as a self-employed driver at Deliveroo is destroying me mentally.

In hindsight, I've dreamt of being a train driver, but when I was younger, I couldn't focus on more than one thing. I sat down with my disappointed mother, and she asked, "If there's one job you'd want, what is it? Without hesitation, I said, "Train driver.".

Is it too late to pursue this route? Any extreme roasting of my CV and life choices is greatly accepted, as I deserve it to be honest.

I started as a trainee driver one month before my 48th birthday. I had done many years of just temporary work or self employed and had virtually no people for references. My then current job gave me a reference and they accepted one from my old accountant.
Plenty of time for you yet bud. Good luck and start applying and come back here for any advice.

 

[trainp165]

I started as a trainee driver one month before my 48th birthday. I had done many years of just temporary work or self employed and had virtually no people for references. My then current job gave me a reference and they accepted one from my old accountant.
Plenty of time for you yet bud. Good luck and start applying and come back here for any advice.

Thank you I Appreciate it

 

[Seehof]

You say you will look at “softer roles”? Don’t do that unless you really feel train driving is not for you. I got the job in my 40s - be confident and go for it if you want it. Now retired but I loved the job and would highly recommend it. I still cannot believe that I was let loose on the East Coast Main line!

 

[trainp165]

You say you will look at “softer roles”? Don’t do that unless you really feel train driving is not for you. I got the job in my 40s - be confident and go for it if you want it. Now retired but I loved the job and would highly recommend it. I still cannot believe that I was let loose on the East Coast Main line!

I'll try with every passion I have

 

[Ducatist4]

You need to understand the key skills required to be a driver and somehow weave them into your CV - often the initial sift is done by computer looking specifically for evidence that you even slighty match what they are looking for.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

"Why you need me" and "Awesomeness" sounds very self-centred and just awful IMHO. If I was given this CV, I would discard it immediately.

As others have said, start your CV from the ground up and tailor it to the specific job. Keep it short and factual

 

[Raikkonen7]

Firstly, best of luck in pursuing your career in the railway. I’m currently a driver and can easily say it’s the best job I’ve had even if the shifts can be a bit brutal!

To echo what others have said, I would suggest going through your CV again and looking at your grammar. There are several errors and typos which are quite glaring and also a profound lack of punctuation, such as no full stops in some places. Written communication is an essential skill as a driver, so if your CV has those types of errors, I would be very surprised if your application went any further. Maybe get someone else to read over it?

Get rid of any colloquial titles/ vocabulary. A professional/ formal CV is always the best way to go. If you get to interview stage, I think that’s a better time to show the more creative aspects of your personality, within reason.

Finally, from what I can see, you haven’t mentioned anything about the role which you have/ might be applying for. You should explicitly mention this and detail the skills that you have which directly relate to the role. For example, working at Sainsbury’s would’ve meant that you would need to have good customer service skills, timekeeping, attention to detail when doing stock checking etc. Make as much of your CV as possible applicable to the role. Hope this helps.

 

[trainp165]

"Why you need me" and "Awesomeness" sounds very self-centred and just awful IMHO. If I was given this CV, I would discard it immediately.

As others have said, start your CV from the ground up and tailor it to the specific job. Keep it short and factual

Looking back at it, it does look very cringy

Firstly, best of luck in pursuing your career in the railway. I’m currently a driver and can easily say it’s the best job I’ve had even if the shifts can be a bit brutal!

To echo what others have said, I would suggest going through your CV again and looking at your grammar. There are several errors and typos which are quite glaring and also a profound lack of punctuation, such as no full stops in some places. Written communication is an essential skill as a driver, so if your CV has those types of errors, I would be very surprised if your application went any further. Maybe get someone else to read over it?

Get rid of any colloquial titles/ vocabulary. A professional/ formal CV is always the best way to go. If you get to interview stage, I think that’s a better time to show the more creative aspects of your personality, within reason.

Finally, from what I can see, you haven’t mentioned anything about the role which you have/ might be applying for. You should explicitly mention this and detail the skills that you have which directly relate to the role. For example, working at Sainsbury’s would’ve meant that you would need to have good customer service skills, timekeeping, attention to detail when doing stock checking etc. Make as much of your CV as possible applicable to the role. Hope this helps.

Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it a lot