2nd Job during trainee driver course GWR

[Train92]

Hi Guys,

Do you know if GWR would allow you to take on a part time job elsewhere during your training course?

If I joined as a trainee train driver I’d take a salary drop of around £25K.

Surely I’m not the first person to consider this?

Any response would be much appreciated!

 

[Teddyward]

I understand where you’re coming from as i have been in a similar position but I really wouldn’t recommend it. You will be required to study at least a little bit in your own time. Maybe more than a little bit depending how you take it in and how the course goes. The last thing you want is to be knackered and try and take a new bit of the rule book in.

 

[Stigy]

Hi Guys,

Do you know if GWR would allow you to take on a part time job elsewhere during your training course?

If I joined as a trainee train driver I’d take a salary drop of around £25K.

Surely I’m not the first person to consider this?

Any response would be much appreciated!

I too wouldn’t recommend it. In fact I’m sure I read in my contract that this wasn’t ordinarily permitted? I’ll have another look when I get a minute but I remember reading it and wondering about my volunteer work for the Ambulance Service (of which by all accounts I won’t be doing much of whilst training purely because of the fact that I’ll need to be 100% focussed on my training).

Even if it is allowed, it’s not something I’d recommend. If you’re taking a £25k pay cut, how much extra work are you looking at doing? Surely anything you do won’t nearly earn you what you’re losing?

 

[Daydr3am3r]

Hi Guys,

Do you know if GWR would allow you to take on a part time job elsewhere during your training course?

If I joined as a trainee train driver I’d take a salary drop of around £25K.

Surely I’m not the first person to consider this?

Any response would be much appreciated!

I will be looking at a hefty hit at first as well, but I would echo the above in that there is a lot to learn, both in exams and to put into practice. So for me I’m busy saving extra now as I want to make sure I can commit all the time I need.

 

[paulwestwood]

Hi Guys,

Do you know if GWR would allow you to take on a part time job elsewhere during your training course?

If I joined as a trainee train driver I’d take a salary drop of around £25K.

Surely I’m not the first person to consider this?

Any response would be much appreciated!

You would best not to consider it as it will interfere with your training schedule as it isn’t all classroom based and will involve being on at different shift times with your DI. Also GWR stipulate that you would need there permission to take on another job, so you would have to make a very strong case for it to be considered and approved.

 

[bramling]

Hi Guys,

Do you know if GWR would allow you to take on a part time job elsewhere during your training course?

If I joined as a trainee train driver I’d take a salary drop of around £25K.

Surely I’m not the first person to consider this?

Any response would be much appreciated!

As others have said, I *really* wouldn't advise it. The training will be intensive, and especially during the latter stages will be shift-based. There will be a need to be both flexible and put quite a bit of effort in, and a second job would be highly likely to interfere with all this. Plus the company would be likely to take a dim view.

 

[Gemz91]

If your'e a mortgage payer, speak to your bank to see if you can have a few months of not paying your mortgage, could save you a bit of money in the short term and I've heard of people doing this before.

 

[CC 72100]

Whether the contract allows it or not I cannot stress how strongly I would recommend against a second job while training.

If you're not doing a good hour/ hour and a half revision each night once you've finished at the training centre for the day then you're unlikely to pass, then whilst handling you'll initially be knackered from the first few weeks, then once that is over you'll have to start revising again for the upcoming exams throughout the training.

At the end of the day it's a stressful 10-12 months, with many hours of study expected of you at home (unpaid, obviously) so you'll probably want (actually no, I'd use the word 'need') to use the remaining time to relax and take care of yourself.

Also training salary is just over 27k, not 25.

 

[Stigy]

Whether the contract allows it or not I cannot stress how strongly I would recommend against a second job while training.

If you're not doing a good hour/ hour and a half revision each night once you've finished at the training centre for the day then you're unlikely to pass, then whilst handling you'll initially be knackered from the first few weeks, then once that is over you'll have to start revising again for the upcoming exams throughout the training.

At the end of the day it's a stressful 10-12 months, with many hours of study expected of you at home (unpaid, obviously) so you'll probably want (actually no, I'd use the word 'need') to use the remaining time to relax and take care of yourself.

Also training salary is just over 27k, not 25.

I think he’s saying the drop would be of around £25k to him, rather than to £25k

I agree with you though. To be honest, everybody knows the trainee salary is low in comparison to fully qualified (although GWR’s is quite good, albeit fixed for the duration of the training). I certainly factored this in when I applied. I’ll be taking a cut too, but can live on the £27.5k. Dropping from £52k or whatever would obviously be a challenge, but to get to this stage one would naturally have had plenty of time to arrange finances etc.

 

[CC 72100]

I think he’s saying the drop would be of around £25k to him, rather than to £25k

I agree with you though. To be honest, everybody knows the trainee salary is low in comparison to fully qualified (although GWR’s is quite good, albeit fixed for the duration of the training). I certainly factored this in when I applied. I’ll be taking a cut too, but can live on the £27.5k. Dropping from £52k or whatever would obviously be a challenge, but to get to this stage one would naturally have had plenty of time to arrange finances etc.

Oops - my mistake, well spotted!

Agreed financially it can be difficult when coming from a higher paid role (so mainly applies to the externals) to the year of 27k salary. Definitely something that needs to be considered but by the same token with the way recruitment works and then the wait to get put on a course etc. it's not easy as you can't neatly say 'right between month X and month X will be the time of less income'; by the time you find out when your training period will be, you've probably missed the boat in financially preparing for it.

 

[Stigy]

Oops - my mistake, well spotted!

Agreed financially it can be difficult when coming from a higher paid role (so mainly applies to the externals) to the year of 27k salary. Definitely something that needs to be considered but by the same token with the way recruitment works and then the wait to get put on a course etc. it's not easy as you can't neatly say 'right between month X and month X will be the time of less income'; by the time you find out when your training period will be, you've probably missed the boat in financially preparing for it.

I see what you’re saying. It’s not very clear but in terms of dates. What I was saying was more that the whole process is so long winded, even from the outset, you know that should you get through the recruitment process, you’ll be taking a pay cut. Having said that, and I was the same. It only becomes ‘real’ when you have a contract in your hands, and there’s so many other stresses during the assessment and interview process, I fully appreciate that the drop in salary is often a case of “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it”

 

[Numbnuts846]

I would not even consider taking a second job while driver training, After your classroom work you will start gaining your hours of manual handling which I think is 250hours on core routes for the depot and you will follow what your DI is doing for that week. You will feel like you head so explod trying to cram in everything that's being chucked at you.... if you are worried about the pay cut for 12months then maybe this job might not be for you. You will need to 100% focused on the job

 

[Val3ntine]

What sort of job would be flexible enough to accommodate changing shift patterns weekly? One week could be earlies, next week lates, next week middles with some weeks a rest period inbetween and then starting a new shift pattern in that same week.

When I was training I had a 6 month delay while waiting for an instructor so in this period I heavily considered a second job not neccesairly for money but more of a pass time, but then started weighing up what I would actually take home after second employment tax and how much I’d really be taking home vice giving to the tax man.
For me it turned out to be not worth it for the stress of it and that was even during doing more or less nothing much for 6 months except keeping on top of my knowledge really.
Wouldn’t even have considered it whilst actually training during classroom or out and about on practical modules, the effort of a second employment would certainly not have outweighed any benefits, wayyyyy too much to be focused on without trying to balance another job to not even be taking home much of a fraction after tax :/

 

[Stigy]

What sort of job would be flexible enough to accommodate changing shift patterns weekly? One week could be earlies, next week lates, next week middles with some weeks a rest period inbetween and then starting a new shift pattern in that same week.

When I was training I had a 6 month delay while waiting for an instructor so in this period I heavily considered a second job not neccesairly for money but more of a pass time, but then started weighing up what I would actually take home after second employment tax and how much I’d really be taking home vice giving to the tax man.
For me it turned out to be not worth it for the stress of it and that was even during doing more or less nothing much for 6 months except keeping on top of my knowledge really.
Wouldn’t even have considered it whilst actually training during classroom or out and about on practical modules, the effort of a second employment would certainly not have outweighed any benefits, wayyyyy too much to be focused on without trying to balance another job to not even be taking home much of a fraction after tax :/

A fair few jobs are available on a casual basis, but to be fair, you wouldn’t earn more than maybe a £200 extra a month anyway so is that of benefit anyway? Certainly wouldn’t bolster the £25k a year difference in this scenario.

I had a part time job on the side a few years ago delivering pizza. It was pocket money more than anything and obviously I wasn’t about to be a trainee driver so it wouldn’t work now. It was minimum wage and put some strain on the car, but I could basically do as many or as few hours as I liked each month. Zero hours contract but ideal for me at the time.

 

[Val3ntine]

Ah cool so quite a fair few flexible jobs out there then. But as stated seems like the effort would far outweigh any gain while at the same time putting a strain on training and even potentially jeapordising the oppertunity to earn 60k+ so quite the irony really.
Driver training really shouldn’t be taken lightly, the amount of colleagues I’ve witness fail is serious. About 30% is due to just non capability of the job, but the majority at 70% is usually down to just not enough effort been put in!

 

[Dynamonic]

As others have very strongly suggested, it is a very bad idea to have a second job whilst training to be a driver, as there is simply no time, and there’ll be an issue with fatigue.
The course demands your full attention, and you’ll find that you’re sitting assessments from the very first week too. (My first Assessment was on day two)
When you’re not in training school, you’ll be at home doing the homework that’s set for you and/or revision. Training to become a train driver is a lifestyle choice, as well as a career move.
As has been mentioned too, once the initial classroom work is done, you’ll be straight into shifts for your mentoring period.

Don’t even consider a second job!

 

[gaerne58]

I didn't realise train guards were paid so much to take a drop of £25k!

 

[Stigy]

I didn't realise train guards were paid so much to take a drop of £25k!

Depends how much overtime they do and how many tickets they sell! A Commercial Guard for SWR is on a basic just shy of £39k without regional allowances these days.

A ‘normal’ guard (excuse the expressions haha) is on about £32k basic, but they don’t sell tickets. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know @Train92 was a guard (may not be anymore anyway?) until I did some stalking haha.

Why not stay at SWR? Not sure if it’s the same as GWR, but GWR allow you to keep your current salary if you’re internal to them as far as I’m aware. SWR have been recruiting recently too?

 

[gaerne58]

Caught me, I was stalking as well ️‍♂️