Northern - Trainee Train Driver - Recruitment Discussion

[Ceberealtouch]

i echo this also , in the same position in recruitment

Update I'm through to the assessment center in Leeds , time to prepare I guess.

 

[northernbadger]

Update I'm through to the assessment center in Leeds , time to prepare I guess.

Well done! Me too.

 

[md81]

can either of you shed light on the online tasks?

 

[Salesy]

Trainee Train Driver - Leeds

Trainee Train Driver - Leeds, As a Train Driver, you’ll transport our customers safely and efficiently across the Northern network, <div><strong></strong> <div style="color: #212529; padding: 0px;"> <p style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px;"><span style="padding: 0px;"><strong>JOB TITLE...

northern.engageats.co.uk

£27,098, rising to £46,824 in year one (£62,642 in year 3)

Must live within 45 minutes car journey of Leeds depot.

 

[Sian Ryan]

Could anybody help shed some light please- I have been invited to attend the psychometric and MMI next week for northern train driver role- I was selected from paper sift and then competed two SJE at home and my score meant I was selected to attend the assessment centre. Are there any tips for the day as some people have said it’s group task and the group bourdon but others have said it’s psychometric all day with interview. Are there any recent applicants who can help ? , thanks

 

[Swall]

Could anybody help shed some light please- I have been invited to attend the psychometric and MMI next week for northern train driver role- I was selected from paper sift and then competed two SJE at home and my score meant I was selected to attend the assessment centre. Are there any tips for the day as some people have said it’s group task and the group bourdon but others have said it’s psychometric all day with interview. Are there any recent applicants who can help ? , thanks

Are you attending the psychometric testing or the assessment day with northern?

If it’s the psychometric testing then it will involve all the tests that they would have advised you on in the practise material they should have sent out which does include the MMI interview. The group tasks is something you do when attending the assessment day which is relatively new which is usually before the psychometric testing along with the Driver manager interview. I suspect as you’re talking about psychometric testing you have skipped this part? There’s certainly no group tasks associated with the psychometric tests

 

[Kris B]

Well done! Me too.

I have my assesment day in Sheffield next week. How did you find the day?

 

[northernbadger]

I have my assesment day in Sheffield next week. How did you find the day?

It was exactly what I expected to be honest - all the advice on this forum is spot on.

There were 9 of us in a room and we were split into 2 groups. One group did the paper based tests first, and the second group did the computer based tests first. We had half an hour break after, then swapped over. No one was sent home after any of the tests, so we all sat all of them, and we were told we would find out the results the following week.

The tests themselves were fine, just the environment felt a bit tense because the tests are timed and everyone was a bit nervous. The assessors were lovely though, very friendly and helpful and tried to make sure everyone felt as relaxed as possible.

 

[Malcolmh]

Hi, I've got my psychometric interview coming up and was wondering if there was a piercing policy in place that my hurt my chances if I leave all my facial piercing in.

 

[tulip]

Hi all I’ve been invited for a telephone interview for Liverpool. It’s changed on my portal today but I’ve not received an email yet.

So excited to get even this far!

 

[Kris B]

It was exactly what I expected to be honest - all the advice on this forum is spot on.

There were 9 of us in a room and we were split into 2 groups. One group did the paper based tests first, and the second group did the computer based tests first. We had half an hour break after, then swapped over. No one was sent home after any of the tests, so we all sat all of them, and we were told we would find out the results the following week.

The tests themselves were fine, just the environment felt a bit tense because the tests are timed and everyone was a bit nervous. The assessors were lovely though, very friendly and helpful and tried to make sure everyone felt as relaxed as possible.

Hopefully you will hear some good news soon then. Did everyone sit the one to one interview after the tasks or did some people get sent home?

 

[TrainzBK]

No policy at Northern, plenty of staff have them.

 

[northernbadger]

Hopefully you will hear some good news soon then. Did everyone sit the one to one interview after the tasks or did some people get sent home?

No the interviews are in a couple of weeks, so everyone sat all the tests and went home. We were told it would take a week to hear whether or not we'd passed, but they rang me the next day to say I'd got through to the interview.

 

[Taylor-j01]

I thought Northern it was

Telephone interview

Assessment day tasks if pass followed by mmi interview

Then psychometric tests if passed same day dmi interview

 

[Sian Ryan]

Hi,

I was very pleased that I passed my psychometric test the other day for northern and now have been invited back to compete the MMI (they expressed they have changed it now so in the past the MMI was on the same day as psychometric but now it is separate)

Has anyone got any advice for the MMI and SJe questions. I believe I am ok at interviews but I’ve heard mixed things, some saying it is a grilling and others saying it wasn’t too bad

Any advice would be great, thanks in advance

 

[Kris B]

Thats strange, I have my assesment day next week and on the email sent out it states it will be 4 different assessments then if successful you will have a 1 to 1 in the afternoon. The email was only sent out 3 weeks ago.

No the interviews are in a couple of weeks, so everyone sat all the tests and went home. We were told it would take a week to hear whether or not we'd passed, but they rang me the next day to say I'd got through to the interview.

 

[Taylor-j01]

As above

Its a assessment day and interview in afternoon

Then if successful psychometric tests followed by interview (which sounds like is on a different day now )

People are getting confused with assessment days and the physometrics tests

 

[Pintman]

I thought Northern it was

Telephone interview

Assessment day tasks if pass followed by mmi interview

Then psychometric tests if passed same day dmi interview

Surely the MMI would be on the same day as the psychometric tests, given that it's part of the RSSB psychometric driver assessments?

 

[northernbadger]

It is part of the psychometric assessment, but for whatever reason, for us, it's been arranged for a few weeks after the tests.

When we were invited to the assessment centre for the tests, we were told we could choose either morning or afternoon, they had slots for both, so maybe it's a logistics thing depending on how many candidates they are inviting in.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Oct 2025 ==

As above

Its a assessment day and interview in afternoon

Then if successful psychometric tests followed by interview (which sounds like is on a different day now )

People are getting confused with assessment days and the physometrics tests

We didnt have a separate assessment day. It went:
Stage 1: Application form
Stage 2: Online assessments
Stage 3: Psychometric assessment - paper and computer based
Stage 4: Psychometric assessment - MMI

 

[tulip]

Did anyone’s portal change to you have been invited to a phone interview, but no email get sent?

 

[Kris B]

It sounds like the recruitment process is different depending on the depot you have applied for. I completed the online application form and then invited to an assessment day. Never had the phone interview.

 

[tulip]

It sounds like the recruitment process is different depending on the depot you have applied for. I completed the online application form and then invited to an assessment day. Never had the phone interview.

Yeah looks like it! I’ll just have to wait until I get an email. Thanks

 

[therest]

Yeah looks like it! I’ll just have to wait until I get an email. Thanks

Hello, I’m in the same boat. My application for Liverpool depot is showing “invited to telephone interview” but I’m yet to receive the email. Must just be a waiting game.

 

[tulip]

Hello, I’m in the same boat. My application for Liverpool depot is showing “invited to telephone interview” but I’m yet to receive the email. Must just be a waiting game.

Defo! Good luck

 

[Sian Ryan]

did anyone sit the psychometric on the 8th October ? I have passed an I am waiting to do my MMI but in my application when I looked back all aspects say Manchester but one small subheading says the location is Liverpool ? Anyone else got this and is it potentially a mistake ? I don’t live close enough to Liverpool hence why I applied to Manchester

 

[mattybed21]

Evening all just wondering if anyone has recently applied for nothern trainee driver vacancies or has in the past. How long before they get back in touch with you in regards to the progress of your application.

 

[therest]

They are really really slow to be fair. Like months and months.

 

[SiTheTrainGuy]

Process has changed since I applied but roughly went

Applied September ‘23
Invited to interview December ‘23
Physcometrics January ‘24
Medical February ‘24
Started training March ‘24

I feel like I got lucky and that’s quite quick! Worth the wait though! It’s a superb job.

 

[mattybed21]

I have applied for Blackburn, I have railway background and already passed my psychometrics, how would the process go for me if I was successful to the next stage

 

[therest]

Defo! Good luck

I contacted northern to make sure no emails had been missed. They have advised that no emails have been issued yet. They are working on what dates they can do the telephone interviews and once they have those dates they will then release invite emails to us. Hope this helps