Trainee train drivers wanted...
Discussion
For anyone dead set on driving a train one day, might be worth getting a job at a rail company (be it passenger, freight or OTM), where you'll earn a decent wage and can likely transfer to driving later. Works best if you have some mechanical ability since that's what most jobs will be based around, but I've seen office bods end up as drivers.
Not perfect but seems better than jumping through hoops only to find yourself waiting around for years for an opportunity that might never come.
Not perfect but seems better than jumping through hoops only to find yourself waiting around for years for an opportunity that might never come.
Mr Miata said:
For anyone else who thought about applying to be a train driver. I did look into it and it’s not all what it seems…
I found out that there is literally 1000’s of people applying for just 10 vacancies. Some have already gone through the selection process several times previously unsuccessfully and keep on trying. I saw in one rail forum that Northern Rail once advertised for train drivers based in Manchester and they had so many online applicants they pulled down the webpage within 9 hours.
Those who submit an application form are not guaranteed to even get an interview as the number of applicants are culled.
Those lucky enough to get through the first sift have to go to a selection centre. I think there’s an office at Doncaster who are contracted to test for all the different train operating companies?
At the selection centre the aptitude tests are brutal. Something you’d expect for an astronaut or military pilot. Such as hand eye coordination, memory tests and attention span tests. All against the clock. This is an example of one of the tests… https://metodorf.com/tests/bourdon_test.php
I reckon I would have failed the hearing test in the medical, having spent years in the military stood next to loud noise.
Those who get through the aptitude tests then have a verbal reasoning interview (Give an example of when you had to work to strict safety protocols? Give an example of when you had to pay attention at work?) and then a generic interview with a team leader / instructor, I assume to assess your character (will the applicant get on well with the team).
What surprised me the most, is the small percentage who passed all of these stages don’t even get offered a job straight away. There’s many rail forums where successful applicants complained about being placed into a holding pool. Some were holding for years. Some complained they’ll be in the holding pool waiting for a start date and then the same train operating company will advertise another round of job vacancies, the biggest question is who goes to the top of the holding pool list? You who has been waiting 2 years or the guy who just passed last week with a better score? Do internal applicants already within the company (ticket inspectors and conductors) get priority over external applicants straight off the street?
All of this made me a bit disillusioned. And I’m starting to question how can train operating companies struggle with staff going on strike when there’s no shortage of applicants? If W doesn’t want to do the job for £57,000 then X,Y and Z will.
And from all my research, I’m surprised how automated rail signals are despite the aptitude tests.
Just to add that for the many that aren't successful, there are those on here who have jumped through all those same hoops as an out of industry candidate and are now in the driving seat..I found out that there is literally 1000’s of people applying for just 10 vacancies. Some have already gone through the selection process several times previously unsuccessfully and keep on trying. I saw in one rail forum that Northern Rail once advertised for train drivers based in Manchester and they had so many online applicants they pulled down the webpage within 9 hours.
Those who submit an application form are not guaranteed to even get an interview as the number of applicants are culled.
Those lucky enough to get through the first sift have to go to a selection centre. I think there’s an office at Doncaster who are contracted to test for all the different train operating companies?
At the selection centre the aptitude tests are brutal. Something you’d expect for an astronaut or military pilot. Such as hand eye coordination, memory tests and attention span tests. All against the clock. This is an example of one of the tests… https://metodorf.com/tests/bourdon_test.php
I reckon I would have failed the hearing test in the medical, having spent years in the military stood next to loud noise.
Those who get through the aptitude tests then have a verbal reasoning interview (Give an example of when you had to work to strict safety protocols? Give an example of when you had to pay attention at work?) and then a generic interview with a team leader / instructor, I assume to assess your character (will the applicant get on well with the team).
What surprised me the most, is the small percentage who passed all of these stages don’t even get offered a job straight away. There’s many rail forums where successful applicants complained about being placed into a holding pool. Some were holding for years. Some complained they’ll be in the holding pool waiting for a start date and then the same train operating company will advertise another round of job vacancies, the biggest question is who goes to the top of the holding pool list? You who has been waiting 2 years or the guy who just passed last week with a better score? Do internal applicants already within the company (ticket inspectors and conductors) get priority over external applicants straight off the street?
All of this made me a bit disillusioned. And I’m starting to question how can train operating companies struggle with staff going on strike when there’s no shortage of applicants? If W doesn’t want to do the job for £57,000 then X,Y and Z will.
And from all my research, I’m surprised how automated rail signals are despite the aptitude tests.
Edited by Mr Miata on Sunday 7th July 19:28
Pebbles167 said:
For anyone dead set on driving a train one day, might be worth getting a job at a rail company (be it passenger, freight or OTM), where you'll earn a decent wage and can likely transfer to driving later. Works best if you have some mechanical ability since that's what most jobs will be based around, but I've seen office bods end up as drivers.
Not perfect but seems better than jumping through hoops only to find yourself waiting around for years for an opportunity that might never come.
I get lots of questions asking me about driving and I always suggest being a guard as a good route in.Not perfect but seems better than jumping through hoops only to find yourself waiting around for years for an opportunity that might never come.
Almost everyone has ignored me or dismissed it out of hand.
It seems a year or two doing something they don't want to do to get the job they do want to do is just too much.
Chicken Chaser said:
Mr Miata said:
For anyone else who thought about applying to be a train driver. I did look into it and it’s not all what it seems…
I found out that there is literally 1000’s of people applying for just 10 vacancies. Some have already gone through the selection process several times previously unsuccessfully and keep on trying. I saw in one rail forum that Northern Rail once advertised for train drivers based in Manchester and they had so many online applicants they pulled down the webpage within 9 hours.
Those who submit an application form are not guaranteed to even get an interview as the number of applicants are culled.
Those lucky enough to get through the first sift have to go to a selection centre. I think there’s an office at Doncaster who are contracted to test for all the different train operating companies?
At the selection centre the aptitude tests are brutal. Something you’d expect for an astronaut or military pilot. Such as hand eye coordination, memory tests and attention span tests. All against the clock. This is an example of one of the tests… https://metodorf.com/tests/bourdon_test.php
I reckon I would have failed the hearing test in the medical, having spent years in the military stood next to loud noise.
Those who get through the aptitude tests then have a verbal reasoning interview (Give an example of when you had to work to strict safety protocols? Give an example of when you had to pay attention at work?) and then a generic interview with a team leader / instructor, I assume to assess your character (will the applicant get on well with the team).
What surprised me the most, is the small percentage who passed all of these stages don’t even get offered a job straight away. There’s many rail forums where successful applicants complained about being placed into a holding pool. Some were holding for years. Some complained they’ll be in the holding pool waiting for a start date and then the same train operating company will advertise another round of job vacancies, the biggest question is who goes to the top of the holding pool list? You who has been waiting 2 years or the guy who just passed last week with a better score? Do internal applicants already within the company (ticket inspectors and conductors) get priority over external applicants straight off the street?
All of this made me a bit disillusioned. And I’m starting to question how can train operating companies struggle with staff going on strike when there’s no shortage of applicants? If W doesn’t want to do the job for £57,000 then X,Y and Z will.
And from all my research, I’m surprised how automated rail signals are despite the aptitude tests.
Just to add that for the many that aren't successful, there are those on here who have jumped through all those same hoops as an out of industry candidate and are now in the driving seat..I found out that there is literally 1000’s of people applying for just 10 vacancies. Some have already gone through the selection process several times previously unsuccessfully and keep on trying. I saw in one rail forum that Northern Rail once advertised for train drivers based in Manchester and they had so many online applicants they pulled down the webpage within 9 hours.
Those who submit an application form are not guaranteed to even get an interview as the number of applicants are culled.
Those lucky enough to get through the first sift have to go to a selection centre. I think there’s an office at Doncaster who are contracted to test for all the different train operating companies?
At the selection centre the aptitude tests are brutal. Something you’d expect for an astronaut or military pilot. Such as hand eye coordination, memory tests and attention span tests. All against the clock. This is an example of one of the tests… https://metodorf.com/tests/bourdon_test.php
I reckon I would have failed the hearing test in the medical, having spent years in the military stood next to loud noise.
Those who get through the aptitude tests then have a verbal reasoning interview (Give an example of when you had to work to strict safety protocols? Give an example of when you had to pay attention at work?) and then a generic interview with a team leader / instructor, I assume to assess your character (will the applicant get on well with the team).
What surprised me the most, is the small percentage who passed all of these stages don’t even get offered a job straight away. There’s many rail forums where successful applicants complained about being placed into a holding pool. Some were holding for years. Some complained they’ll be in the holding pool waiting for a start date and then the same train operating company will advertise another round of job vacancies, the biggest question is who goes to the top of the holding pool list? You who has been waiting 2 years or the guy who just passed last week with a better score? Do internal applicants already within the company (ticket inspectors and conductors) get priority over external applicants straight off the street?
All of this made me a bit disillusioned. And I’m starting to question how can train operating companies struggle with staff going on strike when there’s no shortage of applicants? If W doesn’t want to do the job for £57,000 then X,Y and Z will.
And from all my research, I’m surprised how automated rail signals are despite the aptitude tests.
Edited by Mr Miata on Sunday 7th July 19:28
They're not brutal at all. ESA spend a year selecting astronauts. The psychometric tests take about 5 hours. The only hard bit was the interview because that's subjective and I got the most obstinate woman in the world.
Whether they're relevant to the job is another matter but they do provide a good filter and help identify a few basic attributes.
ChocolateFrog said:
I get lots of questions asking me about driving and I always suggest being a guard as a good route in.
Almost everyone has ignored me or dismissed it out of hand.
It seems a year or two doing something they don't want to do to get the job they do want to do is just too much.
The risk however is that you still need to pass the tests!Almost everyone has ignored me or dismissed it out of hand.
It seems a year or two doing something they don't want to do to get the job they do want to do is just too much.
Yep, an internal applicant gets the ‘heads up’ on future recruitment campaigns before it’s released to the great unwashed and some companies prefer to recruit internally and only offer it to outsiders if they don’t get enough suitable candidates from within but it’s still a big risk. If you give up your job outside of the railway and join as a guard/ticket inspector/whatever with the intention of becoming a driver there is absolutely no guarantee that you’ll progress to that role.
It’s not a time served job anymore. You either meet the standard or you don’t regardless of what you did before.
Edited by valiant on Monday 8th July 16:38
valiant said:
The risk however is that you still need to pass the tests!
That's the current way into driving so not a risk but a certainty, however you go about it. If you're in the rail company though, you'll get a second shot after 6 months if you fail, and potentially a third at some point.
Outside the railway, if you blow it your first time, an opportunity to take it again might not come up.
Mr Miata said:
For anyone else who thought about applying to be a train driver. I did look into it and it’s not all what it seems…
I found out that there is literally 1000’s of people applying for just 10 vacancies. Some have already gone through the selection process several times previously unsuccessfully and keep on trying. I saw in one rail forum that Northern Rail once advertised for train drivers based in Manchester and they had so many online applicants they pulled down the webpage within 9 hours.
Those who submit an application form are not guaranteed to even get an interview as the number of applicants are culled.
Those lucky enough to get through the first sift have to go to a selection centre. I think there’s an office at Doncaster who are contracted to test for all the different train operating companies?
At the selection centre the aptitude tests are brutal. Something you’d expect for an astronaut or military pilot. Such as hand eye coordination, memory tests and attention span tests. All against the clock. This is an example of one of the tests… https://metodorf.com/tests/bourdon_test.php
I reckon I would have failed the hearing test in the medical, having spent years in the military stood next to loud noise.
Those who get through the aptitude tests then have a verbal reasoning interview (Give an example of when you had to work to strict safety protocols? Give an example of when you had to pay attention at work?) and then a generic interview with a team leader / instructor, I assume to assess your character (will the applicant get on well with the team).
What surprised me the most, is the small percentage who passed all of these stages don’t even get offered a job straight away. There’s many rail forums where successful applicants complained about being placed into a holding pool. Some were holding for years. Some complained they’ll be in the holding pool waiting for a start date and then the same train operating company will advertise another round of job vacancies, the biggest question is who goes to the top of the holding pool list? You who has been waiting 2 years or the guy who just passed last week with a better score? Do internal applicants already within the company (ticket inspectors and conductors) get priority over external applicants straight off the street?
All of this made me a bit disillusioned. And I’m starting to question how can train operating companies struggle with staff going on strike when there’s no shortage of applicants? If W doesn’t want to do the job for £57,000 then X,Y and Z will.
And from all my research, I’m surprised how automated rail signals are despite the aptitude tests.
Too address a number of points raised in the above post and the distorted view you will get from reading rail forums.I found out that there is literally 1000’s of people applying for just 10 vacancies. Some have already gone through the selection process several times previously unsuccessfully and keep on trying. I saw in one rail forum that Northern Rail once advertised for train drivers based in Manchester and they had so many online applicants they pulled down the webpage within 9 hours.
Those who submit an application form are not guaranteed to even get an interview as the number of applicants are culled.
Those lucky enough to get through the first sift have to go to a selection centre. I think there’s an office at Doncaster who are contracted to test for all the different train operating companies?
At the selection centre the aptitude tests are brutal. Something you’d expect for an astronaut or military pilot. Such as hand eye coordination, memory tests and attention span tests. All against the clock. This is an example of one of the tests… https://metodorf.com/tests/bourdon_test.php
I reckon I would have failed the hearing test in the medical, having spent years in the military stood next to loud noise.
Those who get through the aptitude tests then have a verbal reasoning interview (Give an example of when you had to work to strict safety protocols? Give an example of when you had to pay attention at work?) and then a generic interview with a team leader / instructor, I assume to assess your character (will the applicant get on well with the team).
What surprised me the most, is the small percentage who passed all of these stages don’t even get offered a job straight away. There’s many rail forums where successful applicants complained about being placed into a holding pool. Some were holding for years. Some complained they’ll be in the holding pool waiting for a start date and then the same train operating company will advertise another round of job vacancies, the biggest question is who goes to the top of the holding pool list? You who has been waiting 2 years or the guy who just passed last week with a better score? Do internal applicants already within the company (ticket inspectors and conductors) get priority over external applicants straight off the street?
All of this made me a bit disillusioned. And I’m starting to question how can train operating companies struggle with staff going on strike when there’s no shortage of applicants? If W doesn’t want to do the job for £57,000 then X,Y and Z will.
And from all my research, I’m surprised how automated rail signals are despite the aptitude tests.
Edited by Mr Miata on Sunday 7th July 19:28
- Thousands of people apply for the vacancies because they incorrectly believe the job simply involves driving a train, when the reality is this is a minor part of the skills required for the role. Roles will be withdrawn when a certain number of applications have been received is not surprising!
- There are multiple processes in place to whittle down the huge number of speculative applications before wasting the man hours on physical interviews.
- The aptitude tests are not brutal. They are designed to test if the applicant has the required skills for the role, as well as if they are at a level where they can keep up with and pass the training involved. At £200k+ a trainee position, the train companies have metrics from this testing which give them more confidence that the person offered the position will complete the required training and become a train driver. Roughly 10% still fail during the training despite this, however this is mainly down to attitude!
- You only get two chances to pass to the required level at the assessment centre and the verbal reasoning interview. If you are good enough you will pass these within the two attempts. If not, it is not the role for your skills. The reasons for this are obvious when you are performing the role.
- Specifically, regarding the hearing test you believe you would fail, occurs at the medical stage, where your health, hearing, sight, colour blindness, etc are tested as these are vital for being able to perform the role safely.
- The railways does lots of things different, one being recruitment because resource planning happens over the long term with it taking 12-24 months to get through the training. There is also a capacity limit on the trainee spots so you can only get offered a role when the training spots are available. There is definitely no preference for internal candidates, however these may be preferred because they understand the shift work nature of the role and have history with the company over their reliability.
Train companies struggle for competent drivers because a large number of the original applicants are not suitable for the role and the training system has a capacity limit. Resourcing would become a bigger issue were standards lowered and more training spots were lost to people failing at this stage.
Overall, if you are good enough, you will pass the application stages and get a role, albeit when the training spots are available.
p.s. Your last sentence is quite enlightening as how you view the role. It gives off the impression that the role is just driving a train and the people with that mindset are the people who do not make the grade.
Edited by Ashfordian on Monday 22 July 12:40
BigGingerBob said:
I completed the assessment day for a Trainee Driver on Thursday.
Just waiting for a response now, hopefully I'm through to the Manager's interview!
Best of luck! If (when!) you are successful I can see your username being your nickname - "Oh you know Bob, BigGingerBob..!"Just waiting for a response now, hopefully I'm through to the Manager's interview!
"Oh yeah, I know that Bob" etc!
BigGingerBob said:
I wasn't successful in the interview. Really quite put out tbh. Over 18 months it has taken to get to this, haha.
They say I can apply again in 6 months time but if it takes another two years I won't be able to take the trainee wage for a year.
Gutted!
Sorry to hear. They give you any reasoning? They say I can apply again in 6 months time but if it takes another two years I won't be able to take the trainee wage for a year.
Gutted!
No reasoning yet but they did say at the interview that they would be able to give feedback in a week or so, I just need to remember how to contact them!
I was convinced that I absolutely nailed the interview too. There were two of them there and they were making all the right noises with my answers.
It's a tough old process, that's for sure
I was convinced that I absolutely nailed the interview too. There were two of them there and they were making all the right noises with my answers.
It's a tough old process, that's for sure
BigGingerBob said:
I wasn't successful in the interview. Really quite put out tbh. Over 18 months it has taken to get to this, haha.
They say I can apply again in 6 months time but if it takes another two years I won't be able to take the trainee wage for a year.
Gutted!
If you've passed the psychometrics then that's a good tick in the box that will count for a couple of years.They say I can apply again in 6 months time but if it takes another two years I won't be able to take the trainee wage for a year.
Gutted!
I had my worst ever interview with DB Cargo, total car crash.
6 months later I got a job at Northern, had a great interview.
I didn't change in the intervening 6 months.
Try not to be too put off, it could still work out.
BigGingerBob said:
No reasoning yet but they did say at the interview that they would be able to give feedback in a week or so, I just need to remember how to contact them!
I was convinced that I absolutely nailed the interview too. There were two of them there and they were making all the right noises with my answers.
It's a tough old process, that's for sure
Unlucky for the interview, if I were you I’d write down the questions they asked you whilst they’re still fresh in your head. Have a think about how you answered them and if you could make your answers better at the next interview.I was convinced that I absolutely nailed the interview too. There were two of them there and they were making all the right noises with my answers.
It's a tough old process, that's for sure
Depending on your location it could be worth emailing some companies to see if they’re recruiting soon and let them know you have psychometrics passed, I know GBrF have been keen to fill course spaces like this previously.
BigGingerBob said:
I wasn't successful in the interview. Really quite put out tbh. Over 18 months it has taken to get to this, haha.
They say I can apply again in 6 months time but if it takes another two years I won't be able to take the trainee wage for a year.
Gutted!
Was this for a TOC or FOC?They say I can apply again in 6 months time but if it takes another two years I won't be able to take the trainee wage for a year.
Gutted!
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