Crossing keeper interview questions and how to answer

Network Rail crossing keeper recruitment has two interview points. The first is a recorded video interview, which Network Rail says covers your motivation, your experience and your approach to the role. The second is the assessment day, where Network Rail says activities assess the behaviours and abilities the job needs. This guide covers how to prepare for both.

The questions below are examples of the type to expect, not the real ones. Network Rail does not publish its interview questions, and they will vary. Preparing true stories that show the right behaviours will cover whatever you are asked.

What the interviewers are looking for

Network Rail's earlier crossing keeper page listed eight non-technical skills for the role, the same eight it lists for signallers: communication, willingness and ability to learn, working with others, decision making, conscientious, attention management, workload management and controlled under pressure. It also said crossing keepers need to be comfortable challenging unsafe behaviour. Applicants preparing for crossing keeper interviews as far back as 2015 were advised to prepare examples against Network Rail's non-technical skills.

How to structure an answer

Use situation, task, action, result, but keep the situation to a sentence or two. Spend most of the answer on what you did and why. Finish with the outcome and what you learned. For a video interview, practise speaking to a camera with a timer running, because a recorded answer feels very different from a conversation.

Motivation and the role

• Why do you want to be a crossing keeper?
• What do you think a crossing keeper does on a typical shift?
• How would you feel about working alone, at night, for a whole shift?
• What do you know about the type of crossing at the location you applied for?

Example approach: “I want work where doing the job properly matters every time. I know most of a shift at a crossing is routine and some of it is spent alone at night, and I am comfortable with that. My current job already involves long stretches of checking work carefully without anyone watching over me.” Then give a real example.

Questions by skill

Conscientious

• Tell us about a time you followed a procedure exactly even though there seemed to be a quicker way.
• Describe a mistake you made at work. What did you do about it?

Attention management

• Tell us about a time you had to stay focused on a repetitive task for a long period.
• How do you keep your concentration when nothing much is happening?

Crossing keeper work is mostly watching and waiting, and the Ingatestone advert lists maintaining focus throughout your shift as a duty. Have a concrete answer: what you actually do to stay alert, not just “I stay alert”.

Decision making

• Describe a time you had to make a decision quickly without all the information you wanted.
• Tell us about a time you chose the cautious option even though it caused a delay.

Controlled under pressure

• Tell us about a time a member of the public was angry with you. How did you handle it?
• Describe a situation where something went wrong suddenly and you had to act.

Expect impatient drivers at closed barriers. Show that you stay calm and do not let pressure change a safety decision.

Communication

• Tell us about a time you had to make sure an important message was understood exactly.
• Describe a time you had to explain a decision to someone who did not like it.

Working with others

• Describe a time you relied on a colleague you could not see, for example by phone or radio.
• Tell us about a time you disagreed with someone more experienced than you.

Workload management

• Tell us about a time several things needed your attention at once. How did you decide the order?

Willingness and ability to learn

• Describe something new you had to learn quickly at work.
• Tell us about feedback you received and what you changed because of it.

Challenging unsafe behaviour

• Tell us about a time you challenged someone who was doing something unsafe.
• What would you do if a colleague asked you to skip a step in a procedure?

Scenario questions

At the assessment day you may be asked what you would do in a situation. Network Rail does not publish the activities. The principles that answer most of these are the same:

• Protect people first. If something or someone is on the crossing, it is not clear.
• Tell the signaller as soon as what you can see does not match what they expect.
• Confirm rather than assume, and repeat important messages back.
• Do not over-react when something is inconvenient rather than unsafe.
• Report faults, near misses and your own mistakes.

Our level crossing scenarios give you over a hundred of these to practise, each with the reasoning written out.

Before the day

• Prepare two true stories for each of the eight skills.
• Read the advert again and know the type of crossing and the working pattern.
• One applicant in 2015 described visiting the crossing box beforehand with permission. If you want to do the same, ask through the recruitment contact, and never go onto railway property without permission.
• Prepare a question to ask at the end, such as how training works at that location.