3000 applicants so far for TPE trainee dvr jobs!

[SkinnyDave]

Don't worry too much; I've previously applied twice before being lucky on my third attempt, and I'm now through to stage 2 of the assessments. I think when I was last rejected it was a 6 month no re-application policy, so you never know what might happen in the future.

I spoke to HR about this and didn't realise you wouldn't be able to apply for other franchises in the group the girl even agreed it was daft.

If I knew that I would have waited for Scotrail positions. This was a long shot as I'd need to relocate but we were willing to do it because we have family and friends in Chester and The Wirral but you live and learn

 

[Lanc688]

I spoke to HR about this and didn't realise you wouldn't be able to apply for other franchises in the group the girl even agreed it was daft.

If I knew that I would have waited for Scotrail positions. This was a long shot as I'd need to relocate but we were willing to do it because we have family and friends in Chester and The Wirral but you live and learn

Dave,

So sorry to hear mate...keep trying as I'm sure it's your destiny to get that place soon.

From watching these boards for a while, it certainly seems that not many get through on the first attempt (for a "boil in the bag driver" at least) and so we just need to keep plugging away.

I've PMd you mate....I had the nod so I'm OK so far. But I too will keep trying if it comes to nothing.

PS....for those who made stage 2...well done and good luck. For those who had the Dear John...well done for getting this far and keep the chins up. Easy to say maybe, but to be at that stage is no mean feat and bodes well for the future.

Regards

Lanc

 

[SkinnyDave]

Cheers Lanc

Best of luck in couple of weeks.
I will keep applying

 

[kayla101]

Hi,

Anyone who's going for the assessments next week - can you help?

I received the information pack via email and just wanted to query something. The structured interview questions begin as examples, then the two with subheadings are the questions that we will be asked on the day? Am I correct?

I've been practising them loads, I just can't grasp whether they're more examples or actual Q's!

Trying not to give much away - apologies if this isn't worded great!

 

[Lanc688]

Hi,

Anyone who's going for the assessments next week - can you help?

I received the information pack via email and just wanted to query something. The structured interview questions begin as examples, then the two with subheadings are the questions that we will be asked on the day? Am I correct?

I've been practising them loads, I just can't grasp whether they're more examples or actual Q's!

Trying not to give much away - apologies if this isn't worded great!

Kayla,

The questions are most likely examples, however I havent received my pack yet.

The questions asked will all be aligned to suitability as a driver.....ie:

Times you have dealt with an emergency, times you have had to work alone. There will also be questions aligned towards motivation too, such as times you have organised some event and how you managed to follow it through etc.

Regards

lanc

 

[TheVicLine]

Kayla,

The questions are most likely examples, however I havent received my pack yet.

The questions asked will all be aligned to suitability as a driver.....ie:

Times you have dealt with an emergency, times you have had to work alone. There will also be questions aligned towards motivation too, such as times you have organised some event and how you managed to follow it through etc.

Regards

lanc

"The Pack" was the attachments to the email that confirmed you were sucesful and invited to the next stage. It says in the train driver practise test material doc that all are examples for practice only and not the questions that will be used on the day.

 

[kayla101]

Yeah I thought they may be all practice questions - I understand the concept of a structured interview from dissertation days, so thought it would be strange to be able to prepare for the questions on the day.

How you finding it? ...So much to do... So little time!!

 

[martin2345uk]

Got my rejection email yesterday! It did not come as a massive surprise...

 

[lvaxb24]

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=532586&postcount=8

This will help

 

[kayla101]

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=532586&postcount=8

This will help

Thanks, very useful

 

[Razor1967]

I, like a few others got my rejection email a couple of days ago and was not entirely suprised as I could see from this thread that some lads has been for assessments and been invited to follow up ones.

This is the third time in the last couple of years that I have been rejected at Shortlisting. I don't work in the industry and have worked for 24 years in Banking and consider myself quite intelligent ! In the "freestyle" questions I tend to complete a lot of detail (usually just under the 500 word max) and try and use the "keywords" that the Shortlisters look for.

Could I just ask the lads that have got through (a) Do you already work in the industry and realistically do "outsiders" like me stand a chance when there is X number of thousand apps and (b) did you use short bullet point phrases and use a lot less of the 500 max words required, unlike me who was very detailed on what I wrote.

I am just wondering as I am thinking that if I was ever to appy for something again, to use the bullet point approach as I am thinking that the Managers who do the Shortlisting might find this "easier on the eye" than long paragraphs.

Your replies would be appreciated as I can maybe adopt this approach for applications for other roles/TOCs.

Thanks !

 

[TheVicLine]

I, like a few others got my rejection email a couple of days ago and was not entirely suprised as I could see from this thread that some lads has been for assessments and been invited to follow up ones.

This is the third time in the last couple of years that I have been rejected at Shortlisting. I don't work in the industry and have worked for 24 years in Banking and consider myself quite intelligent ! In the "freestyle" questions I tend to complete a lot of detail (usually just under the 500 word max) and try and use the "keywords" that the Shortlisters look for.

Could I just ask the lads that have got through (a) Do you already work in the industry and realistically do "outsiders" like me stand a chance when there is X number of thousand apps and (b) did you use short bullet point phrases and use a lot less of the 500 max words required, unlike me who was very detailed on what I wrote.

I am just wondering as I am thinking that if I was ever to appy for something again, to use the bullet point approach as I am thinking that the Managers who do the Shortlisting might find this "easier on the eye" than long paragraphs.

Your replies would be appreciated as I can maybe adopt this approach for applications for other roles/TOCs.

Thanks !

Razor I have worked in the rail industry (London Underground) for ten years, in safety critical positions as well as track work, projects and management. I am certain that is why I was shortlisted and ofered the assessment.
HOWEVER talking to the guys who were taking the assessment when I was there about two thirds seemed to be from outside the industry with no railway experience, so although an advantage I would say that this is by no way essential.

I think I used about just over half my allocated text allowance when applying and made sure I covered all the requirements in the JD and followed up with examples, but generaly kept it short and sweet.

Oh yeah HR said that they were looking for someone who lived within 50 mins of the workplace or who had stated they would re locate. Safety critical was very desirable too and with over 5000 applicants they could pick and choose if candidates did not meet this.

Hope this helps for future reference and good luck

 

[kayla101]

I, like a few others got my rejection email a couple of days ago and was not entirely suprised as I could see from this thread that some lads has been for assessments and been invited to follow up ones.

This is the third time in the last couple of years that I have been rejected at Shortlisting. I don't work in the industry and have worked for 24 years in Banking and consider myself quite intelligent ! In the "freestyle" questions I tend to complete a lot of detail (usually just under the 500 word max) and try and use the "keywords" that the Shortlisters look for.

Could I just ask the lads that have got through (a) Do you already work in the industry and realistically do "outsiders" like me stand a chance when there is X number of thousand apps and (b) did you use short bullet point phrases and use a lot less of the 500 max words required, unlike me who was very detailed on what I wrote.

I am just wondering as I am thinking that if I was ever to appy for something again, to use the bullet point approach as I am thinking that the Managers who do the Shortlisting might find this "easier on the eye" than long paragraphs.

Your replies would be appreciated as I can maybe adopt this approach for applications for other roles/TOCs.

Thanks !

Hi.

In my application, I too tried to meet the maximum words - adding as much detail as possible to enhance my experiences.

I have previous rail experience - it was only a short term, temporary contract, and was a few years ago.

I work in a customer focussed role with management duties, so could identify key aspects of my current role to answer the complex, long questions on the application form.

Good luck for the future, like everyone says, just keep applying and hopefully you'll make the shortlist soon

 

[Flyboy]

Razor - I've always been told that if an answer requires a maximum of 250 or 500 words, you should use ALL of this allowance, anything less and you're effectively selling yourself short.

There is no doubt, as I highlighted in a previous post, that some recruitment campaigns are purely an exercise in promoting from within and looking after their own, even though 'external' applications are invited. Overall that's probably a good thing, be that due to a strong Union influence or simply because the railway industry cares about its staff.

 

[Lanc688]

Razor - I've always been told that if an answer requires a maximum of 250 or 500 words, you should use ALL of this allowance, anything less and you're effectively selling yourself short.

There is no doubt, as I highlighted in a previous post, that some recruitment campaigns are purely an exercise in promoting from within and looking after their own, even though 'external' applications are invited. Overall that's probably a good thing, be that due to a strong Union influence or simply because the railway industry cares about its staff.

Flyboy....You have a PM.

Lanc

 

[Eduardo]

I don't think the rule of using all the words and characters is always to your advantage.

Certainly not in my experience anyway.

Its the quality of the response, not the quantity that they are looking for.

You could write 250 words of detailed and comprehensive material.

Or you could write 500 words of utter tosh.

I can imagine there is a rewarding feeling of having done a 500 word reply but you'll get no cigar if its tripe.

 

[Shrimper]

I didn't use the full 500 words - I've often felt that if I used that much I'd be waffling, which is what might turn a shortlister off. If you can cite an example with sufficient detail in 250 words, why fill it out to 500? It depends on the question, though.

Also I'm not from within the industry - though I have plenty of experience of safety critical work and similar roles in other industries.

 

[Mix107]

Razor - I've always been told that if an answer requires a maximum of 250 or 500 words, you should use ALL of this allowance, anything less and you're effectively selling yourself short.

There is no doubt, as I highlighted in a previous post, that some recruitment campaigns are purely an exercise in promoting from within and looking after their own, even though 'external' applications are invited. Overall that's probably a good thing, be that due to a strong Union influence or simply because the railway industry cares about its staff.

A good example of this is my brother who passed a critical comms test for a Signaller job at network rail recently. Then to be told application being taken no further. He called HR to be told there were more suitable applicants for interview. So didn't even get the chance to demonstrate himself even though he passed the test they set him. Every time NR says this, what they mean is internal applicant got it. I have had many instances of the same thing with NR in the past and know from insider info this is going on.

Why bother wasting people's time and effort, when 9 times out of 10 there is already internal candidates lined up. So many signaller's are being made vacant by small box closures in lower grades, surely little need to advertise externally!

 

[Lanc688]

I don't think the rule of using all the words and characters is always to your advantage.

Certainly not in my experience anyway.

Its the quality of the response, not the quantity that they are looking for.

You could write 250 words of detailed and comprehensive material.

Or you could write 500 words of utter tosh.

I can imagine there is a rewarding feeling of having done a 500 word reply but you'll get no cigar if its tripe.

Agree with this completely. For your info I used few words in my examples. Longest was 170 words and the shortest was 122 words.

As I think with any role, if you can say what you need to say in fewer words and still get the point across, i'm sure that someone reading that will be happy.

Lanc

 

[Razor1967]

Thanks for all your advice folks.

I think if I apply again might adopt the approach of "less is more" !!

 

[kayla101]

Assessment day is here!

 

[lvaxb24]

Good luck all

 

[kayla101]

Good luck all

Thanks!

Good luck to everyone else who's attending today too!

 

[TheVicLine]

Good luck all
Got mine tomorrow.

 

[Merrydown]

I applied on the 5th August had received an email earlier with an invitation on the 19th September to sit the fault finding assessment.
So it's appears that the other forum members who are still "awaiting short listing" still have a chance of progressing.

Good luck everybody

 

[Lanc688]

Good luck all
Got mine tomorrow.

Ditto the "Good Luck to all" ! Please leave me a vacancy though !

Lanc

 

[TheVicLine]

I think TPE are dragging this one out a bit, only half assessments sat today, the other half will be in two weeks time if you are successfull. Finished in an hour.

Originally we were told full day with all assessments...

 

[Lanc688]

I think TPE are dragging this one out a bit, only half assessments sat today, the other half will be in two weeks time if you are successfull. Finished in an hour.

Originally we were told full day with all assessments...

So I guess you have the Reactions and Structured interview left, is that right?

Lanc

 

[Eduardo]

Correct mate.

For the those that pass this stage of course.

I guess FTPE need to whittle the numbers down even further.

Hence the split stage.

 

[kayla101]

How's everyone think they got on this week?