Southeastern - Trainee Driver - Recruitment Discussion

[StewTheITGuy]

Luckily my kids are all grown up and don't need the school holidays off, also taking holidays during the summer holidays is my personal idea of hell....

I think the problem is its just dawned on her that I won't be sat on the sofa with her every night, and we won't always have weekends together and she will need to learn how to fill and empty the dishwasher.
She's also worried that if I get rostered a set holiday she might not be able to get the same time off.

 

[43066]

Luckily my kids are all grown up and don't need the school holidays off, also taking holidays during the summer holidays is my personal idea of hell....

I think the problem is its just dawned on her that I won't be sat on the sofa with her every night, and we won't always have weekends together and she will need to learn how to fill and empty the dishwasher.
She's also worried that if I get rostered a set holiday she might not be able to get the same time off.

Unfortunately as you and your wife will quickly realise railway shift work is something of a lifestyle, and you do have to plan life around your shifts to a large extent. However the pay, time off and generally good work life balance more than compensate for this for most.

 

[CFRAIL]

I'm not a driver, but do work in the industry. The rostered leave and shift work can be challenging, especially if you're not used to it. It can take some getting used to. I've got young children and it can be difficult to spend enough time with them, but it's certainly possible to swap leave blocks with others, swap rest days, swap duties etc...

 

[FR510]

Luckily my kids are all grown up and don't need the school holidays off, also taking holidays during the summer holidays is my personal idea of hell....

I think the problem is its just dawned on her that I won't be sat on the sofa with her every night, and we won't always have weekends together and she will need to learn how to fill and empty the dishwasher.
She's also worried that if I get rostered a set holiday she might not be able to get the same time off.

If you don't need the school holidays then it should be quite easy to move into leave vacancies or swap. There are still popular times such as the first couple of weeks in September, when your idea of hell is over!

 

[NeoNeko]

I had my DMI this week and found out I passed! Honestly, still can't quite believe it! I applied last September, which feels both a lifetime and five minutes ago in equal measure, and it feels amazing to have come this far I've got my medical in a little while, and then training starts, which I know is when the hard work really begins, but I'm so excited and determined to make the most of this amazing opportunity

Thanks to everyone on this forum for the help and advice they've given out here, both to me and to others over the years. This forum is an amazing and indispensable library of railway information, and it's helped me so much in all my preparation

Just counting down until training starts now, and a new chapter in my life begins!

 

[StewTheITGuy]

I had my DMI this week and found out I passed! Honestly, still can't quite believe it! I applied last September, which feels both a lifetime and five minutes ago in equal measure, and it feels amazing to have come this far I've got my medical in a little while, and then training starts, which I know is when the hard work really begins, but I'm so excited and determined to make the most of this amazing opportunity

Thanks to everyone on this forum for the help and advice they've given out here, both to me and to others over the years. This forum is an amazing and indispensable library of railway information, and it's helped me so much in all my preparation

Just counting down until training starts now, and a new chapter in my life begins!

Well done NeoNeko.

I had my DMI last Tuesday and also passed, just the medical and the references to go..

I agree the hard work starts when we start the 1st day of classroom training.
Can't wait.

 

[jnemz]

I wonder if anyone can help me with a little conundrum I have?

I applied to the trainee driver advert in June 24, and I have been successful in every stage, and had an email in October saying it could be up to a year before I'm able to get in for an assessment day, no sweat.

Fast forward to April this year and I'm told I'm being made redundant, so the need for employment has become somewhat more urgent! I applied for Customer Service Opportunities (eg Station Staff), and after an assessment day yesterday I have had an email to let me know that I was successful and will be placed in to the talent pool if there isn't a position at a station that is local to me. This is great news, it's obviously not the same job as a driver, but I'm just happy I have something lined up now and I'm excited to work on the railways in any capacity!

Now I've read in this forum that the recruiters don't particularly like it when you say you're applying for a position to use as a stepping stone in to something else. I forgot to bring up my other application in my interview, and I'm now wondering how I should approach this. My aim is ultimately to become a driver, but I'm thinking maybe it would be worth doing a few years as station staff before trying to progress my career. Ultimately I think I need to be honest and upfront with the recruitment team, and see what they say, and I'll probably have to pull my application for the trainee driver role for the time being.

If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[43066]

I wonder if anyone can help me with a little conundrum I have?

I applied to the trainee driver advert in June 24, and I have been successful in every stage, and had an email in October saying it could be up to a year before I'm able to get in for an assessment day, no sweat.

Fast forward to April this year and I'm told I'm being made redundant, so the need for employment has become somewhat more urgent! I applied for Customer Service Opportunities (eg Station Staff), and after an assessment day yesterday I have had an email to let me know that I was successful and will be placed in to the talent pool if there isn't a position at a station that is local to me. This is great news, it's obviously not the same job as a driver, but I'm just happy I have something lined up now and I'm excited to work on the railways in any capacity!

Now I've read in this forum that the recruiters don't particularly like it when you say you're applying for a position to use as a stepping stone in to something else. I forgot to bring up my other application in my interview, and I'm now wondering how I should approach this. My aim is ultimately to become a driver, but I'm thinking maybe it would be worth doing a few years as station staff before trying to progress my career. Ultimately I think I need to be honest and upfront with the recruitment team, and see what they say, and I'll probably have to pull my application for the trainee driver role for the time being.

If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated.

I would just take the job if you’re offered it as you clearly need employment. There shouldn’t be any need to withdraw your trainee driver application, though, or to necessarily even mention it. It’s only an application at this point and, even if you’re successful, you could be waiting months or even years to start training.

 

[Dragon77]

Hey everyone. So I've been lucky enought to pass my dmi and awaiting a date for my mmi.
Is it really as scarey and intense as everyone says it is? Any tips would be great. Thanks

 

[NeoNeko]

Hey everyone. So I've been lucky enought to pass my dmi and awaiting a date for my mmi.
Is it really as scarey and intense as everyone says it is? Any tips would be great. Thanks

Honestly, mine wasn't. My assessor was super lovely and gave me lots of space and time to go into all the details I wanted with my answers. When she wanted a bit more from me, she asked a few questions to get me on track to give her the answers that she needed to hear for her assessment papers. But I went in super prepared, I'd spent a couple of weeks practising with my partner, and I had about 20 scenarios in my head that I could use for any questions they could have asked, as well as being very aware of all the important points I needed to discuss that were important to get across and important for them to hear. I was super anxious going in, but I had left nothing to chance, and it went really well. I found some really good threads on here, like these two:

Multimodal Interview (MMI)

Hi all, I've recently passed a structured interview with manager at SWT for a drivers position. The next stage is an MMI. Now, doing research on this forum and elsewhere gives no clear explanation of how a MMI is conducted or the structure of this type of interview. What little is...

www.railforums.co.uk

MMI Areas

I've just found out this week that I didn't pass my MMI. I was told it related to Area C. Does this mean question 3 or is it a more general characteristic that spans all of the six questions?

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[dub]

The vacancy has reopened if anyone missed out before. Looks like they've not had enough people make it through the process for positions at Charing Cross and Grove Park depots.

 

[newbiewannabe]

The vacancy has reopened if anyone missed out before. Looks like they've not had enough people make it through the process for positions at Charing Cross and Grove Park depots.

I’m still waiting for an assessment date and I’ve applied for Grove Park. I applied 14th June last year.

 

[dub]

I’m still waiting for an assessment date and I’ve applied for Grove Park. I applied 14th June last year.

Maybe drop them an email!

 

[Folkestonechap]

Still waiting for a spot at Ashford from last June.

 

[newbiewannabe]

Maybe drop them an email!

Cheers mate i did, they said I’ll take priority over new applicants so hopefully it’ll be soon! More dates being given out from the beginning of august.

 

[Dragon77]

Honestly, mine wasn't. My assessor was super lovely and gave me lots of space and time to go into all the details I wanted with my answers. When she wanted a bit more from me, she asked a few questions to get me on track to give her the answers that she needed to hear for her assessment papers. But I went in super prepared, I'd spent a couple of weeks practising with my partner, and I had about 20 scenarios in my head that I could use for any questions they could have asked, as well as being very aware of all the important points I needed to discuss that were important to get across and important for them to hear. I was super anxious going in, but I had left nothing to chance, and it went really well. I found some really good threads on here, like these two:

Multimodal Interview (MMI)

Hi all, I've recently passed a structured interview with manager at SWT for a drivers position. The next stage is an MMI. Now, doing research on this forum and elsewhere gives no clear explanation of how a MMI is conducted or the structure of this type of interview. What little is...

www.railforums.co.uk

MMI Areas

I've just found out this week that I didn't pass my MMI. I was told it related to Area C. Does this mean question 3 or is it a more general characteristic that spans all of the six questions?

www.railforums.co.uk

Oh that sounds positive.
Do they just ask the 6 questions you have to pre fill on the assessment day? I may change my answers from what I originally wrote down.

Do they ask you anything else? Thanks

 

[NeoNeko]

Oh that sounds positive.
Do they just ask the 6 questions you have to pre fill on the assessment day? I may change my answers from what I originally wrote down.

Do they ask you anything else? Thanks

There's a situational judgment test beforehand, but it isn't scored; it's simply there to provide additional information to work with in case you need to ask more questions during the MMI. Then, you receive the MMI question sheet with six scenarios - the space for writing down your answers is much smaller than I had anticipated! It's enough for two or three lines, at most. That's everything pre-MMI, and then it's on to the actual interview

 

[megs1802]

I’m still waiting for an assessment date and I’ve applied for Grove Park. I applied 14th June last year.

I was the same…..I dropped them an email last week and got an invite the next day

 

[kiteyoung]

So I've noticed that for Charing Cross and Victoria stations, they need you to live within 20 minutes by public transport of them, but only south of the river? I live pretty much right next to Charing Cross, but north of the river Thames. This feels a bit unfair.

 

[NeoNeko]

I think the wording of the advert is slightly clumsy, and I assume they mean you can't apply for their Kent depots if you live north of the river, but as CHX is a London depot, you'll be fine.

 

[kourblimey]

So I've noticed that for Charing Cross and Victoria stations, they need you to live within 20 minutes by public transport of them, but only south of the river? I live pretty much right next to Charing Cross, but north of the river Thames. This feels a bit unfair.

I lived 20 mins away, north of the river, and they accepted that. Shouldn’t be a problem

 

[Gruntwill]

When did this open??? I've had job alerts for trainee driver on for almost a year and I've only just today got an email saying there's a role.. but it's only Grove Park/CHX which are **slightly** over 40 minutes drive away from me . Devastated that the ones for other depots are gone, how long am I going to have to wait for more to open haha

 

[newbiewannabe]

I was the same…..I dropped them an email last week and got an invite the next day

Nice one! Hopefully I’ll get mine now as I’ve done the same, the said new dates starting from the beginning of august. Good luck!

 

[Dragon77]

There's a situational judgment test beforehand, but it isn't scored; it's simply there to provide additional information to work with in case you need to ask more questions during the MMI. Then, you receive the MMI question sheet with six scenarios - the space for writing down your answers is much smaller than I had anticipated! It's enough for two or three lines, at most. That's everything pre-MMI, and then it's on to the actual interview

I have already done the SJT and prefilled MMI questions on my assessment day in April. Looks as though it may just be being asked the 6 questions again then. Thank you

 

[NeoNeko]

I have already done the SJT and prefilled MMI questions on my assessment day in April. Looks as though it may just be being asked the 6 questions again then. Thank you

Oh, ok, that's very different to how it was for me. I had my assessment day, then I had my MMI on a different day, with SJT and six questions, and after I passed that, I got invited to the DMI, but you had your DMI before your MMI. So it sounds like you will just have the MMI interview in that case, like you said.

 

[megs1802]

Has anyone sat their assessment day recently??
Am wondering if the MMI is on the same day as the tests or is it just the MSJ and pre-filled questions for the MMI???

 

[matcha]

Should those of us that are awaiting assessment dates for depots other than Grove Park and Charing Cross assume that they have filled all the positions at the other depots? I applied around a year ago and have done the M7SJT which I passed, but haven't had an invite for assessment.

 

[Carrot12345]

I have applied for Grove Park, submitted on Sunday. Anyone know how long usually takes to hear back? Thanks

 

[Dragon77]

Has anyone sat their assessment day recently??
Am wondering if the MMI is on the same day as the tests or is it just the MSJ and pre-filled questions for the MMI???

I done mine a few months ago with gtr.
On the assessment day i done all the assessments then pre filled the 6 answers for the mmi interview and then at the end of all assessments done the sjt.

You don't find out on the day if you pass. It took approximately 2 weeks to get the result

I actually found the assessments relatively easy, don't over think. The worst i found was the 2 hand co ordination which i thought I had failed as I am no gamer and kept going off the track but kept calm and carried on. The joy sticks ping back so I found it easier to hold them lower down with the edge of my hand resting on the desk for more control.

Good luck!

 

[Albert98]

So applied for a trainee train driver role with South Eastern, my application was accepted and I passed the M7 online test, what can expect next?