NR Signaller - a career change too far?

[beebop]

I've been considering a complete career change for a while and am wondering whether it's worth my while applying for NR Signaller jobs, something that has always really interested me.

I've been interested in UK railways and signalling for many years, and am a qualified volunteer Signalman of several years experience on one of the UK's bigger standard gauge heritage railways - in the process having handled a fair number of situations and incidents of the type that NR Signallers must come across themselves.

However, I'm worried that my past paid work experience is so completely different to signalling/railway work, and that any application I make is going to stand out like a sore thumb and not progress, just because I seem to be a very untypical candidate at first glance.

I appreciate that I've got to show evidence of having the appropriate competencies for any application I make to be progressed, just like everyone else must, which I feel I can do; I'm just concerned about having to rely in part on voluntary work experience, relevant and transferable skills gained in a completely different working environment, and appearing to want to make a career move that could be thought of as unlikely or unusual given the career person I appear to be on paper (my suggested "career change too far").

I've read various people's reports of the NR Signaller recruitment process on forums and seen quite a few externally advertised jobs, but its hard to know what the best "way in" might be. So, I've got some questions:

• Does my heritage railway signalling experience count for anything in NR's eyes (and if so, how much)?
• Are applicants who live closer to the signalbox where the vacancy is prioritized over those who live further away?
• Do NR *really* fill externally advertised short/fixed-term (e.g. 6-month) Signaller/Crossing Keeper contracts externally?
• Are lower grade jobs more likely to be filled externally?
• Are externally advertised jobs ones where there has been no internal interest?
• How much do NR look at an external applicant's top-line previous work history (as opposed to considering in more detail the competencies from it that could be transferred).

The thoughts and experiences of non-NR employees currently trying for Signaller jobs, or those that have made it through the external application process (perhaps after a number of tries), would be gratefully received.

 

[Tomnick]

Plenty of folk (myself included) seem to have come into the driving or signalling grades from a successful position in a different career path. Sometimes that's just as good a way of picking up the transferable skills that they're looking for as working elsewhere on the railway first. It can be difficult to justify your decision to leave a well-paid and secure job elsewhere for one that requires you to work all sorts of hours and can be thrown away in a single lapse of concentration, but having an interest and some working knowledge of the job should make that easier!

My heritage railway signalling experience did, I'm sure, help my application progress. I was lucky, though, that one of the two LOMs who interviewed me is very much out of the closet as an enthusiast! Some aren't so receptive, possibly after previous bad experiences, so I wouldn't go over the top with it. I talked about the understanding of the principles of signalling, and used my experience of incidents to answer the "describe a time when..." questions on the application form. I didn't push it any further than that, recognising that the 'big railway' is a completely different kettle of fish to a heritage railway in terms of the working environment, Rules & Regs (although the principles may be broadly similar) and the performance-related pressure that you're sometimes under.

To attempt to answer your other questions, I don't think distance from the box that you're applying for is really considered, as long as you can satisfy them that you'll have no problem getting to work reliably (even in bad weather), as long as you're not so far away that there might be a fatigue problem (unless you're prepared to lodge or relocate). They do indeed still take people on fixed-term contracts (usually 12 months rather than 6 in my experience), often to cover vacancies where there's a risk that upcoming box closures might leave too many staff. There were two or three (out of six) like that on my course. Generally, I think most manage to move to a permanent position before their contract's finished - after all, it'd be a shame (from the railway's point of view) to waste all that expensive training!

 

[387star]

is signalling like the dirver role where it is not about qualifications so much as passing the assessments and having experience?

 

[Tomnick]

Apologies for the attempted double post! Where was I...?

You're correct to suggest that a lower-grade vacancy is more likely to be filled from outside the company, especially where there's a threat of box closures. I really don't know how they determine whether a vacancy is advertised externally - I was up against two internal applications for mine. Finally, I suspect (but don't know for sure) that they're far more interested in the skills and experience gained in your previous employment than they are in the actual work carried out. When I applied, the form stated that it wasn't necessary to attach a CV, though it later turned out that it'd be rejected if I didn't, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's changed now (and bear that in mind for your own application!) - that does, I think, support those thoughts though. I ought to say that it took me several unsuccessful attempts (only one of which got as far as assessments and an interview) before I was finally successful early this year.

From a personal point of view, I don't think there are many better jobs anywhere out there! There are many challenging moments, and of course a great deal of responsibility, but you can't beat sitting with your feet up with a cup of tea for half an hour between trains during the quiet bit of a Saturday morning, with only the sheep behind the box (and the odd car passing by) for company!

Good luck with your applications, if you do decide to go for it .

Tom

 

[387star]

this might sound daft but can you pay to take the assessments like you can for driver in doncaster?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
what is the assessment like? is there anyone who can go through the different stages as there is mountains on driver but little on this

 

[Tomnick]

is signalling like the dirver role where it is not about qualifications so much as passing the assessments and having experience?

Correct - although they do want to know what qualifications you have, it's far more important to have the right qualities and 'life experience' to deal with the various challenges that are thrown at you. That's measured by your success in the assessments and some of the questions on the application form.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

this might sound daft but can you pay to take the assessments like you can for driver in doncaster?

Not as far as I'm aware! It's all done in-house by NR.

what is the assessment like? is there anyone who can go through the different stages as there is mountains on driver but little on this

To summarise (bearing in mind it might have changed since last year), it all starts with a telephone test (speaking and listening) - reading sentences from the supplied booklet, forming sentences from jumbled groups of words, speaking freely on a specified subject etc.

Then on the assessment day itself, various little challenges including:

• Searching for, and marking, as many instances of a given symbol on a map extract as you can in the time limit
• Counting the number of tones played, whilst ignoring other sounds played to distract you
• Counting the number of tones played, but changing the direction in which your counting when you hear one of two different tones (so you start counting back towards zero when you hear a low tone). Probably the most complicated to understand!
• A telephone directory extract, where each entry has two symbols next to it. If any entry has two identical symbols, cross it off
• Same again, but this time you need to count strings of tones (without further distractions!) at the same time
• Picking out and writing down certain items from a very long list of alpha-numberic strings
• A fault-finding test - working out, for a series of actions that should have been carried out, which action hasn't worked by looking at the end result (shutters and buttons!)
• Trainability - you get given a chunk of text and a little while to read it before it's taken away from you, then you're given some questions to answer on the content
• Rules application - you're given a series of rules relating to the operation of signals to allow the movement of trains in different circumstances. The rules bear little resemblance to the real thing!
• A series of simple speed/distance/time calculations based on the same four classes (and speeds) of trains throughout

 

[GB]

Shutters and buttons is a bit of a nightmare, at least it was for me. Do you still have to sit the coloured numbers test on the computer where you go up in numerical order pressing the appropriate coloured buttons?

 

[Tomnick]

No, nothing like that! Ours was entirely paper based (apart from the recorded bits that were played to.us).

 

[GB]

Ah right thanks, sounds like it has changed a lot since I did it about 8 years ago!

 

[svrdan]

Im hoping that different career changes help in a way to becoming a signaller at Network Rail. Im currently nearing a rules test for a Controller at Corris Railway so that recent experience of being tested/trained would be a great help, when i make some sort of application. But as already stated. I Wouldn't make much of it to the assessors, more of trying to nag on about safety, communications and of times when you've had to overcome situations and decision making.