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NorthernRail Trainee drivers 2013
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I got an email yesterday lunch time saying I have an interview on the 14th. Very exciting, will have to make sure I find the place though as by the sounds of it we will have to make sure we get a member of Northern staff to get through most of the doors.
This forum will certainly have some helpful tools and bits of advice for this process, especially if we make it to the next stage.
Good luck all.
This forum will certainly have some helpful tools and bits of advice for this process, especially if we make it to the next stage.
Good luck all.
I got an email yesterday telling me i have an interview on the 12th. To put people at ease about trying to get through the doors. If you go to network rail reception which is located opposite platform 1 and speak to the receptionist they will help either by ringing up for you or finding someone to take you up.
driver9000
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Go to the station supervisors office and they'll be able to take you there. Car parking at the station is the usual 20mins max but there is a large Pay and display at the back of the station on Banks Street.
Hello all,
I have received an email from Northern today to tell me that I have met the required standard (in the visual comparison test), and my application has now been progressed to the shortlisting stage.
They expect to provide me with an update within the next 4 weeks as to whether I have been progressed to the interview stage.
Good luck to everyone else who has applied.
I have received an email from Northern today to tell me that I have met the required standard (in the visual comparison test), and my application has now been progressed to the shortlisting stage.
They expect to provide me with an update within the next 4 weeks as to whether I have been progressed to the interview stage.
Good luck to everyone else who has applied.
Silv1983
Member
When did they advertise for Vic drivers?
Also, they usually just tell you the depot requirements have changed and you'll be considered for another depot (I was swapped from Picc to Vic half way through the process). I'd get onto them for clarification.
Redmatador
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- 20 Jan 2013
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Really well done to everyone who has heard. Northern Rail HR rang me today about a querry I had, they said the e-mails for Man Pic will be coming out upto and including Friday. So still hope for some of us yet
I take it if you haven't heard by now, you havent got an interview?
Feel a bit sad today
TRACY TRAIN
Member
No news is good news 
Ever the optimist !
Ever the optimist !
Beveridges, can I grill you a little more on how these shifts work? I'm looking to change career into train driving, chances are with Northern due to my location, Leeds or maybe Skipton. Main reason I have a beef with my current job is the amount of weekends worked, (half of all weekend days over a 12 week period, both Saturdays and Sundays), this is very rigid and the only way I can get weekend days off, is if I swap with a colleague, given the very small pool of people I can swap with, this is very difficult. I am sacrificing far too much socially to this company (the 50+ hours a week dont help either). This even applies to booking whole weeks off as leave; if it contains a rostered weekend, I have to arrange cover.
I dont have a problem with changing shifts, long shifts, early starts or late finishes, I have these in my current job.
I also dont mind weekends as long as its not constant and I can book off the odd days as leave when needed.
I gather from previous post the Northern shift pattern is: Mon-Tue off one week; followed by Tue-Wed; then Wed-Thurs / Thurs-Fri / Fri-Sat then starting at Mon-Tue again, is this correct? How does it work with Sundays? Are they just part of the normal pattern? Or are they 'extra' days paid as overtime?
Whats the situation like with booking leave days? Is this easy to do and can you book odd days off, including weekends?
The shift, leave, and weekend situation is more important to me than the money, if you can enlighten me that would fantastic
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MichelleFrance
Member
I am still working on No News Is Good News. My hubby also applied and 2 years ago he passed everything including the medical, then the position went on hold, so that will be interesting if he doesnt get shortlisted 
.
.BravoGolfMike
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Trying to PM you but you need 5 posts I think as it won't let me. I can PM others who have 5 posts though. Get posting!
I now have 5 posts, will appreciate the PM, cheers
BravoGolfMike
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Still won't let me PM you for some reason, can you PM me? Maybe I will be able to reply. If you can't PM me there must be something up with your account, suggest you ask a mod to check
Looks like I dont have PM priveleges; may be because I only registered today? Will contact mods and send you something when working, cheers
Bad luck, it looks like they're finally getting round to sending the unsuccessful emails out. As they are interviewing this week, I'd expect that anybody that is yet to hear like myself will shortly be receiving the old thank you unfortunately email quite soon.
Skellysheroes
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Brown low, Eduardo, mandub,wall88 how did your interviews go guys?
Beveridges
Established Member
Don't know, or care, what this PM business is about but:
Northern Mainline West Working Day Pattern is:
Monday-Thursday
Wednesday-Saturday
Monday-Tuesday, Friday-Saturday
Repeats this cycle forever.
Lates/Earlies alternating every week. Note the term "late" and "early" is used loosely. At some depots, some of the "lates" are late enough to be night shifts, while some of them are early enough to be middle-early turns. Similarily, some of the "earlies" can be early enough to almost be nights!
Sundays - you can have them all off if you want - It's voluntary overtime.
4 weeks rostered leave. You take the leave when they tell you!! Bar swapping.
You also get 8 days leave that you can take whenever you want for booking odd days off, including weekends, provided the cover is there.
Beyond that, you can take unpaid leave, but this is hard as hell to get. This has to be approved and you will have a damn hard time getting it. Also some people just go on the sick if they run out of leave, why beg the company for time off with no pay when you can just get it off with pay?
Northern Mainline West Working Day Pattern is:
Monday-Thursday
Wednesday-Saturday
Monday-Tuesday, Friday-Saturday
Repeats this cycle forever.
Lates/Earlies alternating every week. Note the term "late" and "early" is used loosely. At some depots, some of the "lates" are late enough to be night shifts, while some of them are early enough to be middle-early turns. Similarily, some of the "earlies" can be early enough to almost be nights!
Sundays - you can have them all off if you want - It's voluntary overtime.
4 weeks rostered leave. You take the leave when they tell you!! Bar swapping.
You also get 8 days leave that you can take whenever you want for booking odd days off, including weekends, provided the cover is there.
Beyond that, you can take unpaid leave, but this is hard as hell to get. This has to be approved and you will have a damn hard time getting it. Also some people just go on the sick if they run out of leave, why beg the company for time off with no pay when you can just get it off with pay?
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Beveridges
Established Member
I'm not advocating it, I'm simply stating what time off is possible beyond your annual leave. I have been honest and took unpaid leave myself, when I had ran out of A/L, but some people have said I must be mad when I could have gone on the sick.
Oh dear! P45 anyone?
Wasnt the best to be honest. But saying that i never have a great feeling after an interview. Did you have one yourself?
To be honest I thought it went alright, it wasn't a high-pressure kind of dynamic and the questions were in the main not so difficult to answer seeing as they were all just recounting experiences I've had in the not so distant past. The two people interviewing me were really nice, and it just felt like I was telling them a few stories after the initial 'tell me about yourself', 'tell us about Northern' questions. Hopefully my experience came across as useful enough for this type of job, but we'll just have to see.
From the odd bit of reading this site and looking at a couple of others specific to train driver recruitment, this particular interview seemed to have a few elements of the manager's interview (aside from the fact I was being interviewed by who would be my manager if successful, I was asked about myself and stuff as well as examples of past experience), alongside the bulk of it being example based questions resembling what I've read about as the 'structured interview'.
I wonder how many people were interviewed and how many progress to the next stage. I imagine there were at least 25 odd interviews, but to be honest this barely feels like an educated guess.
We should hear either way within 7 days as well, which is great.
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