Northern - Trainee Driver - Hull/Sheffield/Doncaster/Newcastle (16/01/25)

[magpiepotts]

Was wondering if anyone had a direct contact number for northern hr. I previously had an application come back as ended. I contacted hr about this and they said that my postcode wasn’t found. I’ve applied for this role again but need to speak to someone to explain that I live in a new build property so the postcode is correct although it comes up as not found

 

[SiTheTrainGuy]

• The training program begins with a 5-month intensive classroom-based learning phase

• Our training centres are in Leeds and Manchester, so you may be required to travel to attend. However, hotels are provided to those living over 1.5 hours away.

Would they provide a travel pass type ticket for you to travel down each day during the classroom based training?. 5 Months in a hotel Mon - Fri seems like a very long time.

Your staff ID pass is your travel pass. Allows you free travel on all Northern trains from day 1.

 

[nolypops83]

Is there no online assessments to complete now? I seem to recall Northern making candidates do Mechanical / Verbal reasoning tests made by a company called SHL after the application stage.

Not that I'm aware of, although I can only go off what's been reported on here and my own personal experience. They have added some assessments at the interview stage but, no one has any information about them yet.

Was wondering if anyone had a direct contact number for northern hr. I previously had an application come back as ended. I contacted hr about this and they said that my postcode wasn’t found. I’ve applied for this role again but need to speak to someone to explain that I live in a new build property so the postcode is correct although it comes up as not found

Not a contact number no, I just used the regular email address but it takes a while to come back. Could you use a different address for the time being until you can explain the sitation to them if you get a telephone interview?

 

[magpiepotts]

Not that I'm aware of, although I can only go off what's been reported on here and my own personal experience. They have added some assessments at the interview stage but, no one has any information about them yet.



Not a contact number no, I just used the regular email address but it takes a while to come back. Could you use a different address for the time being until you can explain the sitation to them if you get a telephone interview?

I’ve sorted it now thanks. They actually got back to me on the same day which was a surprise. They just used a postcode that my house is on but not the actual postcode for the house if that makes sense

 

[nolypops83]

I’ve sorted it now thanks. They actually got back to me on the same day which was a surprise. They just used a postcode that my house is on but not the actual postcode for the house if that makes sense

Oh thats great!

 

[robt100]

Surprised there is a vacancy at Sheffield again as applications for a role there only closed a month ago.
It seems the Doncaster role has dissappeared from the website? Was hoping to apply for this one (As annoyingly, using google maps and its over-estimating routing, my location jumps in and out of the 45min range depending on the day of the week), but have been away an unable to access my application stuff. Surprised to see it go so soon, as I'd have thought sheffield and donny would have filled up at a similar rate as both are within the 45min window of each other? Or am I missing something obvious?

 

[WblDanny]

Surprised there is a vacancy at Sheffield again as applications for a role there only closed a month ago.
It seems the Doncaster role has dissappeared from the website? Was hoping to apply for this one (As annoyingly, using google maps and its over-estimating routing, my location jumps in and out of the 45min range depending on the day of the week), but have been away an unable to access my application stuff. Surprised to see it go so soon, as I'd have thought sheffield and donny would have filled up at a similar rate as both are within the 45min window of each other? Or am I missing something obvious?

They pulled the Doncaster one pretty quickly I think it was gone before the Friday evening. Speaking to a few Doncaster drivers they were surprised a vacancy was even put up as they generally don’t get trainees. There’s a decent size waiting list of drivers wanting to transfer from Leeds and Sheffield at the minute

 

[robt100]

Thanks for the info. Feel a bit stuck with the applications, plenty for northern come up, but they want 45min distance rather than the 60min most other TOCs seem to use when I've seen vacancies in other locations, I'm within 60mins of Doncaster, Sheffield, Lincoln, Boston, and Nottingham, so should be good for a few different TOCs at different depots, but only Northern seem to be popping up at depots out of their 45min window (annoyingly, Sheffield is 40mins 2 days a week, 45 3 days and 50mins 2 days according to google maps at their 8am timeslot, which apparently puts me out of range even with the 45min average).

 

[kcol91]

Correct. You'll just do some extra tests at the end as part of the apprenticeship.

Just noticed the adverts say the first course they are recruiting for is June 2025 which in railway terms is pretty quick.

The first course we are recruiting for is scheduled to start around June 2025.

Very surprised at this, I applied for LNER in September last year, application and video interview complete, heard nothing since. I've now applied for northerns vacancy in Newcastle, hopefully it isn't as long and drawn out as other operators.

 

[nolypops83]

Very surprised at this, I applied for LNER in September last year, application and video interview complete, heard nothing since. I've now applied for northerns vacancy in Newcastle, hopefully it isn't as long and drawn out as other operators.

In my experience they are pretty quick and I've always had a rejection email if not successful, rather than been left hanging. My first time applying in 2023 was in June, interview in July, and psychometrics in August. I've not made it past the initial sift again until now which I applied for in December 24 had a telephone interview in Jan 25 and I'm now waiting for a date for the new assessment/interview day. Compared to AWC who I applied to in Feb 2023, had initial SJT and then nothing since other than the occasional email to say "your still in the race but we're prioritising other depots." This is for Manchester of course, could be different in Newcastle, but by the sounds of things they are wanting to move fairly quickly. Best of luck!

Thanks for the info. Feel a bit stuck with the applications, plenty for northern come up, but they want 45min distance rather than the 60min most other TOCs seem to use when I've seen vacancies in other locations, I'm within 60mins of Doncaster, Sheffield, Lincoln, Boston, and Nottingham, so should be good for a few different TOCs at different depots, but only Northern seem to be popping up at depots out of their 45min window (annoyingly, Sheffield is 40mins 2 days a week, 45 3 days and 50mins 2 days according to google maps at their 8am timeslot, which apparently puts me out of range even with the 45min average).

I'd still go for it. You never know!

 

[robt100]

In my experience they are pretty quick and I've always had a rejection email if not successful, rather than been left hanging. My first time applying in 2023 was in June, interview in July, and psychometrics in August. I've not made it past the initial sift again until now which I applied for in December 24 had a telephone interview in Jan 25 and I'm now waiting for a date for the new assessment/interview day. Compared to AWC who I applied to in Feb 2023, had initial SJT and then nothing since other than the occasional email to say "your still in the race but we're prioritising other depots." This is for Manchester of course, could be different in Newcastle, but by the sounds of things they are wanting to move fairly quickly. Best of luck!


I'd still go for it. You never know!

I did on the November vacancy, and got rejected due to distance/time from depot. So for northen my only option I think will be Doncaster.

 

[nolypops83]

I did on the November vacancy, and got rejected due to distance/time from depot. So for northen my only option I think will be Doncaster.

Oh sorry, I misunderstood. That's a shame.

 

[RailLady]

• The training program begins with a 5-month intensive classroom-based learning phase

• Our training centres are in Leeds and Manchester, so you may be required to travel to attend. However, hotels are provided to those living over 1.5 hours away.

Would they provide a travel pass type ticket for you to travel down each day during the classroom based training?. 5 Months in a hotel Mon - Fri seems like a very long time.

All employees are given a train pass and other travel arrangements are given for those travelling on a different operator during training

 

[blourd]

Got the rejection email this week for Newcastle. Anyone else got more positive news?

 

[magpiepotts]

Got the rejection email this week for Newcastle. Anyone else got more positive news?

Not received anything yet. Also for Newcastle

 

[MH117]

Anybody heard anything back about these? Doesn’t seem to be a lot of activity to say the courses are starting June. .

 

[magpiepotts]

Anybody heard anything back about these? Doesn’t seem to be a lot of activity to say the courses are starting June. .

nothing yet here with application for Newcastle

 

[LlekNai]

Anybody heard anything back about these? Doesn’t seem to be a lot of activity to say the courses are starting June. .

I've just received an invite for a telephone interview, with all telephone interviews being conducted in 20min sessions over next 2 days (18th and 19th). Apparently it's just to make sure you are who you say you are to sift out any AI applicants.

 

[magpiepotts]

I've just received an invite for a telephone interview, with all telephone interviews being conducted in 20min sessions over next 2 days (18th and 19th). Apparently it's just to make sure you are who you say you are to sift out any AI applicants.

That’s good. Hopefully I will get the email also.

 

[MH117]

I've just received an invite for a telephone interview, with all telephone interviews being conducted in 20min sessions over next 2 days (18th and 19th). Apparently it's just to make sure you are who you say you are to sift out any AI applicants.

Congrats! Which depot are you applying for?

 

[magpiepotts]

Has anyone else received an email yet? Not heard anything yet

 

[wardski]

No email yet, however, status of application changed in the careers portal to ‘under initial review’. (Newcastle application)

 

[magpiepotts]

No email yet, however, status of application changed in the careers portal to ‘under initial review’. (Newcastle application)

Same here.

 

[MH117]

Mine is now down as ‘application under consideration’ (Sheffield)
Had a general email Tuesday evening to apologise for how long it’s taking and they are still going through applications

 

[Cottoneyedjoel]

Hi all, I've applied for the Newcastle depot, I had my telephone interview on the 19th and I was waiting for a date for the Interview Day which is meant to be in the middle of March, but yesterday I received a call to ask if I could attend on Monday due to people dropping out, I'm looking for any information to help me get through the day successfully, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[blourd]

They've just put the advert up again for Newcastle. Did anyone on here manage to get further than the interview?

 

[johnmcjohnson]

I’ve got an interview day in April for Newcastle. It mentions 3 set tasks prior to the interview; anyone know anything about these tasks??

 

[Yzerman]

I’ve got an interview day in April for Newcastle. It mentions 3 set tasks prior to the interview; anyone know anything about these tasks??

30 minute cab ride video they ask you to look out for stuff
Build a Lego structure while watching a video and answering questions
Signaller call pick out what’s bad about the call
This is what I’ve found from this site

 

[md81]

sheffield advert relisted on northerns jobs portal

 

[johnmcjohnson]

Does anyone know when you become a qualified driver if you do the apprenticeship with Northern and can no longer apply for a trainee driver position with LNER, for example?