Application Process: Hints and Tips

Assessments and Testing

As part of our selection process, shortlisted candidates may be invited to complete a range of assessments designed to help us understand their skills, strengths, and potential. The type of assessment you will be asked to complete will depend on the role you have applied for and may be delivered online or at one of our assessment centres.

Management Roles

Candidates applying for management positions will typically be invited to complete an occupational personality questionnaire, alongside numerical and verbal reasoning assessments. These assessments help us understand how you approach work, solve problems, and make decisions.

Find out more about management assessments and access practice materials

Customer-Facing Roles

For customer-facing positions, candidates who successfully pass the initial qualifying questions will be invited to complete a suite of interactive, gamified assessments. These assessments are designed to identify the behaviours, strengths, and potential that are important for success in the role.

Find out more about customer-facing assessments

Trainee Driver Roles

Candidates applying for Trainee Driver positions will first be required to complete and successfully pass a series of gamified assessments. Successful candidates will then be invited to attend Train Driver psychometric testing administered by the Occupational Psychology Centre (OPC). Practice materials for the OPC assessments will be provided at least seven days before your testing session.

Find out more about the gamified assessments and OPC assessments

Fleet Roles

For some Fleet positions, candidates may be required to complete verbal reasoning assessments and the Sustained Concentration Attention and Accuracy Test (SCAAT). These assessments help us evaluate skills that are important for safe and effective performance in the role.

Find out more about Fleet assessments

We understand that assessments can feel daunting. Our testing process is designed to give every candidate a fair opportunity to demonstrate their strengths and potential, and wherever possible we provide information and practice materials to help you prepare

If your application is successfully shortlisted, you may be invited to sit psychometric testing. These may be online tests, or we may invite you into one of our testing sessions.

If you have applied for a managerial role, you will be invited to sit an occupational personality assessment, numerical and verbal reasoning tests. You can find out more about these tests and practice here.

For customer facing roles, you will be invited to a testing session where you will be required to sit an online Safe Concentration and Attention Test (SCAAT) and/ A Safety Awareness Test (SAT). You can find out more about these tests here.

If you have applied for a Trainee Driver role, you will be invited to sit Train Driver testing, administered by the Occupational Psychology Centre (OPC). Practise materials will be sent to you at least 7 days prior to the testing session. You can find out more about these tests here.

For some of our Fleet roles you could be asked to sit verbal reasoning and SCAAT.

For some of our roles, you may be invited to sit a video interview. This allows us to get to know you a little better and it’s your opportunity to tell us what you know about the company and the role you have applied for in a short amount of time. You may also be asked a competency-based question or two. You can complete your video interview in the comfort of your own home; just make sure you find a quiet space with no distractions, dress as though you were attending an actual interview and use the time wisely. You can practice video interviews here.

We will email you the outcome of your video interview and invite you to the next stage if you have been successful.

Our Assessment Days are designed to allow us to assess your behaviour and skills in group and individual tasks. The group tasks you will be asked to do may seem random, however they are designed to assess your ability to work as part of a team. Team work at East Midlands Railway is absolutely essential in all roles. It shows us how well you communicate, listen, share your ideas and respond to other people’s views.

The assessment day is also a great opportunity for you to learn more about EMR and to find out what it’s like to work for the company from current colleagues from around the business, allowing you to decide whether the role and company is right for you.

Top Tips for Assessment days:

• It is an opportunity to demonstrate your skills
• Get involved
• Keep an open mind
• Show positivity and enthusiasm
• Keep to the brief of the tasks
• Be yourself

General hints and tips for the day:

Things to DO!

• Listen
  The day will be busy and you will meet a lot of new faces, which is fun but can also be distracting at times when you are being given important information by the assessors. Make sure you pay attention to the instructions and advice being given. Asking questions about something that has just been explained shows a lack of attention and listening skills.
• Smart
  At East Midlands Railway we have a high uniform standard that we expect our candidates to be aware of when applying. We therefore expect candidates to present themselves in a smart and professional way that demonstrates an awareness of this.
• Preparation
  We want candidates to relax and enjoy the assessment day, however we also expect candidates to take time to do their research on the company, understand the role they have applied for and have some examples of work based scenarios to discuss should they be progressed to interview stage. Your preparation is key and will help you stay calm and relaxed without feeling like you're being put on the spot.
• Skills
  Think about the role you have applied for and the specific skills relating to it, this is what the assessors are going to want to see. How are you going to demonstrate these? Always keep these skills in mind throughout the day so that you don't get lost in the task at hand and forget to apply them.
• Be yourself
  It is really important the managers get to see your personality on the day. You'll be surprised at how far just being yourself and enjoying the experience will get you. The managers will be looking for people that can demonstrate the skills for the role, but also people that our customers will like and warm to. That comes from within so don't be afraid to let the managers see your light hearted side too. This leaves that lasting impression.
  

Things to AVOID!

• Guessing
  If you don't know the answer to something, give it your best but don't wild guess!
• Not being yourself
  Avoid trying to behave in a particular way - don't assume you know what the assessors are looking for.
• Negativity
  Avoid being negative about the process and exercises you will be taking part in. If you are in a situation where you have not progressed to the next stage, your response to the feedback demonstrates a lot to the assessors about your character and willingness to learn.

We will contact you by email if you have been successful at this stage and if you are not, we will be able to provide you with some feedback on how you can improve for next time.

Our competency based interviews are designed to assess your past behaviours to allow us to compare how they align to the EMR behaviours and values. You’ll be asked a set of behavioural based questions and we will require you to give us specific examples from past employment or education.

To ensure that you provide us with a detailed response that fully answers the question, we would advise that you use the STAR technique to structure your responses:

S: Situation – Describe the situation YOU were in

T: Tasks – What tasks did YOU identify that were necessary to be done?

A: Action – What action did YOU take? How and Why?

R: Result – What was the outcome?

Remember, the competency based interview is all about showcasing what you can bring to EMR, so make sure you demonstrate your personal involvement in each scenario so that the assessors are not left guessing. We can only score the information that you give us on the day, so make good use of the time provided during the interview.

For most of our roles, this is the last stage in the recruitment process. If you are successful, we will call you to make you an offer for the role or send you an email to confirm what the next stage in the process is. If you are unsuccessful, we will email you to let you know and you will have the opportunity to request feedback, which you will receive in the form of a call from someone from the interview panel.