Having already been through the recruitment and selection process there’s so much to catch up on. So, let me begin by setting the scene.

Before submitting my application to become a trainee train driver with ‘one’ railway, I had no experience of working on the railways. My background was always in admin and customer service, but I was ready for a total change. I wasn’t sure in exactly what direction I wanted to head, but I was sure that it would be out of an office.

Having read the ‘How to Become a Train Driver’ webpage, I was already aware of the types of tests and assessments I was likely to encounter. So, when I was called to an assessment, I was surprised that it was only going to comprise a concentration and mechanical comprehension test. It later transpired that this was just a pre-selection process to weed out the total no-hopers.

Even though this was just a pre-selection process, it was still tough. I was expecting that we would get the infamous Group Bourdon “dots” test but we ended up with the SCAAT test instead, which demands mental adaptability as well as concentration.

Still, it was good to meet some of the other candidates and chat between the tests. I was quite surprised that there were a number who were returning to driving having been away from it for some time, and that I was very much in the minority in not having a railway background. It was quite an honour to have been told that I’d successfully progressed to the next stage.

The next stage of the selection process takes a whole day during which candidates face the entire battery of aptitude tests and a structured interview. For me, this was due to take place in an obscure office near Watford town centre. However, they failed to inform me that the venue had been switched at the last minute because workmen in the building were making an unacceptable amount of noise. So, having had a hair-raising journey around the M25 to get there, I had to wait an agonising 30 minutes for the test administrator to collect myself and one other candidate. The substitute venue in a Regus building was hardly any better, as a fire alert the previous day had meant that their heating boiler had gone offline overnight and the offices were still freezing cold. Still, we reckoned that if we could pass the assessments in such trying conditions we should be assured of a position.

As we’d previously done the Mechanical Comprehension test at the pre-selection session, we weren’t expected to do another. However, even though we’d all taken the SCAAT test just over a week previously, we were still expected to do the Group Bourdon test. I can’t speak for the other candidates but, compared to the SCAAT test, I found the Group Bourdon to be much easier. Then it was the TRP and RAAT tests about which there’s not much to tell. After that, we were all led in one by one for the computerised Fast Reaction & Co-ordination Test. As I was due to go third out of five I had plenty of time to build up a head of nervous energy, which was not helped when the first candidate came out a physically and emotionally broken man. When my turn came I made a bad start by trying to be too quick and belting the buttons and pedals far too hard but, with a bit of coaching, I managed to settle down.

With the tests out of the way, there was time to settle the nerves before the structured interview. If anything, this was the part that I was most dreading. However, the interviewer put my mind to rest immediately by telling me that I’d managed “…straight A’s” on all the tests. If she had been better looking I’d have kissed her. Anyway, it did the trick I was soon relaxing into it and merrily chatting away about this and that until she had filled in all the boxes on her form.

And with that I was free to go.

I never heard that I had passed the Assessment Centre but assumed that I must have when I was called to attend a medical.

There’s not very much to report about this, except that the chap who was nearly broken by the Fast Reaction & Co-ordination Test must have done alright in the end as he was sitting in the medical centre waiting room as I arrived. However, it is probably worth mentioning that I have never been so thoroughly examined as I was that day.

All of this just about brings me up to date. It was always very hard to judge how I had performed at each stage, as I really had no idea what they were looking for. To have come out the other side with a formal offer of a position as a trainee driver was brilliant beyond words. Just yesterday I received all the various paperwork, including a copy of a contract of employment, new entrant’s details form, a staff travel pass application and details of where to go for an induction. So, from 4th April, I’m going to be a trainee train driver for ‘one’ railway!

The only slightly worrying point is that the accompanying letter says that the offer is still conditional on passing the medical and on getting acceptable references. I hope I get it, as I’ve already had to hand in my notice for my current job.