GWR Train Driver talent pool

Tommy222256 · 28 May 2019

God that has moved on quickly from this years courses. Do you know if that means all courses are filled this year or are they just offering courses to what the internal candidates can do?!

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tiptoptaff · 28 May 2019

Tommy222256 said:
God that has moved on quickly from this years courses. Do you know if that means all courses are filled this year or are they just offering courses to what the internal candidates can do?!

I don't really know - we were chatting the other day while making a brew. I think that actually it's a case of he can't start before then, and they'd offered him October but February was first suitable for him.

That's a benefit of being Internal. They work around you a bit. Don't really offer the same flexibility to external candidates

Termy · 28 May 2019

tiptoptaff said:
I think that actually it's a case of he can't start before then

That was my first assumption when reading your post, as I've previously read in other threads on the forum that it's all up to when your current manager might be able to release you for training, and all that.

Tommy222256 · 28 May 2019

tiptoptaff said:
I don't really know - we were chatting the other day while making a brew. I think that actually it's a case of he can't start before then, and they'd offered him October but February was first suitable for him.

That's a benefit of being Internal. They work around you a bit. Don't really offer the same flexibility to external candidates

Yeah but I guess most companies look after their own first so makes sense.

tiptoptaff · 28 May 2019

Termy said:
That was my first assumption when reading your post, as I've previously read in other threads on the forum that it's all up to when your current manager might be able to release you for training, and all that.

Yet, that has nothing to do with it. GWR in general don't hold applicants back from start dates, although there is one exception I know of to that rule

Termy · 28 May 2019

tiptoptaff said:
Yet, that has nothing to do with it. GWR in general don't hold applicants back from start dates, although there is one exception I know of to that rule

Hmm! That's actually good to hear, thank you for advising me of that! I'm not sure what TOC the poster I was referring to was with but armed with the info you've given me I can highly suspect it wasn't GWR.

PaulBusDriver · 29 May 2019

Just done my mmi for GWR today. One particular question that stood out was "would you ever break rules or procedures?"

TheGoldfish · 29 May 2019

Attended my DMI for GWR this morning .... Got the email result by the time i'd got home?? Thought it would be bad news being so quick but turns out I passed !! .... Now in the Talent Pool for Paddington but no clues given as to course availability... ??

They did say that only the very top scorers will get the first placements .... Lower scorers will have to wait longer ... They didn't let on beyond that so guess its a waiting game now .... They also mentioned that they are still heavily involved in training existing drivers due to the 'new tractions' So it may be sometime before opportunities become available ??

Good luck to anyone else currently undergoing the process ...

Stigy · 29 May 2019

PaulBusDriver said:
Just done my mmi for GWR today. One particular question that stood out was "would you ever break rules or procedures?"

Strange question for an MMI as it’s a closed question, rather than one which is aimed at assessing competencies. More of a question I’d expect to see in a DMI? I assume you had to write responses prior to the actual interview? Was this question in conjunction to another question they asked you?

Twotwo · 29 May 2019

Stigy said:
Strange question for an MMI as it’s a closed question, rather than one which is aimed at assessing competencies. More of a question I’d expect to see in a DMI? I assume you had to write responses prior to the actual interview? Was this question in conjunction to another question they asked you?

Seems like he was being probed?

PaulBusDriver · 29 May 2019

Twotwo said:
Seems like he was being probed?

It was a probing question, in the context of describe a time you had to follow rules and procedures. My answer was that unless it was an emergency situation I would follow the rules but it's such a vague question, if someone's life was at risk then I would break a rule if it prevented that happening but I'm sure you are trained to deal with that, in the event it happened you would act in the appropriate way

Tommy222256 · 29 May 2019

TheGoldfish said:
Attended my DMI for GWR this morning .... Got the email result by the time i'd got home?? Thought it would be bad news being so quick but turns out I passed !! .... Now in the Talent Pool for Paddington but no clues given as to course availability... ??

They did say that only the very top scorers will get the first placements .... Lower scorers will have to wait longer ... They didn't let on beyond that so guess its a waiting game now .... They also mentioned that they are still heavily involved in training existing drivers due to the 'new tractions' So it may be sometime before opportunities become available ??

Good luck to anyone else currently undergoing the process ...

God that is quick especially because @Termy hasn’t found out yet from a week ago!

Daydr3am3r · 29 May 2019

Yeah and they were both interviewing for the same depot weren’t they?
I don’t mean to sound pessimistic to anyone in the process but it does seem that those that are successful find out fairly quickly.
I hope I’m wrong through...

Tommy222256 · 29 May 2019

Yeah both Paddington I think and yeah most on here found out the day after!

Daydr3am3r · 29 May 2019

Yeah I found out first thing morning after, and I have seen a few fail who were waiting a while. May be nothing in it though.
Fingers crossed for everyone still waiting.

Daydr3am3r · 29 May 2019

Out of interest does anyone have any knowledge of any applicant from Bristol TM and whether they have made any progress to date?

Stigy · 29 May 2019

Daydr3am3r said:
Out of interest does anyone have any knowledge of any applicant from Bristol TM and whether they have made any progress to date?

I believe @tiptoptaff is Bristol TM?

tiptoptaff · 30 May 2019

Stigy said:
I believe @tiptoptaff is Bristol TM?

But I'm from the previous round of applications

Stigy · 30 May 2019

tiptoptaff said:
But I'm from the previous round of applications

True, but I know you like to wave your willy nonetheless

Mr Oli · 1 Jun 2019

Daydr3am3r said:
Out of interest does anyone have any knowledge of any applicant from Bristol TM and whether they have made any progress to date?

Hi Daydr3am3r,

I had my MMI on Wednesday - currently waiting to hear back - I'm going for the Bristol TM talent pool.

Doesn't seem to be many people on this thread who are in the Bristol TM talent pool? Given the size of the depot I thought that there may be quite a few drivers required there.

Have you got any extra info on the Bristol talent pool, training course dates, etc.?

Thanks.

tiptoptaff · 1 Jun 2019

Mr Oli said:
Hi Daydr3am3r,

I had my MMI on Wednesday - currently waiting to hear back - I'm going for the Bristol TM talent pool.

Doesn't seem to be many people on this thread who are in the Bristol TM talent pool? Given the size of the depot I thought that there may be quite a few drivers required there.

Have you got any extra info on the Bristol talent pool, training course dates, etc.?

Thanks.

There's at least 2....

Currently, all Bristol courses have been filled internally. Hard to say if and how long that'll continue for. Larger depot, but it's had a huge recruitment in the last 12 months, circa 20-30 drivers. I expect it'll continue, but possibly not in the same volume

TomCo91 · 2 Jun 2019

I am aware of at least 12 internals awaiting course dates at Bristol TM having passed final DMI interviews in the last 6 weeks or so.

tiptoptaff · 2 Jun 2019

TomCo91 said:
I am aware of at least 12 internals awaiting course dates at Bristol TM having passed final DMI interviews in the last 6 weeks or so.

Well that's at least another 2 courses worth, so up until February...

Daydr3am3r · 2 Jun 2019

One of my colleagues has just been given a date in September for stage 1 assessments for Bristol.

Mr Oli · 3 Jun 2019

I've just had an email confirming I've passed the MMI

We'll see how long the wait is until the DMI. Did you find the GWR DMI was a structured interview with questions similar to the MMI? Or was it more of a laid back interview at this stage? There seems to be contrasting experiences at the DMI stage from reading the forum.

Thanks,

Termy · 3 Jun 2019

Mr Oli said:
I've just had an email confirming I've passed the MMI

We'll see how long the wait is until the DMI. Did you find the GWR DMI was a structured interview with questions similar to the MMI? Or was it more of a laid back interview at this stage? There seems to be contrasting experiences at the DMI stage from reading the forum.

Thanks,

Awesome news! Finding out you've passed Stage 2 + MMI is a good feeling, that's the point when you're out of the official assessment stage, and you haven't lost a life. Woo!

When you get the invite to interview from GWR, my one bit of advice I would give is: Don't pick a Friday. You'll end up sabotaging your weekend with worry!
In all seriousness, good luck!

I found it a mix of both, the two interviewers I had did everything they could to keep me relaxed (one even remarked about the HSTs' final day the next day after I mentioned it, saying I wasn't the first to have mentioned it and that she was fairly sad about it too!), and I found it was very heavily structured with MMI-style questions ("Tell us about a time when..." and "What do you think are..." style questions). They have a couple of pages of set questions that they go through. Almost like a script.

Barney07 · 3 Jun 2019

Just had an email to say passed stage 2 assessments and mmi and now waiting for interview with DMI what a perfect start to a Monday.

Tommy222256 · 3 Jun 2019

Termy said:
Awesome news! Finding out you've passed Stage 2 + MMI is a good feeling, that's the point when you're out of the official assessment stage, and you haven't lost a life. Woo!

When you get the invite to interview from GWR, my one bit of advice I would give is: Don't pick a Friday. You'll end up sabotaging your weekend with worry!
In all seriousness, good luck! I found it a mix of both, the two interviewers I had did everything they could to keep me relaxed (one even remarked about the HSTs' final day the next day after I mentioned it, saying I wasn't the first to have mentioned it and that she was fairly sad about it too!), and I found it was very heavily structured with MMI-style questions ("Tell us about a time when..." and "What do you think are..." style questions). They have a couple of pages of set questions that they go through. Almost like a script.

You had any news on your DMI yet mate?!

Termy · 3 Jun 2019

Tommy222256 said:
You had any news on your DMI yet mate?!

Still radio silence. I'm not at the despondent-and-giving-up stage yet, but I have started scoping out alternative plans. Like has already been noted here, most people who were successful have heard back within 24hrs. I have not. I'm trying really hard not to read into it and despair, but after two weeks... it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up hope!

Tommy222256 · 3 Jun 2019

Termy said:
Still radio silence. I'm not at the despondent-and-giving-up stage yet, but I have started scoping out alternative plans. Like has already been noted here, most people who were successful have heard back within 24hrs. I have not. I'm trying really hard not to read into it and despair, but after two weeks... it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up hope!

Yeah strange one really but as they say “no news is good news”

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