Hi, just received the invitation for assessment day (Group Task and Hiring Manager Interview). Can I ask for more details and what I need to prepare for that day? Seems like no DTM interview >.<
Many thanks for your help.
So I had my Assessment Day last year around August so they might have changed it now, just so you're aware that yours could be different to this. Also I had my Assessment Day before my psychometric test. There were 17 candidates and 6 DTM's. The first task was a group task where we were split into groups of 4. Each group was given the same task where we were given platform numbers, driver names, destinations, etc all mixed together. We basically had to work out the departure time of a certain train from the information provided. NONE of the groups got the right answer. The DTM's were walking around each group taking notes, they basically wanted to see how each individual worked in a group. So every time one of the DTM's walked past I just started talking to the others in the group and started writing something down. Just make yourself look busy when one of the DTM's is around your table but also don't interrupt if others are talking.
For the 2nd task each group was taken into another room where we were all given a piece of plain paper and some different coloured blocks of Lego. A video was played of a train from the front of the vehicle driving on a route. We would be asked questions about things we saw during the video whilst it was still playing, like "what was the colour of the signal we just passed" or "what was the time on the clock at the platform". After each question the next thing he would ask us to do was pick up some Lego blocks and put them together a certain way. So like "pick up 4 blue blocks and put them on top of each other". You would need to do this whilst also still watching the video that was playing. I guess they wanted to see how good you are at multitasking. I would say that when you are given your Lego blocks then I would group them depending on colour, so they are not mixed together. This was an individual task, not a group task.
Next out of the 17 people they told 8 people that they had not got through and they were sent home. So there were 9 of us left.
We next had to watch another train video from the drivers point of view which was 28 mins long. We had to write down the number of red signals, yellow signals, green signals, and speed boards we saw in the video. So every time you saw any of the above you would put a mark in its box on the piece of paper they gave. At the same time the DTM's were at the back of the room making noises, talking to each other or making banging noises or talking on the phone, trying to distract you. I think this task was to see how good your concentration skills are.
Again after this task they got rid of 3 more people and we were left with 6 candidates.
Then we went for a 30 mins meal break and then they did the DMI interviews. The interviews lasted for around 25 minutes, each had 2 DTM's but one was mainly just writing down what I said. First they just asked me to say a little about myself, what I had done in my life and what my interests were. They told me a bit about Northern. After that they showed me on a piece of paper the questions they would ask me which were only 2 questions (sorry I can't remember what the questions were) and they gave me a choice of whichever order I wanted to answer them. After that they asked me if I wanted to ask any questions which I did and that's it, interview over. They called me the next day that I had passed and through to the next stage.
Hope this helps
