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Trainee Train Driver - Virgin Trains East Coast
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Every email must be opened and read to some extent as they used the same email address for asking questions about the role.
In the time it takes to drag and drop an attachment into an algorithm they could easily have a quick look at your CV (which should be something quick to read) then if they deem this good enough then they would probably read the cover letter
In the end it doesn't really matter how they do the sift as everyone who has applied has an equal chance, even if their way of sifting was as simple as opening them in a random order and putting them in a yay or nay pile until the yay pile is full and then stopping
In the time it takes to drag and drop an attachment into an algorithm they could easily have a quick look at your CV (which should be something quick to read) then if they deem this good enough then they would probably read the cover letter
In the end it doesn't really matter how they do the sift as everyone who has applied has an equal chance, even if their way of sifting was as simple as opening them in a random order and putting them in a yay or nay pile until the yay pile is full and then stopping
I think the cover letters are going to be much more important than the cvs as they have stated they are looking for people who may never have thought about an job in the rail industry so maybe relevent experience is not so vital and maybe more emphasis on personalities rather than work experience.
theironroad
Established Member
As excited everyone is, it's probably!y best just to go and do something else until 1st November as dissecting the application process isn't going to change anything now. Good luck all!
doubleamber
Member
Yes it does , my friend is involved in it. He told me a few things how it works, very clever stuff, if you get change google a company called AVT, Israeli company, give you a few clues on how imaging software works.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was similar (if not the same) to the kind of software they use in schools and universities to detect plagarism which I'm told is very difficult to fool - simply changing a few letters or words won't be enough to con the software.
Possibly, However they may just contact people as they are sifted and ask them which assessment day they would like to attend.
Whilst the software that sifts CV's are looking specifically for certain references and the white text does work, many newer versions can now spot the extraneous words, remove the obscuring colours and actually highlight them to the human reader!
Once that is done, and you get to a human, the ruse is quite obvious and as an indicator of deviousness and dishonesty you would be banned for life from applying! Life within the rail industry is most definitely based on honesty, especially is you consider the safety critical processes in place, so a dishonest applicant would have no place in this industry - ever.
Good luck. The more devious you think you are being the more chances other people have in the job that you might have had a chance of getting before you tried to scam the system!
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For jobs like this, playing little games and tricks to increase your chances only Gives someone else the job.
Hard work, effort, more hard work and more effort will get you the job, even if it takes a few attempts.
Best of luck to all of those who have apppied. A great opportunity that doesn't come round very often.
Hard work, effort, more hard work and more effort will get you the job, even if it takes a few attempts.
Best of luck to all of those who have apppied. A great opportunity that doesn't come round very often.
Ha ha ha love this. Not a truer word spoken. If you want to circumnavigate the system don't forget to wave as I fly past you in my cab and you are standing (behind the yellow line) on the platform
Met Driver
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Over 15000 applications
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/ne...00_apply_for_78_East_Coast_train_driver_jobs/
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/ne...00_apply_for_78_East_Coast_train_driver_jobs/
15000 applicants is a lot, but everyone who has applied stands a chance of being one of the successful candidates. When I joined the railway from off the street I knew absolutely nothing about the industry I was entering, but asked questions when appropriate and read as much as I could find to prepare myself for the assessments and if lucky an interview. This must have paid off because I was fortunate to get the job I had applied for. The whole process of applying, attending the assessments, interviews and medical is nerve wracking but also exciting as you manage to overcome one hurdle you are faced with the next which is a little higher and more important to overcome. However, when/if you are successful the sense of pride, self worth and achievement you feel is unmeasurable. Good luck to all of you, I truly wish you the best of luck and look forward to waving as you past me grinning in the opposite direction.
Hopefully during the sift, they can identify people who have only applied because they saw it advertised and saw the headline with the salary in it, and that's the reason they applied!
At the end of the day the reason people go to work is to earn £'s so I wouldn't hold it against them.
Evidently whoever had a "Friend" in HR was slightly misinformed...
From what I've heard it's fairly normal for there to be well over 100 applicants per vacancy. Interesting that they've decided to have a stage before the aptitude tests, I would hope that doing so would favour those who've already passed the aptitudes.
Would be a bit embarrassing for them if the aptitude tests filtered out more people than they have vacancies.
Would be a bit embarrassing for them if the aptitude tests filtered out more people than they have vacancies.
To be fair they said that I think at the end of the first week. They did not state it was the final total (and indeed could not have).
kickin aff
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The above article does not mention Edinburgh. Is that now ditched?
Spankthemonkey
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Needless adverts in the first place, now newspaper articles on the volume of applicants, this is all just a massive PR exercise for Virgin. The 78 selected, doubtless from a huge cross section of society, will be paraded like the holders of the golden tickets before Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with further headlines about how Virgin are amazing etc....
Probably an error. Given that London has 4 assessment days, I suspect that Kings Cross is where the biggest percentage of drivers will be needed and seeing as the paper is for the North of England, the stations recruiting for the North will obviously be mentioned. Probably just an oversight by the journalist...
SkinnyDave
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Beat me to it there!
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Thats what they are good at and and entitled to do it..
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Edinburgh do need a fair few new drivers over next couple of years according to driver I spoke with today
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