TOC emailed saying I'm too far away.. anyone experienced this?

[tedbaker]

If you’re east of Bedford nearer to the A1, then consider GA, XC or GTR at Cambridge too - all should be within an hour for you.

Slightly further (but potentially an easier journey) is Peterborough, fairly sure GTR and LNER have drivers there (stand to be corrected)

 

[EZJ]

The job advert needs to reflect what they are looking for.
The advert said an hour from depot. I'm 55 minutes away so applied, jumped through the hoops and am now waiting for a decline email due to distance.
They must know they're going to get plenty of applicants 30/40 minutes away so why not just state that in the advert and not waste everyone's time and money?

Yes but is it 55 minutes at say 0300 and 1hr20 at 0830, it all depends the time of day you route planned it.

 

[Tysoe]

I really don't see the benefit of putting someone through the process that they have no intention of employing.

But ok

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Sep 2023 ==

Yes but is it 55 minutes at say 0300 and 1hr20 at 0830, it all depends the time of day you route planned it.

Then why not specify that on the application.

Must be able to get to depot in 1 hour (but actually 30 minutes) at peak time.

Maybe they'll give me a job in recruitment

 

[NSEWonderer]

I really don't see the benefit of putting someone through the process that they have no intention of employing.

But ok

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Sep 2023 ==


Then why not specify that on the application.

Must be able to get to depot in 1 hour (but actually 30 minutes) at peak time.

Maybe they'll give me a job in recruitment

But that is almost every recruitment for you? The thing is TOCs can afford to be as indiscrete with details as people will always still be waiting or meet those requirements however obscure.

The main thing is that if they want to sift because they have a limited amount of positions and thus had a surplus of candidates that they didn't expect to have then they'll sift to get to workable numbers.

Whilst it may not be fair to those that get sifted in this check, its a relief to those who didn't and now have slightly more of a chance of landing a job. Its all relative in perspective after all as(not picking on you ofc) but I doubt you'd be annoyed if say you made it thru such sift and someone else didnt.

 

[Tysoe]

Yes I understand why they are doing it.

Safe to say they know how many positions they are advertising for and they know they will get many hundreds of applications, so why not lower the travel time to limit the number of applicants in the first place?

Not sure I'm getting my point across here so might just leave it there

 

[NSEWonderer]

Yes I understand why they are doing it.

Safe to say they know how many positions they are advertising for and they know they will get many hundreds of applications, so why not lower the travel time to limit the number of applicants in the first place?

Not sure I'm getting my point across here so might just leave it there

Nah I get you but heck railway recruitment like the railway itself isn't always as straight forward as we'd like it.

The plus is however that those who have sat the tests have now some pretty good passes that can help speed thru the next set of application process to the dmi within 3 to 5 years time of expiration.

Should be incredibly proud of yourselves.

 

[Carl98k]

And lots of HR departments are wary of this because people have previously promised to relocate and then not followed through with it.

Some TOCs will allow it, some are strict and it will be an absolute no.

Yes I totally get that. And I’m in no way suggesting that people should lie.

 

[Horizon22]

Yes I understand why they are doing it.

Safe to say they know how many positions they are advertising for and they know they will get many hundreds of applications, so why not lower the travel time to limit the number of applicants in the first place?

Not sure I'm getting my point across here so might just leave it there

The travel time is normally in the advert. Why people think it will be different and individual circumstances will be taken into account I do not know.

It should be done at the sifting phase, but evidently some companies don’t apply this criteria at the same point in the process. That’s their prerogative, even if it seems like a potential waste of time.

 

[12LDA28C]

Not at all.. the initial sift wasn't carried out by the TOC. There was a huge amount of applicants for the position I was offered, so it would likely have been a computer that did the distance check. I suspect the internal requirement was more lax than the officially advertised one. AFAIK, the 1 hour 'rule' isn't a rule, just accepted industry guidance.

Have you got any evidence that a computer would have done the sifting? You'd be surprised how much of the recruitment process is actually done by real people. But you're quite right, the 1 hour rule isn't a 'rule' - in fact some TOCs specify a commute to home depot of no more than 45 minutes.

 

[DontPlayBoxing]

Have you got any evidence that a computer would have done the sifting? You'd be surprised how much of the recruitment process is actually done by real people. But you're quite right, the 1 hour rule isn't a 'rule' - in fact some TOCs specify a commute to home depot of no more than 45 minutes.

I have (had) two applications in with the same TOC and one was 1hr and the other was 45mins.

 

[Archvile]

Have you got any evidence that a computer would have done the sifting? You'd be surprised how much of the recruitment process is actually done by real people. But you're quite right, the 1 hour rule isn't a 'rule' - in fact some TOCs specify a commute to home depot of no more than 45 minutes.

No direct evidence, but it was one of those "unsuccessful applicants receive automatic reject Emails after 10 minutes" type affairs from what I read on here at the time.

 

[800301]

With one TOC I applied to, I got all the way to the end of my DMI, the last stage before being given an ultimatum on moving closer which I completely understood but had wished the application hadn’t got that far…

Another TOC again I had got to interview for a depot driver job and had passed the interview would most likely be working there, when another application came up for a driving roll they wouldn’t take me on distance.

Where I work now, they know where I live, they know it’s pretty much on the limit but there are also drivers that live a lot further away than me, I certainly think the hour rule is there for a reason and really shouldn’t be exceeded, at least the majority of day I can travel by public transport as there are some shifts that I wouldn’t be the happiest driving home after, the job at times can really tire you out and having 6/7 days straight of long jobs can wear you out a lot more than you’d think

 

[DontPlayBoxing]

With one TOC I applied to, I got all the way to the end of my DMI, the last stage before being given an ultimatum on moving closer which I completely understood but had wished the application hadn’t got that far…

Another TOC again I had got to interview for a depot driver job and had passed the interview would most likely be working there, when another application came up for a driving roll they wouldn’t take me on distance.

Where I work now, they know where I live, they know it’s pretty much on the limit but there are also drivers that live a lot further away than me, I certainly think the hour rule is there for a reason and really shouldn’t be exceeded, at least the majority of day I can travel by public transport as there are some shifts that I wouldn’t be the happiest driving home after, the job at times can really tire you out and having 6/7 days straight of long jobs can wear you out a lot more than you’d think

I think everyone is pretty understanding of the rule. Personally, I'm fine with it, but I think the issue for most appears to be exactly what you had; being told so late in the process. I would have preferred it if they just told me when my application went in that I wouldnt be considered, even after jumping through all the hoops.

Am I grateful for the one and only assessment I had left and needed to pass to complete my set, yes, but it still took up a lot of my time (mentally/physically) and also had financial costs involved.

It is what it is, onto the next one.

 

[Horizon22]

No direct evidence, but it was one of those "unsuccessful applicants receive automatic reject Emails after 10 minutes" type affairs from what I read on here at the time.

That doesn’t mean anything. A human can still review it on a recruitment system, click reject and then you get a pre-scripted email.

 

[75A]

I think everyone is pretty understanding of the rule. Personally, I'm fine with it, but I think the issue for most appears to be exactly what you had; being told so late in the process. I would have preferred it if they just told me when my application went in that I wouldnt be considered, even after jumping through all the hoops.

Am I grateful for the one and only assessment I had left and needed to pass to complete my set, yes, but it still took up a lot of my time (mentally/physically) and also had financial costs involved.

It is what it is, onto the next one.

Good attitude, good luck to you.

 

[Archvile]

That doesn’t mean anything. A human can still review it on a recruitment system, click reject and then you get a pre-scripted email.

There were people posting that they'd been rejected minutes after applying at 0-dark-30 hrs, that would suggest pretty automated to me!

 

[NSEWonderer]

The recent sifting on location I assume was done half with automated and half with human checking where as the first sift was definitely automated.

 

[Horizon22]

There were people posting that they'd been rejected minutes after applying at 0-dark-30 hrs, that would suggest pretty automated to me!

You can schedule emails you know. They are probably sent out in batches when server workload is low.

Applications will be looked at by an individual even if it’s just a cursory one minute check and a rejection. That doesn’t mean some element of automation isn’t also used.