CV, and numerical reasoning

My Curriculum Vitae, and a suggestion for
the 'numeric reasoning' interview question

11/07/2012

Dear Marie,

I have not yet received any confirmation of my previous emails regarding my application for the position of TRAM GENERAL MANAGER (£70,000 - £80,000 pa). However, I have noticed that some application instructions have now appeared on the Edinburgh Trams website, so I have taken it upon myself to follow these instructions, please consider this email the 'covering letter' for my application.

As you know by now, I am a highly motivated person, and believe my skills, experience and abilities make me about as qualified for this role as several other senior figures in this project have been for roles which they accepted.

I have attached my CV to this email, however please be advised, for reasons of commercial sensitivity, some sections have been redacted. As someone with experience of the Tram project to date, the redaction of information in documents such as this will not be unfamiliar to you.

By the way, I am very interested to know which members of the City of Edinburgh Council are expected to attend the final-stage interview panel for this process, could you let me know who they will be? Obviously I would like to 'tailor' my presentation depending on the audience.

I will be happy to undertake the verbal, numerical and inductive reasoning tests, actually, I have been thinking about those, Marie. Here's a numerical test I have made up which you might like to add:


'TRAMFACT' - A tram ticket will cost the same as a bus ticket. A bus ticket is currently £1.40 (fixed fare).

The 'Final Business Case for Edinburgh Trams', available on the Edinburgh Trams website, states the expected number of passengers on Phase 1a of the tram route is '13M in 2012' (section 1.41), resulting in a £2M profit.

A tram can seat 80 passengers.

Disregarding ALL OPERATING COSTS, how many fully seated trams would Edinburgh Trams need to transport from the city centre to the airport every day, 365 days a year, in order to achieve the predicted profit?

Answer: 48 fully seated trams a day, or 2 every hour 24/7.

Bonus Point Question:
Edinburgh Airport reports passenger numbers of 9M per year, even if EVERY SINGLE AIRPORT PASSENGER decided to take all their luggage to St. Andrews Square to then get on a tram, why do the other 4M tram passengers go to the airport?


I reckon that's a pretty good test of numerical reasoning Marie, please feel free to make use of it for the other candidates (obviously I have an advantage there as I made up the question).

I think that answers all the questions on your application form, please keep me informed regarding progress of my application.

Regards,

Aldo Broon
TRAM GENERAL MANAGER of the FUTURE!