Jobs in north west???

[Sutman6]

Hi all

First post so hope its in the right place!

I was just wondering if anyone knows what has happened to the operating companies that used to advertise driver vacancies in the likes of the Liverpool Echo and manchester evening news.

Arriva and First northwestern used to advertise quite regularly and after applying a couple of years ago attended a day of testing at crewe (concentration, psychometric, etc). I was 1 of only 2 of us who passed everything that day and was told the final stage was an interview. However, while waiting for an interview date there was some sort of company restructure and the vacancies were withdrawn.

Since then I have never seen any ads for trainee driver vacancies and I can't even seem to find which companies operate and employ drivers in the north west area (first north western doesnt even have a website anymore!)

Can anyone advise of which, if any, TOCs still operate and employ in the northwest???

Thanks

 

[Mintona]

Northern have vacancies at the moment, but only internally I believe. Just keep checking:
http://www.northernrail.org/northern/careers/vacancies
http://www.merseyrail.org/recruitment/jobs.php

And eventually something is bound to pop up.

 

[driver9000]

First NorthWestern bit the dust in 2004. These days the main operators that have regular vacancies are NorthernRail and TransPennineExpress. Keep your eyes on:

www.northernrail.org
www.tpexpress.co.uk

Northern plaster their units with the website address and TPE advertise their site internally. Its rare to see driver vacancies advertised in the newspapers these days they usually just use the websites so regular checking is a must. If no drivers vacancies are advertised then it may be an idea to get into the companies in any grade you can as this will give you access to the internal vacancies notices which appear every month. These list all the jobs being advertised to employees and its only when they cant fill a vacancy internally will it go to external advertising - Traincrew posts dont often get past internal posting!

I feel I must point out that they are starting to enforce the 'within 30mins of the depot' rule for traincrew and safety critical posts.

 

[danw2007]

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[First class]

I too started out as a station assistant.

For anyone interested this is usually the selection procedure for entry level jobs:

1. Apply for a job - you may not hear anything for about 6months, expect a lot of competiton.

2. If successful, you will be invited for assessments. (In our place, you did these in the morning and hung around until the afternoon for the results, if passed you would pick an interview date).

3. Interview, usually with more than one manager. Mine was with two station managers. Should last 20-30minutes. Really don't be afraid to ask questions- it shows you're interested. Don't bore them with info about how trains work, when they ask what you know about the company, say things like geographical areas, routes, frequencies, different roles of staff etc...

4. If successful so far, invited for a medical (drugs/alcohol test). Health questionnaire, Urine sample, eyesight, hearing, breathilser and blood pressure. Drivers/Guards have more to worry about. If you fail for drugs/alcohol you get banned from the railways for a certain number of years- as required by law. You may be subjected to random tests at anytime throughout your employment.

5. assuming you're ok you will be issued a provisional job offer. They really will check your references, my company went as far as looking up the VAT number of the company and asking for payslips to verify employment dates. They then sent questionnaires out to past employers and people I knew asking for a character reference AND, where applicable an employment one. I later found out one of the questions was, "Would you re-employ this person in the future?). If anyone answers 'no' your job has probably just dissapeared. REALLY PAY ATTENTION TO THIS POINT. JUST BECAUSE YOU NAME TWO REFEREES DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE THEY CONTACT. YOUR PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT LIST WILL BE CHECKED- AND YOU WILL LOSE YOUR JOB OFFER.

6. Start date given, with firm job offer. 6-12 months as a station assistant, move on to a guard, then revenue protection inspector, then maybe driver. Virgin trains drivers can earn around £40-50,000 a year!

Starting salaries for station assistants are around £13,500pa, with :

Company Pension Scheme
Childcare Vouchers
Free Travel on Merseyrail ("your TOC") for You and Your Family
Discounted Rail Travel on Other Train Operating Company Services (75% off)
Corporate HealthCare Plan
Training and Education Programmes
Company Uniform
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By the way, lots of jobs with virgin as station assistants in the nw atm...

http://www.virgintrainscareers.co.uk/CurrentVacancies.aspx