A career as a signaller

[Csb362]

I’m currently looking to start a career as a signaller, I am based in Scotland and a Grade 2 job has came up but it is about an hour and a half from me, I am going to apply as I am more than willing to put myself in digs what I am wondering is if anybody knows how many Scottish jobs are on the internal list that may be coming external shortly?

 

[Highlandspring]

I’m currently looking to start a career as a signaller, I am based in Scotland and a Grade 2 job has came up but it is about an hour and a half from me, I am going to apply as I am more than willing to put myself in digs what I am wondering is if anybody knows how many Scottish jobs are on the internal list that may be coming external shortly?

Right now there are four signaller jobs and one SSM job based in Scotland on the internal list and I’d say at least three of those are almost certain to be filled by internal candidates.

 

[Csb362]

Right now there are four signaller jobs and one SSM job based in Scotland on the internal list and I’d say at least three of those are almost certain to be filled by internal candidates.

Thank you for the info, I’m going to apply for the Girvan job today as the main thing for me just now is getting my foot in the door and if it means living in digs for a bit then it will be worth it in the long run.

 

[CB 1-2-1]

Hi all, just seen a G4 relief role has come up for Truro that has interested me. Can anyone shed any light on what the shifts are, boxes that are covered by relief, anything really but most importantly longevity of the boxes as it would require a move. Many thanks.

 

[LouisJay]

Yeah it's one if my boxes lol. Not a lever frame though, you signal with switches

Morning buddy, ive just applied for farncombe myself, any chance we could have a chat when you got time (about the signal box and job itself)? My dad is a MOM close by so i have a good understanding, but would be much better hearing it from someone who has actually done the job. Cheers pal

 

[ArkUTD]

Morning buddy, ive just applied for farncombe myself, any chance we could have a chat when you got time (about the signal box and job itself)? My dad is a MOM close by so i have a good understanding, but would be much better hearing it from someone who has actually done the job. Cheers pal

Not the only one, i've gone for it too.

Best of luck to you though!

 

[LouisJay]

Not the only one, i've gone for it too.

Best of luck to you though!

Good luck mate

 

[SWTurbo]

Does anyone know where Optima are holding their medicals currently? Just looking at travel planning!
(Do NR provide travel tickets for the medicals or will I need to shell out?)

 

[TheNewGuy]

Does anyone know where Optima are holding their medicals currently? Just looking at travel planning!
(Do NR provide travel tickets for the medicals or will I need to shell out?)

Mine last week was Basingstoke ROC

 

[ArkUTD]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me where the Wokingham Grade 5 is located? Since it's part of this department 'OD Guildford Signallers (103355) G1', so is it within Guildford? Also what's the team at this box/location like? And a final one, if there's any interesting snip bits of information on the job that you'd think id need to know, it would be super helpful!

Cheers, Ark

 

[godfreycomplex]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me where the Wokingham Grade 5 is located? Since it's part of this department 'OD Guildford Signallers (103355) G1', so is it within Guildford? Also what's the team at this box/location like? And a final one, if there's any interesting snip bits of information on the job that you'd think id need to know, it would be super helpful!

Cheers, Ark

Wokingham grade 5 is right by the level crossing in Wokingham town centre.

Bangin’ crew there, great box

 

[SWTurbo]

Mine last week was Basingstoke ROC

Perfect! Fingers crossed I get one there, would make life so much easier!

 

[ArkUTD]

Wokingham grade 5 is right by the level crossing in Wokingham town centre.

Bangin’ crew there, great box

Cheers for the info, that sounds really good!

 

[Rockhopper]

I’m currently looking to start a career as a signaller, I am based in Scotland and a Grade 2 job has came up but it is about an hour and a half from me, I am going to apply as I am more than willing to put myself in digs what I am wondering is if anybody knows how many Scottish jobs are on the internal list that may be coming external shortly?

It looks like NR are following in the footsteps of the various TOC's and rejecting applicants based on them living more than 60 minutes away from where they are applying to work. Its all about fatigue management and people promising to relocate and in fact never doing so.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[ArkUTD]

It looks like NR are following in the footsteps of the various TOC's and rejecting applicants based on them living more than 60 minutes away from where they are applying to work. Its all about fatigue management and people promising to relocate and in fact never doing so.

Let us know how you get on.

I'll just say I have been invited to a interview that is over 60 mins away, more like 3 hours away, so I don't think it's like that here in England at least.

 

[Rockhopper]

I've just checked an advert for a job at Stoke ROC and it doesn't mention the 60 minutes rule but the few others that I've looked at over the past couple of months do mention it!

 

[father_jack]

I'll just say I have been invited to a interview that is over 60 mins away, more like 3 hours away, so I don't think it's like that here in England at least.

It's not the interview location to which they refer- it's the job location in relation to the home address.

 

[Highlandspring]

I believe there's been an exercise done, in my Route at least, to look at people's addresses and travel time with a view to either changing rosters or 'encouraging' them to move closer or get a job closer to home if they're over 60 mins travel from work. Nothing concrete has come from it yet though.

 

[ArkUTD]

Hi All, a crazy day, I've been given another interview for a signaller role in Kent. So, like before can anyone help me with information regarding Ashford Kent IECC and there Grade 8 position there.

Cheers in advance!

 

[nom de guerre]

Have you tried searching this forum for 'Ashford IECC'? It's a box that has been covered several times now

 

[ArkUTD]

Have you tried searching this forum for 'Ashford IECC'? It's a box that has been covered several times now

Ahh yes i remember reading about it. Let me go get my calm hat on now, Cheers haha

 

[Rover77]

Hi All. Just received the dreaded email that I will not be getting interviewed for the a north West opportunities vacancy. I am as always gutted this is the 6th now over a 2 year period. Unfortunately opportunities are few and far between in my neck of the woods and relocation in not an option as I wouldn't move kids out of school. I spent days tweaking my application and CV. Now I'm not sure what to do. I've asked for feedback but not sure I will get any due to volume of applications they have to deal with. I thought I'd be an ideal candidate, I was a Prison Officer for 13 years and I am currently head of year in a high school. I will keep on trying. Jusy wish there were more opportunities up here.

 

[Rockhopper]

Bear in mind there were probably well over two hundred applications, maybe even more given how many people are looking for work at the moment.

 

[Rover77]

Ps. Email appeared to be a generic template saying they liked my application and want to keep me in mind for other opportunities. My status on the portal still say application under consideration.

 

[SB84]

Hi all,

Any last minute tips for my Week 6 exam, full on panic mode at present!

Revising in our sim group before and after class and returning to continue revising after dinner, using the hwk quizzes supplied, testing each other etc but feel like I just can't seem to recall and retain information!

Tutors and others have said we're doing the right things and it will all come together/we will be fine, but I can't help feel like I'm going to fail miserably!

Anyone else fee like that or have any tips to help, and how did you get on?

Thanks in advance

 

[Davieo]

Hi All, a crazy day, I've been given another interview for a signaller role in Kent. So, like before can anyone help me with information regarding Ashford Kent IECC and there Grade 8 position there.

Cheers in advance!

Best advice I can give is what you're already doing.. do your research. Contact the hiring manager or recruitment to find out which panel the vacancy is on. There are various Grade 8 roles at Ashford, including HS1 which has a different rulebook, management team and training programme to NRIL.

 

[Kraken]

Hi all,

Any last minute tips for my Week 6 exam, full on panic mode at present!

Revising in our sim group before and after class and returning to continue revising after dinner, using the hwk quizzes supplied, testing each other etc but feel like I just can't seem to recall and retain information!

Tutors and others have said we're doing the right things and it will all come together/we will be fine, but I can't help feel like I'm going to fail miserably!

Anyone else fee like that or have any tips to help, and how did you get on?

Thanks in advance

I was crapping myself before the week 6 exam - I guess it’s not until Thursday? By now you probably now what the big scoring questions are that are definitely going to come up (i.e. the lists) - make doubly sure you are all over those so that when they come up you get full marks for them. If you can pile up points in the lists then it won’t matter so much if you drop some of the 1 or 2 markers.

Just try and relax, if you have an ways to remember things like a mnemonic then write them down on some scrap paper the second the exam begins - that way they will be there for you if you panic later.

Skip any questions you’re struggling on and revisit them when you’ve finished.

Read the question! I think 6/10 of our class got one super-easy question wrong because we rushed reading it.

You ought to get a good bit of revision time before the big day - we found it handy to just throw questions at each other as a group relentlessly. You get so sick of it but it really helped ram the answers home.

Remember that a non-trivial amount of the marks available are multiple choice, so the answer will always be there in front of you. If the question is 3 marks, then tick 3 of the answers (a couple of us tripped up on that)

Most of all good luck! Let us know how it went.

 

[ILoveLamp]

Ps. Email appeared to be a generic template saying they liked my application and want to keep me in mind for other opportunities. My status on the portal still say application under consideration.

I have the same showing for an application over a year ago...I think NR website is pretty useless regarding its accuracy! I asked for updates previously and it seems to encourage a staff member to manually update the website to unsuccessful! Lol.. So I don’t bother now in the hope it keeps me in with a chance!

 

[SB84]

I was crapping myself before the week 6 exam - I guess it’s not until Thursday? By now you probably now what the big scoring questions are that are definitely going to come up (i.e. the lists) - make doubly sure you are all over those so that when they come up you get full marks for them. If you can pile up points in the lists then it won’t matter so much if you drop some of the 1 or 2 markers.

Just try and relax, if you have an ways to remember things like a mnemonic then write them down on some scrap paper the second the exam begins - that way they will be there for you if you panic later.

Skip any questions you’re struggling on and revisit them when you’ve finished.

Read the question! I think 6/10 of our class got one super-easy question wrong because we rushed reading it.

You ought to get a good bit of revision time before the big day - we found it handy to just throw questions at each other as a group relentlessly. You get so sick of it but it really helped ram the answers home.

Remember that a non-trivial amount of the marks available are multiple choice, so the answer will always be there in front of you. If the question is 3 marks, then tick 3 of the answers (a couple of us tripped up on that)

Most of all good luck! Let us know how it went.

Legend, thank you.
Yeh I've spent all evening just going through the lists and acronyms as they have been really useful as prompts.
I contemplated a big brain dump of acronyms on some scrap paper at the beginning as well so may well roll with that plan.

Will keep you posted!

 

[Raikkonen7]

Hi all,

Any last minute tips for my Week 6 exam, full on panic mode at present!

Revising in our sim group before and after class and returning to continue revising after dinner, using the hwk quizzes supplied, testing each other etc but feel like I just can't seem to recall and retain information!

Tutors and others have said we're doing the right things and it will all come together/we will be fine, but I can't help feel like I'm going to fail miserably!

Anyone else fee like that or have any tips to help, and how did you get on?

Thanks in advance

Best of luck for it.

I know how you feel and I suspect most people who go through the course do as well. I honestly thought I’d fail, but I ended up getting in the 90s, so all that worrying was for nothing.

The anticipation for me was actually worse than doing the exam. I’m sure you do, but make sure you know your definitions off by heart. If you do, that’s a reasonable amount of marks already.

Don’t feel rushed in the exam and always double check your answers and read the questions multiple times to ensure you’ve understood it. Also, most people finish before the time’s up. I’d suggest you stay as long as you feel necessary to ensure you’ve not made any silly mistakes. For the sake of 10-20 minutes sat outside doing nothing, you could pick up a few more marks.