Transpennine Express recruitment

[C J Snarzell]

Hi there

Transpennine Express have just advertised some new vacancies for qualified and trainee Conductors at various locations including Liverpool and Preston.

I just wanted to know if the online assessment automatically tells you if you have passed or failed? I'm job hunting at present and I applied for some jobs outside the railway industry that use online assessments. These automatically tell you if you have been successful or not. If the test is unsuccessful it completely rejects the whole application.

I applied for a trainee conductor role with Northern in April and didn't pass the initial paper sift. First Group seem to have a different application system from the Arriva group and invite you to complete the online test immediately and give you 48 hours to answer several questions after completing the main application form.

The closing date for the roles is the 15th August. Will I have to wait until after this date to get my results or will I find out straight away if it's a pass or fail? I'm thinking about doing the test tomorrow once I've had a good night's sleep and have a clear head to do the test as best I can.

Any tips and advice would be welcome.

Regards

C J

 

[dfh92]

I’ve just noticed this aswell, strange, I applied for a similar position right away in June it was for a conductors role they were aiming to create a talent pool for the new route starting around December. Anyway, submitted my application day after it came out, then I was given an email with a online assessment, basically 20 scenarios with most likely and least likely. Completed that 19th June and I’ve not heard back, the closing date was June 24th. I’ve checked my email and junk email, and now I’ve just received an email with this job alert, clicked on it and it’s got the exact same information and job description as the one I applied for in June. I’m as baffled as you mate.

 

[Stigy]

Hi there

Transpennine Express have just advertised some new vacancies for qualified and trainee Conductors at various locations including Liverpool and Preston.

I just wanted to know if the online assessment automatically tells you if you have passed or failed? I'm job hunting at present and I applied for some jobs outside the railway industry that use online assessments. These automatically tell you if you have been successful or not. If the test is unsuccessful it completely rejects the whole application.

I applied for a trainee conductor role with Northern in April and didn't pass the initial paper sift. First Group seem to have a different application system from the Arriva group and invite you to complete the online test immediately and give you 48 hours to answer several questions after completing the main application form.

The closing date for the roles is the 15th August. Will I have to wait until after this date to get my results or will I find out straight away if it's a pass or fail? I'm thinking about doing the test tomorrow once I've had a good night's sleep and have a clear head to do the test as best I can.

Any tips and advice would be welcome.

Regards

C J

I’m not 100% sure what you’re concerned about, so I’ll go with the following;

The only results which will be held would be any psychometric assessment results which one can use between TOCs. If you didn’t take any of these, there will be nothing stopping you applying to 10 TOCs at the same time (for example).

FirstGroup companies tend to tell you if you’ve passed or failed initial online tests pretty imminently, too.

 

[Grace.shooter]

CJ,

I have just completed the two assessments. Typical siuational judgement questions. Will let you know when i get results.

Did you apply to Arriva Manchester and Wigan?

I dont think i can PM on here.

I will share with you any other roles which come up

 

[C J Snarzell]

Grace.shooter

I applied for a trainee conductor role with Northern back in April. The role was based at Manchester Piccadilly. I submitted my CV and cover letter but like I said I didn't get passed the initial paper sift and when I got their rejection letter via e-mail it stated I cannot reapply for six months for the same role. I never actually did any of their tests.

TPE expect you to conduct a twenty question test within 48 hours of submitting your application. I've done the test and each question consists of a scenario with four multiple choice answers. You have to select one answer as what you are most likely to do and another answer as what you are least likely to do.

The answers to all the scenarios are all pretty sensible and reasonable actions you would take as a conductor, although a couple of the questions had obvious least likely answers which stated you would do nothing. I found that anything health and safety related has to be dealt with thoroughly and robustly.

One question referred to a colleague revealing he had been out celebrating the night before and may have alcohol in his system. I selected the option that I would most likely report him to the station manager immediately even though my conscious told me I'd be grassing up a colleague who may not necessarily be in breach of the drug and alcohol policy.

Very difficult situations to actually deal with in reality but the key is to answer them as brutally as possible. The key is to stand your ground and make effective decisions that might not necessarily please others such as train colleagues or customers.

C J

 

[Brummie85]

Grace.shooter

I applied for a trainee conductor role with Northern back in April. The role was based at Manchester Piccadilly. I submitted my CV and cover letter but like I said I didn't get passed the initial paper sift and when I got their rejection letter via e-mail it stated I cannot reapply for six months for the same role. I never actually did any of their tests.

TPE expect you to conduct a twenty question test within 48 hours of submitting your application. I've done the test and each question consists of a scenario with four multiple choice answers. You have to select one answer as what you are most likely to do and another answer as what you are least likely to do.

The answers to all the scenarios are all pretty sensible and reasonable actions you would take as a conductor, although a couple of the questions had obvious least likely answers which stated you would do nothing. I found that anything health and safety related has to be dealt with thoroughly and robustly.

One question referred to a colleague revealing he had been out celebrating the night before and may have alcohol in his system. I selected the option that I would most likely report him to the station manager immediately even though my conscious told me I'd be grassing up a colleague who may not necessarily be in breach of the drug and alcohol policy.

Very difficult situations to actually deal with in reality but the key is to answer them as brutally as possible. The key is to stand your ground and make effective decisions that might not necessarily please others such as train colleagues or customers.

C J

I don’t really think you’re in the position to advise anyone about the process as you haven’t even passed the initial sift your self, if you are then don’t tell them to answer brutally as this isn’t always the case.

 

[RHolmes]

I applied for a role in early July, completed the online 20 questions and have yet to hear back if I passes or failed the initial application process so I wouldn’t worry!

 

[C J Snarzell]

I'm definitely not throwing my eggs in one basket.

These jobs are in extremely high demand and I'm not getting my hopes up at all! I was just curious about the test.

TPE hold an assessment day as part of the recruitment process and I'm sure there is possibly a further online test to complete prior to that stage which will all depend on the initial paper sift and the results of the test I completed earlier today!

It is a very very competative market and I'm certainly keeping my options open for other potential careers. Only a very slim percentage of candidates actually get these trainee rail jobs and one chap I know got through everything only to be kept in a talent pool. He eventually opted for a career elsewhere with a haulage company so I honestly don't know if the TOC ever got back in touch with him. I might actually pop him a line just to find out???