What does it take to become a train driver?

[choochoosam]

Good afternoon everyone.

I have a question for the people who currently work as train drivers and the question is this.
What sort of qualities does the recruiter look for in an applicant who wants to become a trainee train driver?
Most of my working life I spent at Heathrow airport working on the aircrafts loading and unloading luggage and freight. Is this an experience that May attract the recruiter?
Thanks

 

[ComUtoR]

What sort of qualities does the recruiter look for in an applicant who wants to become a trainee train driver?

Is this an experience that May attract the recruiter?

Nope. I don't think they really care about 'what' you did. The 'What' isn't that important. The important part of your previous life or vocation experience is about what you did and how you did it. Was there specific procedures you needed to follow. What were your personal responsibilities. How did you interact with staff and the public. etc. etc.

My expectation for someone who worked at Heathrow would be someone who is very security conscious, worked well with others and understood emergency procedures. When people talk about specific roles having the required skillsets you can see how some jobs can give you that advantage but its still how those skills and experience is applied.

With the DMI and MMI there is a problem in that 'fairness' was introduced. That means that everyone gets the same set of questions and whilst that may be 'fair' it becomes a problem for anyone who hasn't experienced a very specific set of skills.... Candidates are forced to crowbar their experience into the question and if you haven't experienced situation X then your effectively screwed. The DMI is more flexible than the MMI and the candidate has more of a chance to express themselves.

The DMI (at my TOC) is still something that is 'scored' so its still just another 'test' to pass.

 

[Jon1930]

I agree, the what you did is not important, I worked in a fast food restaurant for 3 years and used examples for them for all the mmi questions and passed.

 

[endofthetunnel]

I’m not a driver but I know some and I know the process. I think you’re unfortunately thinking that the process is a recruiter in HR looking through all the CVs, which is a long way from what happens.

The application for drivers is incredibly competitive with 1000s of applicants every time. The first few stages are various pretty difficult tests, to get the number of applications down. Exactly which tests and how they are done depends on which company and I don’t know which. You only get a limited number of failed attempts in a lifetime to stop you just reapplying all the time.

Once you make it through, there’s interviews which are quite formulaic and ‘scored’ on the responses. They don’t particularly mind where the experience comes from, it’s about skills you have and how you handle situations- in the interest of fairness they don’t score certain professions higher or lower, but they may give better or worse examples.

As ComUtor said you can probably make some examples sound good from your experience- things about security and safety, timekeeping and high pressure etc, maybe shift work. But whether you were the pilot or the cleaner almost doesn’t matter if you got the right skills.

 

[Nearlyadriver]

I’m a trainee Driver, for me you actually have to want to do the job and have the right attitude if you see it as another daily job then I don’t think you’ll go far. it’s not all about the money because when you join you don’t start on big money anyway so I reckon you have to show some sort of dedication and interest in the job, the job is of big responsibility so they will defo look for someone who is responsible and has ability to show that they will be safe aswell. I’m quite young in terms of age starting as a trainee 22 so for me I felt like I had to really show willingness and show how mature I can be to get the job

 

[choochoosam]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for everyone who took time to reply to my question it is much appreciated and it will help me to prepare myself should I ever become fortunate enough to reach this stage.
I’m not sure what MMI and DMI stand for though? Could someone please explain what it means please
Thanks

 

[PickleTree]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for everyone who took time to reply to my question it is much appreciated and it will help me to prepare myself should I ever become fortunate enough to reach this stage.
I’m not sure what MMI and DMI stand for though? Could someone please explain what it means please
Thanks

MMI stands for Multimodal Interview and DMI is the Driver Managers Interview. Depending on which TOC/FOC you apply to will depend on which way round you take these and who holds each one. I sat my MMI as part of my psychometric tests that were completed by the OPC who are a third party organisation who do a lot of the testing on behalf of the TOC's/FOC's. I am not waiting for a DMI with both a FOC and a TOC have completed and passed all the necessary assessments.

 

[choochoosam]

Thankyou for clearing that up for me you have helped me understand what to expect. It sounds like a very long process but so definitely worth it. I will keep my eyes peeled for opportunities

 

[PickleTree]

Thankyou for clearing that up for me you have helped me understand what to expect. It sounds like a very long process but so definitely worth it. I will keep my eyes peeled for opportunities

No problem, good luck. It is a very long process and extremely competitive hence the number of steps along the way. Your initial step with any application will be to get through the paper sift so make sure your CV is up to date etc.

 

[choochoosam]

That’s totally understandable for a job which has so much responsibility, they want to make sure they have safe drivers driving their passengers. Yes I will be working on my CV and making sure that is all up to date. Thanks once again

 

[dctraindriver]

Good afternoon everyone.

I have a question for the people who currently work as train drivers and the question is this.
What sort of qualities does the recruiter look for in an applicant who wants to become a trainee train driver?
Most of my working life I spent at Heathrow airport working on the aircrafts loading and unloading luggage and freight. Is this an experience that May attract the recruiter?
Thanks

There’s a few ex handlers at SWR. I’m not saying you’re favoured but your experiences of shift work and safety is something you can demonstrate during the recruitment process.

 

[whoosh]

@choochoosam
I have spoken with a Driver at Southern (or may have been Thameslink) who worked at Gatwick baggage handling, so it can be done with your background.
You will have procedures to follow SAFELY with how and when to drive around aircraft, speed limits, and what checks to do that the cargo doors are shut etc. I imagine there are procedures to follow if baggage looks suspicious, and that bags have to be offloaded if the person they are associated with hasn't got on the plane.
Use of radio communications - coming to a clear understanding and using phonetic alphabet.

There should be quite a few examples to use.

 

[Efini92]

Look up non-technical skills. Show them at interview you understand them and if you can try and show examples in your current job.

 

[choochoosam]

@whoosh @Efini92
Thank you for your responses.
Yes the gentleman who used to work at Gatwick is correct, the whole procedures and health and safety is a major key part in the job role at the airport.
There is a process in place if you see an unattended bag at the airport just as I’d assume there would be the same procedure at a train station also or on board a train.
Radio comms and phonetic alphabet is something that is taught as soon as you start working at the airport. We are also taught run hide and tell which we also get a refresher every 6 months.
As previously mentioned I haven’t applied for any jobs as a trainee driver as there is non available at this present time, but I am getting as much information as I can to prepare myself should one come up
Thanks once again for all the information and helpful replies to my questions you have all given me.

 

[43066]

@whoosh @Efini92
Thank you for your responses.
Yes the gentleman who used to work at Gatwick is correct, the whole procedures and health and safety is a major key part in the job role at the airport.
There is a process in place if you see an unattended bag at the airport just as I’d assume there would be the same procedure at a train station also or on board a train.
Radio comms and phonetic alphabet is something that is taught as soon as you start working at the airport. We are also taught run hide and tell which we also get a refresher every 6 months.
As previously mentioned I haven’t applied for any jobs as a trainee driver as there is non available at this present time, but I am getting as much information as I can to prepare myself should one come up
Thanks once again for all the information and helpful replies to my questions you have all given me.

As others have said, the key thing is to demonstrate the skills required. Academic qualifications are largely irrelevant.

The only thing I would add to the above is that it’s worth considering drawing from your hobbies for relevant examples, as well as your day job. Any way you can demonstrate the required skills is going to be beneficial, and certainly doesn’t have to be restricted to paid employment.