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Northern Rail Trainee conductor Leeds interview

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banksywhoshe

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6 Apr 2015
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Awww well done! I was sat across from you then, i was one of the barrow candidates. Did you notice other people cheating??? Some never put their pencils down when told to!
I passed too! Oh and how annoying was the assessor messing on her laptop?!!!
 
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munster732

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1 Mar 2015
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Awww well done! I was sat across from you then, i was one of the barrow candidates. Did you notice other people cheating??? Some never put their pencils down when told to!
I passed too! Oh and how annoying was the assessor messing on her laptop?!!!

Congratulations! Let me know when you hear anything please. That assessor wasn't the most impressive specimen I've ever come across, in fact was the first person at Northern I have dealt with that wasn't absolutely spot on. I was the older one of the two Leeds candidates, have no idea how the other guy got on though. As for cheating, I was too busy with my own papers to worry about them although I did see them "bend" the rules a little!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Hi, is the concentration test the scaat?

Yes it is the scaat test.
 

banksywhoshe

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Yeah i will do, was hoping to hear something yesterday even tho i knew it was their first day back! I hand my notice in at work this afternoon so thats gonna feel odd. Worked for a supermarket for 10 years and been offered a deputy store manager role elsewhere. I'd far rather be coming to northern though!!
I dont like my chances though as i'm one of eight. That seems alot of candidates :-/
Hope we hear today
 

munster732

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Yeah i will do, was hoping to hear something yesterday even tho i knew it was their first day back! I hand my notice in at work this afternoon so thats gonna feel odd. Worked for a supermarket for 10 years and been offered a deputy store manager role elsewhere. I'd far rather be coming to northern though!!
I dont like my chances though as i'm one of eight. That seems alot of candidates :-/
Hope we hear today

Nope, another day of waiting for the phone to ring:cry:
 

munster732

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Any news your end Munster? Haven't heard a thing up here

Nope, I rung them on Tuesday and for the Leeds positions they were doing the other psychometric assessments on Tuesday and Thursday this week. The results were going to be given to the manager on Friday and he will make his decision on who gets places on courses early next week.....allegedly!
The first course starts on May 11th so there isn't a lot of time to get the medicals done and references obtained but hey ho, still at here waiting :)
 

SLV

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I'm guessing it will go to top scores on interviews/assessments that's why they've waited to get this weeks assessments out the way. Saw a few smartly dressed nervous looking people milling around outside on Tuesday so they've definitly been doing assessments this week.

I was in for my medical within a week of getting the offer so I wouldn't worry about that too much either.
 

banksywhoshe

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i think for our depot it was meant to be 4th may start but still haven't heard a thing. when logged into my application i'm on hold :(
 

munster732

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i think for our depot it was meant to be 4th may start but still haven't heard a thing. when logged into my application i'm on hold :(

Got the call this morning, subject to a medical I start on the 11th May in Leeds. Medical is already booked for Thursday so they aren't hanging around!
Happy ain't the word!
Hope everyone else has had good news??????
 
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munster732

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Medical passed and welcome pack in the post, roll on the 11th.
The wife has bought me a nice man bag for all my school books and homework bless her??????
 

JohnC

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12 Sep 2014
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Congrats on your success Munster. I've just heard today that I've passed the interview for Piccadilly and have the assessment day in a couple of weeks.

Thing is, I've passed a conductor assessment day before with FTPE last October. They're aware of this and said at interview that they would contact the OPC for my scores and see if I meet their requirements. The email I've received is just the generic invitation one that I assume everyone would've got.

Could you give us any more details about your assessment day experience? And does anyone know what to expect in my situation?

Cheers
 

Joof

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28 Jul 2014
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Congrats on your success Munster. I've just heard today that I've passed the interview for Piccadilly and have the assessment day in a couple of weeks.

Thing is, I've passed a conductor assessment day before with FTPE last October. They're aware of this and said at interview that they would contact the OPC for my scores and see if I meet their requirements. The email I've received is just the generic invitation one that I assume everyone would've got.

Could you give us any more details about your assessment day experience? And does anyone know what to expect in my situation?

Cheers

I was in the exact same position for the drivers position. Got the generic email then they contacted me n just sent me for a medical. If your scores are good enough you won't have to do assessments again. Good luck mate
 

JohnC

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12 Sep 2014
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I was in the exact same position for the drivers position. Got the generic email then they contacted me n just sent me for a medical. If your scores are good enough you won't have to do assessments again. Good luck mate


Excellent, thanks for the reassurance!
 

Potato185

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8 May 2015
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Excellent, thanks for the reassurance!

John, well done! I'm in the same boat as you and got my invitation yesterday to join them in Leeds next week. What date did they say for yours? I'm told Friday 22nd.
 

JohnC

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12 Sep 2014
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John, well done! I'm in the same boat as you and got my invitation yesterday to join them in Leeds next week. What date did they say for yours? I'm told Friday 22nd.

Mine's not until the 26th.

I contacted Tom Green, the HR guy I've been in contact with, and unfortunately, I do have to retake most of the tests. To be fair it's only the ticket checking and selling I have done before which I'll be repeating. I've passed GB but not SCAAT, and some kind of customer service verbal test which I did not do with FTPE.

Good luck and congrats to you too, Potato. Is yours for Manchester Picc also?
 

Potato185

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Mine's not until the 26th.

I contacted Tom Green, the HR guy I've been in contact with, and unfortunately, I do have to retake most of the tests. To be fair it's only the ticket checking and selling I have done before which I'll be repeating. I've passed GB but not SCAAT, and some kind of customer service verbal test which I did not do with FTPE.

Good luck and congrats to you too, Potato. Is yours for Manchester Picc also?

Ahh shame. Best of luck to you. Yeh mine's Picc but they said in the interview on Monday that there's a chance some could be sent to Vic. Weird how yours is the Tuesday after. Surely putting them all together would've been easier?
 

JohnC

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Ahh shame. Best of luck to you. Yeh mine's Picc but they said in the interview on Monday that there's a chance some could be sent to Vic. Weird how yours is the Tuesday after. Surely putting them all together would've been easier?

Yeah it is quite weird. Maybe they've got quite a lot of candidates, but even then I can't imagine not being able to fit everyone in to one day even if there were more than usual. They never mentioned Vic to me, not that I'd be opposed to the idea myself.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Also - I was there on Monday. Don't suppose you were one of the two guys there at 10am when I walked in? :)
 

Potato185

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JohnC said:
[quote name="Potato185" post=2167599]Ahh shame. Best of luck to you. Yeh mine's Picc but they said in the interview on Monday that there's a chance some could be sent to Vic. Weird how yours is the Tuesday after. Surely putting them all together would've been easier?





Yeah it is quite weird. Maybe they've got quite a lot of candidates, but even then I can't imagine not being able to fit everyone in to one day even if there were more than usual. They never mentioned Vic to me, not that I'd be opposed to the idea myself.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Also - I was there on Monday. Don't suppose you were one of the two guys there at 10am when I walked in? :)[/quote]

Mine was at 1030 and I had been there since 0930. When you walked into the coffee waiting area thing, I was sat on the right by the fridge with a black folder.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forum Fiend v1.3.3.
 

JohnC

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Yeah it is quite weird. Maybe they've got quite a lot of candidates, but even then I can't imagine not being able to fit everyone in to one day even if there were more than usual. They never mentioned Vic to me, not that I'd be opposed to the idea myself.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Also - I was there on Monday. Don't suppose you were one of the two guys there at 10am when I walked in? :)

Mine was at 1030 and I had been there since 0930. When you walked into the coffee waiting area thing, I was sat on the right by the fridge with a black folder.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forum Fiend v1.3.3.[/QUOTE]

Ah right, cool. Good luck with the assessments and let us know how they go :)
 

munster732

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1 Mar 2015
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Congrats on your success Munster. I've just heard today that I've passed the interview for Piccadilly and have the assessment day in a couple of weeks.

Thing is, I've passed a conductor assessment day before with FTPE last October. They're aware of this and said at interview that they would contact the OPC for my scores and see if I meet their requirements. The email I've received is just the generic invitation one that I assume everyone would've got.

Could you give us any more details about your assessment day experience? And does anyone know what to expect in my situation?

Cheers

Sorry for the delay in replying, just been a bit busy with the brain drain of being back in the classroom again.
As for the assessment, the example stuff they send you to prepare with are really good and quite close to what you will see on the day.
On the SCAAT front, the example sheets are all letters but in my test they were shapes and symbols i.e ( ) ^ / @ :[ and so on. There are 3 tests, each one is 3 sheets long and thy are all against the clock.
Firstly it is ONE symbol to cross off and you do sheet 1 until they tell you to go onto sheet 2 then sheet 3. Then a little breather and its the second set of 3 sheets and there are TWO symbols to find and cross off as per the first set but you get a bit longer per sheet (or at least it seemed!)
Thirdly its another 3 sheets but you have to find ONE symbol and also the first symbol on each subsequent line (so the second symbol changes every line)
Not as bad as it sounds, just be accurate and not too slow. I only got between a third and a half way down most pages and I passed it ok.
A word of advice would be to write the symbols on your rough paper so they are at hand if you have a blank and need to glance rather than having to turn the page back.

The Verbal Reasoning was a little trickier as under time pressure you really have to focus on the text. Again my advice would be to read the questions then find the answer in the text for each one. I didn't finish this section and still passed.

Ticket selling was ok, very similar to the practice material you get sent. Almost finished this section.....passed ok.

Ticket checking again very similar to your practice material so just go for it. Actually did finish this section....just and all is good.

Try not to panic, take a deep breath, forget everyone around you and just focus on the paper in front of you.

I had my "reached the required standard" e mail within 48 hrs so they shouldn't keep you waiting that long....hopefully.

Hope this helps

Wayne
 

Potato185

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Thanks for that useful info Wayne. Firms up what my mate who's a driving instructor with Northern has said to me.

Fingers crossed myself and JohnC!

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JohnC

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Yeah, thanks so much for the informative post, Munster. Fingers crossed :D
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just had a message from Northern regarding the Tuesday assessments. They might be moving them to later in the week or early the following week due to the strike on Monday and Tuesday. Bit of a pain due to the juggling and begging I had to do to get the time off! Shouldn't have too much trouble swapping again hopefully, but now it's up in the air and I hate that haha!

Good luck for tomorrow anyway!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Yeah, thanks so much for the informative post, Munster. Fingers crossed :D
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just had a message from Northern regarding the Tuesday assessments. They might be moving them to later in the week or early the following week due to the strike on Monday and Tuesday. Bit of a pain due to the juggling and begging I had to do to get the time off! Shouldn't have too much trouble swapping again hopefully, but now it's up in the air and I hate that haha!

Good luck for tomorrow anyway!

Just reading that the strike is called off now anyways. Phew !
 

Scudz

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31 Mar 2012
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35
Hi guys,

Just a quick post to say thankyou Munster732 - the advice you posted above is much appreciated! Hopefully I'm in your position in a few months time, hope its going well for you!

I've also got my assessment on this coming Tuesday, feel fairly confident because I'm prepared but you never know till the day.

Good luck everyone who has upcoming assessments. :)

(P.s. I know smart is probably advisable for the assessment day so I'm going with a tie, but is a suit jacket required or would a smart jumper be suitable?)
 

Potato185

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Just been told that I've passed my assessments and awaiting a place on a training course. Well chuffed! Anyone else heard back?

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banksywhoshe

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6 Apr 2015
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Have you got your date for medical then Potato? its normally not a job offer until you get offered a medical. Well done on passing though! I was in the same SCAAT as munster. My application was talent pooled though. status "on hold following successful conductor assessment" whenever i log into northern.

I wish you lucky ones all the best! and hope the training is going well Munster!
 
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