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Trainee Depot Driver East Midlands Trains

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Habitat

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17 Nov 2016
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I applied for EMT talent pool customer experience earlier in the year as a route in to the company.
Went along to the assessment day in Lincoln with around 24 people in April.

We'd already bad practice material sent through, we sat the Bourdon test, read through the safety instructions sheet and answer various questions and maybe one other test.

Then off for lunch and back for group test and speed interview.

They then kept 2 out of the 24 for a formal interview and sent the rest of us home.
The main interviewer then proceeded to tell us how disappointed he was with the level of candidates.
It transpired they were looking for a senior conductor this is why we sat the safety critical tests.
As I mentioned the advertised position was customer experience so it came as a surprise to most to learn what they were applying for.

I was one of two who stayed on for feedback, I was told I was third choice so narrowly missed out.
I asked for my test results, to be told they hadn't marked them. Which begs the question, what if the two that were kept on had epicly failed the tests???

They invited me to email for my test results a week later but I received no reply, I then rang a week after that and was told they'd send them, still waiting.......
 
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Max287

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6 Oct 2016
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So, I am right to believe that only one person on this forum has actually had any kind of response from Friday??? Seems odd if interviews are planned for next week!
 
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So, I am right to believe that only one person on this forum has actually had any kind of response from Friday??? Seems odd if interviews are planned for next week!
There's a cruel efficiency to this process. It's almost Germanic. One does not get long to practice or research for the various stages by design it would seem.
 

Max287

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Congratulations guys!

What days and times are they interviewing then? Is it all week?
 

Dynamonic

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10 Jan 2013
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Congratulations guys!

What days and times are they interviewing then? Is it all week?

Yep, a week of interviews from the second half of next week until partially into the week after I believe.

Stage 4 is still planned for the first full week in December, too.
 
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Trying to get an idea of how many interviews they are doing? Has anybody heard of any interviews not occuring on the 23rd or the 27th? Assuming two panels of interviewers, 5 interviews a day, that's 20 candidates? There were 50+ who sat stage 2 so i'm assuming at least one more day. 30 interviews perhaps?
 

EastMidsMatt

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24 Oct 2017
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Wowee! That's not long! o_O
Nope! Not long at all. I'll be setting the bar high everyone so make sure you are on it!! Seriously though I'm quite happy to be getting on with it, not too long to wait and then what will be will be! Good luck to you all.
 

Dynamonic

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Nope! Not long at all. I'll be setting the bar high everyone so make sure you are on it!! Seriously though I'm quite happy to be getting on with it, not too long to wait and then what will be will be! Good luck to you all.

Don't set that bar too high, right? :lol: Good luck to you too, MattVick! :D Go get 'em!!!
 

Bafferty

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22 Nov 2010
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To put this recruitment into context. EMT want you if all goes to plan book 4 days off work for each of the phases. Each candidate goes through the agonising couple of days after to wait to hear if onto next stage. You get to the end and get put into the talent pool where you could wait say 2 years in which time anything can happen.

Why don't they hold a basic test and quick interview to get people into the talent pool. Then and only when a vacancy arises bring them in for a 1 day testing and interview.

This current way seems to be messing with people's life and emotions for a job which may be a couple of years away.
 

Dynamonic

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To be honest, Bafferty, I'm glad I'm going through the full process now and not later on! It would be much worse to be in the Talent Pool, and then end up being unsuccessful later. (I think that defeats the objective of a Talent Pool too)
With a Talent Pool, EMT can have the people in place to fill vacancies at much shorter notice than they would be able to if they had to recruit from scratch.
They also recruit for the Talent Pool because they know that the vacancies will be there shortly! (Current Depot Drivers going on Mainline courses for example)
Yes, it can be nerve-wrecking and emotional for us candidates, but at the end of the day...we really want the job...and we go with the faith, belief and drive that we're going to get it, no matter how long it'll take!!! :D

I've been very impressed with the process so far! It's fast, and we always know what's going on! That can't be said for a lot of other TOCs at the moment, sadly! :)
 
Joined
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To put this recruitment into context. EMT want you if all goes to plan book 4 days off work for each of the phases. Each candidate goes through the agonising couple of days after to wait to hear if onto next stage. You get to the end and get put into the talent pool where you could wait say 2 years in which time anything can happen.

Why don't they hold a basic test and quick interview to get people into the talent pool. Then and only when a vacancy arises bring them in for a 1 day testing and interview.

This current way seems to be messing with people's life and emotions for a job which may be a couple of years away.

The booking time off is tricky, particularly as we're towards the end of the year when people dont have a huge amount of holiday days left!
In some respects the whole process is a test of your dedication to the role- if u want the job you'll get the time off. I've heard of one TOC (not EMT) whose final party trick of the process is to tell candidates they need to start in two weeks even though they know 4 weeks are needed. It's a test of your dedication.
 

Habitat

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That appears plain rude.
How would the TOC like it you left them in the lurch by not working out your full notice?
 

Dynamonic

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10 Jan 2013
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Nottinghamshire
That appears plain rude.
How would the TOC like it you left them in the lurch by not working out your full notice?

Unfortunately, that does happen on the railway. I've seen plenty of examples of it on the forum. Of course, it's never ideal and I would always want to work my notice, but if you get the call, what do you do? Start dates are set in stone.

Luckily, EMT seems to offer quite a bit of notice for course start dates. There's a few people around here who have been offered dates in January, I believe! :)
 

Raul_Duke

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29 Mar 2014
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397
It’s not a test of anything.

They just don’t care.

If you can’t make a test or interview then theres 500 people behind you in the queue who will.

As an aside, I got thee weeks notice to start the course.
 

Dynamonic

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10 Jan 2013
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Nottinghamshire
Just a quick message to say good luck to all of you who, like me, have their Driver Manager Interviews coming up this week!
I hope the preparation has been going well for you, and I wish you every success!!!

Good luck! :D
 
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Just a quick message to say good luck to all of you who, like me, have their Driver Manager Interviews coming up this week!
I hope the preparation has been going well for you, and I wish you every success!!!

Good luck! :D

Let's give it some beans.

Got an update on numbers at Derby this week from an emt source. Their depot driver link has 2 current vacancies, another 6 soon going freight driving and there is an anticipation that 11 mainline promotions should occur in 2018. Sounds like Derby is the place to apply for as they're basically after an entirely new quota of depot drivers.
 

Dynamonic

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Location
Nottinghamshire
Let's give it some beans.

Got an update on numbers at Derby this week from an emt source. Their depot driver link has 2 current vacancies, another 6 soon going freight driving and there is an anticipation that 11 mainline promotions should occur in 2018. Sounds like Derby is the place to apply for as they're basically after an entirely new quota of depot drivers.

It definitely looks like a great season to go for this role doesn't it?
Cheekily, my family hope that if I'm successful, I'll stay in the talent pool until August 2018, so I can still go on the traditional family holiday! Personally, I want to start yesterday! :lol:
 

Raul_Duke

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29 Mar 2014
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Let's give it some beans.

Got an update on numbers at Derby this week from an emt source. Their depot driver link has 2 current vacancies, another 6 soon going freight driving and there is an anticipation that 11 mainline promotions should occur in 2018. Sounds like Derby is the place to apply for as they're basically after an entirely new quota of depot drivers.

There’s not six going Freight anymore. More like 3 now.
 
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