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Application not proceeding

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shatterhand77

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Location
Warrington
Hi all,

I put in an application for trainee train driver with northern. I spent time on it and felt happy with it, I had a PhD friend of mine look through it and all good. I live 31 minutes from the station in the ad. I submitted it and half 6 in the evening and by half 11 at night I got a email saying not taking it further after careful consideration. Obviously no human being had looked at it so can there be any clues as to what was picked up when it was scanned for it to be rejected so quickly? Could they have enough applications and have just cut off? If anyone has had similar and actually found out a reason please let me know.

Many thanks.
 
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43066

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Hi all,

I put in an application for trainee train driver with northern. I spent time on it and felt happy with it, I had a PhD friend of mine look through it and all good. I live 31 minutes from the station in the ad. I submitted it and half 6 in the evening and by half 11 at night I got a email saying not taking it further after careful consideration. Obviously no human being had looked at it so can there be any clues as to what was picked up when it was scanned for it to be rejected so quickly? Could they have enough applications and have just cut off? If anyone has had similar and actually found out a reason please let me know.

Many thanks.

Everyone who puts in an application spends time on it, and it’s a highly competitive process so inevitably the majority will be unsuccessful. Is there anything obvious you’ve missed in terms of basic requirements (commuting distance etc.) or screening questions?

If they’d decided to cut off applications due to numbers - which does happen - they generally do this by simply taking the advert down.
 

43066

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Eg you say you’re 31 mins from the depot (note also that traincrew roles are based at depots rather than stations - many are co located, but not always), but is that at all times of day and night via your own transport?
 

shatterhand77

New Member
Joined
1 Aug 2025
Messages
2
Location
Warrington
Everyone who puts in an application spends time on it, and it’s a highly competitive process so inevitably the majority will be unsuccessful. Is there anything obvious you’ve missed in terms of basic requirements (commuting distance etc.) or screening questions?

If they’d decided to cut off applications due to numbers - which does happen - they generally do this by simply taking the advert down.
Hi thanks for responding. Yes I didn't mean for it to sound like it was the best application ever known but it was good and nothing was missed and the commute time was well under the limit. Its just the speed with which it was rejected makes me think something was wrong.
 

transportphoto

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@shatterhand77 welcome to the forum :)

We had a very similar question posed earlier in the week - https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ted-with-no-feedback-should-i-give-up.290158/

@Horizon22 gave a fairly good summary of the situation at hand:
Applications are normally auto-declined based on postcode if the commuting time is over the maximum. It is a blunt tool but with hundreds, if not thousands applying for jobs, it is something companies are comfortable doing and aligns with their fatigue policy. With so many applicants, it is also impossible to provide personalised feedback.

Don't give up necessarily though; you may want to look at some older threads of how long it has taken some people and the other routes people have taken who previously applied for driver roles.

Please do take a look at existing threads :)
 
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