A career as a signaller

[89jordanbj]

Which LOM do you come under initials will do....

There’ll be jobs in SWCC inside 12 months at G7 so might well be worth holding out for those.

Inboxed you Tom.

I will def be keeping an eye out for those. The SWCC was where I had hoped to end up when first applying.

 

[Macca89]

Well after 20 applications with no success in the form of an interview (a few “assessment 2 pendings”)

I’ve finally got an interview on the 24th September for the Eastern Region future opportunities positions

Absolutely buzzing

If my interview was tomorrow I’d be more than ready for it so another 4 weeks to really polish my preparation is fine

Congratulations to those recently accepted into roles applied for and also to those with interviews

 

[High Dyke]

Good point. A few people I have spoken to since starting have advised starting in an AB box before moving to a ROC. Everybody has their own opinion though I guess.

Ideally I'd like to get a permanent position in an area under my LOM's control and with suitable commute time but being on a 12 month FTC i can't be too picky!

Just happy to finally have got started, it's only week 1 of IST but I am really enjoying it so far and looking forward to the challenges ahead.

It may have changed over the years since I did my training, but I was always led to believe that you had to train/pass a box that work absolute block first, even if you were going straight into a power signal box (PSB). There was a chap on my course going into West Hampstead PSB, but he did his week out training at a manual signal box on the Bedford - Bletchley line.

The reasoning was that when it goes pear-shaped in a Track Circuit Block (TCB) box then you resort to a form of Absolute Block signalling.

 

[nom de guerre]

It may have changed over the years since I did my training, but I was always led to believe that you had to train/pass a box that work absolute block first, even if you were going straight into a power signal box (PSB). There was a chap on my course going into West Hampstead PSB, but he did his week out training at a manual signal box on the Bedford - Bletchley line.

The reasoning was that when it goes pear-shaped in a Track Circuit Block (TCB) box then you resort to a form of Absolute Block signalling.

Our current batch of new starters are all doing a straight TCB course.

Unfortunately our route’s new signalling school currently only has a VDU sim and they’re all going to NX or lever frame boxes...

They’re also being taught axle counter rules and regs, which seems slightly pointless given that none of their boxes have any

 

[praase]

Anyone starting signalling school in Glasgow on the 14th Sept? Just had my email saying that's where i'm going

Fantastic news you did get Glasgow - good luck!

 

[Bunnymomma]

Well after 20 applications with no success in the form of an interview (a few “assessment 2 pendings”)

I’ve finally got an interview on the 24th September for the Eastern Region future opportunities positions

Absolutely buzzing

If my interview was tomorrow I’d be more than ready for it so another 4 weeks to really polish my preparation is fine

Congratulations to those recently accepted into roles applied for and also to those with interviews

Best of luck

 

[BigRob21]

So.... Today I got offered Signaller Grade 6! To say I'm over the moon is an understatement, especially coming from a non rail background!
Next up is the medical, anyone she'd any light on what the medical involves?
Thanks

Fantastic news buddy! where will you be based?

 

[grob1234]

Hi Sorry to bang on about it, I have searched this thread, but to no avail.

How do you know if you passed the SHL tests?

TIA, Tom

 

[BigRob21]

Hi Sorry to bang on about it, I have searched this thread, but to no avail.

How do you know if you passed the SHL tests?

TIA, Tom

Tom, from what I can make of it, if you get invited to the next stage then it means you passed the tests

 

[SiggysigAah]

Hi Sorry to bang on about it, I have searched this thread, but to no avail.

How do you know if you passed the SHL tests?

TIA, Tom

You should get an email some time after doing the tests that tells you if you have met the required benchmark or not. If you fail you can re sit them after 6 months I think.

Rule No. 1 of applying for Signaller vacancies is patience.

 

[grob1234]

Thanks guys.

I'm currently at 'test completed' and received the following email 'I am pleased to let you know that your application is now being considered further and I will be in contact with you again shortly'

I don't like the waiting!

 

[rotherdan]

AAAGGGHHHHH
I think I just made a mess of my deductive reasoning test!!!!
Some of the answers were so simple I kept studying them to see what mistakes I had made and wasted my time.

On the plus side folks those of you going for the future opportunities role will have one less person to contend with.

best of luck to you all.

I wasn’t overly confident on how I did on the deductive reasoning. I only answered 10/12 and of those I answered I was only 100% sure a got a couple right. That said I got 2 reminders to complete my scenario test so I’m hoping it means I passed the benchmark. Unsure whether they cancel your interview before you take it if you mess up the the scenario or test. I actually quite enjoyed the scenario. Will be gutted if I get an email saying it’s the end of the road. For what it’s worth I don’t think bench marks are particularly high so there’s hope for us both.

 

[89jordanbj]

Thanks guys.

I'm currently at 'test completed' and received the following email 'I am pleased to let you know that your application is now being considered further and I will be in contact with you again shortly'

I don't like the waiting!

Word of warning, you've got a lot more waiting ahead unfortunately. Patience will be your best friend during this process. Good luck.

 

[MattP7]

11 days since my interview and still no news, panic every time my phone rings. Know from this thread it tends to be longer but whats the longest anyone has waited from interview to decision?

 

[grob1234]

It's like torture waiting like that!

 

[Javagem]

Hi Sorry to bang on about it, I have searched this thread, but to no avail.

How do you know if you passed the SHL tests?

TIA, Tom

I think, from memory, that you should move to the next stage after 3 working days if you’ve passed them. I didn’t get told I’d passed, I just got info on the next stage which for me was to select locations I could commute to within an hour (future opportunity application).
I did email HR and they confirmed I’d passed and gave me my scores so it may be worth checking.

 

[BigRob21]

11 days since my interview and still no news, panic every time my phone rings. Know from this thread it tends to be longer but whats the longest anyone has waited from interview to decision?

33 days since I had mine buddy... not that i'm counting or anything lol. From what I can make out though, this is normal and could take a while before you hear anything

 

[SiggysigAah]

Thanks guys.

I'm currently at 'test completed' and received the following email 'I am pleased to let you know that your application is now being considered further and I will be in contact with you again shortly'

I don't like the waiting!

Just to let you know, I applied for a vacancy in April. I yet don’t know if the hiring manager wants to interview me or not.

 

[Llanigraham]

It may have changed over the years since I did my training, but I was always led to believe that you had to train/pass a box that work absolute block first, even if you were going straight into a power signal box (PSB). There was a chap on my course going into West Hampstead PSB, but he did his week out training at a manual signal box on the Bedford - Bletchley line.

The reasoning was that when it goes pear-shaped in a Track Circuit Block (TCB) box then you resort to a form of Absolute Block signalling.

Don't know when you were under training but that certainly wasn't the case when I started 10 years ago.

 

[Burton5000]

Thanks guys.

I'm currently at 'test completed' and received the following email 'I am pleased to let you know that your application is now being considered further and I will be in contact with you again shortly'

I don't like the waiting!

I'm at the same stage. From what I can gather, it means we've passed the basic benchmark but now they pick the best suited candidates overall for the interview stage? I could be mistaken of course, this is my first time applying for a signaller position.

 

[jmoz]

Anyone on here concerned about job security given the C19 impact on rail travel, not just now but in the future? Passenger numbers must be way down on normal and may never return to pre C19 levels. How can NR (or government funding of NR) cope with this without resorting to similar cuts we see in other transport sectors?!

 

[9tfrizzco]

Anyone on here concerned about job security given the C19 impact on rail travel, not just now but in the future? Passenger numbers must be way down on normal and may never return to pre C19 levels. How can NR (or government funding of NR) cope with this without resorting to similar cuts we see in other transport sectors?!

Not concerned about job security one bit (edit: a little maybe, but not that much). There are a million 'white collar' jobs that are way more threatened in that aspect.

 

[olilee2]

On BBC news website today, seems quite relevant for a lot of people...

Signalling error caused near miss at Suffolk rail crossing https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-53946687

 

[GMac1502]

Fantastic news you did get Glasgow - good luck! That would be perfect for me but unfortunately still waiting for a start date

Cheers Praase i'm over the moon, half an hr up the road just, here's hoping you hear something soon then and might still be there on the 14th, i heard late last night so they must be busy.

 

[grob1234]

I'm at the same stage. From what I can gather, it means we've passed the basic benchmark but now they pick the best suited candidates overall for the interview stage? I could be mistaken of course, this is my first time applying for a signaller position.

That would make sense. I mean if you don't pass the SHL test, you'd surely get rejected straight away.

 

[High Dyke]

On BBC news website today, seems quite relevant for a lot of people...

Signalling error caused near miss at Suffolk rail crossing https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-53946687

Forum discussion thread about it here

 

[Tom Quinne]

Anyone on here concerned about job security given the C19 impact on rail travel, not just now but in the future? Passenger numbers must be way down on normal and may never return to pre C19 levels. How can NR (or government funding of NR) cope with this without resorting to similar cuts we see in other transport sectors?!

As long as there are trains running the firm will need signallers, like maintenance side you can’t just mothball the railway and then open up again at some point in the future without it costing more than keeping it in warm store with ghost trains running to keep it ticking over - SNCF did this during their lockdown.

 

[RedMum77]

So Ive just done the psychometric test for the Eastern Futures role, timed out just as I was doing the 12th question GAH! The last 3 or 4 I was rushing so dont think they were correct but hey ho. Just also done the scenario video recording and quite enjoyed that so hopefully have done well there.
Took awhile to get set up as I had to pinch daughter's headphone and mic set as laptop mic just refused to work, then the phone went and then daughter managed to trap the dogs foot in the door so I had to take a few deep breaths before continuing lol

The email I had sent yesterday with ID bounced back to me today so resent tonight, hoping that's not held against me as deadline was officially yesterday I did explain in the email today that it had bounced but it would be just my luck to get knocked back on something silly like that.


Interview via video is next Thursday. Expecting a long wait for news as I see above someone for the same role has interview24th Sept. That will have me on eggshells for weeks!

 

[jossh78]

I wasn’t overly confident on how I did on the deductive reasoning. I only answered 10/12 and of those I answered I was only 100% sure a got a couple right. That said I got 2 reminders to complete my scenario test so I’m hoping it means I passed the benchmark. Unsure whether they cancel your interview before you take it if you mess up the the scenario or test. I actually quite enjoyed the scenario. Will be gutted if I get an email saying it’s the end of the road. For what it’s worth I don’t think bench marks are particularly high so there’s hope for us both.

So Ive just done the psychometric test for the Eastern Futures role, timed out just as I was doing the 12th question GAH! The last 3 or 4 I was rushing so dont think they were correct but hey ho. Just also done the scenario video recording and quite enjoyed that so hopefully have done well there.
Took awhile to get set up as I had to pinch daughter's headphone and mic set as laptop mic just refused to work, then the phone went and then daughter managed to trap the dogs foot in the door so I had to take a few deep breaths before continuing lol

The email I had sent yesterday with ID bounced back to me today so resent tonight, hoping that's not held against me as deadline was officially yesterday I did explain in the email today that it had bounced but it would be just my luck to get knocked back on something silly like that.


Interview via video is next Thursday. Expecting a long wait for news as I see above someone for the same role has interview24th Sept. That will have me on eggshells for weeks!

Hi RedMum, I also have my video interview on Thursday so good luck to you.
I managed to just finish the psychometric test with around 4 seconds remaining but like you the last 3 or 4 were rushed and just took a best guess. I agree the Scenario test was much more enjoyable and I felt I did the best I could.
Regarding the emailing of ID, recruitment originally gave an incorrect email address so I‘m sure that they will take that into consideration and not knock you back for that.
I’m hoping the people who have interviews towards the end of Sept have chosen the more easterly locations, Market Rasen etc. and us Derby region folk will find out sooner rather than later whether we are successful.

 

[Baxtermt]

Good luck Redmum77 and Jossh78