Well spoken jacey
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GWR Train Driver talent pool
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Well spoken jacey
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When I applied I asked a mate at GWR what the likelihood was that I'd actually be rescued from drowning in a talent pool if I was successful in receiving some speedos to dive into it. He told me my depot had, at most, two future positions. 3 days in the pool and he, his mate, myself an ex bus drivers mate of mine and an ex catering trolley fella all had training start dates. 3 qualified were also taken on around the time. My depot is also preparing for preliminary interviews for a new talent pool to see who goes forward to the psychometric stage and we're told 6-8 new trainees in the next two years.
It's very uncertain times with the GB Railways (or whatever the gov are calling it) approaching but all I think anyone can do is trust in yourself that you've done well in the tests and interviews, given a great account of yourself, and therefore, could have a good enough score that when anyone is rescued from the pool ( being the railway, it's Baywatch style where everything slows down at the rescue stage) there's a good chance it's you
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MostlyHarmless
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While I think its important to be realistic about the potential time you might spend in a talent pool, it doesn't mean you can't remain positive. There have been few people on here that have started or are about to start a course. I'm due to start on the 4th Jan after being in the pool so it can happen. As has been said, don't put your life on hold but don't give up.
irish_rail
Established Member
Yeah don't give up. I can't talk for Bristol, but down here in Plymouth there's constant retirements etc at the minute and plenty of vacancies , a big conveyor belt of trainees now turning again as training has resumed.
The requirement for train drivers isn't suddenly going to diminish. GwR won't be massively effected by any service cuts, even closer to London any services cut will have negligible effects on future trainee numbers due to the large proportion of drivers retiring.
So don't give up hope and like others have said, don't put your life on hold as it may still take a year or two!
The requirement for train drivers isn't suddenly going to diminish. GwR won't be massively effected by any service cuts, even closer to London any services cut will have negligible effects on future trainee numbers due to the large proportion of drivers retiring.
So don't give up hope and like others have said, don't put your life on hold as it may still take a year or two!
G30RG3
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Some earlier comments that could evoke negativity have brought some really positive posts and added a lot of hope for the future. Thanks to everyone including Jacey for keeping our chins up in the process. Its a long wait but from the start it has always been sold as no guarantees. Getting yourself into a talent pool is an achievement in itself, and hopefully for the majority of us at this stage leaves nothing to loose! Best of luck
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Talent Pools are frustrating and with the added uncertainty caused by Covid I can image how it feels.
Unsure if helpful but I was in a GWR pool waiting for over a year and decided to hedge my bets by applying to WMT and getting placed into their Talent Pool. I'm now training with WMT (or stood down at the mo), but if I'd have waited for GWR my OPC tests would have lapsed and I'd have slipped down the snake.
If you can get yourself into other Talent Pools it can only be beneficial I believe.
Best of luck to all those waiting.
Unsure if helpful but I was in a GWR pool waiting for over a year and decided to hedge my bets by applying to WMT and getting placed into their Talent Pool. I'm now training with WMT (or stood down at the mo), but if I'd have waited for GWR my OPC tests would have lapsed and I'd have slipped down the snake.
If you can get yourself into other Talent Pools it can only be beneficial I believe.
Best of luck to all those waiting.
Yes, it has happened
Talent Pools ultimately are a very strong idea - interview 10 people for 5 positions with more to follow and slowly cascade people in without the need to keep attempting to recruit / interview etc.
However they’re not often administered well, nor in a timely manner or consistently.
It wouldn’t surprise me if multiple adverts were being managed separately with no joined up approach to what should be one giant ‘pot’ of people on a set waiting list and a known queue.
I've seen a lot of posts on here regarding BTM, Plymouth etc and I know Oxford have recently plucked a few lucky individuals from the pool due to expansion, but does anybody have any insider knowledge or heard any rumours about Gloucester? I've been treading water in the pool since 2019 so my legs are getting a little tired - any news, good or bad would be helpful at this stage
To be honest its actually quite depressing to hear there are people waiting for years. From what Ive grasped smaller depots are the ones that actually get this insanely long waiting times? Does anyone have any intel about training in big depots like Reading?
Talent pools are not a very fair system. They work on a points basis, so the more points you achieve in assessments, dmi’s and mmi’s the higher in the pool you are placed. Once a position becomes vacant and the highest placed people leave the pool more people arrive and are placed according to score, therefore, potentially being placed high in the pool and above others already there. This is why some people are in pools for years and some for a relatively short period. Add on to that what Horizon22 said about poor administration and you can see why they are not a great idea for candidates hence the reason that not all TOC’s utilise them. Some TOC’s treat candidates a bit more fairly and employ on a first come first serve basis once passed dmi’s, mmi’s etc and according to depot priorities.
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I don’t think many are under the illusion that being in a pool means they’ll definitely get a position. It’s clear wherever you look in posts at this forum that a talent pool doesn’t equate to a definite job, not just for GWR, but across the board.
Are you at Reading academy?We started training two weeks ago, there's eight of us on our course. Classroom size appears to be the main limitation, as all the tables have to be suitably spaced. On the occasions GWR are arranging taxis for us, it's one taxi per candidate, we're not allowed to share due to Covid. Think things will be very slow-moving for the forseeable from what we've all been told
Cookie Monster
Member
Swindon
In pool since January 2020 Exeter st David’s!
Thought I'd put a little update on here that may give an indication of where things are. This only counts what I know about certain training groups. My group (90) 2/12 have 250+ hours driving, sim assessment booked and hopefully pass out by years end, 10/12 are doing traction and will start handling hours in the next 3-5 weeks. We all started, what should be a 14-16 week course before starting handling' in Feb '20. The 4 I know from group 86 are waiting on pass out week. I think the course just starting when I last had assessments (interim 3) were group 95 or 96. In that groups 90 and 91 were the groups that were doing rules when the covid pause came into play, the backlog should (not definitely) be getting to be caught up. There are of course qualified drivers who have sim assessments due, traction conversion courses and up-skill to do still. However, it's more rosey now by a mile than it was.
WombleGuard
Member
They are adding to the pool too. Assessment centres in November and December.
crwl
Member
I assume that this would be for a different recruitment campaign and therefore different pool to the one most on here are commenting about?
I'd guess that they'd also "join the queue" behind those currently waiting, regardless of score?
You might be in a newer TP yet still get job offered before people from previous pools just because you scored higher.
I think which TP you're in only matters in terms of when they'll terminate your pool rather than how quick they offer you a job.
crwl
Member
There would surely be little chance of external candidates getting an offer, particularly at smaller depots then, no?
To be fair I’ve read contrasting things on here regarding whether there is an “internal first” policy at GWR. For argument’s sake, if internal candidates do get offered positions before external candidates, somebody external could apply in 2018, be put in a pool, and then someone who applied in 2023 would potentially bypass them in the list?
I’m external myself so I don’t know for sure, but I was under the impression that they would take candidates from a 2019/20 talent pool before moving on to anybody from 2021/22 for example.
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