Seeking help with job application to Grand Central

[SquireBev]

Evening all.

The other day I noticed Grand Central are looking for on-board staff, "Customer Service Assistants" to be precise, and though I'd give it a go, as I've been scouring all the local TOCs' websites for a way in for some time.

 

Now, I've got the easy part done, in that I've filled in my name & address etc, but now comes the "Why are you the right person for this role?" bit. I've never been any good at selling myself in these situations, and in this case it's not helped by the lack of information from GC themselves.

The details on the website are pretty vague, so I emailed their HR department to ask for a proper Job Description and Person Specification, as the application form says I should tailor my response to the criteria outline in said Person Specification. Unfortunately, they only sent me the former of the two documents, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to write.

 

Does anyone know what they'd want to hear? Anyone here work in a similar role?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I don't think I'd even mention modelling as that might be thought of as a very solitary pastime.

 

As Dutch Master rightly says, be honest and truthful. Though don't undersell yourself - it's a fine balance.

 

Talk about your own experiences of customer care (from both sides of the fence). Think of situations where you've had good/bad experiences of customers and how you've handled it.

 

They'll be looking for teamwork, self-confidence, patience and good listening skills too. The ability to keep smiling even though you're feeling rotten. They'll also be looking how you can promote things to increase their income.

 

Ability to read timetables and a knowledge of railway geography will be to your advantage, but don't hammer on too much about that.

 

Be yourself and good luck!

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Reminds me of the time I was on an interview panel for a Headteacher. We Googled candidates names and it did help with the shortlisting, albeit in a very minor way.

 

One also has to be careful what email address one creates. Wildandbadheadbanger@whatever.com gives a different impression to sensiblejoe@whoseits.co.uk

 

However, I've no idea who "SquireBev" is, so wouldn't necessarily link them to any application form. Not suggesting anyone lies, but tone down railway interests rather than shout about them.

[Edwin_m]

Despite what others have suggested, I think if you mention "modelling" you need to give some details as it covers quite a range of activities... some of which might be of some concern to a prospective employer.

[SquireBev]

Thanks for the advice chaps, I'll try and come up with something.

 

Phoned them today to make sure they're not holding back any details, and was told that they've given everything there is, and to just fill it in as best I can.

[SquireBev]

How does this sound?

 

Having spent the last four years working in a large inner-city secondary school, I feel I have developed a broad range of skills that can be applied to any role. I am well organised and conscientious in my work, with an eye for detail and a practical approach to solving problems. I am approachable and aim to be as helpful as I can when answering enquiries from staff, students and parents. This has allowed me to quickly build good working relationships with staff across the school.

Both as part of my current role and of the part time jobs I held while studying at University, I have had extensive experience of handling cash, dealing with customer enquiries, greeting and escorting visitors, maintaining a clean and tidy working environment, correcting minor faults with equipment and reporting more major issues, and ensuring health and safety policies are followed.

My current role has seen continual changes, and I have attended several formal and informal training sessions in order to further develop my skills to suit the changing working environment. I have a flexible approach to my work and will readily perform other duties when necessary.

The nature of the school has given me extensive experience in working with people from a broad range of cultural backgrounds and various degrees of disability.

In my free time I enjoy model-making, country walks, cooking, and entertaining guests. I also maintain an interest in the UK's railways, both current and preserved, which I believe will make me more suited to answer customers' requests for information about the service.

In short, I would be a hard-working, approachable member of the team with an eagerness to learn and an enthusiasm for working on the railway

['CHARD]

That's not a bad starter at all.

 

Note that you'll be expected to work antisocial hours, sometimes at short notice, and to deal with service disruption - which impacts both on passengers and yourself, potentially. May be apt to raise this in a positive way to reflect on your skills and flexibility/ pragmatism.

 

GC may look favourably on some words around learning specifically in a food handling capacity. Also, as part of the much larger Arriva/ DB Regio, expressing some level of ambition wouldn't go amiss - recognise that a company of this complexity would fire your imagination to make a long term career of it and not get bored and move on after ten minutes (which some grads are wont to do, or that's organisations' perception).

[Neil]

I'm not sure what employers look for these days, it being a long while since I last applied for a job, but two omissions stand out for me. You mention working in a school, but not what your role there is (it may be elsewhere on the application form, but why not make it easy for whoever is reading to get an instant handle on your current job) and you don't mention why you want to swap from your current job to the one you're applying for.

 

Oh, and the 'Both' that starts the second paragraph is redundant.

 

As a matter of style I prefer your initial post to the application statement. It's clear, precise and free of jargon. I imagine that these are some of the skills that your prospective employers will be looking for in a customer services assistant.

 

Good luck, I hope you succeed.

[SquireBev]

Thanks chaps, I've taken on board your comments and so now it looks like this:

 

Having spent the last four years as a departmental assistant in a large inner-city secondary school, I feel I have developed a broad range of skills that can be applied to any role. I am well organised and conscientious in my work, with an eye for detail and a practical approach to solving problems. I am approachable and aim to be as helpful as I can when answering enquiries from staff, students and parents. This has allowed me to quickly build good working relationships with staff across the school.

As part of my current role and of the part time jobs I held while studying at University, I have had extensive experience of handling cash, dealing with customer enquiries, greeting and escorting visitors, maintaining a clean and tidy working environment, correcting minor faults with equipment and reporting more major issues, and ensuring health and safety policies are followed.

My current role has seen continual changes, and I have attended several formal and informal training sessions in order to further develop my skills to suit the changing working environment. I am more than willing to undertake any training necessary for my continued development and advancement in the company, as the opportunity for advancement is sadly lacking from my current role.

I have a flexible approach to my work and have often been called upon to perform duties outside my normal role. On several occasions, notably during exam season, I have worked extra time to ensure students' work is correctly processed before the submission deadline. I have also been required to maintain a level head in difficult and unforseen circumstances, due to sudden staff illness and adverse weather.

The nature of the school has given me extensive experience in working with people from a broad range of cultural backgrounds and various degrees of disability.

In my free time I enjoy model-making, country walks, cooking, and entertaining guests. I also maintain an interest in the UK's railways, both current and preserved, which I believe will make me more suited to answer customers' requests for information about the service.

In short, I would be a hard-working, approachable member of the team with an eagerness to learn and an enthusiasm for starting a career with the company.

[colin penfold]

Do you have a copy of the job description document electronically? If so please feel free to PM me with it and I will be happy to look for you and suggest any areas you might have missed or need to emphasise. I have quite a lot of experience as a recruiting manager so will hopefully be able to put myself in the shoes of those who are doing the shortlisting. What you have written looks good but without knowing what they are looking for it is hard to comment on whether you have covered what you need to.

[big jim]

I found that once you get working on the railway its not so bad mentioning railway modelling as a hobby in interviews as secretly a lot of us are "cranks" but some don't like to admit it!!

 

i mentioned it on my applications (along the lines of having built an exhibition layout) as it showed that i am a practical hands on person, a few interviewers picked up on it and asked me about it, most didn't

 

One thing i found during interviews to get back driving after the end of fastline was when asked things like "where do you see yourself in 5 years time?" it was nice not to have to spout bull#### like "id like a management role blah blah blah", a simple response on the lines of "i'm quite happy driving trains so i want to be doing that" normally surfised.

 

One thing i will say regards an "outsider" application is the railway is obviously a very safety and rule orientated job so mentioning words along the line of you being safety concious and work to the book etc is always a help, oh and being flexible helps

[SquireBev]

Well, I've sent it off this lunchtime, so all I can do is wait and see what happens.

I've got the bit in there about being flexible and ensuring health and safety procedures are followed. I don't see how they can refuse to give me an interview at least.

[SquireBev]

Thanks

 

Fingers AND eyes crossed.

[SquireBev]

Well, it obviously worked as they've asked me to come for an interview next Thursday!

 

Thanks for all the suggestions, chaps.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Congratulations. Remember that it's YOUR efforts that have got you this far.

 

Best wishes for the interview. Be yourself.

[SquireBev]

I'll try

 

Slightly cacking myself though. Need to think of pertinent questions to ask them.

What sort of coffee will I be serving to passengers? Would I be in charge of the chess pieces? Can I wear my big black coat with the BR logo on the buttons?

 

Vital information?

[SquireBev]

Cacking myself over this impending interview now. I never know just what level of BS they expect.

 

If they ask me "What made you choose our company?" the obvious answer is "You're hiring, nobody else is", but I doubt that's the kind of thing they'd want to hear.

[Derekl]

You could say, if you have ever used their services, that staff seem to be friendly, helpful and happy in the job (I have used the services, and that is my impression).

[Neil]

Cacking myself over this impending interview now. I never know just what level of BS they expect. ....

 

I doubt that they would value any level of BS.

[SquireBev]

You could say, if you have ever used their services, that staff seem to be friendly, helpful and happy in the job (I have used the services, and that is my impression).

 

I've been thinking along those lines too.

I've only travelled on a GC train a couple of times, but I found it a far more enjoyable experience than I've had with Cross Country or Virgin. The staff do seem to be a bit more relaxed than their counterparts on other lines.

[Oldfield_Park]

Well done on getting to the interview stage.

 

As someone who was at that stage himself not too long ago, I can only advise you to go in feeling confident (but not -too- confident) and as prepared as you can be. Keep in mind what is actually expected of you in the job, and stick fairly closely to that. By all means let them know something about yourself, but remember that the panel will have plenty of other people to interview and will doubtless be hoping for clear and concise answers.

 

I'd concur with the advice about keeping the 'model railway' side of things a little hush-hush, especially whilst you're trying to make favourable first impressions. I know it shouldn't be necessary - but that's just the world we live in. That's the sort of thing that can perhaps slip out of the woodwork another time, as there are plenty of people within the rail industry who share our hobby - me included (indeed, I have encountered one or two people off these very forums in my professional capacity - not that they'd necessarily know it... )

 

Beyond that, do some swotting up on the company and demonstrate some basic knowledge of the industry (it goes a long way) and you'll be fine.

[bbishop]

Bevvers,

 

You may be asked one or two "scenario" based questions. The question will be phrased along the lines of "tell us how you resolved a health and safety issue at your school". (See, I've read your application).

 

The standard methodology is to briefly describe the problem, then how you dealt with it (including how you involved other people), then what the outcome was (ie the school got an award). What you don't do is criticize other people.

 

The thing is you can prepare your scenarios in advance. Have a look at your application and relate it to your life experiences: they need not be work related, but it's better if they are. Write down your scenarios on a sheet of A4 and read through them a couple of times before the interview.

 

Sorry, must go to a church meeting. Bill

[SquireBev]

That's pretty useful Bill, cheers. Here's hoping that one comes up, as pretty much every day in the school is a new health and safety problem...

 

If they ask me how I'd deal with a disruptive passenger I might be stumped, as I don't think you're allowed to confiscate mobile phones and issue detentions.

[298]

I've been thinking along those lines too.

I've only travelled on a GC train a couple of times, but I found it a far more enjoyable experience than I've had with Cross Country or Virgin. The staff do seem to be a bit more relaxed than their counterparts on other lines.

 

Which could be a good reason for saying why you want to work for them as they obviously create a better working enviroment for you and travelling experience for their customers (plus they're your company of choice for travel). "Relaxed" might not be a good word to use though, unless it's backed up in the context of explaining it's meant in a "in control" and "happy" way.

 

As someone who was at that stage himself not too long ago, I can only advise you to go in feeling confident (but not -too- confident) and as prepared as you can be. Keep in mind what is actually expected of you in the job, and stick fairly closely to that. By all means let them know something about yourself, but remember that the panel will have plenty of other people to interview and will doubtless be hoping for clear and concise answers.

 

I'd concur with the advice about keeping the 'model railway' side of things a little hush-hush, especially whilst you're trying to make favourable first impressions. I know it shouldn't be necessary - but that's just the world we live in. That's the sort of thing that can perhaps slip out of the woodwork another time, as there are plenty of people within the rail industry who share our hobby - me included (indeed, I have encountered one or two people off these very forums in my professional capacity - not that they'd necessarily know it... )

 

Beyond that, do some swotting up on the company and demonstrate some basic knowledge of the industry (it goes a long way) and you'll be fine.

 

Exactly, if the interviewer has had three people in previously who'se only railway knowledge comes from platform end banter or the WNXX forum, having a fourth say Grand Central were wrong to re-engineer the HST's as the Valenta's were more rateable and the drivers ought to give your best mate DelticMatt the tonezzzz when going through Retford won't get you very far, which is an obvious clue to my next point, your Interviewer(s) may be GC employees, so showing a good sense of their business and any expansion plans will get you good marks (even if you do admit to being an Enthusiast), as will building a rapport as you might get lucky and find that you have some common ground to talk about. You may not have the best experience but if the Interviewer thinks you're someone they can get along with, then this will count for alot more.

 

I must add that this comes from my own practical experience, although I haven't made a serious job application in over 15 years and turned down the offer to be an Interviewer as I didn't want to play God as much as others did. I did go for target selection for a different grade with the same employer about 8 years ago, and soon found the assessors at the test centre were trying to read people and see how they got on with them away from practical testing or the formal interviews.

 

Good luck on the day...!!

[beast66606]

Prepare answers to the "stock" questions such as

 

Why do you want to work for us ?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years ?

Give an example where you excelled ?

Give an example where you failed ? and what did you learn ?

 

Make sure you know the answers you gave on the application in case they ask you about it.

 

Good luck !