Hiring Process

[Poochie23]

CSR what is the hiring process after completing all job requirements

[BusHunter]

2 hours ago, Poochie23 said:

CSR what is the hiring process after completing all job requirements

You have to do the dance. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOF6zlXDDoI

[Busjack]

52 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

You have to do the dance. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOF6zlXDDoI

However, you have to prove you can hold off until reaching the facility in the middle of the turnaround.Harder on longer routes. We don't allow any "street relief."

[BusHunter]

2 minutes ago, Busjack said:

However, you have to prove you can hold off until reaching the facility in the middle of the turnaround.Harder on longer routes. We don't allow any "street relief."

My statement could actually be construed two ways, that it's time to celebrate or it's another test. And people ask me why the hiring process takes months!!

[Busjack]

1 minute ago, BusHunter said:

or it's another test

Especially considering what the gibbon was doing in that trailer.

[Poochie23]

What is pre-adverse letter do I have a chance

[Pace831]

3 hours ago, Poochie23 said:

What is pre-adverse letter do I have a chance

A pre-adverse action letter notifies you that something negative found in a background check led to a decision that is not in your favor. It does indicate they don't want to hire you, but does not constitute an official decision. The letter should contain a copy of the relevant report, and you may dispute any incorrect information that could influence the decision. I guess you received a letter already, which effectively means they denied your application unless you can successfully dispute the report. If there is any incorrect information, don't wait to dispute it because that would be your only real chance of getting hired at this point.

[Busjack]

4 hours ago, Poochie23 said:

What is pre-adverse letter do I have a chance

1 hour ago, Pace831 said:

If there is any incorrect information, don't wait to dispute it because that would be your only real chance of getting hired at this point.

All I can say is that I hope Tiffany and Poochie aren't the same person. But in either case, don't post here what the details of your personal problem were.

Also, the surprising thing revealed by the link that Pace831 provided is that this is mandated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. One wouldn't have thought that at first, but it makes sense as employers use the credit reporting agencies to check out applicants.

[andrethebusman]

Adverse can mean anything. I had a problem because two of my previous employers had gone out of business, and it was a hassle to figure out what the "successors" were. Eventually it was straightened out, but this is the kind of really minor thing that can cause a problem.

[MRChiCity]

Since we are talking about pay and working conditions, I met a PACE northshore operator at a watering hole once, who used to be in the restaurant industry  (yes you read that right.) Now being that the smaller divisions like northshore don't pay much do you think he made a good move or should he have stayed in the restaurant industry? From what he said he used to work the front of the house, so including thing like tips would he make more or less money then he did in the restaurant industry? I can see the hours being better seeing that this is PACE and not the CTA where the hours might suck just as much.  Thoughts? 

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, MRChiCity said:

Since we are talking about pay and working conditions, I met a PACE northshore operator at a watering hole once, who used to be in the restaurant industry  (yes you read that right.) Now being that the smaller divisions like northshore don't pay much do you think he made a good move or should he have stayed in the restaurant industry? From what he said he used to work the front of the house, so including thing like tips would he make more or less money then he did in the restaurant industry? I can see the hours being better seeing that this is PACE and not the CTA where the hours might suck just as much.  Thoughts? 

People working in a unionized job have a pay range and get benefits (except perhaps PTOs). Aside from someone working in a restaurant depending on tips, most restaurants don't stay in business long enough to provide any job security, and those working for high end establishments like Charlie Trotter's and Moto depend on the star chef owner, which, in each cited case, died.

[BusHunter]

If he doesnt like the Pace job he should just use his experience to get another passenger cdl job. He has something now that will get him the better paying jobs, his cdl. Why go back and lose the license? 

[MRChiCity]

Now if he went to the CTA as a bus operator would the hours be just as bad as the Restaurant industry? 

[Busjack]

3 hours ago, MRChiCity said:

Now if he went to the CTA as a bus operator would the hours be just as bad as the Restaurant industry? 

If one is at the bottom of seniority, he gets whatever pick is left, which might be a split run. I don't how his restaurant is scheduled.

[MRChiCity]

Well one of his jobs was bartering so if he got stuck doing night owl runs say on the 22 Clark then the hours might suck just as much?  

[BusHunter]

On 10/22/2016 at 7:42 PM, Busjack said:

If one is at the bottom of seniority, he gets whatever pick is left, which might be a split run. I don't how his restaurant is scheduled.

Most runs are split shifts, but I heard there was talk that there are some bad runs out there that have 6 hour splits according to garage gossip. It's hard to get a block run especially in the mornings, you have to be like a 10 year veteran as most high seniority guys take those runs. It's easier to get the pm block runs as it seems a 5 year veteran might get those from what I witnessed. But most new hires get the rush hour trippers/split shifts and they get the weekends one shift. One operator was telling me a few years ago that the part timers have there own shift bids and the full timers have there's. So if you are new to full time your on the bottom rung and get what's left. One operator that was doing overtime said he was doing a tripper that was only out for like 1 hour or 2, so there must be pt runs that are that short. You would figure though they need pullout time, but I think this was an #81 or something at jeff, so what's the pullout time/getting in place, 5 minutes? 

[andrethebusman]

Shortest PT run I ever came across was out of Kedzie a couple of years back. Pulled out via Kedzie-Cermak-Central Park NB, worked 82 to Homan/Jackson, relieved NB by a daycar. Basically so the daycar pay wouldn't go over 10.9, I imagine. Some are incredibly short, especially school trippers. 86 has a couple AM's that pull out to Imlay, go to North Av, back to Imlay and in. About 2 hours.

[jesi2282]

Since it's no secret that CTA is short on bus operators, when someone applies to become a PTBO, will he/she have a better chance of working out of their desired garage? Or do curtain garages have more driver shortages than others? Also do PTBOs have the ability to transfer to another garage when it's time for a system pick?

[BusHunter]

From what I heard from a bus training manager, there are so many desired slots to fill at each garage. Most of the applicants seem to be south Siders and alot of the freshly hired pick those spots. 103rd and 77th seem very popular but when you get to places like fg there are actually vacancies to fill as that garage seems the hardest to fill. This manager said on that day they still had fg spots to fill. The kicker of it is these new hires dont know the cta and go blindly into this selection. 77th the most popular I think is the hardest garage to work for as the buses just get tore up there. You can only imagine how hard some of those routes are. Fg now has some of the easiest routes in the system but no one wants to work there. Probably mostly because it's a long commute from home. 

As far as the ptbo changing garages mrcta85 could tell you about that. It seems he had trouble at first then he was able to switch. It almost sounds like you can only switch if your full time or have entered the union cause there's lifetime pt operators out here. 

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

From what I heard from a bus training manager, there are so many desired slots to fill at each garage. Most of the applicants seem to be south Siders and alot of the freshly hired pick those spots. 103rd and 77th seem very popular but when you get to places like fg there are actually vacancies to fill as that garage seems the hardest to fill. This manager said on that day they still had fg spots to fill. The kicker of it is these new hires dont know the cta and go blindly into this selection. 77th the most popular I think is the hardest garage to work for as the buses just get tore up there. You can only imagine how hard some of those routes are. Fg now has some of the easiest routes in the system but no one wants to work there. Probably mostly because it's a long commute from home. 

As far as the ptbo changing garages mrcta85 could tell you about that. It seems he had trouble at first then he was able to switch. It almost sounds like you can only switch if your full time or have entered the union cause there's lifetime pt operators out here. 

I will say that more than likely,  south side applicants will pick south side garages and west side applicants will pick west side garages.   Besides proximity to home,  you have to factor familiarity of the city.   A lot of south Siders aren't familiar with the west side nor the north side of the city.   A lot of west Siders aren't familiar with the north side nor south side of the city.   North and northwest Siders aren't familiar with the south side of the city.   I once knew someone who lived on the west side but started at North Park.   Of course they had trouble with the north side.   First chance that person got, that person changed to  Kedzie,  which was a 5 minute drive from home.   

I once knew a driver who lived south but chose to work at Forest Glen because he felt safer and unknown in that part of town.   It didn't hurt that he had a part time job near O'Hare. 

[BusHunter]

You seem to be correct art. I talk to alot of fg operators and the ones from far south like Palos hills or Orland park originally were from Archer and 74th. It seems they just got transferred north although they would prefer south. Safety also plays a part in this. Fg is a quiet garage. 77th probably has the most crime just due to its volume. This is a concern among some but these shields should do something but you can't eliminate all possibilities of crime against an operator. On the other hand lifetime fg operators tend to live on the north and nw side.

[artthouwill]

6 hours ago, BusHunter said:

You seem to be correct art. I talk to alot of fg operators and the ones from far south like Palos hills or Orland park originally were from Archer and 74th. It seems they just got transferred north although they would prefer south. Safety also plays a part in this. Fg is a quiet garage. 77th probably has the most crime just due to its volume. This is a concern among some but these shields should do something but you can't eliminate all possibilities of crime against an operator. On the other hand lifetime fg operators tend to live on the north and nw side.

Fear of crimes against operators on duty is one thing,  but there's also a fear of retaliation of an angry customer if they recognize you on the street when you are off duty.   The chance of that happening is greater when you live close to the garage you operate from and lessens the further away from home that you work. 

[BusHunter]

True but would a customer go that far. Only if they are nuts. Its never happened to me.

[jesi2282]

27 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

True but would a customer go that far. Only if they are nuts. Its never happened to me.

There was an incident with a FG operator last year I believe. A passenger got left behind at Jeff Park by an 85A, the passenger waited for the bus to do its entire roundtrip and when the bus got back to Jeff Park the passenger threw coffee at the operators face.

For someone to put their commute on pause and wait 40 mins for a bus to come back around, in order to "get back" at an operator is nuts...

[Pace831]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

True but would a customer go that far. Only if they are nuts. Its never happened to me.

The "fear of retaliation" has more to do with perception than any actual risk. It's not much different than someone who works at their neighborhood supermarket not wanting to reencounter an angry customer that he knows lives nearby. A chance meeting on the street probably wouldn't provoke a fight, but would still be an uncomfortable situation.