First Great Western trainie train drivers, Reading, Paddington & Oxford

[A-driver]

'TDK'...you arnt expected to find the locations of test centres and interviews for yourself are you?! They tell you when they invite you along! Where are these locations published for you to find? I have been to a fair few interviews for various jobs and never had to guess where it will be...and dealing with an emergency after getting full training is very different to guessing where an interview will be!

 

[cookiescrumble]

I applied for the role starting in June and did so on the assumption they would tell me where to go if I got through the shortlisting stage .

Do First Great Western cover the ticket to get to the Assessment centres? With South West Trains the letter for the assessments is a standard class return to the centre. Is this the same with FGW?

 

[sultanofswing]

I applied for the role starting in June and did so on the assumption they would tell me where to go if I got through the shortlisting stage .

Do First Great Western cover the ticket to get to the Assessment centres? With South West Trains the letter for the assessments is a standard class return to the centre. Is this the same with FGW?

Yeah they do. The only time they didn't give me a free pass was when I went to my interview at reading depot.

For my assessments and Medical I was either sent a ticket, or sent an email that I had to print off and take with me. To be honest I could have written the email myself as it wasn't headed or even signed, the gate staff had to check it out at both ends as they weren't sure, but the ticket inspectors on the train seemed to know what it was and obviously seen the letter before. Bit of a pain but there was a direct mobile phone number to the recruitment guy that sent me the email.

 

[cookiescrumble]

Yeah they do. The only time they didn't give me a free pass was when I went to my interview at reading depot.

For my assessments and Medical I was either sent a ticket, or sent an email that I had to print off and take with me. To be honest I could have written the email myself as it wasn't headed or even signed, the gate staff had to check it out at both ends as they weren't sure, but the ticket inspectors on the train seemed to know what it was and obviously seen the letter before. Bit of a pain but there was a direct mobile phone number to the recruitment guy that sent me the email.

Thanks for that! I thought they would but just wanted to double check.

 

[TDK]

I'd just like to say thank you sultanofswing for you help and info. Tdk I understand the point you are making and thanks for your advice too. However I have trawled the internet to find this particular info out in which has come to no avail. I have emailed fgw and they simply stated that the information on the job description is all they have on the subject, so i thought why not ask the people who have already been there, hence carrying out a small bit of research on this forum. The reason for asking, I like to preplan things and research the company before i even begin filling out the application forms.

Happy days

Good luck

Hi Bob, maybe I was a bit harsh - sorry pal - excellent idea on reserching the company, also find out the name of the MD and a small amount of history about him/her, also find out the services provided by the TOC, the traction, the amount of trains run and the annual amount of passengers carried & the routes served, also you could work out the mileage and time it takes from you to get to all the depot's within 1 hour of your home address, all these things will be asked at interview. If you need more info you can PM me but I will only give you advice and not the answers to the interview questions!!!!

 

[bob1]

Hi Bob, maybe I was a bit harsh - sorry pal - excellent idea on reserching the company, also find out the name of the MD and a small amount of history about him/her, also find out the services provided by the TOC, the traction, the amount of trains run and the annual amount of passengers carried & the routes served, also you could work out the mileage and time it takes from you to get to all the depot's within 1 hour of your home address, all these things will be asked at interview. If you need more info you can PM me but I will only give you advice and not the answers to the interview questions!!!!

No problem at all, thanks for the heads up, and thanks for the offer, very much appreciated.

 

[fordylad]

Just passed my drivers medical

 

[theking]

Just passed my drivers medical

Well done fella, i've applied for the second round of potential trainee positions how long did it take from the closing date for you to get a response about whether you've passed the paper shift/assesment centre appointment?

 

[LCC106]

Just passed my drivers medical

Well done! Great news! I'm on tenderhooks to see if I've passed my interview with Northern Rail at the mo. Like watching paint dry

 

[hants-man]

Just passed my drivers medical

Congratulations Fordylad. I think that's all of the Feb course had their medicals...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Well done fella, i've applied for the second round of potential trainee positions how long did it take from the closing date for you to get a response about whether you've passed the paper shift/assesment centre appointment?

For me it was around 2-3 weeks after applications closed; however I think that it varied quite a lot on the last intake.

 

[bailey19]

Well done fordylad .still waiting for my date to come through.

 

[fordylad]

I was short listed in August, assessment in sept, found out in October that I had passed, managers interview late October and medical today,
So far 3 months of nervous waiting

 

[bailey19]

I had all my assesments in October ,had my structured and managers interview this month received the conditional offer last week.hopefully the medical won't be long.

 

[sultanofswing]

Was told today that we should expect our contracts in the post by the end of this week.

@Bailey19, I would get on to them to sort out a medical date, or you might end up on the June course. Unless that is what they have planned?

 

[hants-man]

Well done fordylad .still waiting for my date to come through.

Apologies bailey19 - lost track of who had already gone. Do you have a short notice period in your current job?


Thanks for the update Sultanofswing - hope they stick to that, otherwise I won't be able to work my notice in my current job.

 

[fordylad]

A contract would good, it will ease the process in escaping the RAF I need to work 28 days notice,

 

[scally]

Hi guys. Does anyone know the best thing I could study to prepare for the mechanical comprehension test at the assessment centre and also a realistic benchmark when completing the dots. I'm currently only managing nearly half a page whilst practising. Many Thanks

 

[sultanofswing]

Hi guys. Does anyone know the best thing I could study to prepare for the mechanical comprehension test at the assessment centre and also a realistic benchmark when completing the dots. I'm currently only managing nearly half a page whilst practising. Many Thanks

half a page is fine, as long as you are not making mistakes or missing any out, if you can get half a page done with 0 errors then I can safely say you will pass. Not sure how many errors you can get, this seems to be a closely guarded secret.

as with the mechanical, to be honest, it was straight forward and needed minimal logical thought but when i did mine someone recommended "Mechanical & Spatial Relations Tests by Joel Wiesen" the Spatial Relations, Tools, Map Reading, Paper Folding are all irrelevant parts of the book, but the mechanical part had loads of practice questions similar to what you will have in your assessment.

hope that helps

 

[theking]

Do they do the scatt test rather than group bourdon?

 

[scally]

Thanks sultanofswing.

That's a big help. I best just keep on practising those dots!!

 

[sultanofswing]

Do they do the scatt test rather than group bourdon?

It was dots when i had mine, that was a few years ago.

 

[bailey19]

I had my assesments in October dots all the way.

 

[theking]

cheers for the quick reply's lads.

 

[sultanofswing]

On paper as well, NOT on a computer screen...

 

[theking]

Did you find it was it easier or harder on paper? is it four dots like the gb software?

 

[bailey19]

I personally found it easier on paper ,and yes it was four dots

 

[kart]

Yep, I found it easier on paper! Good luck with it all!

 

[espaceman3]

Sorry to hear that mate, so you didn't have an interview then?

No I didn't get as far as an interview , I was rejected at the on-line application form stage . They didn't give a reason , but did say it wasn't their policy to give feed back , so I'll never know although I'm pretty sure it was my age .

 

[Steve1966]

What age are you espaceman?
I reckon I wasted my time at age 45.

 

[russmcp]

What age are you espaceman?
I reckon I wasted my time at age 45.

I'm 42 and I got through the previous application but had to pull out as I couldn't get the day off my work and there was no other days available for assessment. I doubt its age.

Could be distance from depot?

I've reapplied for this latest drive and awaiting shortlisting so see how it goes. Hopefully if I get through this part of the process I can go for the assessment