Trainee drivers Freighliner HH

[TDF]

When I did my tests for stage 2 with LM in Croydon at the Southern offices, I was 1 of 3. We sat the reactions test first then we were led to a holding area near a kitchen while the opc lady collates the results. She took one gent in on his own and we never saw him again, it's that brutal. If you fail the reactions you're gone and don't sit the interview.

Stage 2 is 100% reactions then if you pass, the interview. I rang up FLHH hr to ask because I'd been a few weeks previously so they checked the databases and my passes have been accepted for this stage too.

Hope this helps, best of luck to everyone!

 

[choochoochoo]

londonmidland, you're right in that all of us on here have benefited from the advice and hints found here. So thanks to all who've put up the useful info that has enabled us to go this far.

TDF, you didn't have to do another CBI for FLHH then ?

And just because I'm a bit of a perfectionist, if I call OPC will they be able to tell me exactly how I did on the stage 1 tests. Or are they only able to tell you that you passed or failed. Even though not necessary for the application, always like to know where I can improve.

 

[NI 271]

Again, to those who've already done stage 2. How long does it take altogether ?

It will depend (assuming you pass the reactions test) on what order the candidates are seen for interview. Because I only had the CBI to do, I got to go first and was on my way home by 1215, having been told to report for 0845. Two out of the three other candidates passed the reactions, the latter of those probably wouldn't have finished until 1430-1500.

 

[TDF]

TDF, you didn't have to do another CBI for FLHH then ?

No I don't have to sit any of the assessments for Freightliner, my results from LM are kept on a database for TOC's and FOC's to access if I apply for any driving trainee role. Good news for me.

The lady at my stage 2 assessment kindly sat down with me and went through my results after the interview. I'm not sure if this was because there were only 1 of us that progressed through to this stage and she had more time on her hands, but it was useful to me.

 

[choochoochoo]

NI271, so might be worth packing a lunch if I've got to get there for 08:45 and might still be there until 14:30. Did they say when you'd find out how you did on stage 2?

TDF, congrats on having passed the reactions and CBI already. So you're just waiting on finding out when stage 3 is then. I'd definitely welcome feedback on my performance.

As always, good luck to us all.

 

[NinjaJihad]

So if I was to pass all of the assessments but somehow fail to land a job, can I just apply for all and any Trainee positions without having to sit the assessments again? Or is it down to individual TOC & FOC's discretion?

 

[TDF]

NI271, so might be worth packing a lunch if I've got to get there for 08:45 and might still be there until 14:30. Did they say when you'd find out how you did on stage 2?

TDF, congrats on having passed the reactions and CBI already. So you're just waiting on finding out when stage 3 is then. I'd definitely welcome feedback on my performance.

As always, good luck to us all.

Yeah, for me I'm just waiting on correspondence regarding an interview date now.

In response to your previous question, I was at the testing centre in Croydon a few weeks ago with 2 other candidates. The reactions test we sat lasted around 15 minutes, and an agonising 5 minute wait for results.

The CBI would vary depending on the number of assessors and candidates who progressed through. When I sat mine, the other gent who passed went 1st and I waited maybe an hour to be seen. The feedback I received was great, it's useful if you can get it.

I'm not sure whether all TOC's and FOC's take the results, but Freightliner certainly accept LM passes.

 

[DunfordBridge]

Not exactly the walkover that I had previously imagined but a result nonetheless.

 

[Marky82]

Not exactly the walkover that I had previously imagined but a result nonetheless.

Is this referring your stage 2?

 

[DunfordBridge]

Is this referring your stage 2?

If only. No, it is my stage 1.

 

[Marky82]

If only. No, it is my stage 1.

Ah sorry, was on the presumption there....
...........................………...............................................................................

So I guess by now everybody who took part in stage 1 has now heard feedback from FL be it good or bad??
I know a few of people had an unreliable postman to contend with…

 

[JAMBO]

The internal trainees did the structured interview and then just went in with the ops managers and production manager for a " chat" , just a formality really as they knew they had the job! Not so sure that will be the case for guys fresh of the street, dare say you will get a severe grilling about anything and everything!

 

[E&W Lucas]

Glad to hear good news on here once more. Despite being over 40 this is quite a unique situation for me.
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Interesting comment is that although I am not quite sure if I agree in totality. There is just as much of a need for safety with heritage railways, in one regard more so due to the predominant use of slam door stock.

I would be the first to admit that I have not been exposed to any emergency situations on a heritage line unlike some of the more experienced crossing keepers, for example the time when an ambulance broke down on the crossing.

As this is my second strike, I will certainly not ignore your advice. I have an example for rules and procedures which involved my work as a cellar man. I would have to clean the beer lines on a weekly basis using chemicals. Basically, there would have to be no trace of chemicals in the line after the clean. I can testify to this following a mistake made by my assistant, when he dashed off to the loo just after starting work, despite giving me a personal assurance that one particular line was clean.

What line and what's your role please?
Be very wary of quoting heritage experience, when going for the mainline railway. Real world work examples will carry a lot more clout. I'd over a decade on the footplate at the Moors when I went mainline, right at the start of "off the street" recruitment. Heritage work is an interesting curiosity, and will be respected, but the quickest way to blow a mainline interview, is to come across at thinking that you know the job, because you've worked in the heritage sector.

Have you any stronger examples from your "day job"?

I've had pub managers as trainee drivers......

 

[bacooke1987]

Hello chaps, 4 weeks worth of stage 2, 3 people a day, so 60 of us are at stage 2. Anyone with me Tuesday? Does anyone know how many trainees flhh are after?

 

[NinjaJihad]

Is it only 3 a day being interviewed?

Have to add on the people that are straight through to the manager's interview.

I would also love to know how many vacancies they need filling. You have to imagine the internals that pass the assessment get first pick.

Not wanting to get too far ahead of myself but at what point would you find out the depot you are being sent to and would you have any say in it at all?

I've had a good look at the depot network and would need to re-locate for all but 2 of them. Could be sent to Scotland could be sent to Somerset!

 

[LondonmidlandC]

Just a quick update. I asked HR at FLHH if I had time for a holiday after stage two but have been told that if successful the managers interview is the end of September or fist week of October so no pressure then but good to know any one who gets through wont have too wait long.

Might be worh brushing up your knowledge of the company.... The trains are green right? Lol

 

[NI 271]

Is it only 3 a day being interviewed?

There were four when I was there on Tuesday.

 

[at60]

There were four when I was there on Tuesday.

How did you get on, NI. How many people interviewed you ?

 

[NI 271]

How did you get on, NI. How many people interviewed you ?

One - and I don't know yet how I got on. I'm hopeful, but as a natural pessimist, preparing for the worst...

 

[choochoochoo]

There were four when I was there on Tuesday.

even at 4 a day, that 80 out of the 240 that sat assessments. That's a big chop there already !! Before considering those who didn't even need to sit assessments.

Playing lots of computer games as practice for reactions test. Forgotten how fun they are. Need to start looking more at the CBI questions and preparing for that.

So will they do as they said, get you to write down an example before the interview and then go into it in further detail in the interview?

 

[TDF]

Just a quick update. I asked HR at FLHH if I had time for a holiday after stage two but have been told that if successful the managers interview is the end of September or fist week of October so no pressure then but good to know any one who gets through wont have too wait long.

Might be worh brushing up your knowledge of the company.... The trains are green right? Lol

I hope this is true, I'm out of the country for 5 weeks in October!

 

[JAMBO]

You will be told what depot you will be going to after your training! , I would be prepared to just up sticks with the family and go anywhere. The internals have got to the depots where there are based now, but I would be surprised if they give the externals that option. It's where the business requirements are and workload.

 

[NI 271]

You will be told what depot you will be going to after your training! , I would be prepared to just up sticks with the family and go anywhere. The internals have got to the depots where there are based now, but I would be surprised if they give the externals that option. It's where the business requirements are and workload.

As I said earlier in the thread, it's one advantage I have, I'm prepared to go wherever the work is, I expect there'll be some who might even be offered the job who won't take it because it'd mean leaving home.

Do you think they will just allot successful candidates a depot, or do you think there's any chance they might offer a choice of depots?

 

[Lincoln_biker]

I think the depot allocation question is best put to someone in the Manager's interview. People can't be expected to begin a training scheme without knowing where their families will end up when there's things like children, schools, mortgages and all of life's sundries to move.

 

[JAMBO]

The latest trainees didnt have a clue which depot they were going to be placed. It was well into the driving hours they were told.

 

[NI 271]

Thanks JAMBO. Here's hoping I'm soon kissing this place goodbye...

 

[JAMBO]

If your flexible then you have a much better chance. If your more than happy to move anywhere with the family to get a start then they will probably look on you as a good candidate. Flexible is a big word on the freight!! Again depends how much you want it. And remember your only tied into a contract for a few year so once that's up and you have your ticket you can move anywhere.

 

[DunfordBridge]

What line and what's your role please?
Be very wary of quoting heritage experience, when going for the mainline railway. Real world work examples will carry a lot more clout. I'd over a decade on the footplate at the Moors when I went mainline, right at the start of "off the street" recruitment. Heritage work is an interesting curiosity, and will be respected, but the quickest way to blow a mainline interview, is to come across at thinking that you know the job, because you've worked in the heritage sector.

Have you any stronger examples from your "day job"?

I've had pub managers as trainee drivers......

Hi E&W Lucas,

I am actually a crossing keeper on the Wensleydale Railway. I enquired with the Pickering line but as I am more interested in diesel haulage, the opportunites were not so numerous and I would have had to make my way to Grosmont, I believe.

I am no longer employed as a cellar man as I now work as an IT Director. It was actually a night shift. Sometimes out of season, I would be working from 19:00 to 06:00.

I thought the line clean would have been a good example due to the welfare of the holiday makers at large, or least that proportion of them who were drinking beer. Definitely not a good idea to ingest beer line cleaner. There was also a fixed order to performing certain sub-tasks. Do not really want to go into too much detail otherwise a number of people could be talking about cleaning beer lines in Watford for the next couple of weeks.

There are other examples from this work such as the proper disposal of broken glass and other procedures, but not too much in the way of rules apart from the legalities of being able to drink alcohol.

I think I have seen it before on the forum, about heritage experience actually being a drawback in an interview, cannot remember in what context exactly, but I thought it would have been a rich source of rules.

 

[Beveridges]

I think I have seen it before on the forum, about heritage experience actually being a drawback in an interview, cannot remember in what context exactly, but I thought it would have been a rich source of rules.

Heritage experience will work in or out of your favour depending on what context you mention it in the Interview.

If you say "I know the job already as I work on a preserved railway" that will go against you, but if you use your experience on the preserved line to demonstrate examples of following rules & procedures, solving a difficult problem, dealing with an emergency, working alone (& so on), then it can only work in your favour!

 

[E&W Lucas]

Hi E&W Lucas,

I am actually a crossing keeper on the Wensleydale Railway. I enquired with the Pickering line but as I am more interested in diesel haulage, the opportunites were not so numerous and I would have had to make my way to Grosmont, I believe.

I am no longer employed as a cellar man as I now work as an IT Director. It was actually a night shift. Sometimes out of season, I would be working from 19:00 to 06:00.

I thought the line clean would have been a good example due to the welfare of the holiday makers at large, or least that proportion of them who were drinking beer. Definitely not a good idea to ingest beer line cleaner. There was also a fixed order to performing certain sub-tasks. Do not really want to go into too much detail otherwise a number of people could be talking about cleaning beer lines in Watford for the next couple of weeks.

There are other examples from this work such as the proper disposal of broken glass and other procedures, but not too much in the way of rules apart from the legalities of being able to drink alcohol.

I think I have seen it before on the forum, about heritage experience actually being a drawback in an interview, cannot remember in what context exactly, but I thought it would have been a rich source of rules.

As a Director, you have statutory responsibilities. If you don't ensure that they are complied with, you get prosecuted. Can I suggest that you think along those lines?
Pretty similar to what I used myself. Remember, it is your day jobn that has landed you this interview, not what you do on a weekend. If there's really no other example, use heritage, but try to stick to real world work if you can.

Hospitality, especially if it involves working alone/ at night with guests, can provide good examples of handling an emergency. Someone taken ill, fire evacuation (depending on the procedures that you had for false alarms), etc.

As for diesel haulage, the Moors has been the place to be this year A good deal of it worked off the Pickering end too.