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Freightliner Various Trainee Drivers

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Mgv1349

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10 Oct 2018
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Thanks for your thoughts I have to complete the next test by 24 the of March so that not an option for me. I just don't know enough about how many positions are available in Freightliner. Could it be very view or are they looking to have a talent pool. Does anyone have any ideas. Just dont know what to do Thanks.
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Far north 37

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All Drivers at Westbury are in scope for TUPE' to Freightliner but DB also want to supposedly keep about 25 Drivers at Westbury.
Westbury DB at present has 45 Drivers which is not enough to cover the Mendip contract.
Lots of rumours about running single portion trains instead of jumbos so even more Drivers will be required.
At a very rough guess FL will need to recruit around 30 Drivers for the Mendip work.

The reason jumbos run is because of the lack of available paths on the gwml and with crossrail starting taking up even more paths cant see single portion trains being an option in the slightest for freightliner.
 

Jordan ruck

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Anybody for Reading depot heard anything since receiving the email stating being placed in the pool? Not sure how to take the silence, I stupidly told my current work I’d eventually be leaving after passing all exams and DMI due to excitement. Getting a bit of a hard time ever since!
 

TheNewGuy

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Anybody for Reading depot heard anything since receiving the email stating being placed in the pool? Not sure how to take the silence, I stupidly told my current work I’d eventually be leaving after passing all exams and DMI due to excitement. Getting a bit of a hard time ever since!

HR phoned me first week of March to discuss the annual leave I had booked in May. I think they were possibly going to try and get me on the May course. I said I'd happily cancel the planned holiday BUT I need three months notice to resign and that would only give me two, so not enough notice. Not sure if we're actually planning on putting me on the may course or just checking who was available for it?

I'm down for Reading heavy haul and got put in the pool Jan 31st

I'm not worried about the silence, they're busy. There will Defo be more courses coming up
 

GJL9916

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HR phoned me first week of March to discuss the annual leave I had booked in May. I think they were possibly going to try and get me on the May course. I said I'd happily cancel the planned holiday BUT I need three months notice to resign and that would only give me two, so not enough notice. Not sure if we're actually planning on putting me on the may course or just checking who was available for it?

I'm down for Reading heavy haul and got put in the pool Jan 31st

I'm not worried about the silence, they're busy. There will Defo be more courses coming up


What do you do for a living out of interest to have to give three months notice?
 

Stigy

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What do you do for a living out of interest to have to give three months notice?
Quite a few jobs require 3-months or 12-weeks notice these days. I wasn’t aware of this until I found out that even where I work a lot of staff need to give 3-months depending on the job they do. It’s quite common in the railway industry so TOCs and FOCs should appreciate this and take it in to account. I just always assumed that unless you’re leaving the military or something, 4-weeks or a month was the norm :)
 

GJL9916

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Quite a few jobs require 3-months or 12-weeks notice these days. I wasn’t aware of this until I found out that even where I work a lot of staff need to give 3-months depending on the job they do. It’s quite common in the railway industry so TOCs and FOCs should appreciate this and take it in to account. I just always assumed that unless you’re leaving the military or something, 4-weeks or a month was the norm :)

Yeh me too! Mine was 4 weeks but I have only just been received the contact in the post and the course start date is 15th April, so not gone down too well at work!
 

Timpg

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Yeh me too! Mine was 4 weeks but I have only just been received the contact in the post and the course start date is 15th April, so not gone down too well at work!

Congratulations mate. Where abouts are you destined for??
 

GJL9916

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Congratulations mate. Where abouts are you destined for??

Sorry this is not a FL job, I didn’t make it through unfortunately for drivers job, this is working as a conductor, can’t wait to get started now! Been doing office work all my life and current job been here 13 years so total change of industry for me :)
 

Timpg

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Sorry this is not a FL job, I didn’t make it through unfortunately for drivers job, this is working as a conductor, can’t wait to get started now! Been doing office work all my life and current job been here 13 years so total change of industry for me :)

Ah right okay sorry lol!! Well welcome to the railway then mate, I wish you all the best!
 

TheNewGuy

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What do you do for a living out of interest to have to give three months notice?
I work in the police, which is a one month notice normally. But I'm on a specialised department, so three weeks is needed unfortunately.
 

Salop-lad82

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I work in the police, which is a one month notice normally. But I'm on a specialised department, so three weeks is needed unfortunately.

Unless theyve changed your contract, its 28 days notice period... doesn't matter what role you are in. They will probably say they like 3 months but unless you've signed a new employment contract it's their problem...
 

Matt85

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Anyone else on the second assessment and interview day on the 16th at Basford Hall?
 

RobG

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Hi all, first time post so please bear with me. Been looking at trying to become a driver for a fair while now. Saw the advert come up for the Frome depot and completed the online questionnaire. Got a response today that I didn’t meet the required standard. It says that I can try again in 6 months, but given the amount of time I’ve been looking for jobs within a 60 minute commute, I’m concerned that in 6 months time, the positions will all be filled and I’ll be back to square one. Is it worth me trying to apply again or will that just generate an automatic decline as I haven’t waited the stated time? Unfortunately, relocation for me isn’t possible due to family etc, so this is the only role that has fallen within the 60 minute commute in all the time I’ve been looking.

Thanks in advance.
 

Stigy

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Hi all, first time post so please bear with me. Been looking at trying to become a driver for a fair while now. Saw the advert come up for the Frome depot and completed the online questionnaire. Got a response today that I didn’t meet the required standard. It says that I can try again in 6 months, but given the amount of time I’ve been looking for jobs within a 60 minute commute, I’m concerned that in 6 months time, the positions will all be filled and I’ll be back to square one. Is it worth me trying to apply again or will that just generate an automatic decline as I haven’t waited the stated time? Unfortunately, relocation for me isn’t possible due to family etc, so this is the only role that has fallen within the 60 minute commute in all the time I’ve been looking.

Thanks in advance.
You’ll be quickly sifted out if you try again unfortunately (either by a human or by a computer). Did you literally just apply and do the initial online questionnaire? If that’s the case, you can still apply for other companies from now onwards. If you’ve started any of the psychometric assessments including the Visual Search Exercise, you have to wait a minimum of 6-months across the board.
 

RobG

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No, this is literally the first position I’ve seen that was within 60 minutes of where I live. It’s great that I can still apply for other positions, but they seem extremely few and far between! Trouble is, don’t know how I didn’t meet the standard as there’s no feedback. That said, probably didn’t help that I did it in the evening after a 12 hour shift with the kids running around and the wife bending my ear about one thing or another.
 

Stigy

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No, this is literally the first position I’ve seen that was within 60 minutes of where I live. It’s great that I can still apply for other positions, but they seem extremely few and far between! Trouble is, don’t know how I didn’t meet the standard as there’s no feedback. That said, probably didn’t help that I did it in the evening after a 12 hour shift with the kids running around and the wife bending my ear about one thing or another.
Is it just the Situational Judgment Exercise type thing you presumably failed? (Where you have a passage and have to tick the box with the most feasible answer as to what you’d do?). It’s difficult, as there’s often not ‘silly’ answers so you really have to think about it. I failed a few times for SWR, but as soon as they changed their application portal to FirstGroup I passed. Just keep at it. And yes, it does pay to have a quiet atmosphere.
 

RobG

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Is it just the Situational Judgment Exercise type thing you presumably failed? (Where you have a passage and have to tick the box with the most feasible answer as to what you’d do?). It’s difficult, as there’s often not ‘silly’ answers so you really have to think about it. I failed a few times for SWR, but as soon as they changed their application portal to FirstGroup I passed. Just keep at it. And yes, it does pay to have a quiet atmosphere.

I guess that’s the part. There were 3 parts to it;
On a scale of 1-10 how important is .....
Questions about Freightliner (answers on their website)
And, here’s a scenario with 4 possible choices, put the 4 in the order you think. First being the most likely you’d do, last being the least likely.
 

Stigy

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I guess that’s the part. There were 3 parts to it;
On a scale of 1-10 how important is .....
Questions about Freightliner (answers on their website)
And, here’s a scenario with 4 possible choices, put the 4 in the order you think. First being the most likely you’d do, last being the least likely.
Yeah that’s the one. Horrible tests. Not because they’re particularly difficult, but because of how they’re scored usually. All down to averages and the luck of the draw from what I can make out?
 

RobG

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Yeah that’s the one. Horrible tests. Not because they’re particularly difficult, but because of how they’re scored usually. All down to averages and the luck of the draw from what I can make out?

That’s what I couldn’t understand. I answered all the questions in the most logical way. Most of them were obvious which order they should go in with the top answer being easy to figure out and the least likely being obviously dangerous, so not the course anyone would take (well at least you’d hope not!)
The questions about Freightliner were just a case of insert answer from their website and the 1-10 questions, “how important is working in a team” etc, again are obvious what an employer would be looking for, so finding it difficult to swallow that I apparently didn’t meet the standard.
 

Stigy

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That’s what I couldn’t understand. I answered all the questions in the most logical way. Most of them were obvious which order they should go in with the top answer being easy to figure out and the least likely being obviously dangerous, so not the course anyone would take (well at least you’d hope not!)
The questions about Freightliner were just a case of insert answer from their website and the 1-10 questions, “how important is working in a team” etc, again are obvious what an employer would be looking for, so finding it difficult to swallow that I apparently didn’t meet the standard.
These ones are even worse than the ones where you simply have to select what you either definitely would do, or definitely wouldn’t do. It makes it worse when you’re being asked to prioritise the bottom two, or least likely responses because neither is sure more important than the next?
 

RobG

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These ones are even worse than the ones where you simply have to select what you either definitely would do, or definitely wouldn’t do. It makes it worse when you’re being asked to prioritise the bottom two, or least likely responses because neither is sure more important than the next?

Yeah the two options you wouldn’t take seemed just as bad as each other, how are you supposed to decide which is worse? Just a bit disheartened now as been looking for the best part of 2+ years for a trainee role to come up within 60 minutes of my area. The website said the application process takes about 6 months, so I’m guessing by the time I can have another go at it, they’ll have filled the positions they were advertising.

Is there anywhere else I should be looking for trainee roles as I only stumbled across this one by pure chance?
 

GG96LFC

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Yeah the two options you wouldn’t take seemed just as bad as each other, how are you supposed to decide which is worse? Just a bit disheartened now as been looking for the best part of 2+ years for a trainee role to come up within 60 minutes of my area. The website said the application process takes about 6 months, so I’m guessing by the time I can have another go at it, they’ll have filled the positions they were advertising.

Is there anywhere else I should be looking for trainee roles as I only stumbled across this one by pure chance?
My best advice is to simply find out every single company that operates within your area, and set up job alerts for each website. Check the websites regularly too so you can get a head start when a vacancy comes up
 

Matt85

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Don’t just look for “trainee driver”. Northern advertise for “experiences drivers” and just “driver” the latter being a trainee role, it just doesn’t specifically say “trainee”.
 

Nic nic

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Yeah the two options you wouldn’t take seemed just as bad as each other, how are you supposed to decide which is worse? Just a bit disheartened now as been looking for the best part of 2+ years for a trainee role to come up within 60 minutes of my area. The website said the application process takes about 6 months, so I’m guessing by the time I can have another go at it, they’ll have filled the positions they were advertising.

Is there anywhere else I should be looking for trainee roles as I only stumbled across this one by pure chance?
I am guessing you applied for the mendip roles? If so I am in the same boat and have been chasing for around 4 years now.
It depends where you are but if you are in the somerset area then GWR and the mendip freight work are your only choices unless you find a job which will let you relocate.
Definately disheartening considering how far I got last time I applied to freightliner..
 
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