Trainee train drivers wanted...

[shouldbworking]

MitchT said:

Nearly had kittens when I saw that! Then I saw Mendip Hills and Reading. No Leeds sadly.

Ironic to be asking for train drivers in an area with basically no railways left. Maybe they will be cycling along the strawberry line sustrans route going choo choo a lot!

[jaybarts]

shouldbworking said:

MitchT said:

Nearly had kittens when I saw that! Then I saw Mendip Hills and Reading. No Leeds sadly.

Ironic to be asking for train drivers in an area with basically no railways left. Maybe they will be cycling along the strawberry line sustrans route going choo choo a lot!

Not really ironic when it involves probably the biggest freight contract in the country with the heaviest trains on the whole network.

MitchT - Keep an eye on the companies twitter and facebook as we have a large maintenance depot in Leeds and a drivers depot in Ferrybridge so could be something in the future.

[Prawo Jazdy]

jaybarts said:

Freightliner are recruiting:

I’ve followed this link, but there doesn’t seem to be anything there. Has it already been removed?

[worsy]

Transport for Wales @ Shrewsbury

https://www.acornpeople.com/job-search/job/BBBH202...

Edited

Acorn is working in partnership with Transport for Wales Rail Services to support their recruitment drive for a number of Trainee Train Drivers across Cardiff, Carmarthen, Chester, Crewe, Holyhead, Llandudno Junction, Machynlleth, Pwllheli and Shrewsbury.

[340600]

worsy said:

Transport for Wales @ Shrewsbury

https://www.acornpeople.com/job-search/job/BBBH202...

Edited

Acorn is working in partnership with Transport for Wales Rail Services to support their recruitment drive for a number of Trainee Train Drivers across Cardiff, Carmarthen, Chester, Crewe, Holyhead, Llandudno Junction, Machynlleth, Pwllheli and Shrewsbury.

Fantastic, thanks. Finally one local to me! My application will be going in today.

[RS93]

340600 said:

Fantastic, thanks. Finally one local to me! My application will be going in today.

Trainee 'Up to £28488 per annum + increasing significantly when qualified' really good money too it seems as a Train Driver. I think I'm in the wrong job!!

[worsy]

RS93 said:

340600 said:

Fantastic, thanks. Finally one local to me! My application will be going in today.

Trainee 'Up to £28488 per annum + increasing significantly when qualified' really good money too it seems as a Train Driver. I think I'm in the wrong job!!

Yup - 55k ish on completion which is about 14-18 months I think.

[r44flyer]

Don't hang about as they regularly close early due to volume of applications.

West Midlands Trains recently opened another round of recruitment for drivers... over 6000 applied.

[340600]

Well that was the most straightforward job application I've ever done. It literally only asks for your name, email address and CV.

I'm starting to wonder if I should've "tailored" my CV in any way before submitting it (not that I have any directly transferable skills, other than endless hours playing Train Simulator ) - or are they just looking for a steady job history and checking that you're within an hour of the base you're applying for?

[CharlieH89]

Normally looking to see if you are ex forces, fire or police

[ToothbrushMan]

not sure when it was recorded...i suspect just before covid19 hit but that TV show about Trans-Pennine last night stated that over 7,000 people applied for a few trainee train driver jobs. the competition is beyond fierce judging by those numbers.

pay for drivers used to be terrible but now its quite the job to have but getting in is not easy. fair play to those that achieve it. seems you dont even need to get out of the cab to talk to signalman anymore in snow rain or wind etc.

[W124Bob]

RS93 said:

Trainee 'Up to £28488 per annum + increasing significantly when qualified' really good money too it seems as a Train Driver. I think I'm in the wrong job!!

I took early retirement 4 years ago, XC Trains fully qualified after 3 years was around £60k. At the time XC was a poacher of qualified drivers from other companies (much to the annoyance of Northern etc). I believe this is changing as they had been told to recruit non drivers to the grade, whether that included off the street, I don't know.

[itcaptainslow]

Unfortunately due to the rather nice salary it seems there’s increasing numbers of people coming in to the industry who are solely there for the money and how much they can wring out of it.

[valiant]

itcaptainslow said:

Unfortunately due to the rather nice salary it seems there’s increasing numbers of people coming in to the industry who are solely there for the money and how much they can wring out of it.

In my experience these people don’t tend to last long before they fkup or the unsociable elements of the job becomes too much for them. Yes, we all end up like that but for newbies to survive, there must be some interest to keep them focused on doing the job properly besides money.

Problem lies in the recruitment stage where it’s all geared to ‘can they do the job?’ rather than ‘is this person suitable to do the job?’

Pisses me off no end that people come into the job, realise that it’s not just pressing two buttons or moving a lever back and forth, end up moaning and groaning constantly and then go silent when you’ve had enough and say ‘if you hate the job so much why don’t you leave?’ You accept it off an old salt with a billion years service but not off a bloke who’s been in the job five minutes when there’s guys (and girls!) who’d come in and do a brilliant job but just failed to get through because some Billy Bigbks was seen as a better bet.

[MitchT]

CharlieH89 said:

Normally looking to see if you are ex forces, fire or police

Seems to be the case. Before I banged my application in to LNER it advised watching some short videos by people who are already in the job. Loads of them were from the above backgrounds. Not much chance for me as a graphic designer then!

[Chicken Chaser]

valiant said:

In my experience these people don’t tend to last long before they fkup or the unsociable elements of the job becomes too much for them. Yes, we all end up like that but for newbies to survive, there must be some interest to keep them focused on doing the job properly besides money.

Problem lies in the recruitment stage where it’s all geared to ‘can they do the job?’ rather than ‘is this person suitable to do the job?’

Pisses me off no end that people come into the job, realise that it’s not just pressing two buttons or moving a lever back and forth, end up moaning and groaning constantly and then go silent when you’ve had enough and say ‘if you hate the job so much why don’t you leave?’ You accept it off an old salt with a billion years service but not off a bloke who’s been in the job five minutes when there’s guys (and girls!) who’d come in and do a brilliant job but just failed to get through because some Billy Bigbks was seen as a better bet.

What are their complaints? When I've read around the careers stuff, it seems like it's one of those places where people like doing what they do?

How excited can people get driving a train on the same line every day? The nostalgic days of butties on the footplate are long gone!

[Vickers_VC10]

valiant said:

itcaptainslow said:

Unfortunately due to the rather nice salary it seems there’s increasing numbers of people coming in to the industry who are solely there for the money and how much they can wring out of it.

In my experience these people don’t tend to last long before they fkup or the unsociable elements of the job becomes too much for them. Yes, we all end up like that but for newbies to survive, there must be some interest to keep them focused on doing the job properly besides money.

Problem lies in the recruitment stage where it’s all geared to ‘can they do the job?’ rather than ‘is this person suitable to do the job?’

Pisses me off no end that people come into the job, realise that it’s not just pressing two buttons or moving a lever back and forth, end up moaning and groaning constantly and then go silent when you’ve had enough and say ‘if you hate the job so much why don’t you leave?’ You accept it off an old salt with a billion years service but not off a bloke who’s been in the job five minutes when there’s guys (and girls!) who’d come in and do a brilliant job but just failed to get through because some Billy Bigbks was seen as a better bet.

I think there is an element of that, maybe we are lucky where we are but I personally haven't seen the newbies (and with 6 years experience I count myself as that) anyone saying they hate the job and pissing and moaning, certainly not more than maybe one or two individuals. Obviously the money does attract people who see it as an easy job for the money they soon learn LOL although I have found most just accept the reality and get on with it the, making an error seems to be the biggest human factor that does effect newer drivers.

If I was to use my own personal non affliated view lol I would say probably due to part to overconfidence and perhaps too many rest days, I also think there is more to it than that although I'm not typing it here lol, the old adage of the more time in the seat means more time exposed to the risk is one that you'd be silly to ignore. I wouldn't say you need an interest in the job to do it, loads of people have no interest in trains at all and do a grand job. That said loads of people do a grand job and make mistakes.

Either way its a good job.

I count myself lucky, we have a good route card and good traction card so plenty of variety although you could argue that is a bad thing etc jack of all trades master of none...

[340600]

My full application has gone in today. I was sent a link to complete 16 questions - quite in-depth, actually. I'm not holding out much hope due to the sheer amount of applications they're likely to get, but it's a step towards a dream career for me. Now the waiting begins.

[WJNB]

My dream job but I'm colour blind which closed the door to being a pilot as well.
Got a poxy job once in a posh department store selling carpets & got bked for trying to sell a mauve carpet to some old biddy who wanted a blue one.
Later I spent 22 years in the interior design world without anybody realising i was colour blind or at best tone blind.
Last week nearly bought what I thought was an RAF blue car that I had been admiring all through lock-down only to be told by my wife it was lilac.
Er yes I CAN tell when traffic lights are at white, orange or pink.

[NuckyThompson]

worsy said:

Transport for Wales @ Shrewsbury

https://www.acornpeople.com/job-search/job/BBBH202...

Edited

Acorn is working in partnership with Transport for Wales Rail Services to support their recruitment drive for a number of Trainee Train Drivers across Cardiff, Carmarthen, Chester, Crewe, Holyhead, Llandudno Junction, Machynlleth, Pwllheli and Shrewsbury.

What are peoples thoughts on the borderline sexism in that ad?

They're as good as saying if you're a woman you're in. Thats got to be close to the line surely? if someone submitted an application as say 'Sam' - Male and another near identical one as 'Sam' - Female and the female got accepted for interview but the male didn't would their be grounds for discrimination?