Help please final interview for trainee driver at SR

[Kkafesci]

Hi all, I'm a newbie searching for some advice.

Its all moved very quickly for me I applied for trainee train driver position with southern rail....on 17th july, i had my assessments and structured interiew on wednesday and had my final interview today. Apparently i passed all of my assesments at a high standard but i'm not sure about my final interview, the questions were rather bizzare and not all what I had been prepping myself for....they mirrored the structured interview...lots of can u give us an example of......your greatest achievment...etc etc I am so worried now that I may have fallen at the last hurdle as I was under the impression from my interview confirmation email that if I succeeded in todays interview I would be booked in for my medical...instead I was told that I would hear sometime next week with a YES NO or YES on HOLD answer....the training starts on 3rd september so time is of the essence.

Not sure if this is an indication but i was in the interview for 1hr 50mins and after they finished asking me questions they asked which depot I would like to be stationed at (choice of 2... I said either would be suitable) they explained the pay structure and route i would drive along with shift times....is this a positive or run of the mill?

Has anybody been in a simular situation and if so what was the outcome....I know its a bit of a how long is a piece of string question....but searching for some reassurance!!! :neutral:

 

[dglondon]

Hi, I'm afraid that I'm not able to offer any advice as I haven't been through a similar situation yet, but was hoping if you have time, if I would be able to ask some advice from you.

I think I may have applied for the same batch of trainee train driver roles as yourself as I also applied back in July. Shortly after the closing date I received an email to say that I had passed the initial screening and that they would be in contact again soon to let me know the next steps. However, I haven't heard anything since and when I log in online to check the status of my application, it still says passed Screening.

However, after reading your post it does seem to have all moved very quickly for you which makes me know think that my application has been binned. If the training starts on 3rd September then that would definitely be too soon for me now so they must have decided not to progress my application, but it seems odd to me that they haven't yet told me this themselves.

One query I had is if (hopefully) you hear a YES back from them next week, then by the time you take your medical, you may only have around a week before you would need to start the training. For most people who already have a job (including myself), we would be required to give the standard one months notice to leave our current jobs, so the timescales seem incredibly rushed (especially as a lot of the posts on this forum talk about how slow TOC HR departments are when it comes to recruitment). I was wondering therefore if many of the people you met at the assessment raised this as a problem, or did most of them not currently have jobs so they were free to start training with SR at any time ?.

On the off chance that I still do get invited for the assessments at some point in the future (even if it's when I reapply in the future), I was wondering if you had any advice regarding the assessment day itself:

i) Was the concentration test the 'dot's test (Group Bourdon) or the 'Letters/ Shapes' test (SCAAT). Also, was it taken on a computer or on paper ?
ii) Was there a Mechanical Comprehension test (as I understand not all TOC's do this)
iii) Was the fault finding test the easy type that I've seen (dials with shaded segments and hands) or the harder type (certain inputs passing through 3 switches and you have to say which switch isn't working based on the final output).
iv) Were the other tests: Trainability for Rules test and the Fast reaction test ? (were there any other tests?)
v) Was the structured interview carried out on the same day ?. Did you get time beforehand to write down answers to the questions you would be interviewed about ?. Was the interview itself fairly relaxed or was it very intense ?. Also, were the questions (in the structured interview) along the same lines as a lot of the preparation books advise you (or were they very different ?).

When you say that the questions in the final interview were bizarre, do you mean because they were more 'structured interview' type questions, or were they bizarre in any other way ? (you say that they weren't what you had prepped for which is worrying, as I'm guessing that I am prepping in much the same way as you did).

I apologise for all of the questions but I would really appreciate anything that you can advise me.

Please feel free to private message me if you would prefer to answer privately.

 

[387star]

At least you have passed the assessments valid for five years. You can be put on hold for the next job too?
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I can confirm there was a mechanical test as I know someone who prepared for it

 

[pendolino]

If you got through to the Line Manager interview stage then that is a very good sign. Supposition on my part, but possibly the reason for similar questioning is to explore your experience in greater depth and possibly to ensure that the answers you are giving are consistent.

If the 2 depots offered were Selhurst or Norwood (I'm guessing here, but AFAIK Selhurst is the only depot advertising recently and Norwood is a satellite of Selhurst), I suggest choosing Norwood if given the chance as the work is a bit more varied - Selhurst is purely Metro work in the lower links, at Norwood you at least get to go outside the M25. I wouldn't turn the job down if offered Selhurst though, it's a good depot to be at.

Don't panic if you haven't heard anything yet though, the wheels tend to turn slowly in these matters.

Good luck!

 

[Kkafesci]

Thank you every one.

The 2 depots to choose from were Victoria and London Bridge, I would be happy with either

Dglondon, it may be that you are invited to assessment centre for their January intake....if I receive a YES on HOLD then I was told a January start. Best to prepare yourself just in case. The assessments I had were Train-ability, harder type fault-finding, fast reaction, group bourdon (dots) test, then structured written interview and then a brief chat with trainer about structured interview....this was all on Wednesday...candidates were eliminated through out the day we started with 11 and 7 was left which the trainer found impressive as apparently not that many people usually last to the end!!! Then Friday I went to Victoria and had my final interview, I was expecting standard interview questions like....why do you want to be a train driver? what skills do you possess that would make you a good train driver? How will you cope with lone working? etc etc instead the questions were more like the structured (written) interview such as, what has been your greatest achievement? Can you tell us a time when you have had to work under pressure? You really have to go into detail and they always ask follow on questions like why? how? when?......I felt very unprepared for such an interview as I had prepared for more traditional style questions! Please dont take my experience as gospel as they may shake things up, my advice would be prepare yourself for all possibilities! Wish you all the best mate.

 

[Kkafesci]

Thank you every one, this has been a very long weekend and I am sure the coming week will be equally as tormenting....I think the waiting is the worst bit!

The 2 depots to choose from were Victoria and London Bridge, I would be happy with either

Dglondon, it may be that you are invited to assessment centre for their January intake....if I receive a YES on HOLD then I was told a January start. Best to prepare yourself just in case. The assessments I had were Train ability (paper), harder type fault-finding (paper), fast reaction test (pc), group bourdon (dots) test (pc), then structured written interview and then a brief chat with trainer about structured interview....this was all on Wednesday...candidates were eliminated through out the day (which was a little stressful) we started with 11 and 7 was left which the trainer found impressive as apparently not that many people usually last to the end!!! Then Friday I went to Victoria and had my final interview, I was expecting standard interview questions like....why do you want to be a train driver? what skills do you possess that would make you a good train driver? How will you cope with lone working? etc etc instead the questions were more like the structured (written) interview such as, what has been your greatest achievement? Can you tell us a time when you have had to work under pressure? You really have to go into detail and they always ask follow on questions like why? how? when?......I felt very unprepared for such an interview which added to my nerves but the 2 managers that interviewed me were friendly and welcoming. Please don't take my experience as gospel as they may shake things up a bit for instance I prepared for mechanical and never sat a mechanical assessment but they may sometimes offer this test, my advice would be prepare yourself for all possibilities! Wish you all the best of luck mate, keep me posted on progression and I'll do the same!

 

[dglondon]

Thank you every one, this has been a very long weekend and I am sure the coming week will be equally as tormenting....I think the waiting is the worst bit!

The 2 depots to choose from were Victoria and London Bridge, I would be happy with either

Dglondon, it may be that you are invited to assessment centre for their January intake....if I receive a YES on HOLD then I was told a January start. Best to prepare yourself just in case. The assessments I had were Train ability (paper), harder type fault-finding (paper), fast reaction test (pc), group bourdon (dots) test (pc), then structured written interview and then a brief chat with trainer about structured interview....this was all on Wednesday...candidates were eliminated through out the day (which was a little stressful) we started with 11 and 7 was left which the trainer found impressive as apparently not that many people usually last to the end!!! Then Friday I went to Victoria and had my final interview, I was expecting standard interview questions like....why do you want to be a train driver? what skills do you possess that would make you a good train driver? How will you cope with lone working? etc etc instead the questions were more like the structured (written) interview such as, what has been your greatest achievement? Can you tell us a time when you have had to work under pressure? You really have to go into detail and they always ask follow on questions like why? how? when?......I felt very unprepared for such an interview which added to my nerves but the 2 managers that interviewed me were friendly and welcoming. Please don't take my experience as gospel as they may shake things up a bit for instance I prepared for mechanical and never sat a mechanical assessment but they may sometimes offer this test, my advice would be prepare yourself for all possibilities! Wish you all the best of luck mate, keep me posted on progression and I'll do the same!

Great, thanks very much for that information, it helps a lot. I take your point though that they may shake things up a bit with different tests but it's good to hear the experiences of somebody who has been through the process with the same TOC I have applied to.

All the best with your application - hopefully you'll get a straight 'YES' or at worst a 'YES - ON HOLD' back this week (I agree that the waiting is the hard part !). Having done a bit of research into the role and the application process myself, from what I've read and heard I think you should stay positive about the response you will get back from them. As you say, the final managers interview is normally geared towards asking different types of questions to the ones they asked you - as such, the chances are that nobody else was particularly well prepared for it either, so you may well have performed better than a lot of them and better than you probably think.

Also, my understanding is that a big factor seems to be if the interviewers like you or not and if they can see you fitting into their company. They have to ask everyone the same questions, but the overriding factor is whether they want you or not (although they won't admit that), so don't worry overly about the answers you gave. If you seemed to get on well with them during the interview then that's a good thing.

A colleague of my wife applied for a trainee train driver role with SR a few months back but got rejected at the final interview stage. He felt that he did well at the interview but after he was rejected he asked for some feedback and was told that the reason was because he didn't come across as enthusiastic enough for the role. I'm not sure if that is true, but he felt that the reason they gave him was rubbish and that the real reason was because they knew who they wanted already.

Anyway, hopefully you will get a positive response back this week, but still remember that even if you don't hear back what you want to hear, you have still already passed the assessment stage which puts you at a great advantage over many other people for future applications (with any other TOC !).

All the best, and keep me posted with how you get on !

 

[dglondon]

Hi, sorry, I had just one more question that I forgot to add - You said that the 2 depots you had to choose from were Victoria and London Bridge. When I applied back in July there was only one depot advertised which was Selhurst. I was just wondering if the job advert you applied for also stated Selhurst (and that they only mentioned Victoria and London Bridge at the interview), or did the role you applied for state these 2 depots in the advert ?

 

[Kkafesci]

Thank you for the encouragement...much needed at the moment. I feel a little spoilt as I think my application up to now has run very quickly and smoothly, I have heard many people state that they have waited months/years to even get an interview, so I shouldn't really grumble!

I also applied for Selhurst post but was told that the position at selhurst had been filled!! Not sure how accurate that is but was told this at the mangers interview, I am aware that there are 7 candidates for 2 positions 1 at London Bridge and 1 at Victoria...I presume this is for the September intake...there may well be more vacancies available for all depots for January intake!

Any further questions, I am happy to help as much as I can
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Recieved email today stating i was unsucessful, very disappointed have asked for feedback! Best of luck everyone

 

[dglondon]

Hi, sorry that you didn't make it past the managers interview. However, what I said previously still holds. The fact that you passed the assessment stage puts you in a great position for future Trainee Train Driver positions when they come up (either with SR or any other TOC).

Just reading through the posts on this forum you will find many instances where people have successfully passed future applications after failing some part of the process on an earlier application. Some of the people you were competing against this time would have been these people.

The general advice always seems to be to don't give up !. It's often a long drawn out process and patience and tenacity are key to getting to where you want to be in the end.