It's an industry that is notoriously slow in the recruitment process apparently.
However Northern seem to be going for broke to get the people in asap, they get over 1000 applicants for each of the positions BUT they'll have an idea how many out of those are potentially suitable in relation to how many are needed, there'll be the same folk applying each time as previously they'd only be taking a couple on each time, with the new franchises starting in April they have a commitment to getting more trains so know how many extra staff they're going to need.
I can't help thinking (& hoping) that given they'll have an idea of how many potentials they have in that pool they are wanting to get them in before another company recruits them because if they fall short on staff then the trains can't run. Transpennine are going to get 44 new trains to increase capacity.. that's 160 - 200 drivers & conductors required before any retirements & promotions etc take that number out of that 'pool' of candidates and all of a sudden Northern are having to look at lowering standards in effect to get the staff. They were in a position 12 months ago where when they were only looking for a couple at a time they had you doing all kinds of tests as a way of whittling the numbers down, changing the way they are recruiting now isnt necessarily meaning they have lowered the standards but that they now need to get these people in & don't need to chop the numbers through unnecessary tests.
I reckon Northern have stolen a bit of a march on the others in their recruitment.
A guy on the way home has just been made into a driver trainer after only driving for 5 years, he said that they've had to do this due to the amount of new drivers they're recruiting & there are quite a few new trainers.. meaning even more drivers required, a lot of conductors have moved 'up' into trainee driver roles which in turn means more conductors needed plus trainers meaning more again. He said it's a good time to be applying with them at the moment.
The majority of us are sceptical & poo-pooing this so called 'Northern Powerhouse' thing but 1 thing that is going to come out of it (& quite quickly) is a far better railway, the franchises that renewed in April have had to commit to improving the Railway right across the board to even bid for the things in the 1st place, as soon as they were awarded new trains were ordered & things set into motion so it is already happening and the thing is getting a long overdue overhaul at what seems to be quite a fast pace. The franchises are for 7 years but a lot of the commitments are set to take place in the 1st 3 years with a large percentage of those within the 1st 12 months.
