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A career as a signaller

Enviro200mmc

Member
Joined
20 Jul 2021
Messages
6
Location
Cornwall
Hello everybody, just did the aptitude testing for the Didcot Grade 9. Aptitude test was straight forward but the Grid Challenge was ridiculous. Almost impossible to do. Not sure what they are looking for in that test!
Yup, the Grid Challenge must be for Astronauts and above. So difficult
 
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Defenestrate

Member
Joined
6 Aug 2019
Messages
130
I've seen previous comments in the thread regarding getting a higher grade job, and then claiming the grade after a certain time - 13 weeks after job closing date has been mentioned - would someone be able to tell me exactly where this is written down, and perhaps share the literature via a pm if possible please? NB I have heard that this may be in the RMT "blue book", whatever that is... but cannot see this when I log into my RMT account!
 

Highlandspring

Established Member
Joined
14 Oct 2017
Messages
2,778
I've seen previous comments in the thread regarding getting a higher grade job, and then claiming the grade after a certain time - 13 weeks after job closing date has been mentioned - would someone be able to tell me exactly where this is written down, and perhaps share the literature via a pm if possible please? NB I have heard that this may be in the RMT "blue book", whatever that is... but cannot see this when I log into my RMT account!
I’ve just realised I didn’t reply to your message…. Incoming!
 

headshot119

Established Member
Joined
31 Dec 2010
Messages
2,052
Location
Dubai
Login to E-Business (where you would usually look for jobs), then click Employee Self-Service > Leave of Absence

Unless it's changed recently eBusiness shows your annual leave as 28 days, the actual number of days you get is based off of your roster pattern.

Best person to ask is your roster clerk who can generate you an up to date annual leave card.
 

Highlandspring

Established Member
Joined
14 Oct 2017
Messages
2,778
Unless it's changed recently eBusiness shows your annual leave as 28 days, the actual number of days you get is based off of your roster pattern.

Best person to ask is your roster clerk who can generate you an up to date annual leave card.
Oracle (eBusiness) isn’t used to track signallers’ annual leave, though sickness does go into it for pay purposes, so your leave is recorded on an annual leave card held by the resourcing team as per the above. Where I am the cards are sent out twice a year so you can see what you’ve taken and keep it updated manually yourself if you like.
 

Scooby123

Member
Joined
20 Dec 2020
Messages
30
Location
Derby
Great thanks everyone, also I think I read that you could take up to 10 days over to next year because of Covid is that right?
 

Nemo01

Member
Joined
6 Apr 2021
Messages
24
Location
UK
Great thanks everyone, also I think I read that you could take up to 10 days over to next year because of Covid is that right?
A maximum of 2 weeks and you need to have your line manager's approval by 30th September to do it
 

Dan1982

Member
Joined
3 May 2021
Messages
11
Location
Wellingborough
Hello everybody, just did the aptitude testing for the Didcot Grade 9. Aptitude test was straight forward but the Grid Challenge was ridiculous. Almost impossible to do. Not sure what they are looking for in that test!
I'm glad its not just me that found the grid challenge stupidly hard. I cant find anything online similar to practice with either.
 

SmokeAndJoe

Member
Joined
25 Oct 2016
Messages
88
Personally I much prefer the 8hr roster that I’m on than the opposite 12hr roster that our signalling centre has, I haven’t suffered any fatigue or had any problems rotating off nights since our current roster came into effect January 2018. Then you look at the tired faces of the 12hr crew where all they do is work overtime on 16 hour days including travel all the time just to earn maximum money and fir what they are never at home to enjoy it. I’ve got the best work life balance I’ve ever had since joining the railway in 1988 although I appreciate that a signalling centre with inbuilt in meal relief and GPR will have a better roster than a single staffed locations.
I'm definitely less fatigued on 12s, the near 21 days in a row on 8hrs made my whole life feel like groundhog Day, and like others have said, if you then want to do overtime, you end up on an 8hr pattern doing 12s, or using your only time off in 3 weeks to work more.

Loved the box I was at, but it felt like I lived there.
 

nom de guerre

Member
Joined
24 Nov 2015
Messages
774
+1.

It's a slightly specious argument IMO to imply that the "12hr crew" are "tired" because "all they do is work overtime", when RDW is, of course, entirely optional. I would suggest an 8hr siggie would also be "tired" if they were grabbing every rest day offered. It's the grabbing that's the key factor - not the shift pattern.

I take the point that some peoples' commutes mean a 12hr shift becomes a 16hr+ working day - mine can be on particular days and shifts, depending on traffic - but by the same token, that also means an ostensibly 8hr shift becomes a 12hr working day - and you're working more of them (even on a 'higher quality' 8hr roster, like Sunset's).

As for work/life balance, all I can add is that my current gig is also comfortably the nicest in my NR career to date. Thanks to unprecedented, ORR-prompted staffing levels, I'm averaging five shifts per period (sporadic overtime excepted). There are some excellent opportunities currently available on certain routes if you do your research...
 

Highlandspring

Established Member
Joined
14 Oct 2017
Messages
2,778
+1.

It's a slightly specious argument IMO to imply that the "12hr crew" are "tired" because "all they do is work overtime", when RDW is, of course, entirely optional. I would suggest an 8hr siggie would also be "tired" if they were grabbing every rest day offered. It's the grabbing that's the key factor - not the shift pattern.

I take the point that some peoples' commutes mean a 12hr shift becomes a 16hr+ working day - mine can be on particular days and shifts, depending on traffic - but by the same token, that also means an ostensibly 8hr shift becomes a 12hr working day - and you're working more of them (even on a 'higher quality' 8hr roster, like Sunset's).

As for work/life balance, all I can add is that my current gig is also comfortably the nicest in my NR career to date. Thanks to unprecedented, ORR-prompted staffing levels, I'm averaging five shifts per period (sporadic overtime excepted). There are some excellent opportunities currently available on certain routes if you do your research...

Rostering is one of those issues that's so subjective depending on each individual's personal circumstances and attitude that it can be very divisive. In my career on the railway I've worked eight and twelve hour rosters, and a few odd hybrids in between, and my strong preference is for twelves but I realise that's entirely down to my own circumstances; I like the days off and I don't mind having three or four days each week where I do nothing but work or sleep in exchange for that, equally I'm not really bothered much for overtime unless someone is desperate to get off and I was happy for others to hoover up the Sundays if they wanted them. The best job I've ever had for work/life balance was as a RDR on a 12 hour roster with no nights and no weekends. On reflection I should never have left that but I thought I was doing the right thing at the time...

I've worked an eight hour roster (with twelve hour turns on Saturdays and Sundays, so the worst of both worlds) when I was driving an hour and a half each way and it was brutal, getting up at 0330 for the early turn and falling asleep at the wheel driving home off nights. I was GPR with a roster clerk who had apparently never heard of the NRPs so would end up with a mix of any shifts in the week (six nights and an early anyone?). Fatigue is not just tiredness, it's a shattering inability to function which builds up over months and by the time I came to my senses and changed jobs I truly was fatigued. It has probably taken years off my life. However I realise of course that no one forced me to take the job and it was my choice to commute rather than move a bit closer. It has to be said that the majority there were more than happy with their roster.

So although really it's horses for courses I still struggle to understand why some are so wedded to eight hours when my experience of them was so negative.
 

Falcon1200

Established Member
Joined
14 Jun 2021
Messages
3,577
Location
Neilston, East Renfrewshire
I've worked an eight hour roster (with twelve hour turns on Saturdays and Sundays, so the worst of both worlds)
I still struggle to understand why some are so wedded to eight hours when my experience of them was so negative.

My roster for the last few years of my railway career was 8 hours Mon-Fri and 12 hours Sat/Sun, and it suited me fine ! Because, during the week, there was plenty of the day, after earlies and before lates, to do other things, and the 12 hour weekends gave me more Sats and Suns off. Some of my colleagues in corresponding TOC roles worked a 12 hour roster of 4 days on at a time, and while (of course) that gave them more days off, while on shift they were basically doing nothing but working, travelling and sleeping - For 96 hours at a time ! Not for me thanks, but we have differing lifestyles and therefore preferences.
 

Highlandspring

Established Member
Joined
14 Oct 2017
Messages
2,778
My roster for the last few years of my railway career was 8 hours Mon-Fri and 12 hours Sat/Sun, and it suited me fine ! Because, during the week, there was plenty of the day, after earlies and before lates, to do other things, and the 12 hour weekends gave me more Sats and Suns off. Some of my colleagues in corresponding TOC roles worked a 12 hour roster of 4 days on at a time, and while (of course) that gave them more days off, while on shift they were basically doing nothing but working, travelling and sleeping - For 96 hours at a time ! Not for me thanks, but we have differing lifestyles and therefore preferences.
Yes judging from your other posts we worked in the same role at the same place though not, I think, at the same time. I loved the job but hated the roster. As you say different people have different lifestyles and preferences - neither twelves or eights are intrinsically better than the other, it's all subjective.
 

High Dyke

Established Member
Joined
1 Jan 2013
Messages
4,267
Location
Yellabelly Country
Unless it's changed recently eBusiness shows your annual leave as 28 days, the actual number of days you get is based off of your roster pattern.

Best person to ask is your roster clerk who can generate you an up to date annual leave card.
Alternatively, keep a record of the days accrued and the days used. It isn't that difficult.
 

Rover77

Member
Joined
15 Oct 2019
Messages
191
Location
UK
Just a question about the AON tests. Once I click start is there practice tests I can return to or am I then committed to the actual test?
 

jonge88

Member
Joined
21 Apr 2021
Messages
31
Location
South West
Just a question about the AON tests. Once I click start is there practice tests I can return to or am I then committed to the actual test?
You get practice tests which you can run through as many times as you like. But once you have done the practice test you have then got to go onto the actual assessment, you can't go out and come back to it.
 

Rover77

Member
Joined
15 Oct 2019
Messages
191
Location
UK
You get practice tests which you can run through as many times as you like. But once you have done the practice test you have then got to go onto the actual assessment, you can't go out and come back to it.
Thanks but I'm still a little confused. I haven't been sent any separate practice tests. If I click on a test to start will I have the practice test there or does the real thing just begin. Thanks
 

Dan1982

Member
Joined
3 May 2021
Messages
11
Location
Wellingborough
Thanks but I'm still a little confused. I haven't been sent any separate practice tests. If I click on a test to start will I have the practice test there or does the real thing just begin. Thanks
Click to start and a tutorial opens, there is a practice for each test which you can repeat until happy.
Good luck
 

Rover77

Member
Joined
15 Oct 2019
Messages
191
Location
UK
Click to start and a tutorial opens, there is a practice for each test which you can repeat until happy.
Good luck
That's great. Many thanks

So I completed all the test this evening. Found the first 3 ok. 3 silly mistakes on the matching test which is very frustrating, had an itchy trigger finger. The E with 3 dots went very well, got 100%. The last 2 were very difficult. Made quite a few silly maths mistakes and the final grid challenge was awful. So Im not holding my breath. Just worried that if I've failed I will have to wait 6 months again like with the old SHL tests.
 
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Enviro200mmc

Member
Joined
20 Jul 2021
Messages
6
Location
Cornwall
That's great. Many thanks

So I completed all the test this evening. Found the first 3 ok. 3 silly mistakes on the matching test which is very frustrating, had an itchy trigger finger. The E with 3 dots went very well, got 100%. The last 2 were very difficult. Made quite a few silly maths mistakes and the final grid challenge was awful. So Im not holding my breath. Just worried that if I've failed I will have to wait 6 months again like with the old SHL tests.
When you say 'got 100%' is that from remembering how the scoring went during the tests or did you get an opportunity to see your scores at the end?

Separately, and this may seem a dumb question, but does anyone know about the 'status' on the Careers Hub? If it says ' Status: Interview' does that mean you definitely have an interview?
 

Rover77

Member
Joined
15 Oct 2019
Messages
191
Location
UK
Sorry, more accurate to say I made no mistakes instead of 100%. You don't get to see the score or results afterwards but on 3 of the tests a green tick or a red Cross flashes up after your answer.
 

ArkUTD

Member
Joined
28 Sep 2020
Messages
67
Location
Hinckley
I did the AON test last night too, have to say I enjoyed these better than the old ones, there so much simpler and truth be told I really enjoyed them, as Rover said the last one is really tough, but I think out them all that's the only one I really struggled with.

Really enjoyed the multiple tasks at the same time test though, got no mistakes and really enjoyed it.

Hopefully I'll hear something positive back, wishing the same for the rest of you!
 

Ren05

New Member
Joined
28 Jul 2021
Messages
2
Location
Crawley
Hello everyone,

Do you know how long I'll have to wait for NR feedback after AON tests? I've done mine and application status says interview but they haven't contacted me.
 

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