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Trainee opportunities? (Doncaster)

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Adrian Crowes

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Hi all,

I am thinking about a change in career, how frequently do trainee opportunities come up does anyone know? I.e. Is there a particular time of year? I would be happy to get a job in the industry to tide me over until a trainee position comes up but is it a case of 'how long is a piece of string' or would there be at least a couple of positions per year to apply for. Is the market flooded with applications?
I live within an hour of Doncaster and have no current plans to move because of kids at school.
Thanks for any replies
 
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lammergeier

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Northern are the major railway employer in your area, although you'll be very lucky to get any train crew role in Doncaster itself. However, if you're prepared to commute a bit then vacancies at Northern come up fairly frequently at Leeds, Sheffield and occasionally at Hull.

You also have TPE depots at Sheffield, Cleethorpes and York although I don't think they take trainees anywhere near as often as Northern.

It's always worth getting your foot in the door so caveated by not knowing anything about your circumstances I would recommend applying for pretty much anything that comes up, such as guard, platform staff, cleaner etc. Obviously your circumstances dictate what role is worth leaving your current employment for.

Jobs come up as and when, check websites daily (and I mean daily) and apply as soon as you see a vacancy as they often get pulled quickly. This is prticularly true of trainee driver jobs as yes, they get flooded.
 

Gemz91

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What kind of trainee position? Trainee dispatch? Trainee guard? Trainee cleaner? Trainee sandwich maker at Subway?
 

Adrian Crowes

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Thanks for your reply, very helpful :)
Northern are the major railway employer in your area, although you'll be very lucky to get any train crew role in Doncaster itself. However, if you're prepared to commute a bit then vacancies at Northern come up fairly frequently at Leeds, Sheffield and occasionally at Hull.

You also have TPE depots at Sheffield, Cleethorpes and York although I don't think they take trainees anywhere near as often as Northern.

It's always worth getting your foot in the door so caveated by not knowing anything about your circumstances I would recommend applying for pretty much anything that comes up, such as guard, platform staff, cleaner etc. Obviously your circumstances dictate what role is worth leaving your current employment for.

Jobs come up as and when, check websites daily (and I mean daily) and apply as soon as you see a vacancy as they often get pulled quickly. This is prticularly true of trainee driver jobs as yes, they get flooded.
 

Tom Quinne

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What kind of trainee position? Trainee dispatch? Trainee guard? Trainee cleaner? Trainee sandwich maker at Subway?

He’s not being funny, he’s making a serious point - attention to detail is a critical trait in any railway application, not stating what position your after doesn’t really shout “this bloke is going far”, quite the opposite really.
 

Adrian Crowes

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I didn't say he was being funny. I did think it was a bit of an axxehxle comment to make and a bit unnecessary, esp as the first reply answered my questions without any quibbling. Why bother with an interview process when you can judge someone's merits in an Internet post? You're clearly on to something. Feel free to keep wittering on about it.
 

Adrian Crowes

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I presume literacy isn't important, it's you're, not your.

He’s not being funny, he’s making a serious point - attention to detail is a critical trait in any railway application, not stating what position your after doesn’t really shout “this bloke is going far”, quite the opposite really.
 

142094

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I'd be surprised if there wasn't some freight vacancies later this year.

Depends on which companies you are talking about. DB have just created a new role of Junior Driver for internal applicants only, which will probably lead onto full driving duties.
 

Tom Quinne

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I didn't say he was being funny. I did think it was a bit of an axxehxle comment to make and a bit unnecessary, esp as the first reply answered my questions without any quibbling. Why bother with an interview process when you can judge someone's merits in an Internet post? You're clearly on to something. Feel free to keep wittering on about it.

I didn’t say you said he was being funny, I said he wasn’t as it sounded such.

Got a live one here...
Good luck, you’ll need it !
 

142094

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DB also started a group of qualified drivers yesterday who are doing conversion courses to freight. So in effect depends on how many more TOC etc. drivers want to make the move across, and how many shunters/groundstaff go onto the Junior Driver roles in the next few months. Might be a while yet before DB offer trainee positions.
 

Atishyou

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DB also started a group of qualified drivers yesterday who are doing conversion courses to freight. So in effect depends on how many more TOC etc. drivers want to make the move across, and how many shunters/groundstaff go onto the Junior Driver roles in the next few months. Might be a while yet before DB offer trainee positions.

I agree, but with the amount of shunters who want to move to junior driving roles pretty much being the number of shunters in some locations, some external recruitment may be necessary to plug any gaps.
 

Adrian Crowes

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11 Mar 2018
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DB also started a group of qualified drivers yesterday who are doing conversion courses to freight. So in effect depends on how many more TOC etc. drivers want to make the move across, and how many shunters/groundstaff go onto the Junior Driver roles in the next few months. Might be a while yet before DB offer trainee positions.
Thanks for all these replies, very helpful to get a sense of where things are by people in the know ;)
 
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