Trainee Train Driver - Virgin Trains East Coast

[marshyc]

Did anyone who applied for this position receive any sort of confirmation that their email had been received?

Thanks.

Not a thing.

Guess we'll just have to wait until 1st Nov and see who gets through.

That's going to be a long couple of weeks.

 

[ainsworth74]

I imagine that they will only reply to those that get through to the next stage due to the volume of applicants. That would explain why they've given the 1 November date. If you haven't heard by then I would assume that you've been unsuccessful. I've seen a lot of job adverts (outside of the rail industry) where they say things like 'if you haven't heard by x you're unsuccessful' or 'if you haven't heard x weeks after the close you're unsuccessful'.

 

[marshyc]

I imagine that they will only reply to those that get through to the next stage due to the volume of applicants. That would explain why they've given the 1 November date. If you haven't heard by then I would assume that you've been unsuccessful. I've seen a lot of job adverts (outside of the rail industry) where they say things like 'if you haven't heard by x you're unsuccessful' or 'if you haven't heard x weeks after the close you're unsuccessful'.

Yeah I agree. I don't think you could expect a negative response even though it would be nice. But the figures just don't allow that really. I'll be sticking to that rule. If there's nothing in my inbox by 1st November then I've not got through this time.

On to the next application

 

[Gemz91]

Yeah I agree. I don't think you could expect a negative response even though it would be nice. But the figures just don't allow that really. I'll be sticking to that rule. If there's nothing in my inbox by 1st November then I've not got through this time.

On to the next application

Its says on the original advert "all candidates will be contacted". I read this as everyone will be contacted, even if its just a thanks, but not this time email.

 

[ainsworth74]

Its says on the original advert "all candidates will be contacted". I read this as everyone will be contacted, even if its just a thanks, but not this time email.

Oh does it? Well colour me impressed if they do manage to do that.

 

[Gemz91]

Oh does it? Well colour me impressed if they do manage to do that.

The original advert is the first post on this topic. Sorry, not sure how to multi-quote.

 

[Spankthemonkey]

Oh does it? Well colour me impressed if they do manage to do that.

Virgin pride themselves on being different, it will be interesting to see if they can raise themselves above the generally under equipped standards of railway HR and recruitment departments. If they manage a 16 day sift of 5000 applications and send and email to everyone on November the 1st it would be impressive.

They must have some sort of software involved. Do the maths: 5000 applications, 11 working days before Nov 1st, that's 454 letters and CV's a day, on a 7.5 working day that's 60 an hour! How many people work in a railway HR department, usually only one or two.

 

[Gemz91]

Virgin pride themselves on being different, it will be interesting to see if they can raise themselves above the generally under equipped standards of railway HR and recruitment departments. If they manage a 16 day sift of 5000 applications and send and email to everyone on November the 1st it would be impressive.

They must have some sort of software involved. Do the maths: 5000 applications, 11 working days before Nov 1st, that's 454 letters and CV's a day, on a 7.5 working day that's 60 an hour! How many people work in a railway HR department, usually only one or two.

Just wait until they have 4,922 people emailing them asking for advice on why they haven't been successful!

 

[Scuba2208]

454 letters / CVs a day is doable if they employ computer software to eliminate those who go over word count, those who make more than x spelling mistakes etc. By the time the software has filtered out half of those, that leaves 2 minutes for someone to read the covering letter and another person to read the CV... Possibly longer depending on how many people they have in their "talent team".
I'm surprised that it's only 5000 applicants. When Scotrail recruited last time for 100 posts, they were inundated with over 22,000 applications. Given the fact this recruitment is for 6 stations UK wide, I'd have expected a lot more. I'm not complaining, mind you ??????

 

[Spankthemonkey]

Bit more maths:

10 assessment days, I'd guess morning and afternoon sessions. Roughly 15 people per session (so some do group exercises while others are interviewed etc). That's 300 people invited to assessment. So that's a 6% chance of making the sift.

 

[Economist]

Regarding the email replies, a well-known airline recently replied to 3,000 applicants for a cadet scheme individually by email. They emailed those who had not been selected first so everyone was hoping for about four days that they wouldn't receive an email.

So it has been done before, though the airline in question used online aptitude testing and a CV screening as the first sift. Surprised Virgin didn't use online questionnaires or aptitude testing since a total of 200 words is really not much.

 

[doubleamber]

Virgin pride themselves on being different, it will be interesting to see if they can raise themselves above the generally under equipped standards of railway HR and recruitment departments. If they manage a 16 day sift of 5000 applications and send and email to everyone on November the 1st it would be impressive.

They must have some sort of software involved. Do the maths: 5000 applications, 11 working days before Nov 1st, that's 454 letters and CV's a day, on a 7.5 working day that's 60 an hour! How many people work in a railway HR department, usually only one or two.

They are using software, re my earlier post.

 

[Spankthemonkey]

They are using software, re my earlier post.

And I was agreeing with you.

 

[Webby]

Surely the 100 word limit was only for those 2 questions and the rest of the cover letter could use as many words as you want.

 

[800001]

Virgin pride themselves on being different, it will be interesting to see if they can raise themselves above the generally under equipped standards of railway HR and recruitment departments. If they manage a 16 day sift of 5000 applications and send and email to everyone on November the 1st it would be impressive.

They must have some sort of software involved. Do the maths: 5000 applications, 11 working days before Nov 1st, that's 454 letters and CV's a day, on a 7.5 working day that's 60 an hour! How many people work in a railway HR department, usually only one or two.

5000 applicants was the total at end of last week, based on messages earlier in week. So there is all the applications from those who applied up to yesterday.

 

[m@tty]

Hello guys
First post here as Im new to the forum. Stumbled upon it while searching the web for info on train driving as I have applied for one of the positions with Virgin and hoping for good news in November.
Currently working as a Paramedic and have been with the ambulance service for almost 12 years and previously a Royal Engineer HGV driver but fancy a career change.
Lots of info on this forum and hoping to use it to my advantage..

Regards M@tty

 

[MarkMayf]

I'm another one of the 5000.

I applied for a depot driving job with Northern back in 2013, but made a hash of the reaction test.

I was unable to change careers after that so was out of the loop for a while. Now things are a little different so I wasn't missing the opportunity to have another go.

Shamefully, I forgot my forum details in the interim period!

As an aside, the sifting software must take some putting together. Different document formats, what is a spelling mistake and not a town, or surname, different writing styles etc. Clever stuff.

 

[SkinnyDave]

I wonder if they will split Qualified Driver applications from Trainee and process them seperatley..

 

[Vik10]

I currently work offshore who also have a high number of CV's sent in for positions.
My mate was telling me the other day he had heard people trying to beat this software sift by at the bottom of their CV's typing lots of random words all to with the offshore industry and putting it in white font so invisible to the naked eye.
Don't have a clue if this software sifting exists or the solution works, just rumours

 

[SPADTrap]

I currently work offshore who also have a high number of CV's sent in for positions.
My mate was telling me the other day he had heard people trying to beat this software sift by at the bottom of their CV's typing lots of random words all to with the offshore industry and putting it in white font so invisible to the naked eye.
Don't have a clue if this software sifting exists or the solution works, just rumours

Better than when I applied to the airlines via a paper CV and printed it on bigger paper cut down to be slightly larger than A4 so it stuck out on the pile on the chief pilots desk. It worked though!

 

[theironroad]

Better than when I applied to the airlines via a paper CV and printed it on bigger paper cut down to be slightly larger than A4 so it stuck out on the pile on the chief pilots desk. It worked though!

Haha,interesting idea. I wonder if these days an admin clerk would just sift it into the decline pile....

 

[rtw162]

The question is - do companies use this 'software' to sift the cover letters before the cv's even get a look in


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bagazon]

They using palm readers, coin flipping and so....
Guys reading all these I am wondering what to do: to cry or laughing?!?
A simple good CV and cover letter always works for you!

 

[Economist]

How do they stop people from putting lots of the desired words in Size 1 font and white text somewhere on the page?

 

[jballz72]

Exactly my thoughts RTW162, you could have a cracking C.V but the covering letter or part of the questions asked may have spelling or punctuation errors and sifted out, therefore the C.V wouldn't even be considered.

 

[sw1ller]

I currently work offshore who also have a high number of CV's sent in for positions.
My mate was telling me the other day he had heard people trying to beat this software sift by at the bottom of their CV's typing lots of random words all to with the offshore industry and putting it in white font so invisible to the naked eye.
Don't have a clue if this software sifting exists or the solution works, just rumours

I don't see how this would work as once it gets down to the nitty gritty, the HR and DM's would be reading it carefully to get the best out of the interview. You can put all the hidden keywords in there you like but if the non-hidden words aren't up to the job, then what's the point.

Also, IF they are on the ball (and I would assume they are) all the have to do is click and drag a mouse over it and all the hidden words would appear, thus showing them they're a deceitful %$&@ and its game over.

I'm just in driver training now and the best advice I can give is just be honest. They know when you're lying.

 

[E&W Lucas]

I don't see how this would work as once it gets down to the nitty gritty, the HR and DM's would be reading it carefully to get the best out of the interview. You can put all the hidden keywords in there you like but if the non-hidden words aren't up to the job, then what's the point.

Also, IF they are on the ball (and I would assume they are) all the have to do is click and drag a mouse over it and all the hidden words would appear, thus showing them they're a deceitful %$&@ and its game over.

I'm just in driver training now and the best advice I can give is just be honest. They know when you're lying.

Seconded.
Two things that you don't do to driver management - B******t them or lie to them.
It is an environment where inconsistencies WILL be found out.

 

[Vik10]

It was just because people were talking about the initial CV sift on here and the use of software I was saying about the rumours I had heard.
I am aware it's a total different ball game in your interview, answering competence questions etc

 

[MarkMayf]

If the sift software was also looking for punctuation errors, a load of random words probably wouldn't be favourable anyway.

 

[SPADTrap]

Haha,interesting idea. I wonder if these days an admin clerk would just sift it into the decline pile....

This was in 2011