Trainee Train Planners, Govia Thameslink Railway

[jswagger]

Hi,

I'm being made redundant from my existing job, and the vacancy for Trainee Train Planners, Govia Thameslink Railway came up on my Indeed search results.

I was hoping someone might had any any info in the position, I'm 46 and have never worked in the railway in any capacity, is this likely to count against me?

Thanks for any help.

James

 

[Horizon22]

Hi,

I'm made redundant from my existing job, and the vacancy for Trainee Train Planners, Govia Thameslink Railway came up on my Indeed search results.

I was hoping someone might had any any info in the position, I'm 46 and have never worked in the railway in any capacity, is this likely to count against me?

Thanks for any help.

James

Not working for the railway certainly won’t count against you, especially for any trainee role. I’d say look carefully at the job description & role requirements, assess whether you meet them and, if you think you do, go ahead and apply.

Train Planning is quite a niche / specialised role where you need a keen eye for detail yet also appreciate the bigger picture. There’s different types of planning too (short term / long term / rostering). Good luck!

 

[baz962]

Hi,

I'm made redundant from my existing job, and the vacancy for Trainee Train Planners, Govia Thameslink Railway came up on my Indeed search results.

I was hoping someone might had any any info in the position, I'm 46 and have never worked in the railway in any capacity, is this likely to count against me?

Thanks for any help.

James

I started as a trainee train driver at 48. Age will not usually be a problem.

 

[jswagger]

Hi

Thanks for the replies and info, it certainly gives me some thinking points.

I've looked at the requirements and do meet them and are going to apply for the job.

James

 

[choochoochoo]

I saw this ad and it puzzled me because although it's a trainee position, it said it was fixed term. Why would you train someone on a fixed term contract ?

 

[jswagger]

Perhaps it's full time if you like they like you?

 

[whoosh]

I did Short Term Timetable Planning for South Eastern years ago:

Train Planners

I'm interested in this role, is there any members here who do this as their job who can give me some insight into the role? Looks challenging and would certainly be different to anything I've previously done in any job role.

www.railforums.co.uk

Might be worth a read to
give you an idea.

Good luck!

Long Term Planning (LTP) is planning for the twice yearly permanent timetables.

Short Term Planning (STP) is planning for Engineering Works and things like Bank Holidays/Christmas Period where Short Term Alterations are made to the main (LTP) plans.

 

[LA50041]

Hi,

I'm made redundant from my existing job, and the vacancy for Trainee Train Planners, Govia Thameslink Railway came up on my Indeed search results.

I was hoping someone might had any any info in the position, I'm 46 and have never worked in the railway in any capacity, is this likely to count against me?

Thanks for any help.

James

Having no previous experience is not a barrier to being a train planner. If you join as a trainee you will go into the “academy “ and learn all the basics at which point you will join one of the teams and learn much more about the day to day operations.

mKe sure your CV is up to date a date to include their keywords in your application.

I joined in my mid 40’s with no railway experience and it’s a great job to do

 

[choochoochoo]

Perhaps it's full time if you like they like you?

Wishful thinking.

Having worked in HR, fixed term usually means there's only so much money in the budget for that role.

Did the advert/Job Description say how long the term is ?

 

[jswagger]

I did Short Term Timetable Planning for South Eastern years ago:

Train Planners

I'm interested in this role, is there any members here who do this as their job who can give me some insight into the role? Looks challenging and would certainly be different to anything I've previously done in any job role.

www.railforums.co.uk

Might be worth a read to
give you an idea.

Good luck!

Long Term Planning (LTP) is planning for the twice yearly permanent timetables.

Short Term Planning (STP) is planning for Engineering Works and things like Bank Holidays/Christmas Period where Short Term Alterations are made to the main (LTP) plans.

Hi,

Thanks for this and the link, I will take a good read of it

 

[LA50041]

Wishful thinking.

Having worked in HR, fixed term usually means there's only so much money in the budget for that role.

Did the advert/Job Description say how long the term is ?

Likelihood is that you will be expected to graduate from a trainee to a train planner in a certain amount of time. Obviously it’s in the trainees interest to do so as there is a significant increase on graduation, but the applcant should clarify this is the case at interviews

 

[jswagger]

Having no previous experience is not a barrier to being a train planner. If you join as a trainee you will go into the “academy “ and learn all the basics at which point you will join one of the teams and learn much more about the day to day operations.

mKe sure your CV is up to date a date to include their keywords in your application.

I joined in my mid 40’s with no railway experience and it’s a great job to do

Thanks for this

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Nov 2021 ==

Wishful thinking.

Having worked in HR, fixed term usually means there's only so much money in the budget for that role.

Did the advert/Job Description say how long the term is ?

The advert just states Fixed Term contract rather than a period.

 

[choochoochoo]

Likelihood is that you will be expected to graduate from a trainee to a train planner in a certain amount of time. Obviously it’s in the trainees interest to do so as there is a significant increase on graduation, but the applcant should clarify this is the case at interviews

unlikely, as trainee driver jobs aren't listed as fixed term and they too have the expectation of qualifying.

Definitely worth applying, but be sure to find out exactly the nature of the fixed term contract.

 

[LA50041]

unlikely, as trainee driver jobs aren't listed as fixed term and they too have the expectation of qualifying.

Definitely worth applying, but be sure to find out exactly the nature of the fixed term contract.

This isn’t a trainee driver position that the OP is asking about

 

[choochoochoo]

This isn’t a trainee driver position that the OP is asking about

Still HR follow standard protocols when writing adverts whether its driver/planner/guard

 

[LA50041]

Still HR follow standard protocols when writing adverts whether its driver/planner/guard

Clearly you know more about train planning recruiting than somebody that works within train planning and knows the recruitment process

 

[choochoochoo]

Clearly you know more about train planning recruiting than somebody that works within train planning and knows the recruitment process

Having worked in HR, I know you write fixed-term for a reason. Hence, why i said it's a weird one.

HR have to use the same standardised proforma regardless of roles. So why would they write it different for Trainee Drivers than they would for Trainee Planners ? It's got nothing to do with graduating from the academy.

 

[LA50041]

Having worked in HR, I know you write fixed-term for a reason. Hence, why i said it's a weird one.

HR have to use the same standardised proforma regardless of roles. So why would they write it different for Trainee Drivers than they would for Trainee Planners ? It's got nothing to do with graduating from the academy.

Really? Maybe you need to look at how trainee train planners work.

 

[choochoochoo]

Really? Maybe you need to look at how trainee train planners work.

It's ok, i don't need to.

It's unlikely you'd be fixed term subject to graduating. Trainee positions are budgeted so that once qualified they'll get fully trained/qualified rate. Fixed term is budgeted with the expectation that the cost is limited. Which is why this puzzled me

Anyway, still don't let it deter anyone's application, just make sure you clarify the nature of the contract.

 

[Roger1973]

I did apply for something like this before lockdown stopped things, and it wasn't advertised as fixed term then.

Any new job is going to have some sort of probation period, but there's no need to do fixed term contract for that.

It does seem strange - would it be connected with the re-structuring of GB Railways or whatever it's called? Train companies and Network Rail both have involvement in timetable planning at the moment - is there a possibility the functions are going to get merged in some way?

My take on this (in the OP's position) would be that there's little to lose (apart from possibly some time) in applying.

What the prospects are for jobs with other TOC's after the year, if it does come to an end, it's hard to say.

 

[jswagger]

Hi,

Just to say thank you for all of the posts and info people have made.

James

 

[DPQ]

There's no harm in applying. Even if GBR completely changes the Rail landscape there will always be a need for Planners.

Speaking to people within GTR planning, most trainiees either move into proper Short Term Planning (STP) roles within GTR, some move to other TOCs Planning departments and some decide that Planning isn't for them.

Good Luck either way.

 

[jswagger]

Hi,

I'm on the GTR careers site now trying to apply for the job. Does anyone know where you attach CVs and covering letters as I cannot see anywhere?

 

[jswagger]

Hi,

Apologies, I thought I had already updated this thread.. I'd like to thank everyone for all of the help they gave me. I didn't get the job as didn't get the application in before the deadline as I couldn't work out where to upload documents. I have now worked out where!