Colas Rail Trainee Train Drivers

[mickeyjenson!]

Anyone have an idea to exactly what tests we will be doing that day ? The e-mail contains very little information regarding the day, also will they send any practice papers out ?

 

[anthony263]

I would have thought if they intended to give us any practice materials they would have done so already.

I have done some of the tests in a previous driver asessment centre with FGW at Bristol in june so I can use the practice material FGW sent to me at the time.

I am still awaiting an email from Colas about thest actual tests since I have already done some and passed them with FGW so I would like to know whether or not I will have to do them again.

 

[mickeyjenson!]

Am I correct in believing that there is 15 trainee vacancies available.

 

[Cheshiretrain]

I applied for this position 3 days before the closing date. Hopefully they are sorting the applications in batches. Or maybe I've totally missed the boat?

 

[mickeyjenson!]

Apart from the GBT, reaction & co-ordination test's can anyone give me a heads up to what else the day might involve. As Im new to all this it will be greatly appreciated.

 

[anthony263]

I will hope it is just the GBT and Reaction & Co-ordination tests as I havent received anything stating otherwise.

I completed and passed these tests with FGW so I have emailed Colas to ask if I need to take them again but I have not received an email back.

 

[mickeyjenson!]

So are you saying the mechanical test will not be used ?

Anyone have any idea of the starting salary, and the salary once completing the training.

 

[anthony263]

They may use teh mechanical test although some operators such as FGW do not although someone I know who went with DB schenker did do it

 

[mickeyjenson!]

They may use teh mechanical test although some operators such as FGW do not although someone I know who went with DB schenker did do it

Would you agree that there's not much information regarding the day, such as how long it will go on for and the exact tests. Do you think it will be done in the stage process like other toc use ? As in the email it just says if you are successful you will be invited to an interview.

Cheers Mike

 

[anthony263]

I am not too sure and I will be careful what I say here as I dont know if anyone managers from Colas will be reading on this forum.

I do agree however that there is not too much information on what will happen on the day especially compared to the information I received from FGW before my asessment with them.

With the FGW assesment we started at 08:45 and surprising finished by 10:30 although FWG said it would take up to 3 hours

 

[DunfordBridge]

I am a bit of a newcomer to this thread having spent the past few weeks residing on the Freightliner Heavy Haul thread. Would I be correct in thinking that none of you seem to have any idea about what form the forthcoming assessments are going to take?

 

[anthony263]

Yes and truth be told Colas have not been very good responding to any enquiries either

 

[DunfordBridge]

Yes and truth be told Colas have not been very good responding to any enquiries either

If I remember rightly, I made a speculative enquiry with Colas earlier in the year but I do not recollect what form the reply took, if any.

I am quite proud to say that I am a recent Fregihtliner reject. I intend to keep a close eye on this thread as I am expecting a certain amount of transition with regard to the manner of assessments. Maybe not good news but you will all be in the same boat.

 

[mickeyjenson!]

So any idea what these new assessments will involve ?, it would be a great help as I have just been practising the GBT and reaction tests.

Cheers Mike

 

[DunfordBridge]

So any idea what these new assessments will involve ?, it would be a great help as I have just been practising the GBT and reaction tests.

Cheers Mike

Hi Mike,

I am going to refer you to the new thread, http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=1585256, which I started yesterday as this seems the more logical place for the information.

I read that there was a suggestion that all of these new tests could be completed in one day but I cannot see it somehow. The paper version of the Group Bourdon test is advised, rather than the computerised version. It would probably take long enough to mark these papers to decide who is sent home and who progresses to the next stage.

 

[anthony263]

Colas sent me an email yesterday which I have now replied to as I was away at Luton for a job interview.

If a candidate has already completed some of the tests they will not be required to do them again on the day although we will be doing some additional tests

 

[DunfordBridge]

Colas sent me an email yesterday which I have now replied to as I was away at Luton for a job interview.

If a candidate has already completed some of the tests they will not be required to do them again on the day although we will be doing some additional tests

I would hazard a guess as to which tests would not have to be redone but on no account would I want to lull anyone into a false sense of security. I would not even follow my own hunch on this one as you only get two bites of the gateau, so to speak.

I would expect practice material to be sent out a good week before the tests. Freightliner were quite good to us in that respect because they gave us plenty of time to practice. There was a bit of a debate at the time as to which exercises would appear in stage 1. Thankfully, I did not end up with egg on my face on that occasion.

Without going into specifics, I have sometimes felt that the practice material, from different sources, is not always an exact replication of the proper exercise, for obvious reasons. With some exercises there seems to be an extra layer of complexity which in my case slowed me down until I became familiar with the task.

I have found that when you arrive at the test centre, you will be asked both if you have received the practice material and if you have had sufficient rest.

 

[mickeyjenson!]

I gather we will be doing the new assessments as the email they sent out was to do with new types of tests.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Anyone had confirmation regarding the time they chose to sit the psychometric tests.

 

[anthony263]

Well I asked and got a confirmation that I was booked for the morning session starting at 08:00 on 23rd October.

 

[Phatdan]

hi guys.

Im new to this thread .

I sent my CV the other day to colas and i followed up with an email stating that i had already done my stage 1 and passed my reaction test and was just waiting for the result of my CBI interview to be released.

To my surprise i got an email back straight away asking for my NI number so they could check the results and that if they were good that i could go to head office to see a "hiring manager" .

sweating on the CBI result

Good luck to everyone else !!!

 

[outseyuk]

I did assessments and structured interview with another TOC in September. Colas only want me to do the mechanical comprehension test (as the other TOC didn't use that one) on the 23rd if that helps anyone?

They called me today to confirm.

 

[anthony263]

Well I have just received the email with the practice material which I will be going through over the next week

 

[mickeyjenson!]

Me too there seems to be a lot of tests involved for one day!

 

[DunfordBridge]

I did assessments and structured interview with another TOC in September. Colas only want me to do the mechanical comprehension test (as the other TOC didn't use that one) on the 23rd if that helps anyone?

They called me today to confirm.

Hi!

With which TOC did you pass your tests? When I did my stage 1 with Freightliner, there were a small number of people (First Great Western passes) who had come solely to do the Mechanical Comprehension test, just like you. I did not think the Mechanical test would feature but maybe it is because Colas are a FOC.

A word of advice, the questions may go beyond what you expect in the practice material. Depending on how good you are, time may be an issue so try to devise a strategy for best use of time. There are plenty of sage words on the Freightliner thread.

I was looking at the Chiltern thread (http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=88334&page=3) and they do not seem to be doing the Mechanical Comprehension test but the TEA-Occ test instead.

 

[outseyuk]

Hi!

With which TOC did you pass your tests? When I did my stage 1 with Freightliner, there were a small number of people (First Great Western passes) who had come solely to do the Mechanical Comprehension test, just like you. I did not think the Mechanical test would feature but maybe it is because Colas are a FOC.

A word of advice, the questions may go beyond what you expect in the practice material. Depending on how good you are, time may be an issue so try to devise a strategy for best use of time. There are plenty of sage words on the Freightliner thread.

I was looking at the Chiltern thread (http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=88334&page=3) and they do not seem to be doing the Mechanical Comprehension test but the TEA-Occ test instead.

It was with Greater Anglia. Thanks for the heads up !

 

[DunfordBridge]

It was with Greater Anglia. Thanks for the heads up !

No worries at all. I would not want anyone going into the assessment hall making the same mistake that I nearly made. Namely, thinking that it will be a walkover just because you have excelled with practice material from a variety of sources. Most of the practice material seems to be pretty much of a muchness.

For some odd reason, much of the conversation about this test seems to be fixated with the falling tree question where you have to decide the direction in which the tree will fall depending on the type of cut in the side of the tree. Falling trees did not seem to be plentiful in the MT 4.1 test as far as I can recollect, which is not very far owing to time constraints.

I understand that some operators do not use the mechanical test anymore due to the use of modern trains with computer interfaces, no doubt. This seems odd in the respect that the test in its present form seems to require the candidates to be able to think for themselves in a variety of formats.

Out of interest, did you do the Driver Fault Finding Test with Greater Anglia although I do not expect to be applying with them?

 

[Rocombe11]

Thanks Phatdan, I did the same as you, already passed all the tests (waiting on Freightliner to get back to me, freightliner's recruitment period has been extended until 31 October with more trainee drivers being taken on, should be music to your ears and it explains what the DM said to me at interview that has completely done my box in, but still have a good feeling about Freightliner-I think they may be arranging a later start date for me to coincide with personal plans about relocating) Anyway Colas said that they would arrange a line manager interview once they verified my OPC results, should hear Tuesday, great plan B!! Thanks again for the heads up.

 

[mickeyjenson!]

I am booked in for the 12.30 assessment with Colas, are people expecting it be conducted in stages? ie stage 1 Gbt, trp 1&2 etc, with stage 2 being the new multimodal interview. Any advice would be more than welcome.

Cheers Mike

 

[caro22]

They say you need to be in commuting distance of westbury and hoo junction - but depending on the salary, can I afford to relocate.
What is the salary whilst training and on completion of training?

 

[Trne123]

Anybody know what type of contract these roles will be?

Zero hours contracts don't sound too good - are they common place in the freight side?

Total novice here.

Thanks