Trainee Train Driver - Virgin Trains East Coast

[Macca89]

Gutted for you guys

I've recently started my pursuit into Train Driving and knowing how damn well difficult it is just to get selected from the vast amounts who apply for any trainee driver positions, especially in your cases where you've been incredibly narrowed down from 15,000 to just 78, to then get through the assessments and various stages to the point you are at now, seeing the process of training schedules starting and near finishing for the first 35 trainees, to then be told the jobs not available anymore for the rest

I really hope things turn out good for you all, wether thats in other job roles or your continued pursuit in becoming a train driver

I know ideally no one wants to get as far as you guys and then have the job stripped away BUT I guess at-least you have had that experience now, if you continue to pursue this as a career at-least you are one up on most people and will have more confidence when applying for other driver positions

 

[MarTrainDriver]

The change from job offer to a talent pool, the “still remain 100% committed” email just in February, the fact that on the day of my psychometric testing we were sent to the wrong address in York, at the right address nobody was expecting us, the lack of replies by the talent team to emails! I kind of agree and have had similar thoughts, is this really a place to commit your future too?
The mess over the franchise and back tracking on how they’ve overbid for it to an outsider like me mirrors the whole process here, a huge campaign and fanfare over making 78 new driver positions only to callously discard 43 people 18 months later and claim slow driver attrition is the problem. At least be honest, they got their sums wrong again. It’s not difffcult to see why the east coast franchise is in the mess it is. I hope you all move on from this and wish you all the best, good luck

Could not agree more. Has anyone actually received a phone call yet?

 

[SPADTrap]

Such is the mess on the East Coast I don't think you'll get anywhere with demanding answers. Pick yourselves up and look elsewhere, you won't regret it. As you can now see there is nothing special about working there. Don't lose faith.

 

[Slet25]

Has anybody received one of these phone calls yet?

 

[Sirgerbil]

Feel a bit akward coming back to this thread after hearing the awful news you guys have just received. I can't even begin to imagine how it feels for you lot and VTEC's handling of it all seems really poor. I really hope you are all able to find a trainee's position in another TOC.

Bad timing for this post and I hate to even bring up the matter, But I'd like to thank everyone on the forum and that I may have met throughout the process, I Passed out this week and now out of my own.

Wish you all the best of luck and always willing to help where I can.

 

[Duns2208]

Feel a bit akward coming back to this thread after hearing the awful news you guys have just received. I can't even begin to imagine how it feels for you lot and VTEC's handling of it all seems really poor. I really hope you are all able to find a trainee's position in another TOC.

Bad timing for this post and I hate to even bring up the matter, But I'd like to thank everyone on the forum and that I may have met throughout the process, I Passed out this week and now out of my own.

Wish you all the best of luck and always willing to help where I can.

Nothing to feel awkward about, during the wait I always found your posts some of the most useful and informative on here, glad to hear it’s gone well for you just wish the rest of us were still going to join you at some point. Hindsights a wonderful thing but even looking back now I do think how on earth were they ever going to accommodate 78 new drivers and should have seen this coming. The wait was bad enough the last few days even worse just feel completely disillusioned with the whole thing, probably best if it’s a few days before VTEC start making the phone calls as although it won’t do any good I can’t say I want to talk to them at the moment as don’t want to say what I’d like to.

 

[FManc]

Feel a bit akward coming back to this thread after hearing the awful news you guys have just received. I can't even begin to imagine how it feels for you lot and VTEC's handling of it all seems really poor. I really hope you are all able to find a trainee's position in another TOC.

Bad timing for this post and I hate to even bring up the matter, But I'd like to thank everyone on the forum and that I may have met throughout the process, I Passed out this week and now out of my own.

Wish you all the best of luck and always willing to help where I can.

Well done! I can't imagine how chuffed you are at the moment. Your posts were always helpful on here so there's no awkwardness. I guess things weren't meant to be for the 43 of us that have been ditched. It's quite a hard pill to swallow at the moment, no matter how much I tried to mentally prepare for it. I'm a big believer in fate and maybe it just wasn't to be or it wasn't the right time. I don't know tbh. Just trying to pick myself up and hopefully one day I'll be a train driver!

 

[red2005]

Have held off from commenting on here..... can’t even begin to imagine how gutted people must be!

But what I will say to the guys with bitterness in their posts is don’t waste time being bitter!...... yes it’s a pain...... yes it’s inconvenient but you’ve shown that you can get one of the most sought after jobs in the country once! You can certainly do it again!...... this time it just wasn’t meant to be!

You’ve got those test passes under your belt now which I assume must be enhanced passes with it being Virgin so technically the world is still very much your oyster! Believe it or not there are quite a few drivers across the network that are approaching retirement and that will need to be addressed so I’m sure there will be trainee jobs elsewhere soon.

Remember all that time that someone is wasting by being bitter on here someone somewhere is being proactive and could be pipping you to the post to a job elsewhere....... use it as a learning experience and seize another opportunity elsewhere!.....you guys have that opportunity!...... remember there’s lots out there that don’t and never will have so it could be worse.

 

[Duns2208]

Just read my email. Absolutely gutted and feel completely let down. What a complete waste of my time. I've turned down roles due to the positive language used by Virgin and just feel that I've put time and effort in since October 16 for nothing. Thanks Virgin
Any tips on where and how to look for positions with other TOCS? Any advice welcome and sorry to the 43 of us that were let down.

I’ve found this quite useful for a list of TOCs and depots so can check who’s local to you; http://www.traindriver.org/train-operating-companies-depots--contact-details.html
Have rattled off numerous CVs to all near me in last couple of days, hopefully you may have some luck here, all the best with it.

 

[xtradj]

Feel a bit akward coming back to this thread after hearing the awful news you guys have just received. I can't even begin to imagine how it feels for you lot and VTEC's handling of it all seems really poor. I really hope you are all able to find a trainee's position in another TOC.

Bad timing for this post and I hate to even bring up the matter, But I'd like to thank everyone on the forum and that I may have met throughout the process, I Passed out this week and now out of my own.

Wish you all the best of luck and always willing to help where I can.

Don’t feel awkward you were very helpful throughout to many of us which is greatly appreciated . Wish you the best

 

[xtradj]

I’ve found this quite useful for a list of TOCs and depots so can check who’s local to you; http://www.traindriver.org/train-operating-companies-depots--contact-details.html
Have rattled off numerous CVs to all near me in last couple of days, hopefully you may have some luck here, all the best with it.

Thanks, good idea. Worth trying anyway!

 

[FManc]

Has anyone had a phone call yet by any chance?
I sent off a few speculative emails/CVs to local TOCs but I've just had generic replies back in regards to waiting for vacancies to come up on their website. It's what I expected but thought it would be worth a punt.

 

[Duns2208]

Same here, sent off a few speculative emails and had similar replies. Bit disappointing that one basically said you missed the boat we advertised last year and now have 60 in a talent pool (Tyne & Wear Metro) which I already knew but at the time I had no reason to doubt Virgin. Still no phone call though.

 

[danyurl]

Same here, sent off a few speculative emails and had similar replies. Bit disappointing that one basically said you missed the boat we advertised last year and now have 60 in a talent pool (Tyne & Wear Metro) which I already knew but at the time I had no reason to doubt Virgin. Still no phone call though.

Same as this to be honest. Didn’t even consider applying for anywhere else last year as I didn’t doubt VTEC at all. Guess that’s backfired on me...

No phone call either.

 

[heedfan]

I sent a few speculative applications approx 6 weeks ago when I began to realise that things were looking grim with VTEC. Same sort of responses as you all seem to have had. I think it’ll be a waiting game (again) until the next batch of trainee jobs are advertised. We’ll have a small advantage when that does happen though which is one good thing to come from the whole debacle.

 

[FManc]

I do definitely think recruitment for trainee drivers tends comes in waves and at the moment it seems to be fairly quiet. I know that GTR which includes Thameslink and Southern are having quite a big recruitment drive this year so if anyone is down south keep your eyes peeled for their vacancies.
My TOC might be willing to take me on internally but it mainly rests on my psychometric scores reaching their enhanced benchmark as well as a few other things.

 

[Duns2208]

I do definitely think recruitment for trainee drivers tends comes in waves and at the moment it seems to be fairly quiet. I know that GTR which includes Thameslink and Southern are having quite a big recruitment drive this year so if anyone is down south keep your eyes peeled for their vacancies.
My TOC might be willing to take me on internally but it mainly rests on my psychometric scores reaching their enhanced benchmark as well as a few other things.

Do you know at what level the VTEC psychometric scores were, I'm sure I've read somewhere they are enhanced but I can't recall where? Do all TOCs have their own benchmark? It would be useful for CV if could state what scores were

 

[FManc]

Do you know at what level the VTEC psychometric scores were, I'm sure I've read somewhere they are enhanced but I can't recall where? Do all TOCs have their own benchmark? It would be useful for CV if could state what scores were

I think they are enhanced but I'm not 100% sure. It's kinda confusing as there's a national benchmark that has to be reached by candidates but in terms of enhanced I think TOCs can specify their own. I know VTWC is quite high but I'm not sure about VTEC.

 

[WrongRoad]

enhanced

That just goes to show the complete farce railway recruitment is.
I’ve followed this post for a while now and I have to say as a railway employee I think it terrible and an absolute embarrassment to the industry how you guys have been treated.

Hope all you guys come out of this complete mess with something positive and able to secure a position of Driver with a TOC very soon.

 

[dugster70]

The whole VTEC recruitment process has been an absolute joke for qualified drivers and externals. It would have been nice for VTEC to mention that if you're a qualified driver and you have had an incident (no matter how minor) then we'll still waste 6 months of your life trying to apply. So you go through the application process, spend ages on your CV, online tests, then the ridiculous assessment day just to be told at the end that because you've got a minor entry on your safety record then youre **** canned. They dont tell you this at the start just in case they dont get enough suitable canditates, when they reach the benchmark then youre history. As for the externals what has happened to you is unforgivable

 

[Peppajug78]

Has anyone actually had a phone call yet?

 

[vintagegt]

I have but missed it. Called back and left a message but heard nothing since.

 

[red2005]

The whole VTEC recruitment process has been an absolute joke for qualified drivers and externals. It would have been nice for VTEC to mention that if you're a qualified driver and you have had an incident (no matter how minor) then we'll still waste 6 months of your life trying to apply. So you go through the application process, spend ages on your CV, online tests, then the ridiculous assessment day just to be told at the end that because you've got a minor entry on your safety record then youre **** canned. They dont tell you this at the start just in case they dont get enough suitable canditates, when they reach the benchmark then youre history. As for the externals what has happened to you is unforgivable

Agree with bits of that but I certainly don’t think it’d be a case of not getting enough suitable applicants!

I’m sure from the tonnes that applied and were offered positions it wasn’t a case of that.

May be an idea to define “minor” too..... what’s minor to you may be different to them. Don’t Virgin state on the advert that they want clean records anyway? If so it may have been worth getting in touch before even applying.

Last I heard they were big on clean records.

 

[SPADTrap]

The whole VTEC recruitment process has been an absolute joke for qualified drivers and externals. It would have been nice for VTEC to mention that if you're a qualified driver and you have had an incident (no matter how minor) then we'll still waste 6 months of your life trying to apply. So you go through the application process, spend ages on your CV, online tests, then the ridiculous assessment day just to be told at the end that because you've got a minor entry on your safety record then youre **** canned. They dont tell you this at the start just in case they dont get enough suitable canditates, when they reach the benchmark then youre history. As for the externals what has happened to you is unforgivable

I think you misread the first bit in their advertisement as I'm sure it says 'If you have a clean/excellent record' or words to that affect?

I'm not saying its right, though.

 

[Economist]

Virgin as a brand are very big around publicity. This particular trainee scheme was launched with great fanfare, as was the Virgin Atlantic Future Flyers programme (which was for trainee pilot roles for the airline). The latter was planned to take on 60 cadets over five years, I believe they ran it for three years and took 36 people on before quietly discontinuing it.

The impression I get is that in general it's a good place to work though like many businesses the recruitment can be rather fickle. It's not been the first time that a company has recruited for lots of positions and found themselves swamped. Personally, I don't know why these companies don't fully think through what needs to go with trainees, i.e. DIs, Trainer/Assessors, DMs, classroom space, administration. The way they've treated people here is unacceptable, hopefully they'll learn from it.

For those of you who have got bad news, I imagine the majority of you should be able to find a trainee role, obviously it's easier if you live near London or are able to relocate. It took me two years from initial application to start date and I got a few knockbacks along the route, that's fairly typical I'm afraid.

 

[Tom Quinne]

Railway recruitment will never ever change, I’m afraid the truth is they know they can treat you lot like dirt and you’ll come running back for more!

Ask yourself this, if VTEC opened trainee recruitment again tomorrow would you apply again ? 99% of you would, I don’t blame you one bit, but until people refuse to put up with this kind of rubbish they won’t change.

If a candidate displayed the characteristics and behaviours they have you’d be black listed forever (im sure they do exsist).

The very best of luck to you all, the best way to get over this is get a job with another toc and deprive VTEC of 78? Quality future drivers !

 

[red2005]

Railway recruitment will never ever change, I’m afraid the truth is they know they can treat you lot like dirt and you’ll come running back for more!

Ask yourself this, if VTEC opened trainee recruitment again tomorrow would you apply again ? 99% of you would, I don’t blame you one bit, but until people refuse to put up with this kind of rubbish they won’t change.

If a candidate displayed the characteristics and behaviours they have you’d be black listed forever (im sure they do exsist).

The very best of luck to you all, the best way to get over this is get a job with another toc and deprive VTEC of 78? Quality future drivers !

But doing that won’t actually deprive them of “78 quality drivers”!

They’ll just get 78 from elsewhere for the exact reason you said earlier in your post lol......if anything it’d make their job easier.

As harsh as Toc’s May treat us as applicants we can be just at fickle through our desire to get the job we want...... like you say if they readvertised tomorrow most of the people on here with an ounce of common sense know that even the most disgusted on here would re-apply or accept the initial job offer should things change.

 

[xtradj]

Has anyone spoken on the telephone as of yet?

 

[heedfan]

Has anyone spoken on the telephone as of yet?

Yes, earlier this week.

 

[xtradj]

Yes, earlier this week.

Did you get many answers? I hope to hear next week