Neville Hill Apprenticeship

[CapriSpeed]

Hi all, I have been invited to the test/interview day for the engineering apprenticeship with Northern at their Neville Hill depot. I was wondering if any of you may have been through this process or if anyone may have any hints that may help me.

The date is for this Wednesday the 20th of July.

Though I have applied for a advanced apprenticeship, I have just completed a 4 year scheme for another engineering company but there are no jobs available come september. During this time I have obtained a NVQ 2 and 3 along with a pass grade in my HNC. Now I know that since I have my HNC now another apprenticeship may seem like taking a step back in my career.

Due to their being no jobs available at my current company (Which is in the power industry) I need to look elsewhere, and the reason for applying for northern is that I would like to join the engineering side of the rail industry, I have a keen intrest in engineering and have enjoyed my time in the power industry.

But I now feel that a change of industry is best for me, I have always had intrest in rail and before I started for my current company I had applied for many in rail but was unsuccessful.

Back on track, doing another apprenticeship with already a HNC and NVQ 3 in engineering would that be a cause of concern for northern? In my view a feel that they only have to bolt on the required units to my NVQ 3 and train me to there standard as I believe that I am fairly skilled in engineering and only need to be transferred over to the new industry from my old one.

In the end I'm asking that if anyone on hear have and hints for the tests/interview it would be very appreciated if you could share them, and also am I "overqualified" for this position with my HNC?

Cheers.

 

[LETHLFH]

Not sure if you can be over qualified, sounds like you have a lot of relevant experience. Only advice I can offer is make sure you research company and maintenance depots, e.g know how many stations/units northern run etc and how maintenance depots fit in with customer service and help keep northern running smoothly.

 

[CapriSpeed]

Thank you PH89 for the reply, just got back from the test centre, next stage is the interview. I feel that I did well in the test as it helps to have experience in engineering.

Just got to wait to hear back from them if I have an interview, there was meant to be 7 people to turn up but only five did.

So I was wondering how many apprentices do northern take on at neville hill each year? Is it just one or multiple?

 

[techboy]

They usually take on 2 or 3 each year.

 

[dakta]

hi, would I be nosey to ask how you found the assessment session? (and I don't mean with a map )

 

[CapriSpeed]

Just to be clear, do you mean "found" as in how I found out about the assessment or how I "found" the assessment as an experience?

If it is the latter I found it very easy but I do already have nearly 6 years experience in engineering and the tests are fairly simple in my eyes. The assessment was at KITs training in brighouse where all I had to do was sign in and wait in the canteen for the guy running the test to come and collect us.

Then we were taken to the computer room and given the instructions on the test, and due to me showing the guy my English and Maths results I only had to do the one test which was 62 questions with 60 minutes to do them, (I finished in around 20mins and that is with me checking my answers).

The questions ranged from simple maths like calculating the total area of a shape made up of 3 different squares/rectangles, to questions like what is the most accurate: 0.1, 0.01 , 0.001, 0.0001

Once the test was done that was it so I was only there for no more than 45 minutes.

That was now a week ago, still waiting to hear back for an interview, hopefully hear back by the end of the week.

 

[dakta]

I was just wondering about the experience as a whole, I'm on an engineering degree though not really working in the industry and considered it.

I wish you luck, I didn't want to raise/ressurect a thread from the dead, but unfortunately I couldn't find a way to PM you.

Best of luck!