After 22 years with Telecom Australia/Telstra it became clear that it was time to leave that job and look for something new. The equipment that I particularly liked working on (ARE-11) had all been decommissioned and replaced with more modern digital exchange equipment. As such we did very little or no diagnostic work and just changed circuit boards as directed by operations staff in Melbourne. We became the arms and legs while somebody else did the thinking part, analysing data and alarms. I did some work in another area installing business data systems which itself was ok but the behind the scenes systems that allocated work to us left a lot to be desired. It was not uncommon to arrive at a business and be unable to complete their work as the necessary pre-work done by other areas had not been completed. It became common to go home at the end of the day frustrated at not being able to complete tasks the business customers were expecting, not being able to deliver them the phone or data service they were wanting. I would wake up in the morning and not feel like going to work as I knew it would be another day of frustration. Also at this time Telstra were down-sizing and each year we had to re-apply for our jobs with one person missing out and becoming redundant. I knew this could not go on and looked for a new career. I applied for two jobs in the railways, Trainee Network Controller and Trainee Driver. Both roles had extensive psychometric testing and there was a lot of interest in both positions. For Trainee Network Controller there were about 600 applicants for 30 positions and in the end I was somewhere in the top 60 applicants. The selection panel wanted to take 60 staff as they knew the demand would be there in the future and we had already proved our capability. Management stood firm and only took 30 but put the next 30 on a waiting list in case more positions were required within the next 12 months. More positions did indeed become required but outside the 12 month limit so a whole new selection process would have to take place.
The Trainee Driver role testing was taking place at a similar time although I had no idea of how well I was or was not doing in the testing phases. There was a vast array of tests, many carried out at Morningside in a very large room with people coming and going all day. Observation tests, repetitive tests, logical progression tests, maths tests, English tests and more. Weeks later, out of the blue, in early November 2007 I received a call from QR Careers offering me a position as a Trainee Driver, the only catch was that the only place they wanted to send me was Bluff, near Blackwater in Central Queensland. I was hoping for something closer to home but by the end of the week I had accepted the offer. Basically I didn't need to buy or rent a house as accommodation in the railway quarters was provided at a very reasonable rate. Emerald was only an hours drive away, Rockhampton was two hours drive away, and on the long weekends I could drive home to Ipswich, spend a few days at home, then drive back to Bluff - it was all do able. So I packed up the bare essentials and loaded up the car to start part-time living in Central Queensland. On the 19th of November 2007 myself and 10 others arrived at Bluff station to sign the relevant papers then head into Rockhampton were the initial training courses would be held. We were accommodated in the Central Park Motel for a number of months with all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) paid for, seven days a week. You could opt to eat elsewhere which I did a number of times as the limited motel menu got a bit monotonous after a few weeks. The most significant day was the day we were sent to the pass office to have our photo taken for our new identity cards. As I held the new QRNational identity card in my hand I felt like I had made it, although there were plenty of theory and practical assessments still to follow.
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AuthorI love to understand things, how they work, why they happen - I'm always learning and keen to investigate... Archives
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