Our Recruitment Approach

• Make sure you read the job advert carefully to give you a clear idea as to the knowledge, skills and ability we are looking for.
• Don’t assume we know anything about you. Decisions on who we invite for interview are based on the information shared in your online application form.
• Give specific examples of projects, activities and outcomes.
• Think about how your skills and experience relates to the job.
• Where you haven’t got specific experience, think about how you can demonstrate the same skills from different situations or sectors.

Search and apply for any of our roles that interest you.

You can save your application by clicking the save as draft button at the bottom of the screen as you go along in case you lose your internet connection.

Complete all additional application questions and click confirm to submit your application. If you do not confirm, the application will not be submitted for shortlisting.

To support our commitment to equality and diversity, we would like you to complete a confidential diversity questionnaire.

Once you submit your application, you will not be able to make any changes to it.

When you have submitted your application, you will receive an automatic confirmation email from our recruiting team. It will come from the [email protected] address to let you know we have received your application.

Once we have received your application, we will review it and get back to you as quickly as we can.

For some of our roles we will invite you to our Assessment Centre where we can evaluate your skills and abilities through the use of a variety of assessment methods.

We know it can be a daunting process, but it provides us with a unique opportunity to assess candidates in a variety of situations that will highlight the skills and behaviors we are looking for. Equally for you it’s a good opportunity to get more information about the company and gain more insight from the people working within business, enabling you to make an informed decision whether the business or role is right for you. You will be advised of reporting venue, practice booklets, format of the day, dress code, documents to bring along on the day etc. prior to attending.

Our Assessment Centre does not have a car parking facility. If driving, please prepare all your travel arrangements beforehand.

Whether you are successful or not, you’ll be contacted (usually by email) to inform you of the decision.

Interviews at ScotRail typically contain a mix of competence and values-based questions where we look for evidence of your experience and compare these against the ScotRail Values. This means that we'll require you to give specific, relevant, detailed and positive examples of things you've done during your career or from recent full-time education.

Behavioral questions will tend to be ‘open questions' that will require you to give detailed answers.

When preparing examples for your interview, try to keep the following in mind when structuring your answers:

S. Situation – Describe the situation you found yourself in.
T. Tasks – What tasks did you identify that needed to be done?
A. Actions – What actions did you actually take?
R. Results – What was the outcome?

The key to these questions is ensuring that you have answered the question and have clearly articulated the scenario and have demonstrated what you personally did, said or achieved within the scenario.

Preparation for your interview may seem like hard work – however, if you are fully prepared you will definitely feel more confident on the day and deliver a better performance. Think about your achievements and the details of what happened, what went well, the outcome and what you learned. Review your behaviours, looking at the criteria and behaviours required for the role. Try and think about what questions you may be asked and how you might respond to them.

For some jobs there may be a 2nd interview stage and/or presentation. At this stage you may wish to study further by focusing on the key skills for the role and preparing more detailed examples of what actions you have taken in certain situations.

Whether you are successful or not, you’ll be contacted (usually by email) to inform you of the decision.

ScotRail is committed to providing diverse interview panels wherever we can.

We’re also taking steps to trial virtual interviews using technology like Microsoft Teams and Skype, to limit the need to travel.

The panel will introduce themselves, their role in ScotRail and then outline how the interview will progress.

Give yourself plenty of time to get to the venue – try and get there at least 10 minutes early.

Dress for the occasion – typically business attire.

Don’t forget to bring along your essential documents (to prove your right to work in the UK – you’ll receive full details with your invite to the interview/assessment centre).

Bring along any additional notes, memory sticks etc that you’ll need on the day – again, you’ll have been given full details about this with your invite if it’s needed.

Above all, relax and take some deep breaths.

If you are successful in the recruitment process and accept our conditional offer of employment, we will ask you for references and to complete a Disclosure Scotland check.

Your references must be able to assess your suitability for the post. One of your nominated references should be a manager from your current or most recent employment. If you have completed education, your course tutor or other academic staff member could be selected. Family members or personal friends should not be used as references.

You will be reimbursed for the costs of the Disclosure Scotland check.

Depending on the overall number of interviewees, we aim to contact you within seven days to inform you of the outcome. Timeframes will normally be communicated to you at the interview.

Due the volume of applications we receive, we are unable to provide individual feedback at this stage.

We can provide feedback at the interview stage, please contact [email protected] to request this feedback.

Like the rest of the rail industry, safety is paramount. So, if you’re joining us, you’ll need to undergo a medical and have a drugs screening before joining us. For safety critical roles (like Drivers and Conductors) this will be a face to face medical as part of pre-employment checks. Our team are on hand to get you booked in at a time and location to suit you. The sooner, the better is how we like it, so please be as flexible as possible with your availability.