South West Trains Station Assistant

[Urban Gateline]

congrats with that, hope the job goes well.

Thank you! How did you find a Station Asst Vacancy at Wimbledon? I haven't seen one on the online jobs page of SWT, or maybe I just missed it somewhere!

 

[cantosis]

Thank you! How did you find a Station Asst Vacancy at Wimbledon? I haven't seen one on the online jobs page of SWT, or maybe I just missed it somewhere!

It was advertised ages ago. had the tests about 5 weeks and just got the interview date through recently.

 

[Urban Gateline]

It was advertised ages ago. had the tests about 5 weeks and just got the interview date through recently.

Wow it's amazing how long it takes...I think I waited at least 2 weeks for the interview letter which seems like nothing compared to your wait! Does Wimbledon count as being in the Inner London area in terms of pay? Clapham Junction does but then I don't know how much the salaries differ between Station Asst and Gateline Asst!

 

[cantosis]

Wow it's amazing how long it takes...I think I waited at least 2 weeks for the interview letter which seems like nothing compared to your wait! Does Wimbledon count as being in the Inner London area in terms of pay? Clapham Junction does but then I don't know how much the salaries differ between Station Asst and Gateline Asst!

I seem to remember it said something like £8.01 per hour I dont remember it being advertised annually for pay.

I also went for a different job at the end of last year in wimbledon stores again passed the tests and thought I did ok in the interview apart from maybe one question but didnt get it.

In fact I have had much luck, I also went for a job with First Capital Connect passed the tests again and had a good interview(for a change) but then got a letter saying that although I passed everything they felt Bedford was too far from me and they didnt have a location nearer to me at that time.
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The style of interviews nowdays(Competency-based interviews) make things tougher, on one sense its good if your an outsider from the railways as long as you answer everything correctly your more likely get the job but they dont seem to take into consideration railway experience.....its all about that one set of questions for everyone

 

[Urban Gateline]

I seem to remember it said something like £8.01 per hour I dont remember it being advertised annually for pay.

I also went for a different job at the end of last year in wimbledon stores again passed the tests and thought I did ok in the interview apart from maybe one question but didnt get it.

In fact I have had much luck, I also went for a job with First Capital Connect passed the tests again and had a good interview(for a change) but then got a letter saying that although I passed everything they felt Bedford was too far from me and they didnt have a location nearer to me at that time.

Oh no that is such a shame, you really don't deserve all that bad luck

Well I find it strange that Station Asst seems to be hourly whilst my gateline one is annual salary, this clashes with what Matt Taylor said above as he said Station Asst's get an annual salary and Gateline are hourly!
Well anyway I'm not good enough at Maths to work out the hourly rate for mine (around £16.5k annual which includes inner london allowance)!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

The style of interviews nowdays(Competency-based interviews) make things tougher, on one sense its good if your an outsider from the railways as long as you answer everything correctly your more likely get the job but they dont seem to take into consideration railway experience.....its all about that one set of questions for everyone

This is also what I find bizarre, I have not had any previous experience in the Railways apart from 2 weeks work experience when I was 15, and since then I've worked in retail!

 

[cantosis]

Oh no that is such a shame, you really don't deserve all that bad luck

Well I find it strange that Station Asst seems to be hourly whilst my gateline one is annual salary, this clashes with what Matt Taylor said above as he said Station Asst's get an annual salary and Gateline are hourly!
Well anyway I'm not good enough at Maths to work out the hourly rate for mine (around £16.5k annual which includes inner london allowance)!

yeh I think it works out pretty much the same I think at £8 per hour is works out about a grand less then yours but I am sure there will be some little add ons that will bump it up a bit

 

[Matt Taylor]

The London allowance is payable as far as zone 6, Feltham get it but Ashford don't etc.

If you take the salary figure for gateline and divide by 13 (months) and then divide again by 144 (hours) you get the hourly rate, salary and hourly rate are just different ways of expressing the same figure.

 

[cantosis]

Oh no that is such a shame, you really don't deserve all that bad luck

Well I find it strange that Station Asst seems to be hourly whilst my gateline one is annual salary, this clashes with what Matt Taylor said above as he said Station Asst's get an annual salary and Gateline are hourly!
Well anyway I'm not good enough at Maths to work out the hourly rate for mine (around £16.5k annual which includes inner london allowance)!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


This is also what I find bizarre, I have not had any previous experience in the Railways apart from 2 weeks work experience when I was 15, and since then I've worked in retail!

ahh but your have loads of customer service experience. My role was mainly back office and catering control but I did branch out and work on the platform and on trains for more experience for a bit so in this type of role your customer service experience is what they like.You would know all the right things to say to the questions

 

[Urban Gateline]

The London allowance is payable as far as zone 6, Feltham get it but Ashford don't etc.

If you take the salary figure for gateline and divide by 13 (months) and then divide again by 144 (hours) you get the hourly rate, salary and hourly rate are just different ways of expressing the same figure.

£8.81/hr then, doesn't seem too bad compared to my retail job, where I am a supervisor and only getting £7.11/hr!

Its still not clear what Sunday working is like though, during my interview I was told it's not part of the working week so it would be overtime, presumably at basic rate, even so, that would bump up the pay nicely!

 

[Matt Taylor]

I think perhaps SWT may be trying to merge the CSA and platform jobs, I may be wrong though. My gateline contract included sundays as part of the week and it looks like your contract is no different, I would advise calling them tomorrow to verify.

 

[Urban Gateline]

ahh but your have loads of customer service experience. My role was mainly back office and catering control but I did branch out and work on the platform and on trains for more experience for a bit so in this type of role your customer service experience is what they like.You would know all the right things to say to the questions

Oooh what did you do back office? That sounds interesting! What was your role when you worked on trains, was it catering?
I did everything in retail, ranging from Merchandising stock to Supervising the checkouts and working on the shopfloor as customer service, even running the store on my own a few times...but I wanted a change...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I think perhaps SWT may be trying to merge the CSA and platform jobs, I may be wrong though. My gateline contract included sundays as part of the week and it looks like your contract is no different, I would advise calling them tomorrow to verify.

That would be fine if they were merging them, would love to do a bit of everything

So you think it's worth calling HR over that? Or should I save it for my induction when HR apparently do some paperwork with me?

 

[cantosis]

Oooh what did you do back office? That sounds interesting! What was your role when you worked on trains, was it catering?
I did everything in retail, ranging from Merchandising stock to Supervising the checkouts and working on the shopfloor as customer service, even running the store on my own a few times...but I wanted a change...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


That would be fine if they were merging them, would love to do a bit of everything

So you think it's worth calling HR over that? Or should I save it for my induction when HR apparently do some paperwork with me?

I think they are definately merging jobs now, if you look at the cleaning jobs its not just cleaning its customer services and train dispatch

 

[Urban Gateline]

I think perhaps SWT may be trying to merge the CSA and platform jobs, I may be wrong though. My gateline contract included sundays as part of the week and it looks like your contract is no different, I would advise calling them tomorrow to verify.

Called them, they confirmed that Sunday is outside of the working week which is great, they confirmed I can work it as Overtime.

 

[387star]

Called them, they confirmed that Sunday is outside of the working week which is great, they confirmed I can work it as Overtime.

Regarding the private message I sent you Molesey boy I am working every single day for two weeks (is that legal?) lol I do sometimes wish I got paid more for Sundays etc!

I enjoy the experience the position has given me despite the low pay but wish to transfer that skill elsewhere so it is not simply down to pay.

 

[Urban Gateline]

Regarding the private message I sent you Molesey boy I am working every single day for two weeks (is that legal?) lol I do sometimes wish I got paid more for Sundays etc!

I enjoy the experience the position has given me despite the low pay but wish to transfer that skill elsewhere so it is not simply down to pay.

Hmm, according to Direct.Gov.Uk:

Weekly rest - the 'weekend'

If you are an adult worker you have the right to either:

* an uninterrupted 24 hours clear of work each week
* an uninterrupted 48 hours clear each fortnight

So it would seem that you should get at least 2 days off over the 2 weeks. How you would enforce that is another question though, personally I wouldn't complain, and just work it for the extra money

 

[Matt Taylor]

I think transport workers are exempt from those working time regulations, but there are safeguards in place that were the result of the Clapham rail disaster in 1988, do a search for Hidden recommendations.