A career as a signaller

[C70]

Does anyone know how much longer Victoria ASC is likely to be around for? I know the panels are moving to Three Bridges, but am curious as to when the last panel will move.

 

[johnstitch]

I suppose it depends on the circumstances for the hiring manager however I have recently went through this and found out I was successful the very next day!

Did they call or was it an update via email? I logged into my portal and it went to stage 7 saying congrats on being offered a role but has since moved back to stage 6 awaiting assesment results. Has anyone else encountered this?

 

[jiggy911]

Hi, has any one here recently passed as a G2 trainee - i know the annual salary is currently 36,106 or there abouts - do you know as working as trainee or you expected to work Sundays or be able to do "overtime" - I'm guessing this won't be possible until you fully passed as competent signaller and working independently ?

If that's the case, do you know what someone on G2 level could potentially earn in a year?, considering Sunday work days and some overtime work? just weighing up the career change/and monetary options. Thanks!!

 

[PinkBear]

Did they call or was it an update via email? I logged into my portal and it went to stage 7 saying congrats on being offered a role but has since moved back to stage 6 awaiting assesment results. Has anyone else encountered this?

I got a phone call from the recruitment team - like I said though I feel it was very quick and don’t believe everyone has the same experience. Good luck!

 

[Royal351]

Does anyone know how much longer Victoria ASC is likely to be around for? I know the panels are moving to Three Bridges, but am curious as to when the last panel will move.

They have just recruited the hybrid roles. So they have a location of Vic ASC and TBROC (so they aren't displaced so they dont get paid PDTA) Its to give those at TBROC the chance to relearn or refresh panels 7,8 and 9 (panel 10 isnt coming here think its East Kent or Ashford?) and also to cover any signallers not coming down with the panels ,then when they come down for what is currently scheduled Christmas next year. So Jan 28 panels 7,8 and 9 will be gone and i dont know about panel 1p

 

[mooncat]

I suppose it depends on the circumstances for the hiring manager however I have recently went through this and found out I was successful the very next day!

I've seen that someone else on Reddit said they found out the next day... It's been a few days now and I'm worrying that I perhaps haven't passed . Maybe they tell people who's passed the next day?

 

[C70]

They have just recruited the hybrid roles. So they have a location of Vic ASC and TBROC (so they aren't displaced so they dont get paid PDTA) Its to give those at TBROC the chance to relearn or refresh panels 7,8 and 9 (panel 10 isnt coming here think its East Kent or Ashford?) and also to cover any signallers not coming down with the panels ,then when they come down for what is currently scheduled Christmas next year. So Jan 28 panels 7,8 and 9 will be gone and i dont know about panel 1p

Thanks for this. The reason for asking is they a G7 role has just gone live on the internal page, based at Victoria ASC and I was curious.

 

[Brett55]

Hi, has any one here recently passed as a G2 trainee - i know the annual salary is currently 36,106 or there abouts - do you know as working as trainee or you expected to work Sundays or be able to do "overtime" - I'm guessing this won't be possible until you fully passed as competent signaller and working independently ?

If that's the case, do you know what someone on G2 level could potentially earn in a year?, considering Sunday work days and some overtime work? just weighing up the career change/and monetary options. Thanks!!

I passed out a couple of years ago, but form what I see, it's still the same.
As a trainee, you won't do over time or Sundays until passed out if the box, so you'll get £2784ish per month. Unless you are asked to see a T3 or degraded working as part of your pass out, these tend to be on a weekend and you will then pick up the overtime for that. If you work night shifts, you'll get a night allowance, but it's not much.

 

[muz379]

Hi, has any one here recently passed as a G2 trainee - i know the annual salary is currently 36,106 or there abouts - do you know as working as trainee or you expected to work Sundays or be able to do "overtime" - I'm guessing this won't be possible until you fully passed as competent signaller and working independently ?

If that's the case, do you know what someone on G2 level could potentially earn in a year?, considering Sunday work days and some overtime work? just weighing up the career change/and monetary options. Thanks!!

Very little scope for overtime whilst training. You might get paid Sunday travelling when at signalling school if your travel time from your box location to the location of your signalling school is too far to travel in on the Monday morning. This equates to about £150 a Sunday. But to be honest when at signalling school your weekends are already sacred enough so I'd sooner keep my Sunday free.

As Brett says above when you go out to train at the box there is very little scope for overtime until passed out. You might get the odd bit seeing some night turns or weekend training shifts.

Once passed out, if you work a 12hour Grade 2 location with 24/7 opening then you can earn in the region of £50k with 20 Sundays, 10 rest days, night premiums, bank holiday pay and that won't really feel that onerous. If you had a few vacancies in the area including at your box you could do 10 rest days over 2 months if you had the appetite for it and they were short of cover.

Of course if you are applying for a training post scheme then there is every chance that you end up going straight out of signalling school to a location graded higher than a 2. I've known people go straight from signalling school into anything upto a grade 7. I am sure others will know of people going into even higher graded locations.

 

[MikeOff]

Hi, has any one here recently passed as a G2 trainee - i know the annual salary is currently 36,106 or there abouts - do you know as working as trainee or you expected to work Sundays or be able to do "overtime" - I'm guessing this won't be possible until you fully passed as competent signaller and working independently ?

If that's the case, do you know what someone on G2 level could potentially earn in a year?, considering Sunday work days and some overtime work? just weighing up the career change/and monetary options. Thanks!!

As has been said you are unlikely receive any overtime or night shifts until you have passed out of the box, other than possibly Sunday travel and to see a possession taken and given up.

You can expect to take anywhere between 4 - 6 months from starting training and being passsed competent at a location.

It is worth considering that as a trainee post you will need apply for internal vacancies as they come up. The area that is hiring you may have some vacancies but be aware they may not and you could have to wait.

If you pass out of your first location without having a post to go to you could be rostered on some part day shifts in that location to keep your skills up. You could be sent to another box in the area to learn that box. You will only be offered nights/Sundays/Overtime as a last resort.

Worth also remembering that some boxes close at night and on Sundays so worth doing your research first.

Don’t see this as doom and gloom. If you get offered a post, you will find a substantive position - it costs a hell of a lot to train signaller and they will not want to loose you once trained. Just keep in mind it can take a while to see the full salary benefits.

 

[jiggy911]

I passed out a couple of years ago, but form what I see, it's still the same.
As a trainee, you won't do over time or Sundays until passed out if the box, so you'll get £2784ish per month. Unless you are asked to see a T3 or degraded working as part of your pass out, these tend to be on a weekend and you will then pick up the overtime for that. If you work night shifts, you'll get a night allowance, but it's not much.

Thanks for the info..hows it going for you - have you managed to progress into higher grade position etc?..

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Yesterday at 12:49 ==

Very little scope for overtime whilst training. You might get paid Sunday travelling when at signalling school if your travel time from your box location to the location of your signalling school is too far to travel in on the Monday morning. This equates to about £150 a Sunday. But to be honest when at signalling school your weekends are already sacred enough so I'd sooner keep my Sunday free.

As Brett says above when you go out to train at the box there is very little scope for overtime until passed out. You might get the odd bit seeing some night turns or weekend training shifts.

Once passed out, if you work a 12hour Grade 2 location with 24/7 opening then you can earn in the region of £50k with 20 Sundays, 10 rest days, night premiums, bank holiday pay and that won't really feel that onerous. If you had a few vacancies in the area including at your box you could do 10 rest days over 2 months if you had the appetite for it and they were short of cover.

Of course if you are applying for a training post scheme then there is every chance that you end up going straight out of signalling school to a location graded higher than a 2. I've known people go straight from signalling school into anything upto a grade 7. I am sure others will know of people going into even higher graded locations.

Thanks for the info....sounds like it might be little while until i can start potentially more then, will it always be a 12 shift, or could also be a 8 shift hour days, in that way would you get paid different, i suspect you only do the set of hours per week you allowed or contracted to?.. think the role i've been offered is G2 trainee and then moving into a G2 position (i think)... to be honest been current industry for 19 years and fancy a change so will likely take the position, if things dont work out i can always go back to my initial career.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Yesterday at 12:55 ==

As has been said you are unlikely receive any overtime or night shifts until you have passed out of the box, other than possibly Sunday travel and to see a possession taken and given up.

You can expect to take anywhere between 4 - 6 months from starting training and being passsed competent at a location.

It is worth considering that as a trainee post you will need apply for internal vacancies as they come up. The area that is hiring you may have some vacancies but be aware they may not and you could have to wait.

If you pass out of your first location without having a post to go to you could be rostered on some part day shifts in that location to keep your skills up. You could be sent to another box in the area to learn that box. You will only be offered nights/Sundays/Overtime as a last resort.

Worth also remembering that some boxes close at night and on Sundays so worth doing your research first.

Don’t see this as doom and gloom. If you get offered a post, you will find a substantive position - it costs a hell of a lot to train signaller and they will not want to loose you once trained. Just keep in mind it can take a while to see the full salary benefits.

Thanks for the info bud! - so even after after training etc, they might not have a position available and i would need to apply - i was thinking after training you just get placed into the role straight away? good point with the boxes and when they operate i will ask the LOM when i see them next week, yeah heard about the training costs they said to be in my interview it costs around 10K (so yes alot of money!) - i will likely take the job as waited a long time for to it, and if things dont work out it is what it is, i'll just go back to my initial career. Thanks for the info again much appreciated - how difficult is to pass the IST training i mean are they really strict, do you get many people fail?, i know i'll have to take it seriously and study hard without stating the obvious.

 

[Jay1874]

Has anyone gone through to interview/assessment centre, and can you tell me when you heard back about the outcome of the assessment day?

I had the assessment day for rugby and found out about 2 weeks later I was unsuccessful. So ide imagine it literally depends on how many take part, how many they hire and how quick they process the results, good luck

 

[muz379]

Thanks for the info....sounds like it might be little while until i can start potentially more then, will it always be a 12 shift, or could also be a 8 shift hour days, in that way would you get paid different, i suspect you only do the set of hours per week you allowed or contracted to?.. think the role i've been offered is G2 trainee and then moving into a G2 position (i think)... to be honest been current industry for 19 years and fancy a change so will likely take the position, if things dont work out i can always go back to my initial career.

If you can make the lower salary during the training period work for you then you really won't regret it. There's loads of signallers approaching retirement age and countless opportunities to progress through the grades.

Most if not all places that are open 24/7 are on 12 hour rosters. This just means you do your contracted 35 hours over 3 days.

The base salary is the same on a 12 hour or an 8 hour roster but the earnings potential is a little different. For starters on an 8 hour roster you get less days off to potentially work a free day. The sorts of remaining places on 8 hour rosters also tend to close at night and some have no Sunday service so your earnings from Sunday's or night premiums might also be reduced or no. Existent.

If the Grade 2 trainee job you have been offered is a training post (T post). Then you'll have to apply for a permanent location. The good news though is this means you can freely apply form open vacancies at a higher grade.