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Boat lift operative looking for work as a signaller

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Northwich lad

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Hi guys,

For the last two years I have operated the Anderton Boat Lift working for the canal and river trust. The job is seasonal so sadly my current contract runs out on the 6th November.

As you can imagine being a boat lift operative involves a lot of responsibility so I think I would be well suited with the role of signaller. What do you guys think?

I live in the Northwich area in Cheshire and I am willing to travel twenty miles to a position.

Any positions available on the grapevine? Where is the best place to look? I have been checking out network rails website but no joy yet.

My first post any help or advice greatly appreciated :D
 
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W230

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I would suggest your best bet is keeping an eye/searching the NR careers page. I think you can request to be notified about jobs via email though i'm not familiar with the site so couldn't say for definite.

Any signalling jobs would be listed here.
 

godfreycomplex

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As W230 says; keep an eye on the Network Rail website. There's quite a few boxes within twenty miles of Northwich (Manchester/Liverpool have loads of all shapes and sizes) so something should come up fairly quickly.
Bear in mind though the recruitment process is a tad slow and; unfortunate though it is to relate; you probably won't be starting until at least the new year anyway.
All the best though; I'd say there's a lot of skills transferrable from a boat lift to a signaller; and if you play your cards right it's a job for life
 

Northwich lad

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Thanks guys I appreciate the advice nice to know positions for boxes come up fairly frequent. Will check daily and update you guys on my progress.
 

TomBoyd

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The NR page that W230 shared is THE ONLY place signalling vacancies will be advertised.
 

Northwich lad

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Exciting news a position has just appeared for a signaller based at Lostock Gralam which is literally a ten minute drive from my house.

It mentions a nine week residential course where is this based? And is residential mandatory or will I be allowed to travel each day?
 

godfreycomplex

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Exciting news a position has just appeared for a signaller based at Lostock Gralam which is literally a ten minute drive from my house.

It mentions a nine week residential course where is this based? And is residential mandatory or will I be allowed to travel each day?

Excellent!
There are several locations for courses, but most of them (80% ish) are at York
"Residential" is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended (especially travelling from Cheshire to York) as A - you'll have the support of your course mates in person and B - round trip from Cheshire to York every day will take a long time and be quite tiring, which is quite frankly the last thing you need
Various threads on the topic dotted throughout the forum
 

Northwich lad

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Excellent!
There are several locations for courses, but most of them (80% ish) are at York
"Residential" is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended (especially travelling from Cheshire to York) as A - you'll have the support of your course mates in person and B - round trip from Cheshire to York every day will take a long time and be quite tiring, which is quite frankly the last thing you need
Various threads on the topic dotted throughout the forum

Interesting! It mentions "state of the art training center" does that narrow it down? I wonder where the other 20% are.

How many days a week is the training over the nine week course?
 

godfreycomplex

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There are also signalling schools at Basingstoke & Perth (I think Peterborough has largely shut now) but each only have once class at once. I've never been to Perth training school but both Basingstoke and York are based in the respective ROCs at each location, so the facilities are "state of the art" which, as you'll come to learn on the railway, doesn't necessarily mean good, just shiny. But that's a side point.
Training is Monday - Friday, 10am start Mondays, 9am start other days, lunchtime finish Fridays. Hotel room will be booked for you Sunday-Thursday. I always travelled up Sunday night, others travel Monday morning, choice is yours whatever's convenient.
 

flappy8

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There are also signalling schools at Basingstoke & Perth (I think Peterborough has largely shut now) but each only have once class at once. I've never been to Perth training school but both Basingstoke and York are based in the respective ROCs at each location, so the facilities are "state of the art" which, as you'll come to learn on the railway, doesn't necessarily mean good, just shiny. But that's a side point.
Training is Monday - Friday, 10am start Mondays, 9am start other days, lunchtime finish Fridays. Hotel room will be booked for you Sunday-Thursday. I always travelled up Sunday night, others travel Monday morning, choice is yours whatever's convenient.

and Bristol. Mine will be at Bristol apparently.
 
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Mikesig

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If the vacancy you're looking at is Plumley West which works absolute block to Mobberley and TCB to Greenbank, you will be doing the AB course which, after a recent conversation I had with the Workforce Development Manager at York, I believe has been extended to 10 weeks rather than the 9 shown on the advert plus 1 additional week TCB conversion course. When I did mine, the AB course was at York and the TCB conversion at Basingstoke although some guys off my AB course went to Perth for their conversion.
 

martin2345uk

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Exciting news a position has just appeared for a signaller based at Lostock Gralam which is literally a ten minute drive from my house.



It mentions a nine week residential course where is this based? And is residential mandatory or will I be allowed to travel each day?



Hi mate, I've applied for this position as well though it's not quite as convenient for me as it is for you (-:

Everything crossed, with some luck maybe I'll see you at an assessment day!

Not getting my hopes up however...!
 

Northwich lad

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Hi mate, I've applied for this position as well though it's not quite as convenient for me as it is for you (-:

Everything crossed, with some luck maybe I'll see you at an assessment day!

Not getting my hopes up however...!

Just completed the online application myself. Good luck buddy! Thank you everyone very helpful as always.

Will update on progress :D
 

martin2345uk

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Good luck to you too! My main concern is that my profile on NR's careers website lists me as having three unsuccessful applications... the first one was where they advertised as Manchester but meant Motherwell so obviously I had to withdraw from that one; the other two were two I applied for at the same time but due to personal reasons was not able to make the assessment day so again had to sadly withdraw - hopefully they don't look at my profile and just think "wow this dude failed three times, best not bother with him" :-/
 

Mikesig

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Good luck to you too! My main concern is that my profile on NR's careers website lists me as having three unsuccessful applications... the first one was where they advertised as Manchester but meant Motherwell so obviously I had to withdraw from that one; the other two were two I applied for at the same time but due to personal reasons was not able to make the assessment day so again had to sadly withdraw - hopefully they don't look at my profile and just think "wow this dude failed three times, best not bother with him" :-/

Don't worry about it. I had five unsuccessful attempts before I got my first job. They won't even look at them.
 

martin2345uk

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There are at least 13 unsuccessful attempts on my list, but its the 3 successful ones that count!



Haha cheers mate! Got a receipt confirmation earlier so now it's just a waiting game again...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Closing date tomorrow! Fingers crossed Northwich Lad :)
 

Mikesig

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Haha cheers mate! Got a receipt confirmation earlier so now it's just a waiting game again...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Closing date tomorrow! Fingers crossed Northwich Lad :)

Have you asked for a visit to the box?
 

Mikesig

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No... I thought that might be jumping the gun a tad at this stage, as there's every chance I won't get through the first stage..! :-/

It never hurts to show that you are keen and get your name known by the LOM. If you look at the job advert it will tell you the name of the LOM you need to contact, it usually says something like "for further information contact the LOM name".
Get in touch and tell him you've applied for the job and ask if it would be possible to arrange a visit to have a look at the place. I've not yet known a request be refused. In fact I know that for a recent job, those who hadn't asked for a visit didn't get to interview
 

TRain87

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If you look at the job advert it will tell you the name of the LOM you need to contact, it usually says something like "for further information contact the LOM name".

Have applied for a few roles and looking for info on LOMs to arrange a visit, but can't find anything - maybe this info isn't ready available to external candidates? Anywhere else I could look or just show up to the box and ask for a look round?
 

Mikesig

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Have applied for a few roles and looking for info on LOMs to arrange a visit, but can't find anything - maybe this info isn't ready available to external candidates? Anywhere else I could look or just show up to the box and ask for a look round?

Ah! Sorry about that, I just looked at the external site and you're right, it must be just on the internal list that it shows the LOMs name.

You can try contact HR and asking them who the LOM/Hiring Manager is, or alternatively, if it's an accessible location,visit the box and explain to the signaller that you are applying for a vacancy there and can they give you the LOMs contact details as you would like to arrange to visit officially. Providing that everything is running normally and they're not too busy, the majority will probably let you in to have a look and answer any questions there and then. Either way, contact the LOM and ask for an official visit.
 
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TRain87

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Sorry to hear that mate. Don't let it be the end though, keep on looking and keep applying, you're score may not be enough to invite you to assessmentfor that job but may be high enough for others!
 

Northwich lad

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Sorry to hear that mate. Don't let it be the end though, keep on looking and keep applying, you're score may not be enough to invite you to assessmentfor that job but may be high enough for others!

What score? I submitted my CV and then completed a four page questionnaire but that's it. Then received a notification saying my application will not be going any further.
 

JohnFM

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Don't worry Lad, I think tryles is not fully conversant with your application in this thread.

Shame about your application. Never mind, chin up, next time.
 
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TRain87

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What score? I submitted my CV and then completed a four page questionnaire but that's it. Then received a notification saying my application will not be going any further.

So you didn't do the SJT test? That's the stage before the assessment day
 
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