Associate
Yesterday I officially passed out as a Depot Train Driver after wanting to get into the industry since school. (I'm 27 now).
Ever since I was young I have been fascinated by the railways, much like the young boys of previous generations when it was more 'normal' to be into trains. I must have got it from my father, every holiday in the UK we'd visit the local railways.
I remember at school when we had our silly careers sessions, telling the tutor what I hoped to be one day and them not really gving it credit like all the other students who had jobs and career ideas that would mean they would go onto sixth form and uni. It's like the tutor almost didn't have a clue about how to get into train driving, its a strange world. The internet wasn't as good then and research made it look next to impossible to jump in at such a level.
Due to illness in family I sortof dropped out of school for the last two years and developed depression. At school I was bullied pretty badly, ever since infants school (and with the 3 schools I went to being next door to each other it just escalated up until I left at 17).
I became quite an outcast, this is when PC's became my friend and I spent all my time indoors on the PC and discovering music. I was lucky my parents understood and gave me slack, which I think helped in the longrun.
Few years later I met my current girlfriend of 7 years. She really helped me out and after doing nothing I decided to go back into education and study music, something I loved as we're all given the opportunity to study something. I went through a Btec first and national diploma and did really well. Due to the natural progression I went onto the degree, by then i'd spent 5 years studying music and it sucked the love out of it.
Then the train driver part..
After checking careers pages regularly I stumbled across a job for trainee driver in Cambridge area. I went for it. Due to the time checking it, it was to expire two days later. I filled it all out and as there was no way the post would get it there in time, myself and my girlfriend got the train to London to hand it in personally (Worth a shot?).
I don't know if many of you know the process for recruiting train drivers, its extremely long winded, they get over 3000 applicants for a couple of roles, sift them down to a small group who do the psycometric tests which narrows them down even more till you have a handful for a final interview.
I never thought i'd even get shortlisted for the tests. Compared to most applicants I had no experience. Most people who go into train driving are middle aged+ and want a change of career so have much life experience.
But I did. I went crazy with the practice materials and researched the role like hell. I remember the first day at the assessment centre doing the concentration, fault finding and trainability tests.. After each one a few candidates would get called in, then you'd see them walk past and go home..
At each stage I awaited my fate but by the end I was still there.
I recall the panic and sounds of people pressing their pencils down hard doing one of the concentration tests and the sound of pages turning quickly.
Now things went a bit strange. The reaction and coordination test had broken so I was told to await a letter. It was 5 months later I got called back to come in and take the test, I remember it was the Paralympics and Stratford was heaving! What a strange test it was sounds, colours, pedals, buttons, but I passed! I remember the reality hit me when I was researching the process and some guys had been trying to get into the job over 20 years and always got knocked back.. with others trying to get in by cleaning trains or working in other areas before trying to progress.
Now due to them keeping me waiting, life got a bit difficult and I got a job at a secure mental health unit, which actually turned out for the good.
I then had to wait for the last part of the assessment process, the competency interview. This is meant to be the hardest and most stressful part. You fill out a form on some experiences (for example, a time you dealt with an emergency or had to follow rules and proceedures) then a psycologist (or similiar?) grills you on your answers. I saw a few guys break after they came out of that interview, it really was an out of this world experience.
This is where my experience in my new job came in, dealing with dangerous patients and restraints.. Without that I think I would have failed at that stage. But I passed.
Now this is the assessment part done! The way it works is (or did before 2014) you get two chances at the assessments, if you fail one stage thats a life gone, you can then re-apply for another role and try again. But another fail and you can't apply ever again. But if you pass them all, you can apply for any other job and go straight to the last stage.
The last stage was a manager interview. This job was for West Anglia which covers Cambridge, Bishops Stortford and Chingford. I felt it went really well and was extremely positive after.
However, a week later I got a letter (September 2013) 18 months after I initally applied. It was clear i'd failed. Hit me really badly, I remember crying over it and feeling i'd be stuck forever.. a very low moment.
I kept on going and a glimour of hope came in November when I checked the careers site. They wanted drivers for my actual location! I applied straight away and due to the system I would be put through to the managers interview without the tests.
Something went wrong and I got strange responces about being put on hold, as if I was going to have to do the tests again and start from the bottom.
I kept trying to contact HR asking for feedback from my previous interview and about the new job I had applied for. I got nothing till 3 months later when finally someone called me.. They apologised and said "oh we've lost the records of your interview so can't give feedback... But we can offer you an interview for Colchester in two weeks time". Well I was angry but felt lucky for the opportunity.
I went along to this interview and it felt okay, but I was very apprehensive after my last experience.
I went to work the next day and had a voicemail on my phone.. I had hope. So on a break I followed it up. I had got the job!
What a moment.
The rest is straightforward. I attended a medical and sorted references, then on March 4th 2014 I started training. So much classroom so many tests.
I remember feeling so lucky to be there when I realised the guys i'm training with are ex police, ex army, ex banker etc. I was the youngest in the group, the eldest being 54! I remember feeling way out of my depth because of the calibre of other trainees with me being a guy who had just done done one year in his first ever job and has little to no life experience.
I got through the training... its truly amazing how much they put in your head.
Last week I finished my 5 weeks with an instructor doing the job and had my 3 days assessment with my manager, covering everything I had learnt since the start and yesterday I had to take all the evidence and paperwork to Stratford where the operations standards manager signed me off and gave me a new driver licence without 'trainee'.
I made it!
Now i'm chucked right into it, today is my first shift at 1830 doing the job properly and alone.
I think back to being younger and thinking being a train driver was one of those dream jobs you could never get and those people who took the mick because I wanted to be a driver and was into the railways. The career tutor who couldn't really give me any advice and all those people who bullied me over the years. I'm now in a career that is secure that I wanted to do and I earn more than most of the people that belittled me.
The job:
How it works is you start as a depot driver and move up the transfer list as people retire then get trained as a mainline driver doing passenger services.
The depot role arguably has more responsbility than the mainline driver as you are getting everything ready, trains into the yard, out of the yard, planning what trains they go on, which trains are going to maintenance. Getting trains that have failed out of the station. I have to keep the service running where as the mainline driver is just responsible for his one train (and passengers).
Of course thats where I am going to end up and where I want to be
The average at the moment is 3 years before you go up for mainline training.. I'll be happy with that considering I'll have 30 years on the mainline before retirement and on the higher pay.
TL
R
I don't know who is really interested in this thread/story but I just felt I had to get this out there. It was sortof inpisred by the 50,000k thread and the fact I passed out yesterday. I just had to get it down in words and share my little story
Fact is I got where I want to be, even though I could have given up. The fact I made it through each stage and have beaten over 1000 other candidates for my position. It truly boosted the tiny confidence I had and now i'm ready to start the rest of my life knowing I am in a secure job with great potetial.
Bring on 1830. I am pretty nervous and the responsiblity has really dawned on me since my assessments but thats for the best!
Hope you found this interesting.
Ever since I was young I have been fascinated by the railways, much like the young boys of previous generations when it was more 'normal' to be into trains. I must have got it from my father, every holiday in the UK we'd visit the local railways.
I remember at school when we had our silly careers sessions, telling the tutor what I hoped to be one day and them not really gving it credit like all the other students who had jobs and career ideas that would mean they would go onto sixth form and uni. It's like the tutor almost didn't have a clue about how to get into train driving, its a strange world. The internet wasn't as good then and research made it look next to impossible to jump in at such a level.
Due to illness in family I sortof dropped out of school for the last two years and developed depression. At school I was bullied pretty badly, ever since infants school (and with the 3 schools I went to being next door to each other it just escalated up until I left at 17).
I became quite an outcast, this is when PC's became my friend and I spent all my time indoors on the PC and discovering music. I was lucky my parents understood and gave me slack, which I think helped in the longrun.
Few years later I met my current girlfriend of 7 years. She really helped me out and after doing nothing I decided to go back into education and study music, something I loved as we're all given the opportunity to study something. I went through a Btec first and national diploma and did really well. Due to the natural progression I went onto the degree, by then i'd spent 5 years studying music and it sucked the love out of it.
Then the train driver part..
After checking careers pages regularly I stumbled across a job for trainee driver in Cambridge area. I went for it. Due to the time checking it, it was to expire two days later. I filled it all out and as there was no way the post would get it there in time, myself and my girlfriend got the train to London to hand it in personally (Worth a shot?).
I don't know if many of you know the process for recruiting train drivers, its extremely long winded, they get over 3000 applicants for a couple of roles, sift them down to a small group who do the psycometric tests which narrows them down even more till you have a handful for a final interview.
I never thought i'd even get shortlisted for the tests. Compared to most applicants I had no experience. Most people who go into train driving are middle aged+ and want a change of career so have much life experience.
But I did. I went crazy with the practice materials and researched the role like hell. I remember the first day at the assessment centre doing the concentration, fault finding and trainability tests.. After each one a few candidates would get called in, then you'd see them walk past and go home..
At each stage I awaited my fate but by the end I was still there.
I recall the panic and sounds of people pressing their pencils down hard doing one of the concentration tests and the sound of pages turning quickly.
Now things went a bit strange. The reaction and coordination test had broken so I was told to await a letter. It was 5 months later I got called back to come in and take the test, I remember it was the Paralympics and Stratford was heaving! What a strange test it was sounds, colours, pedals, buttons, but I passed! I remember the reality hit me when I was researching the process and some guys had been trying to get into the job over 20 years and always got knocked back.. with others trying to get in by cleaning trains or working in other areas before trying to progress.
Now due to them keeping me waiting, life got a bit difficult and I got a job at a secure mental health unit, which actually turned out for the good.
I then had to wait for the last part of the assessment process, the competency interview. This is meant to be the hardest and most stressful part. You fill out a form on some experiences (for example, a time you dealt with an emergency or had to follow rules and proceedures) then a psycologist (or similiar?) grills you on your answers. I saw a few guys break after they came out of that interview, it really was an out of this world experience.
This is where my experience in my new job came in, dealing with dangerous patients and restraints.. Without that I think I would have failed at that stage. But I passed.
Now this is the assessment part done! The way it works is (or did before 2014) you get two chances at the assessments, if you fail one stage thats a life gone, you can then re-apply for another role and try again. But another fail and you can't apply ever again. But if you pass them all, you can apply for any other job and go straight to the last stage.
The last stage was a manager interview. This job was for West Anglia which covers Cambridge, Bishops Stortford and Chingford. I felt it went really well and was extremely positive after.
However, a week later I got a letter (September 2013) 18 months after I initally applied. It was clear i'd failed. Hit me really badly, I remember crying over it and feeling i'd be stuck forever.. a very low moment.
I kept on going and a glimour of hope came in November when I checked the careers site. They wanted drivers for my actual location! I applied straight away and due to the system I would be put through to the managers interview without the tests.
Something went wrong and I got strange responces about being put on hold, as if I was going to have to do the tests again and start from the bottom.
I kept trying to contact HR asking for feedback from my previous interview and about the new job I had applied for. I got nothing till 3 months later when finally someone called me.. They apologised and said "oh we've lost the records of your interview so can't give feedback... But we can offer you an interview for Colchester in two weeks time". Well I was angry but felt lucky for the opportunity.
I went along to this interview and it felt okay, but I was very apprehensive after my last experience.
I went to work the next day and had a voicemail on my phone.. I had hope. So on a break I followed it up. I had got the job!
What a moment.
The rest is straightforward. I attended a medical and sorted references, then on March 4th 2014 I started training. So much classroom so many tests.
I remember feeling so lucky to be there when I realised the guys i'm training with are ex police, ex army, ex banker etc. I was the youngest in the group, the eldest being 54! I remember feeling way out of my depth because of the calibre of other trainees with me being a guy who had just done done one year in his first ever job and has little to no life experience.
I got through the training... its truly amazing how much they put in your head.
Last week I finished my 5 weeks with an instructor doing the job and had my 3 days assessment with my manager, covering everything I had learnt since the start and yesterday I had to take all the evidence and paperwork to Stratford where the operations standards manager signed me off and gave me a new driver licence without 'trainee'.
I made it!
Now i'm chucked right into it, today is my first shift at 1830 doing the job properly and alone.
I think back to being younger and thinking being a train driver was one of those dream jobs you could never get and those people who took the mick because I wanted to be a driver and was into the railways. The career tutor who couldn't really give me any advice and all those people who bullied me over the years. I'm now in a career that is secure that I wanted to do and I earn more than most of the people that belittled me.
The job:
How it works is you start as a depot driver and move up the transfer list as people retire then get trained as a mainline driver doing passenger services.
The depot role arguably has more responsbility than the mainline driver as you are getting everything ready, trains into the yard, out of the yard, planning what trains they go on, which trains are going to maintenance. Getting trains that have failed out of the station. I have to keep the service running where as the mainline driver is just responsible for his one train (and passengers).
Of course thats where I am going to end up and where I want to be
The average at the moment is 3 years before you go up for mainline training.. I'll be happy with that considering I'll have 30 years on the mainline before retirement and on the higher pay.
TL
RI don't know who is really interested in this thread/story but I just felt I had to get this out there. It was sortof inpisred by the 50,000k thread and the fact I passed out yesterday. I just had to get it down in words and share my little story
Fact is I got where I want to be, even though I could have given up. The fact I made it through each stage and have beaten over 1000 other candidates for my position. It truly boosted the tiny confidence I had and now i'm ready to start the rest of my life knowing I am in a secure job with great potetial.
Bring on 1830. I am pretty nervous and the responsiblity has really dawned on me since my assessments but thats for the best!
Hope you found this interesting.
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I'd love to be able to one day.. My dad is mega proud of me, afterall he's into trains and I hope one day I can get permission to let him have a journey. It's all very serious though, have to have your manager with you.. distractions bad!
Who knows how you'l feel after that!