A career as a signaller

[Javagem]

I had applied for the the open day at York. Had an email back from them yesterday saying that due to the Coronavirus risk, all open days are postponed until further notice

Thanks for posting on here to let us know, I haven’t had an email yet!

 

[LOM]

Do you think this could impact new people coming into the job?

I am letting trainees in my area carry on but if I had anyone starting school now I would not be letting them in the box before going to school.

 

[Addz37]

Hi everyone.
Hope you are having a good Friday! I have just had it confirmed that the York ROC open days scheduled for next week have been postponed due to the Coronavirus. They did say though that they would email me again when a new date has been arranged.

 

[89jordanbj]

Took the leap today and put my application in for the future opportunities G8 at Rugby which would mean relocating with my partner and 5 month old baby.

Bit of a daunting prospect but hopefully it will be a good decision if I am to be successful with the application as it is a career which I really want, and can help give my new family a better life.

Updated CV and put together a cover letter today and spent all day preparing thorough answers for the 70 questions so hopefully that will give me a better chance this time of getting and interview.

Good luck to anybody else applying.

 

[Midlands_lad]

Took the leap today and put my application in for the future opportunities G8 at Rugby which would mean relocating with my partner and 5 month old baby.

Bit of a daunting prospect but hopefully it will be a good decision if I am to be successful with the application as it is a career which I really want, and can help give my new family a better life.

Updated CV and put together a cover letter today and spent all day preparing thorough answers for the 70 questions so hopefully that will give me a better chance this time of getting and interview.

Good luck to anybody else applying.

Good luck, I have recently been successful at interview for a grade 6 position so I know what you are going through with the first part of the application!
It is a big decision to take on as I have a steady permanent job which I hate to be fair but also have a young family. I will be taking on a 2 year fixed term contract which I have been told shouldn’t be a problem once started but you have to apply for a permanent job within that 2 years. Is the job that you have applied for a fixed term contract?

 

[9tfrizzco]

Do you think this could impact new people coming into the job?

I think it will impact everyone

 

[89jordanbj]

Good luck, I have recently been successful at interview for a grade 6 position so I know what you are going through with the first part of the application!
It is a big decision to take on as I have a steady permanent job which I hate to be fair but also have a young family. I will be taking on a 2 year fixed term contract which I have been told shouldn’t be a problem once started but you have to apply for a permanent job within that 2 years. Is the job that you have applied for a fixed term contract?

Congratulations! There is nothing mentioned in the job advert about it being a FTC, it just says it is for future opportunities based at Rugby. Are you relocating for your new role or is it local to you?

 

[Gallius]

Congratulations! There is nothing mentioned in the job advert about it being a FTC, it just says it is for future opportunities based at Rugby. Are you relocating for your new role or is it local to you?

The Rugby roles that were advertised in November last year were permanent positions. From what I've seen it normally says in the job advert if it is a FTC.

 

[Midlands_lad]

Congratulations! There is nothing mentioned in the job advert about it being a FTC, it just says it is for future opportunities based at Rugby. Are you relocating for your new role or is it local to you?

I would not need to relocate, it is a 60 mile round trip to work but I am happy with that.

 

[Midlands_lad]

The Rugby roles that were advertised in November last year were permanent positions. From what I've seen it normally says in the job advert if it is a FTC.

Is there any particular reason why FTC are offered and not just a permanent role from the start, it seems a little strange to me?

 

[Gallius]

Is there any particular reason why FTC are offered and not just a permanent role from the start, it seems a little strange to me?

I don't know the answer to that but I suspect it'll be related to the business needs. They may be anticipating having to relocate displaced signallers on permanent contracts so do not want to commit to a permanent position initially. I don't think it's related to having an insurance if you don't pass training because there is already a clause for that in the employment contract. Did they offer any kind of explanation at the interview?

 

[Midlands_lad]

I don't know the answer to that but I suspect it'll be related to the business needs. They may be anticipating having to relocate displaced signallers on permanent contracts so do not want to commit to a permanent position initially. I don't think it's related to having an insurance if you don't pass training because there is already a clause for that in the employment contract. Did they offer any kind of explanation at the interview?

When I asked regarding the FTC they explained that they were trying to ‘get ahead’ of the recruitment process. It couldn’t be a permanent contract as officially the vacancy does not exist yet as they are looking ahead. It was advertised as multiple signaller vacancies in a large signalling centre. There is always the risk that after 2 years and you have not found a permanent job they owe you nothing, however I was informed this would not be the case.

 

[Gallius]

When I asked regarding the FTC they explained that they were trying to ‘get ahead’ of the recruitment process. It couldn’t be a permanent contract as officially the vacancy does not exist yet as they are looking ahead. It was advertised as multiple signaller vacancies in a large signalling centre. There is always the risk that after 2 years and you have not found a permanent job they owe you nothing, however I was informed this would not be the case.

Yea that seems a reasonable explanation considering how long the recruitment process takes. I highly doubt you would be let go after the initial period due to how much they would have invested in the training etc

 

[LOM]

I have a feeling that the 21st Century Operations program that is currently underway will bring about a big shake up of how signallers are recruited trained and managed. We shall just have to wait and see.

 

[Javagem]

I have a feeling that the 21st Century Operations program that is currently underway will bring about a big shake up of how signallers are recruited trained and managed. We shall just have to wait and see.

That sounds ominous

 

[Tom Quinne]

I have a feeling that the 21st Century Operations program that is currently underway will bring about a big shake up of how signallers are recruited trained and managed. We shall just have to wait and see.

Is this something shop floor staff will get briefed on? I’ve not heard of it before now, there does need to be a huge shake up in all three areas to be honest.

 

[LOM]

It is not a secret but at the moment they are looking at the organisational structure of Operations, the OM and LOM job roles and how staff competence is managed. They will no doubt move on to MOMs and signallers, big changes are coming I think. This was all kicked off by Andrew Haines who has recognised that Ops has been the poor relation in Network Rail for too long.

 

[Tom Quinne]

I hope they get rid of the online competency assessments we have to do, having to answer “wrongly” is outright stupid.

Our place has a multi million pound simulator suite to practice, and be assessed on but it’s never used for the purpose.

The new MD does seem like a chap who knows what wrong, and has a good idea how to change it.

 

[LOM]

I hope they get rid of the online competency assessments we have to do, having to answer “wrongly” is outright stupid.

Our place has a multi million pound simulator suite to practice, and be assessed on but it’s never used for the purpose.

Yes what I have heard so far is that Knowledge Tests/Question Tools looks set to be headed the way of Cognisco and there will be far more use of simulation in future. Oracle is being replaced with something that is supposedly much less unwieldy which is excellent news if it works as advertised.

The new MD does seem like a chap who knows what wrong, and has a good idea how to change it.

I have not met him but he comes across well. A proper railwayman and a professional operator.

 

[Peterperfect]

Yes what I have heard so far is that Knowledge Tests/Question Tools looks set to be headed the way of Cognisco and there will be far more use of simulation in future. Oracle is being replaced with something that is supposedly much less unwieldy which is excellent news if it works as advertised.


I have not met him but he comes across well. A proper railwayman and a professional operator.

What makes these tests bad is at the end you get told the percentage you score for each section but not what question you got wrong. So it leaves you unsure given that usually theres 4 or 5 questions on each section.

It would make more sense to have to go back and redo the questions that you got wrong and subsequently finish the experience knowing what was the correct answers.

I know the NHS, police and fire service have to do online job tests or modules and that's how they work.

Also the double negative questions serve no point other than to catch you out.

 

[LOM]

You do get one attempt at resitting the questions you got wrong but there is no guarantee that you will do any better the second time round. I am watching my signallers do these tests almost every week at their ACC or LOM day (none of my staff want them in their own time) so I know how frustrated most of them get with the system. Even the most confident and knowledgeable signallers get ground down by them. Any result over about 90% is good enough for me and I just tell my guys to leave it and not bother with the ones they got wrong. You will find every LOM has a secret set of correct answers for the tests stashed away, found out through bitter experience of doing the same test again and again. The AB & TCB combined test is particularly bad. The questions that refer back to other questions you have not seen yet are the worst.

 

[Peterperfect]

You do get one attempt at resitting the questions you got wrong but there is no guarantee that you will do any better the second time round. I am watching my signallers do these tests almost every week at their ACC or LOM day (none of my staff want them in their own time) so I know how frustrated most of them get with the system. Even the most confident and knowledgeable signallers get ground down by them. Any result over about 90% is good enough for me and I just tell my guys to leave it and not bother with the ones they got wrong. You will find every LOM has a secret set of correct answers for the tests stashed away, found out through bitter experience of doing the same test again and again. The AB & TCB combined test is particularly bad. The questions that refer back to other questions you have not seen yet are the worst.

Thanks for the reply. The chance to re sit is the full test. It would make more sense to re sit the ones that were wrong only.

Maybe this company should be thrown into the mix for a new provider. This is the one that I mentioned that does public services learning.

https://learnpro.co.uk

 

[LOM]

Thanks for the reply. The chance to re sit is the full test. It would make more sense to re sit the ones that were wrong only.

If we are talking about Knowledge Tests/Question Tools (railexams) you do only have to do the ones you get wrong. When you get to the end it asks if you are sure you are finished or if you want to review your answers, you click on the ‘Yes’ button and it takes you to a summary screen. This screen shows you your score and the topic areas broken down into individual questions where you did not get full marks. The two buttons are marked ‘Keep Result’ and ‘Try Again’. If you click ‘Try Again’ it will bring up only the questions you got wrong, starting with the earliest one. Once you finish this resit the only option on the summary screen is ‘Keep Result’.

 

[Peterperfect]

If we are talking about Knowledge Tests/Question Tools (railexams) you do only have to do the ones you get wrong. When you get to the end it asks if you are sure you are finished or if you want to review your answers, you click on the ‘Yes’ button and it takes you to a summary screen. This screen shows you your score and the topic areas broken down into individual questions where you did not get full marks. The two buttons are marked ‘Keep Result’ and ‘Try Again’. If you click ‘Try Again’ it will bring up only the questions you got wrong, starting with the earliest one. Once you finish this resit the only option on the summary screen is ‘Keep Result’.

When I've went for try again I've had to do whole test again. Now I just keep the result no matter how good or bad it is over 80%.

Keeping the result doesnt tell you what individual questions you got wrong. It's just a summary of that section.

 

[Tom Quinne]

Yes what I have heard so far is that Knowledge Tests/Question Tools looks set to be headed the way of Cognisco and there will be far more use of simulation in future. Oracle is being replaced with something that is supposedly much less unwieldy which is excellent news if it works as advertised.


I have not met him but he comes across well. A proper railwayman and a professional operator.

I met him briefly when he did his tour of the firm just after be started, seems like a nice chap.

Excellent news on the demise of Question Tools

 

[Halifaxlad]

Which part of the country are you? I know there is an opportunity to visit the ROC in York - I’m going next week.

Hasn't that been cancelled ?

 

[Javagem]

Hasn't that been cancelled ?

Yeah I believe so mate.

 

[Ian Smeeton]

I have just put in an application for the Newark Relief Job.

Could anyone tell me which boxes come under that role, please?

Regards

Ian

 

[High Dyke]

I have just put in an application for the Newark Relief Job.

Could anyone tell me which boxes come under that role, please?

Regards

Ian

Ian, it covers Claypole, Carlton and Ranskill (grade 3 boxes) and also signs for Grassthorpe Crossing (grade 1).

 

[Ian Smeeton]

Ian, it covers Claypole, Carlton and Ranskill (grade 3 boxes) and also signs for Grassthorpe Crossing (grade 1).

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

Regards

Ian