Network Rail Assessment Centre

Well done on getting through to the AC! I have a telephone interview with them coming up (for Project Management but might well be similar) if there's any hints/tips you can give would really appreciate it!

Hey,

I have an AC with Network Rail too. I have applied to the engineering stream. When is yours?

Anyone else that has been to one recently, it would be greatly appreciated if you wouldn't mind sharing some information about the exercises that you took part in.

Thank you.

bump, mine is next month!! DO you know if they retest numeracy/verbal reasoning?

Archie: have u had ur telephone itnerview? if not i will give you my experiences, let me know.

I've started a wiki at Network Rail - anything you guys can add to this is much appreciated!

Hey thegreatdebate,

My AC is next month too, what date is yours? and yes they do retest numerical/verbal reasoning.

Anyone been to one recently who wouldn't mind sharing their experience?

Hi thegreatdebate I have already had mine but thanks for the offer anyway!
I have made it through to the AC too so maybe see some of you there.

Any ideas what is meant exactly by smart casual dress code (for a girl) for the evening before?

DO you have yours on the 3rd? I guess smart casual for guys is a smart top/shirt, smart jeans and shoes and girls i guess whateva the equivalent is?!

How have you prepared for the day, so far all i have done is researched abit abt NR and scheme but the bit im dreading most is numeracy re test as i just scrapped the online one and usually paper ones r much harder!!

No mines the 4th. Glad its not the 3rd cos I've already been offered 2 then!
Do you reckon smart jeans are ok then? I wasn't sure whether jeans were ok or not.
I have to write a presentation for my one on the 3rd so to be honest am not going to have a lot of time to prepare for Network Rail. Was planning to just do what you have really - bit of NR and scheme research and look over my application and competencies. Not really sure what else to do. I'm also worried about the numeracy test but don't think there's much I can do about it now so will just have to give it my best shot!

Hey, Ive got one on the 3rd as well. Was speaking to one of the grads who started last year, he said at his most people wore smart trousers and a shirt or a suit with no tie for the meal the evening before.

Im a bit concerned about the fact finding exercise as Ive not done anything like it before.

Hi, I was wondering how the Assessment Centre went. Were the activities pretty straighforward - they sound hard!
Thanks

Hey, thought Id write about what happened so you have some idea of what to expect. Mine was for project management. There were the

following 5 stages:

Interview, 1 hour. 4 Competency questions on influence, drive, overcoming obstacles, searching for information, but some with a twist, like give me a time when you failed to overcome an obstacle or failed to find relevant information. Then a few business related questions about how the company makes profit from its commercial proprty and the challenges facing the company.

Then Maths and Verbal reasoning tests, exactly the same as the online ones.

In the afternoon, its starts off with the group discussion where you have to read background info on fictional projects for "UK RAIL" and present your project to the others in the group and listen to their responses and discuss which you would all choose. My advice with this is that the preparation time goes extremely quickly so scribble down as many facts/statistics to have at hand when your talking as you wont be able to be looking through the sheets you were given easily once it starts.

Next was fact finding, basically 15 mins to prepare questions then 15 mins to ask them, regarding 2 fictional projects. make sure you are organised when you take these notes as you will have to refer to them quickly later.

Then you have 20 mins to prepare a presentation from the information you were just given, which again flies by, so make sure you get the important points on the flip chart quickly as you dont want to end up with an unfinished presentation. You then have to give a 10 min presentation outlining the costs/benefits and which you would choose.

Then you get grilled by the person you just presented too, who asks you all sorts of questions about what info would make you change your mind, how you could get more information. This was the part of the day I found hardest, and this is where having better organised notes would have helped!

Hope this helps and hope it goes well!

Hey guys, how long before you all heard back about your initial application?

Thanks, J

mine was within a few days of submitting it

Which Network Rail graduate schemes are these posts about?

Because there are lots of different ones and I think the assessment days are slightly different for each one.

mine is for project management

I said which one mine was for.

Did you get the job? I did but wont be accepting it as i wasnt overly impressed with the ac and have few other offers.

Yes, it was the job I really wanted. If there are other ones you would rather take, fair enough, but the HR department runs the graduate scheme so I wouldn't let the day affect your decision too much.

Have any of you had an AC for the Ops+Customer Service scheme?
Was wondering if it was the same as the one described by brown198 (thanks for that!).

Evening all,
I have just been informed i have made it to the telephone interview stage for the contracts and procurement scheme at Network Rail, im yet to book my slot. By the looks of things the questions are pretty standard and somewhat similar to the initial application form we have to fill in!? Can anyone shed any more light on it please?? Is it best to use the same competency based examples as on initial form??

Cheers

Evening all,
I have just been informed i have made it to the telephone interview stage for the contracts and procurement scheme at Network Rail, im yet to book my slot. By the looks of things the questions are pretty standard and somewhat similar to the initial application form we have to fill in!? Can anyone shed any more light on it please?? Is it best to use the same competency based examples as on initial form??

Cheers

hello guys ..

just got confirmation for an online verbal and numerical reasoning test, for network rail.. i ve never done one before but i have been briefly trying some trials on the net... can someone please advise me on the material i should expect.. or is it random and any tips on doing well will be handy too.

thanks

.

The AC day sounds friggin hard. I'm really going to have to do my homework on this one. I'm only applying for a year in industry as well, seems daft to go down the exact same route as the graduates. Any Civils out there?

Hi guys, how was the a/c earlier in the week? I've just got the invite to the tests so I'm a bit behind.

Did you get a choice of locations to attend?

D

Thanks.

Has anyone else been to the Network Rail Assesment Centre. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone,

Has anyone got an assessment centre for Network Rail Operations & Customer Services graduate scheme (2010) for next month (February or March). I have got one, but not sure what to expect?

Any help would be appreciated.

Although I'm a bit too much of an artist for network rail :D I'm trawling the net looking for answers for my best friend who has applied for a scheme and is driving me insane!!

He had to complete some kind of online test last week... and hasn't heard anything yet so thinks it's bad news? is it? how long did anyone else on here wait to know if they had made it to the interview stage? or assessment centre whichever?

at least then I'll know to get supplies to cheer him up :) does chocolate work on boys?! :D

Thanks much xx polly xx

and p.s what can I get with my points? are there prizes?! :D

I did their situational test last week, and got a reply yesterday if that helps. No initial interview, its all a one day assessment centre where i will be having my interview, numerical/verbal test, group activity etc. no idea about the points! i've just joined too..

thanks :) so he should hear soon then.. eek... fingers crossed for my sake lol - joke :D

congratulations to you :) hope it goes well for you! :D

well I got another 15 points for my second post so if it carries on that way I will probably reach the heady heights of 85 by the time I leave hehe... which probably won't get me anything :(

xx polly xx

For the people who've had assessment centres... just wondering how many people at each one usually? any idea of how many assessment centres for each scheme? Trying to work out my chances if i get to an assessment centre ;) thanks!

hey guys

hoope everyone is welll.. i got an email saying i was successful after my online SJT..... and NR are shortlisting for the assesment centres.. does anyone else have anymore info on what may happen next ?? and what i can expect at the centre??

atif

hey, i got an email saying that NR was shortlisting, and after a day or two i got a reply from them inviting me to the AC.

Also, i think i read somewhere that 1700 ppl applied in 2007, 280 got to the AC and 115 or something got offers..

Good luck!

My friend found he got through to the assessment centre too :D he doesn't know when yet but I thought I'd let everyone know since you were wanting closure :P

Anyway will prob get him to check for tips tho they are thin on the ground!! lol...

When are you going to one? Will it be soon? Best of luck...

xx Polly xx

mine is in the third week of feb.. when is your friends?

i dont know all i know is i got an email saying they are shortlisting succesful candidtates, when i phned the help line the guy sed assesment are in march/february so i ll wait and see i hope they call me :)

atif

I think his assessment is a bit earlier than that, the first week of february I think :D (which was a bit of a shock! but he couldn't make the other date) if I can squeeze any info out of him after the event (if he isn't too traumatised lol) I'll let you know about it :) I assume you're going for different things anyway!!

xxpollyxx

Hey guys, what schemes are you going for? I have one for Finance on 10/02/2010, i wasnt given a choice of date.

I guess they are doing different departments on different dates. I applied for ops and customer service, so mayb thats why the dates are different.

Let me know once u guys have had your AC, it would be v. helpful to get a general idea!!

.

evening all

just registered as I got through to an assessment centre the other day....and am not looking forward to it if its as hardcore if it sounds! ha!

did anyone else go in the nr chatroom? chaos! I didn't ask anything and got kicked out for inactivity lmao. great start.

although "jsdkhkjdhs" I think they said there's be about 20 of us at each AC, but honestly it could have been an answer to something else!! it was loony... and you had to have got in when it first opened otherwise you'd get "sorry answered this already" jeez...

anyone got any tips or advice? .... please lmao...

i got assesmnt date well looking forward to it.. hope to see some of you guys there :)

dude you're looking forward to it? i'm chuffed too, not exactly looking forward to it, but it'll be good experience!! when is yours - want to know who the competition is! ;-)

Good luck all though! i reckon we've done well though!

donny (no not that one)

Which assessment centre do you all have? I'm at the finance one, 10th February...

Hey,

congrats on the assessment centre! I have one too (also Ops and Customer Services) but I don't know when it's going to be, I received an Email to say they are still short listing. Have you heard anything more....I'm not sure what to expect.

Anyone from Engineering scheme? I have my AC on 25th/Feb. Whole thing sounds a bit daunting. Would be good to know some wikijobers in the AC.

I have one for the electrical scheme, but it's on the 23rd. Which engineering stream are you applying for?

@unemployable

Mine is electrical too at York . Where is your AC?

Hope it goes well.