Greater Anglia - Trainee Driver - Recruitment Discussion

[Covnarcom]

Hi all, can anyone signpost me or explain the recruitment process for GA please.

I applied for CrossCountry last year and was successful in getting through the process and assessment centre but have been sat in radio silence ever since, hearing absolutely nothing hence going for the GA vacancies.

I see people are talking about a stage 1 and 2.....can you tell me what is done at each please, and I assume as I am sitting on a 'pass' it will mean I don't have to do the SJT etc again?

Thanks.

You will have to take the SJT again but AFAIK won’t have to take the stage 1 and stage 2 assessments.

I was in a similar position as I applied to the c2c in November 2023, did all my assessments, and even did the final stage DMI in February 2024 but got radio silence thereafter. Applied for GA multiple times since then and they seem to just send me the SJT, I pass it, they say they’ll be in touch, but then nothing happens.

 

[Greeny1]

You will have to take the SJT again but AFAIK won’t have to take the stage 1 and stage 2 assessments.

I was in a similar position as I applied to the c2c in November 2023, did all my assessments, and even did the final stage DMI in February 2024 but got radio silence thereafter. Applied for GA multiple times since then and they seem to just send me the SJT, I pass it, they say they’ll be in touch, but then nothing happens.

It's amazing that there was a news article about being a shortage of train drivers yet this happens literally a medical away from starting. I hope you can finally get to be accepted and start soon.

 

[ku_ku_ka_cho]

You will have to take the SJT again but AFAIK won’t have to take the stage 1 and stage 2 assessments.

I was in a similar position as I applied to the c2c in November 2023, did all my assessments, and even did the final stage DMI in February 2024 but got radio silence thereafter. Applied for GA multiple times since then and they seem to just send me the SJT, I pass it, they say they’ll be in touch, but then nothing happens.

That's strange isn't it, and doesn't seem to be an effective use of anyone's time at all. It may be that if the assessment centre pass is a low scoring pass or they aren't happy with a certain element of it you will not hit the mark to get on a course, but they should just say that and be clear instead of stringing people along.

Cross Country are populating another course next month which if I don't get on I will take that as it being the end and see how it goes with GA, fingers crossed.

 

[The_Postie]

How old are you if you don't mind me asking? I'm 49. I've applied about three times and same as you. Tbh, I'm not keeping my eggs in one basket. I have other paths to my dreams which I work on daily. Would be nice to at least experience the first assessment day.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 May 2025 ==


Are you still being held within a previous application?

I'm 42, My application was held for 6 months, I then got an email to say its run out but we are hiring again at the start of May, so here we are again. Fingers crossed I get further this time.
I do have an interview booked for a ticket clerk/sales job for GA, but there's no guarantee I'll get it, so I've applied for the driving jobs too. Just really fancy a change of career as I've been a postie for the last 23 years!

 

[trainhopeful14]

That's strange isn't it, and doesn't seem to be an effective use of anyone's time at all. It may be that if the assessment centre pass is a low scoring pass or they aren't happy with a certain element of it you will not hit the mark to get on a course, but they should just say that and be clear instead of stringing people along.

Cross Country are populating another course next month which if I don't get on I will take that as it being the end and see how it goes with GA, fingers crossed.

I would hope they’re not disregarding people in the pool that they’ve decided are too ‘low’ after passing.
The most stressful part I found of the stage one was when they sent you out to the seating area after each test so they could mark it, then they’d call certain people back in to tell them they hadn’t passed and to go home. It was brutal.

 

[Brick79]

I would hope they’re not disregarding people in the pool that they’ve decided are too ‘low’ after passing.
The most stressful part I found of the stage one was when they sent you out to the seating area after each test so they could mark it, then they’d call certain people back in to tell them they hadn’t passed and to go home. It was brutal.

Was that with GA? When i did my stage one (with GA) you got your results about a week after by email

 

[Pintman]

It's amazing that there was a news article about being a shortage of train drivers yet this happens literally a medical away from starting. I hope you can finally get to be accepted and start soon.

There is a shortage of drivers, but the bottleneck isn't in the number of applications! Every job gets hundreds (possibly even thousands) of applications, but there's a slow recruitment process and not enough trainers

 

[unbutton]

There is a shortage of drivers, but the bottleneck isn't in the number of applications! Every job gets hundreds (possibly even thousands) of applications, but there's a slow recruitment process and not enough trainers

I applied (and failed) for C2C trainee driver recruitment last year and I recall they said they had circa 5,000 applicants!

 

[trainhopeful14]

Was that with GA? When i did my stage one (with GA) you got your results about a week after by email

Yeah. Did it in March. after each test we were all sent back to the seating bit. Ans then if you failed that test they called you back then sent you home. Then after the final test they told us we’d passed. Got the email confirmation the next day.

 

[Greeny1]

There is a shortage of drivers, but the bottleneck isn't in the number of applications! Every job gets hundreds (possibly even thousands) of applications, but there's a slow recruitment process and not enough trainers

Makes me wonder why reducing the age to 18 would make any difference in that case. Would create even more applicants, but not alleviate the bottleneck.

 

[Pintman]

Makes me wonder why reducing the age to 18 would make any difference in that case. Would create even more applicants, but not alleviate the bottleneck.

It's an easy PR win that the majority of the voting public don't really understand but that looks like they're doing something to solve a problem

 

[Waza1991]

Anyone Received SJT invite yet ?

 

[Greeny1]

It's an easy PR win that the majority of the voting public don't really understand but that looks like they're doing something to solve a problem

Good point.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 May 2025 ==

Anyone Received SJT invite yet ?

I'm guessing possibly on Friday. In my experience, things usually happen on Fridays with GA. It could differ, though. Usually, people post here once they get the invite, so you'll likely know if you keep checking back here.

 

[unbutton]

Anyone Received SJT invite yet ?

Nothing yet but like Greeny1 said I'll be posting here if I get anything (applied for Ilford).

 

[pacerpal]

Anyone heard anything yet?

 

[BennyD99]

I can't even log on. Does anyone else have that problem? Happened last time as well. The odd day it loads, once in a blue moon though.

 

[Gryffin]

Anyone heard anything yet?

Nothing!

 

[Waza1991]

Anyone heard anything yet?

Nothing yet!

 

[Shan8822]

Nothing! Do they send an email usually or do you have to log on to your application portal ? Thanks

 

[Brick79]

I can't even log on. Does anyone else have that problem? Happened last time as well. The odd day it loads, once in a blue moon though.

I've had this issue in the past where to log in I have to go back to the initial "thank you for applying" email and go through that link, it's the only way I can

 

[Waza1991]

Nothing! Do they send an email usually or do you have to log on to your application portal ? Thanks

Usually an email

 

[Shan8822]

Usually an email

okay thankyou

 

[BennyD99]

I've had this issue in the past where to log in I have to go back to the initial "thank you for applying" email and go through that link, it's the only way I can

Yeah that's what I have to do. Just a little frustrating!

Thank you.

 

[I_am_Nobody]

Patience, folks. It's been two weeks, in Railway Recruitment that's barely any time at all... imagine how many applications the team will have received for each individual role, it'll take them some time to work through things and get all of the balls rolling!

 

[Gordontheblue]

Anyone heard anything yet?

We 'aint heard shiiiit!

 

[ku_ku_ka_cho]

No email or profile update.

 

[trainhopeful14]

Last time they also seemed to go through them location by location. So if some people have heard and some haven’t that doesn’t mean anything. Just depends where they’ve prioritised.

 

[CombatBarbie]

I've applied for the trainee driver role, and my application says under consideration. Does anyone know how long before we might proceed to the next step and what the next step is please?

 

[unbutton]

I've applied for the trainee driver role, and my application says under consideration. Does anyone know how long before we might proceed to the next step and what the next step is please?

All discussed above you. The short answer is “no”.

 

[trainhopeful14]

I have just had the SJT link through.