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A career as a signaller

TRain87

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1 Sep 2016
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311
Location
England
Definitely not 4% either ! lol

I done it for over 2 years. One on 18%, then on 4%...4% is definitely not worth the unknown or the short turnarounds (Sunday night shift into an early on Tuesday morning)

Great for variety, but I felt like I never really belonged. The resident staff do things their way, and as relief tou have to fit in to their template.

If you have a good roster clerk, you can know you're shifts a month in advance, or if you have a poor one...you find out Thursday before!
 
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Tom Quinne

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Yep hence why I’m going back to being a resident.

Lots of talk about 10% single location FP but I doubt it’ll happen.
 

TRain87

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1 Sep 2016
Messages
311
Location
England
I'm in the MOM world now mate :)

Trying to get back onto relief for local areas, as it comes with 32%
 

nom de guerre

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Joined
24 Nov 2015
Messages
774
Like most people on here I have applied for a couple of roles; one of which is in London. Whilst the salary isn't everything, it would cost me more to travel to London, so I was hoping someone could tell me if/what the London weighting is?

Inner London is £3270/yr. Not sure what Outer London is at present (was just over £2K/yr when I last checked).

You’d also get an operational supplement in addition to either Inner or Outer, which is worth £1260/yr.
 

Tom Quinne

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You'd hate it mate...freedom, sunbathing, unlimited ice creams and ability to eat proper food...horrid job ;)

Sounds like a living nightmare!

I’ll stick to my sealed grey box, no fresh air, questionable company, uncomfortable chair and artificial light (when they other side allow them on!) and no natural day light as the other side want the blinds closed all day and night.
 

Qball

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Joined
5 Sep 2018
Messages
105
I'm in the MOM world now mate :)

Trying to get back onto relief for local areas, as it comes with 32%
Cheers everyone for the info. The job is grade 3 18% so probably worth it but I've heard some MOM jobs are coming up soon aswell so might put in for them too.
 

TRain87

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Joined
1 Sep 2016
Messages
311
Location
England
There’s 4x MOM jobs external at Grantham at the moment. Don’t think I shall apply, it would be within commuting distance but it sounds a tall order to walk into for me with zero railway experience.
More than do-able mate. Helps if you have experience, like all jobs, but worth a try
 

danners430

Member
Joined
2 Dec 2016
Messages
75
Location
Caledonia
Yep hence why I’m going back to being a resident.

Lots of talk about 10% single location FP but I doubt it’ll happen.
Well, I'll take your vacated job ;)
I'm just trying to get in as a person off the street, so the advantages and disadvantages of relief work don't matter to me... Applied for the Inverness Relief post - no idea what the FP is there, but nor do I care... I'd rather get in first, get some experience under my belt, then perhaps think about requesting a move to resident
 

Tom Quinne

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I joined as a resident at my first box, got the relief job as a get back home job. So now I’m after a resident to settle in for my last 24yrs and 6 months before I can go lol
 

Tom Quinne

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Paignton SB Grade 2
Exmouth Junc SB Grade 3
Ascot under Winchwood SB Grade 2
Westbury Panel Grade 6 (X2)

All on the external list at the moments
 

Kraken

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22 Mar 2020
Messages
247
Location
Lincolnshire
More than do-able mate. Helps if you have experience, like all jobs, but worth a try
Your chance of getting the job is greatly improved by applying for it.

Oh yes, 100% agree with you both, the only way to guarantee not getting the job is not to apply. It’s more that I think I’d prefer to start off as a signaller and perhaps move into that later on in my career.
 

Woody27

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Joined
10 Apr 2020
Messages
155
Location
Plymouth
Hi everyone, I have failed the online assessment tests, don’t know which! How long before I can re submit them, I’ve heard 6 and 12 months, can anyone clarify this please!
 

Llanigraham

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Joined
23 Mar 2013
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6,074
Location
Powys
There’s 4x MOM jobs external at Grantham at the moment. Don’t think I shall apply, it would be within commuting distance but it sounds a tall order to walk into for me with zero railway experience.
Apply!!
Having no railway experience is NOT a problem nowadays.
 

LOM

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26 Dec 2019
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405
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Been and gone.
I was not sure whether to post this or not but here goes... One thing I wanted to mention on this thread is about feedback for unsuccessful applications. In the last couple of weeks I have had lots of requests passed on to me by the Recruitment team from unsuccessful candidates who have been sifted out, looking for feedback on why they had not been selected for an interview for jobs that closed recently. As hiring managers we are obliged to provide feedback if requested after an unsuccessful interview but before the interview stage it is entirely at our discretion whether we give it or not.

I do not mind doing it on the odd occasion but when lots of candidates are all asking it would actually take a fair chunk of my day to fish out and go through the whole application and CV to write up meaningful feedback for Recruitment to pass on. Frankly I do not have the time to do this for multiple applications and I know most other LOMs are in the same boat.

All I would say is that when lots of people apply for a job (and thanks to Corona I am now seeing 120+ applications for one grade 2 post) we all have to be absolutely ruthless when sifting. If you ask Recruitment for feedback on an application that is terminated before the interview stage do not be surprised if you do not hear anything back from the hiring manager.

I hope this post does not sound too negative. Trying to knock 124 candidates down to just 6 is really hard. Just because you have not made the shortlist for an interview does not mean your application is no good!
 

danners430

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2 Dec 2016
Messages
75
Location
Caledonia
I hope this post does not sound too negative. Trying to knock 124 candidates down to just 6 is really hard. Just because you have not made the shortlist for an interview does not mean your application is no good!

That makes perfect sense - you are but one person. It's up to us to impress you, not the other way round. Keep up the great work :)
 

Tom Quinne

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I would say (having been there on probably a 100 applications over a number of years) your lucky you get a rejection letter/email.

A lot of firms won’t even bother to say thanks, but no thanks and offer rhe opportunity for feedback.

At least then the rejection email arrives you can dust yourself down, and crack on with the next until you crack the nut.

Remember the pitty train has been shunted into a siding, the the crack on it express to thunder by.

Keep chipping away at the nut it’ll crack if you put the effort in.
 

LOM

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26 Dec 2019
Messages
405
Location
Been and gone.
A lot of firms won’t even bother to say thanks, but no thanks and offer rhe opportunity for feedback.

I once had a dude who requested feedback after an unsuccessful interview so I jotted down a couple of pointers and sent it off. A few days later he came back - directly this time rather than via Recruitment - saying he had now thought of a better example for one of the questions, blah blah blah. Against my better judgement I replied and said fair enough sounds good and maybe you could use it next time you get an interview. He replied again saying no, he wanted me to rescore his paperwork! This was weeks after the interviews and the successful candidate had already started. I kept getting emails from him for months moaning about the whole thing. How to endear yourself to your potential new employer...?!
 
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Tom Quinne

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Jesus! You’ve more patient than me, I’d of binned him off after the first email.

To be honest I have never asked for feedback, I generally knew my interview was crap the second I opened my mouth on the first question!

Id had a long painful internal promotion failure rate at my TOC, so I was of the viewpoint with my NWR interviews I was going to balls it up. This had a positive effect as I was relaxed and could express myself the way your guys wanted with good competency responses, and here I am lol
 

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