EMR - Trainee Train Drivers - Recruitment Discussion

[Twin82]

Try sending an email to one of the talent team Twin. Do you have a contact for anyone on it?

I did! That time when that Ian person emailed everyone explaining the steps or something to that nature. I also sent it to their recruitment department which I had no response from neither. The other TOCs (SWR, SE, GTR) are excellent when it comes to responding to queries or enquiries.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Sep 2026 ==

Would jobs@eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk be an appropriate email since this is the one they email you with when you submit an application

That was one of the email addresses that I emailed. No response.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Sep 2026 ==

I know what you mean. Although, I’d rather do assessments like that than interviews! I feel like I’m capable of doing quite well with the assessments having tried a lot of the online resources I’ve found. It’s the interviews that will let me down I think.

I was like you as I’ve never had a formal interview. There’s a guy on the HOW2BECOME website who is a recruitment expert called David Bebb, I had a few sessions with him that surely raised the bar for my interview. If you really want help then I would highly recommend him. Also check out the reviews of HOW2BECOME on trust pilot and see what he says about him. Dm me if you need his contact.

 

[flexmade]

I did! That time when that Ian person emailed everyone explaining the steps or something to that nature. I also sent it to their recruitment department which I had no response from neither. The other TOCs (SWR, SE, GTR) are excellent when it comes to responding to queries or enquiries.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Sep 2026 ==


That was one of the email addresses that I emailed. No response.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Sep 2026 ==


I was like you as I’ve never had a formal interview. There’s a guy on the HOW2BECOME website who is a recruitment expert called David Bebb, I had a few sessions with him that surely raised the bar for my interview. If you really want help then I would highly recommend him. Also check out the reviews of HOW2BECOME on trust pilot and see what he says about him. Dm me if you need his contact.

Best bet then would probably be to just wait it out the long wait might not necessarily be bad, they could just be making groups for the next stage but maybe I’m just being delusional.

 

[coasting8816]

Got an invite to attend the assessment centre for the mainline driver role on the 6th. Not much in terms of detail, just says:

The day will consist of some group exercises and individual exercises; all designed to bring the best out of you. We want to see your personality, passion for the job you've applied for. We also have our trainers and driver managers their that can answer any questions about the role you might have.

 

[flexmade]

has anyone who’s applied for the depot driver role heard back yet or still nothing?

 

[pally95]

has anyone who’s applied for the depot driver role heard back yet or still nothing?

I haven’t heard a thing yet mate.

 

[flexmade]

I haven’t heard a thing yet mate.

I unfortunately didn’t make it probably because of the arctic shores results but no issue plenty of opportunities in the future

 

[SparrowC]

has anyone who’s applied for the depot driver role heard back yet or still nothing?

I had an email saying they are shortlisting candidates for an interview and will be in touch if I progress.

I know other people applied who had an email saying they were through to the next stage.

 

[pally95]

I’ve received one saying I won’t be invited to an interview.

 

[flexmade]

I’ve received one saying I won’t be invited to an interview.

I wish they gave atleast some kind of feedback so I know what to do next time, hoping they have more trainee mainline roles because my plan was to go from depot to mainline initially if I landed this role

 

[pally95]

I wish they gave atleast some kind of feedback so I know what to do next time, hoping they have more trainee mainline roles because my plan was to go from depot to mainline initially if I landed this role

It is disappointing and not knowing where you went wrong makes it difficult. My artic shore results were good if that’s what all four right circles mean. I feel like I have a good CV so I’d guess my answers to the questions in the application were not what they were looking for? I’ll definitely be applying every time a trainee driver job comes up but I won’t know what to do differently.

 

[Dogbox]

EMR is terrible at responding to people. I’ve sent 2 emails to 2 different email addresses and heard nothing frim any of them. I did apply to the Euston depot though.

Euston depot?

 

[flexmade]

It is disappointing and not knowing where you went wrong makes it difficult. My artic shore results were good if that’s what all four right circles mean. I feel like I have a good CV so I’d guess my answers to the questions in the application were not what they were looking for? I’ll definitely be applying every time a trainee driver job comes up but I won’t know what to do differently.

I would assume for me it was the 2 questions they asked I don’t think I wrote enough I assumed you shouldn’t because they want your application to be easy to read but I guess not

 

[pally95]

I would assume for me it was the 2 questions they asked I don’t think I wrote enough I assumed you shouldn’t because they want your application to be easy to read but I guess not

Yeah that’s the section I was thinking too. It’s hard to know what they want. I think I did 2 small paragraph for each question. Not sure if that was too much, not enough or full of the wrong stuff!

 

[mr_ixolite]

Given the timing of the email I would assume it's based on something automated rather than the answers to the 2 questions, I thought it would be the arctic shores results but when people with all 4's are getting the knock back as well then who knows, could be something as arbitrary as simply splitting the applications straight down the middle to get the numbers down to a manageable level. Another disappointing result despite having a valid opc pass, really makes you wonder what on earth they actually want

 

[pally95]

Given the timing of the email I would assume it's based on something automated rather than the answers to the 2 questions, I thought it would be the arctic shores results but when people with all 4's are getting the knock back as well then who knows, could be something as arbitrary as simply splitting the applications straight down the middle to get the numbers down to a manageable level. Another disappointing result despite having a valid opc pass, really makes you wonder what on earth they actually want

Do you think they’d do something like that? Seems like a poor way to choose a group of people.

 

[mr_ixolite]

Do you think they’d do something like that? Seems like a poor way to choose a group of people.

I don't know but I could see it tbf, we all got the same email at the same after office hours time, it had to be something automated, when even an opc pass isn't enough to get you past 1st sift you have to start wondering

 

[flexmade]

Given the timing of the email I would assume it's based on something automated rather than the answers to the 2 questions, I thought it would be the arctic shores results but when people with all 4's are getting the knock back as well then who knows, could be something as arbitrary as simply splitting the applications straight down the middle to get the numbers down to a manageable level. Another disappointing result despite having a valid opc pass, really makes you wonder what on earth they actually want

definitely automated nobody is up at 1am sending rejection letters but I honestly don’t know what they want at this point they’ve made railway careers more accessible for young people like myself but it seems still impossible to land a role

 

[pally95]

Maybe they have an automated system that looks for keywords within the application/ CV and use that alongside the opc results

 

[Twin82]

Euston depot?

Yes sir

 

[pally95]

I saw online that they usually open up these vacancies once a year, is that still the case? Will we have to wait until this time next year to apply again?

 

[flexmade]

I saw online that they usually open up these vacancies once a year, is that still the case? Will we have to wait until this time next year to apply again?

Im pretty sure unless they suddenly need staff which is highly unlikely.

 

[pally95]

Im pretty sure unless they suddenly need staff which is highly unlikely.

Which is unlikely as I’m sure there’s enough people in the talent pool to accommodate that.

 

[grimbob]

First post - got an invite to an assessment for a trainee depot driver role, and they attached two documents. One of the attachments is a scan of a document titled RCAF, which includes a bunch of people's results and whether they passed or failed, their names, and NI numbers... someone is in trouble!

 

[nadiarail]

First post - got an invite to an assessment for a trainee depot driver role, and they attached two documents. One of the attachments is a scan of a document titled RCAF, which includes a bunch of people's results and whether they passed or failed, their names, and NI numbers... someone is in trouble

Uh Oh! Is this from the OPC or EMR?

 

[grimbob]

Uh Oh! Is this from the OPC or EMR?

It was from EMR. Reported it!

 

[Twin82]

First post - got an invite to an assessment for a trainee depot driver role, and they attached two documents. One of the attachments is a scan of a document titled RCAF, which includes a bunch of people's results and whether they passed or failed, their names, and NI numbers... someone is in trouble!

Oh dear!! Oh oh dear!!!

 

[finny110]

I dont suppose any one has heard any more from EMR, had an email the other day saying there still going through shortlisting and will get back. I know some people have already been shortlisted, just unsure why others are still waiting

 

[grimbob]

I dont suppose any one has heard any more from EMR, had an email the other day saying there still going through shortlisting and will get back. I know some people have already been shortlisted, just unsure why others are still waiting

Got my invite to the assessments this morning.

 

[finny110]

I haven't been told either way to be fair, so not sure why they haven't just said yes or no

 

[Ryanman]

I’m in the same boat, haven’t heard a thing yet.