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EMR - Trainee Depot Driver - Nottingham & Derby (04/01/23)

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spowles

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ajp777

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Hi all, I am in the process of completing the application form and one of the questions asked whether you have taken and failed any OPC driver assessments in the last 6 months. During an application for XC I took and failed an RAAT test which is a pre screening test and not one of the official psychometric tests which you have your two lives for. Does anyone know whether the RAAT tests fall under 'OPC driver assessment tests' or not? Thanks
 
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NorthernTech

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No the Raat test is not one of the tests they are referring to, they just mean the test centre train driver psychometric tests. You are free to crack on with your application, best of luck!
 
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Rocketdan

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Can you still apply if you live outside the 45 minute commute as long as you promise to relocate closer if offered the position? Is it one of the screening questions where if you answer no then your application will be immediately rejected?
 
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eastersunday

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Rocketdan said:
Can you still apply if you live outside the 45 minute commute as long as you promise to relocate closer if offered the position? Is it one of the screening questions where if you answer no then your application will be immediately rejected?
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Try it and see, got nothing to lose!
 
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spowles

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Cal_NG4 said:
I have applied as got told to by a current employee I know. I live a 10 minute drive from the depot.
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Good for you and good luck. You in Notts? Fancy meeting up for a coffee (or beer)? maybe we could help each other though this. By all means say no if you think me asking that is odd! but sounds like we both want the same thing, just an idea.
 
DunfordBridge

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Rocketdan said:
Can you still apply if you live outside the 45 minute commute as long as you promise to relocate closer if offered the position? Is it one of the screening questions where if you answer no then your application will be immediately rejected?
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I sent an email off to EMR HR posing the same question. This was a few days ago now and I had no response which does not inspire me to work for the company. My girffriend persuaded me to apply so I just registered online tonight. It was actually one of the five screening questions where they ask if you currently live within the 45 minutes of the depot.

I would entertain living near Nottingham or Lincoln but I am not impressed with the process so far. At least with SWR, you can usually expect a response to emails and their interview feedback is second to none in my experience.
 
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Aviator88

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DunfordBridge said:
I sent an email off to EMR HR posing the same question. This was a few days ago now and I had no response which does not inspire me to work for the company. My girffriend persuaded me to apply so I just registered online tonight. It was actually one of the five screening questions where they ask if you currently live within the 45 minutes of the depot.

I would entertain living near Nottingham or Lincoln but I am not impressed with the process so far. At least with SWR, you can usually expect a response to emails and their interview feedback is second to none in my experience.
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I have to say, the job advert page seemed a little 'unorthodox', which aligns with the impression received by a couple of users on here who've shared their experience of the process.

It's interesting to see a company break the mould when it comes to driver recruitment though!
 
DunfordBridge

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Aviator88 said:
I have to say, the job advert page seemed a little 'unorthodox', which aligns with the impression received by a couple of users on here who've shared their experience of the process.

It's interesting to see a company break the mould when it comes to driver recruitment though!
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I see there are two extra stages which are nothing to do with the OPC assessments, possibly group assessments. I think someone mentioned the RAAT test which I have passed twice now for guard assessments with other companies. Not entirely sure if EMR require their candidates to pass the OPC driver assessments to the national standard or an enhanced standard.
 
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Aviator88

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DunfordBridge said:
I see there are two extra stages which are nothing to do with the OPC assessments, possibly group assessments. I think someone mentioned the RAAT test which I have passed twice now for guard assessments with other companies. Not entirely sure if EMR require their candidates to pass the OPC driver assessments to the national standard or an enhanced standard.
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Yes, it's an interesting addition to the process - group exercises and the like are fairly commonplace during recruitment for many other safety critical jobs... Airline pilots and cabin crew spring to mind...

EMR required national passes as of September 2020.
 
DunfordBridge

DunfordBridge

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Aviator88 said:
Yes, it's an interesting addition to the process - group exercises and the like are fairly commonplace during recruitment for many other safety critical jobs... Airline pilots and cabin crew spring to mind...

EMR required national passes as of September 2020.
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I can see where the teamwork element would come into play and EMR clearly need to home in on those skills. I suspect my enhanced passes are just about to run out, most of them.

Dogbox said:
Clearly states 45 minutes
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Got a reply from EMR HR today, there is definitely no propsect of relocating for this particular role, you have got to live near Derby or Nottingham. Does anyone know how frequently driver roles come up for Lincoln and if the same 45 minute criteria is likely to apply.
 
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Flipflopkebab

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DunfordBridge said:
I can see where the teamwork element would come into play and EMR clearly need to home in on those skills. I suspect my enhanced passes are just about to run out, most of them.


Got a reply from EMR HR today, there is definitely no propsect of relocating for this particular role, you have got to live near Derby or Nottingham. Does anyone know how frequently driver roles come up for Lincoln and if the same 45 minute criteria is likely to apply.
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Lincoln doesn’t take drivers straight from the street. You either have to be a shed driver at Notts/Derby or a current employee(any role) of EMR to get a Lincoln slot.
 
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Busyboy89

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Flipflopkebab said:
Lincoln doesn’t take drivers straight from the street. You either have to be a shed driver at Notts/Derby or a current employee(any role) of EMR to get a Lincoln slot.
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This I can confirm as 100% correct. They have to use the depot drivers up first, if there isn’t enough (like what’s just happened at Lincoln and Boston) they advertise for external qualified drivers and for internals. This is the way for EMR, in the midlands anyhow don’t know how it works for st panc drivers :)

That being said if they open a depot like Kettering and Liverpool were the depot drivers can not commute to, they will take street to seat. (Liverpool never materialised and the street to seat drivers who had got contracts were offered the chance to relocate at Nottingham some of course did) but obviously this is rare and good from EMR.

As an ex depot driver for EMR I’d say go for it! Excellent job loved every minute of it. As I stated above you get priority for mainline jobs and they also put you through the full drivers course and rules so officially your a train driver with no high speed handling/routes. This makes the transition painless and you literally finish one day on the shed and start high speed handing then mentoring/route learning depending on how your depot does it :) definitely a great stepping stone and you do moves and experience some things that you would never see on the mainline.
 
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Cal_NG4

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Job on EMR today for a Trainee Mainline Driver in Derby. Advert clearly states in Bold lettering that you have to be a Depot Driver for EMR to apply. I'm on indeed which is where I also spotted the advert.
 
43066

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Busyboy89 said:
This is the way for EMR, in the midlands anyhow don’t know how it works for st panc drivers :)
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EMR St P almost exclusively poaches qualified drivers. The only exceptions being a couple who trained up at Kettering “off the street” and then, soon after passing out, mutually exchanged into St Pancras with drivers who wished to move to Kettering.
 
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ajp777

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Same here…. At 1.30 am. No idea who is looking through the applications at that hour unless they are outsourced to another country or automated using software. I too was on the border of being too far away. 45 minutes on the dot in non peak times but over an hour away on Google maps at this time of the morning. Don’t know if that had any bearing on the application
 
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NorthernTech

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It’s most likely that peak time that is taken into account (for obvious reasons really) and also likely that software used to sift these out. With the high amount of applications it would be very labour intensive to check all one-by-one.
 
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