Transit Jobs NOW!!! Coast Mountain Bus is HIRING!

Good Luck, and thanks for the update!!

 

As fast as that posting appeared (Thursday) It now appears to have already come down...

I will keep my eyes open...

There are still 25 or so positions listed on TransLinks careers page, about 5 MORE at CMBC; about 10 MORE at BCRTC; about 2 more at WCE; 2 MORE at Transit Police....

www.civicinfo.bc.ca/16.asp is another GREAT website!

 

Wow that was quick, good thing my application went through before the cut off.

 

Now I feel terrible for making that joke. Hope he is doing alright!

 

Good luck. If you haven't been, practice practice practice the interview! Practice in front of friends, family and even a mirror if you have to.

I don't know the format of the Coast Mountain Bus Company or TransLink interviews but here is some general advice on job interviews.

For behavioural interview questions, you want to follow the STAR or PAR approach. Pick the technique that you like and stick with it to keep yourself organized.
STAR - Situation, Task, Action, Result
PAR - Problem, Action, Result
SOARA - Situation, Objective, Action, Results, Aftermath

Come up with some scenarios from your life, work and volunteer experience that will apply to common questions (conflict, teamwork, professionalism, leadership, decision making).

Google behavioural interview questions, STAR and PAR and you'll find an endless sea of practice material and tips.
http://careerservices.wayne.edu/behavioralinterviewinfo.pdf
http://www.cehd.umn.edu/career/interview/PARBehavioralInterviews.pdf

PS: Research and get to know the company prior to the interview. Prepare some good questions to ask them.
PPS: If they ask about weaknesses, don't bullshit. People appreciate honesty.

 

Just to add to milquetoast's post: You can Google videos on Pre Trip Inspections as well as there is a video out there welcoming new employees to CMBC from roughly 2007...

 

Thanks for the tips. I know pretty much all the questions they ask.. I have compiled with the help of John Rily. and my own interviews for Coast Mountain. so i assume they will ask me the same ones again. for the most part they just ask about what you would do in certain situations that might arrise on the bus, medical emergency etc etc.

Its a pretty robotic Process the 4 different interviewers i have had now seem to have no personality and just want to get through the interview and on to the next person.

Could just be that im not the type of person they are looking for.. but i enjoy trying.

 

Hallelujah again it's the WEEKEND!!! Week 2 over and DONE! I am now officially a Class 2 with air licence holder! It was road test and Pre-trip day today... STRESSFUL but good. Got through alive and I am quite proud of my test results. 7 of the 8 guys in the class passed first time. Unfortunately, one will have to redo the testing on Monday as he was unsuccessful on his road test. Hopefully he makes it.

Starting Monday, they throw us into trolleys so then the fun REALLY begins!

As always, feel free to ask questions! And good luck to the new prospects! Now... I'm pretty exhausted, it's time to unwind a bit and enjoy the weekend!

 

For those who might be interested: SkyTrain is hiring again! Similar wages to bus driving....

www.TransLink.ca/drive and then "BCRTC" if interested... Act fast, might only be active for a few days!

 

Again, Thanks for all the updates! I'm sure many appreciate the insight....

 

@ConventionalMan

In regards to the pre trip inspection, is it anything similar to this YouTube video?

 

Hi TypeRNammer, not really close at all... Some of it is the same, but some of the numbers and procedures they use vary and will confuse you. For instance, the 85-105 in 2 minutes test they describe is completely different. We need to ensure the compressor will build pressure from 50-90 psi within THREE minutes. The low air warning can come on no lower than SIXTY psi, the brake adjustment description and procedure is completely verbal (and different) in our test, etc, etc... See how it can get confusing?

There is a CMBC video that we use to study, but unfortunately it is a secure link and I can't provide it (proprietary I guess?) It is roughly 32 minutes and cover the whole process start to finish.

To give you an idea, the first day we did pretrip/airbrake/walkarounds, it took me 52 min. By test day (yesterday) I did the whole thing in 34 minutes; you are allowed 45 minutes. My thinking is, if you spend too much time on the internet you may confuse yourself as the CMBC procedure is a combination of in-house (for buses) and government regulations. Being a CMBC employee before this training I had access to the Pre-trip video and was STILL confused until going through the classes. They will show and train you EXACTLY how they want it done. If you learned it a different way, you would probably end up having to retrain yourself.

My advice: If you don't already have one, grab a "Driving Commercial Vehicles" guide from ICBC and read through the airbrake portion (or all of it lol). At least the numbers and procedures are the same and it's what we use.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can answer anything else

 

My pleasure! I hope it is informative, hopefully I can provide enough insight to help prepare folks coming in. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of work but if I can help make things clearer, I will!

 

Had an Instructor/Trainer on my bus today, and we got a chatting...

Nothing is written in stone, but he's under the impression that CMBC will be trying to hire approx 200 MORE Conventional Operators this year... Probably 10 or 12 Trainees per class starting in April or so...

If the TransLink Funding Referendum happens to pass, even MORE hiring should be expected over the next few years...

 

@ca_FTW @ConventionalMan @Superchecker

Do you guys remember what general questions were asked during the panel interview?

Just trying to brush up on my interview skills lol.

 

Can't remember specifics but IIRC... There were a lot of questions along the lines of "If this happened, what would you do?" or "Have you ever had X situation happen and how did you resolve it?" Stuff like that. Much of it is designed to check your problem solving and customer service skills. It is very customer relations heavy, second only to safety! Sorry I can't be more specific...

On another note... today was Training DAY 13. First time driving an articulated trolley. Downtown. Vancouver. WOW. Awesome!

 

@TypeRNammer Im PM'ing you the list i have made, of the questions.

This list are the questions i was asked (Have done the Panel interview twice now) and a couple another fresh hire was asked. I think its as close as you are going to get.

 

Could you possibly PM that list to me as well, I'd much appreciate it!

 

Thanks for the PM!

Man those scenario questions are pretty tricky. But the questions in regards to work ethics are pretty simple depending on how you present yourself.

 

Any chance you could possibly PM that questions list to me as well, I'd much appreciate it!