Exam 6601 Conductor 6601 Hiring Process

[Dred]

Could someone tell me who you spoke to? Was it a computer or person? Do you have someone sitting right in front of you looking at you while you speak?

This will make me nervous as hell and I might forget stuff, especially if the person is an attractive female. 

 

I might bring sunglasses if this is the case. 

Edited October 5, 2017 by Dred

[Sank]

4 minutes ago, Dred said:

Could someone tell me who you spoke to? Was it a computer or person? Do you have someone sitting right in front of you looking at you while you speak?

This will make me nervous as hell and I might forget stuff, especially if the person is an attractive female. 

 

I might bring sunglasses if this is the case. 

You speak to a real person. 

[123melvin]

1 hour ago, Sank said:

HEY folks. I took the OPA on Tuesday oct 3rd. I thought it was pretty simple and straight forward and I think I definitely passed. I scored a 97.5% (2 wrong) on the written test. 

Does anybody know the process after the OPA and how long it will take? Thank you. 

From what i have been told from a guy who just was hired in apr or may. You will get a letter telling you to come back to see doctor. You will get a huge booklet to fill out. Then an appointment to bring paperwork and speak to union people. Then you would get a start date. 

[Nyctransitorhotels]

I wanted to write the first day i got my letter when i saw everyone posting, got it the first day like everyone else. Scheduled for the 18th. I'm assuming i got 3 wrong . Since my day is later than others idk. 

 

Anyway my dilemma is i make $25 per hour now at a hotel and next july i will make $30.25 and by july 2020 if im still there my max will be $37.40 minimum . We get overtime after 35 hours and i always get overtime. Projected to pull in $73k this year. Next year same hours it would easily be $83k. I got a colleague he gets $34.30 now and $1.37 after 8pm extra. 

 

My uncle says im crazy if i don't get with NyC transit. My reason to join would be pension. Pension in union hotels is $1,100 per month after 20yrs right now. Thats crazy low. 

 

Ima take this opa test. Luckily im off that day. I get 8 sick days. 3 personal days and 6 vacation days and goes to 10 2nd year.

 

What would you all do? Also good luck. Nice to see a lot of good people on here supporting each other.  

[123melvin]

6 minutes ago, Nyctransitorhotels said:

I wanted to write the first day i got my letter when i saw everyone posting, got it the first day like everyone else. Scheduled for the 18th. I'm assuming i got 3 wrong . Since my day is later than others idk. 

 

Anyway my dilemma is i make $25 per hour now at a hotel and next july i will make $30.25 and by july 2020 if im still there my max will be $37.40 minimum . We get overtime after 35 hours and i always get overtime. Projected to pull in $73k this year. Next year same hours it would easily be $83k. I got a colleague he gets $34.30 now and $1.37 after 8pm extra. 

 

My uncle says im crazy if i don't get with NyC transit. My reason to join would be pension. Pension in union hotels is $1,100 per month after 20yrs right now. Thats crazy low. 

 

Ima take this opa test. Luckily im off that day. I get 8 sick days. 3 personal days and 6 vacation days and goes to 10 2nd year.

 

What would you all do? Also good luck. Nice to see a lot of good people on here supporting each other.  

That is a rough choice to make. Something you have to discuss with your family. You can also ask yourself . Is that job you are in going to be around in 20 yrs. Any oldtimers in you current job title? Civil service union are a lock as long as you dont mess up to badly.

[Dred]

1 hour ago, 123melvin said:

That is a rough choice to make. Something you have to discuss with your family. You can also ask yourself . Is that job you are in going to be around in 20 yrs. Any oldtimers in you current job title? Civil service union are a lock as long as you dont mess up to badly.

 

1 hour ago, Nyctransitorhotels said:

I wanted to write the first day i got my letter when i saw everyone posting, got it the first day like everyone else. Scheduled for the 18th. I'm assuming i got 3 wrong . Since my day is later than others idk. 

 

Anyway my dilemma is i make $25 per hour now at a hotel and next july i will make $30.25 and by july 2020 if im still there my max will be $37.40 minimum . We get overtime after 35 hours and i always get overtime. Projected to pull in $73k this year. Next year same hours it would easily be $83k. I got a colleague he gets $34.30 now and $1.37 after 8pm extra. 

 

My uncle says im crazy if i don't get with NyC transit. My reason to join would be pension. Pension in union hotels is $1,100 per month after 20yrs right now. Thats crazy low. 

 

Ima take this opa test. Luckily im off that day. I get 8 sick days. 3 personal days and 6 vacation days and goes to 10 2nd year.

 

What would you all do? Also good luck. Nice to see a lot of good people on here supporting each other.  

You really have to base this off of pension and also job security. You can't beat the city for job security, so you have to expect a little lower pay.

 

You also have to calculate what you would get as a NYC pension vs your hotel pension, and then figure out if it is worth it.

 

The other thing you should look at is job promotions, how high could you climb in the MTA vs how high you can climb in your current job.

 

I am going to say that if there is any stress at your job, having to kiss ass, feeling worried about getting fired, too much competition, then why deal with stress for the next 20 years when you can have an easy stress free city job. It isn't worth the extra pay at the end of the day to work in a private company.

My recommendation is you have to be crazy not to take a city job unless you are getting paid a lot of money, and when I say a lot of money, I mean like $200,000 salaries.  

[Dred]

2 hours ago, Sank said:

You speak to a real person. 

Can someone give more details, is it very personal, or are you speaking across a room? 

 

Thank you

Edited October 5, 2017 by Dred

[noekozz]

16 minutes ago, Dred said:

Can someone give more details, is it very personal, or are you speaking across a room? 

 

Thank you

Can I ask you an honest question?  Do you suffer from anxiety?   The reason I ask is that being a conductor requires you to interact with all types of people on a daily basis face to face.  If you can’t handle having an instructor speak to you directly without getting nervous I just don’t see how you’d survive being a conductor for more than a year, having people yelling at you every time trains are delayed for whatever reason.  Or god forbid dealing with an emergency or a sick person on the train, all highly stressful environments.    

[Sank]

44 minutes ago, Dred said:

Can someone give more details, is it very personal, or are you speaking across a room? 

 

Thank you

It’s 2 people within 2 feet from you on a small table. They give you scenarios and you respond what you would do. 

[Lovablepj]

40 minutes ago, Dred said:

Can someone give more details, is it very personal, or are you speaking across a room? 

 

Thank you

You are sitting at a small table with 2 other people. One is holding up the photo and jotting down notes as u speak and the other is asking the questions for each photo. There is also a tape recorder on the table so u have to speak lound and clear. There were a few different people monitoring the 2nd half of the exam, so this was the case for the room i went into. It was a very small room as well so yeah personal. I don’t know if it was the same for other people that went into different rooms with different monitors. 

[Dred]

Thanks, they have to be kidding me giving a test like this. I don't really like it but I will manage. 

 

But I prefer it being 2 people over 1 person, I just don't like sitting across from people 1 on 1, like at dinner or interviews and stuff like that. 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2017 by Dred

[jake3178]

Don't stress it, he's not actually looking at you, he's reading his notes, it didn't feel personal to me at all and I get anxiety pretty easy.

[Nyctransitorhotels]

16 minutes ago, Dred said:

Thanks, they have to be kidding me giving a test like this. I don't really like it but I will manage. 

 

But I prefer it being 2 people over 1 person, I just don't like sitting across from people 1 on 1, like at dinner or interviews and stuff like that. 

 

 

Thanks for your response. As a conductor there is a lot of 1on1 conversations. Usually people annoyed or irate.

[SevenEleven]

2 hours ago, Nyctransitorhotels said:

Anyway my dilemma is i make $25 per hour now at a hotel and next july i will make $30.25 and by july 2020 if im still there my max will be $37.40 minimum . We get overtime after 35 hours and i always get overtime. Projected to pull in $73k this year. Next year same hours it would easily be $83k. I got a colleague he gets $34.30 now and $1.37 after 8pm extra. 

 

My uncle says im crazy if i don't get with NyC transit. My reason to join would be pension. Pension in union hotels is $1,100 per month after 20yrs right now. Thats crazy low. 

 

Ima take this opa test. Luckily im off that day. I get 8 sick days. 3 personal days and 6 vacation days and goes to 10 2nd year.

 

What would you all do? Also good luck. Nice to see a lot of good people on here supporting each other.  

I would at least try it out. It's not for everyone but you can't knock it until you try it. It's a hard adjustment in the beginning but I feel that it's worth it. Aside from the pension, you get the benefits, retirement plans, etc. I'm in Buses as an operator, just made it through my first year and I love it. To give a quick run-down (for me):

-10 paid holidays (+ your bday after 1yr)
-10 vacation days after first year, 20 days after third year, 25 days after 15th year
-OT everywhere (I'm in SI and I can call the dispatcher at the ferry for any extra work or they call me if something pops up)
-The ability to save overtime for a day off (8 hrs of OT becomes a day off)
-1 personal day

You're not going to be making the base 80 hour salary during your first year, so don't use that as a comparison of how much money you're going to pull in. During line training and being on the extra list, I was seeing some 100+ hour pay periods. (And this isn't 100 hours of physically working)

[Schecter]

4 hours ago, Sank said:

HEY folks. I took the OPA on Tuesday oct 3rd. I thought it was pretty simple and straight forward and I think I definitely passed. I scored a 97.5% (2 wrong) on the written test. 

Does anybody know the process after the OPA and how long it will take? Thank you. 

That's weird i got 3 wrong and i haven't received my opa in the mail at all...

[Sank]

24 minutes ago, Schecter said:

That's weird i got 3 wrong and i haven't received my opa in the mail at all...

Hang in there and stay hopeful. I actually forgot all about the test until I received that mail. I’m surprised you guys are in forums actually looking up on the job announcement. 

[Lekith]

😑😑😑😑😑😑

[Schecter]

I haven't forgotten about the test at all lol I've been patiently waiting everyone else who passed seems to get one except me, is it possible to email them and ask if they mailed one out to me?

[Sank]

3 minutes ago, Schecter said:

I haven't forgotten about the test at all lol I've been patiently waiting everyone else who passed seems to get one except me, is it possible to email them and ask if they mailed one out to me?

It’s almost always possible to email somebody. 

[Schecter]

What's there email?

[Nyctransitorhotels]

On 9/20/2017 at 5:43 PM, Dave2836 said:

You'll be taking a pay cut. Track workers make $33.1025 @ top pay in February 16, 2018. Conductors will make $31.6350 @ top pay.

 

Track workers can be trained into specialist titles and get paid $36.25.

 

Conductors have 3 promotional paths: Train Operator, Tower Operator, Asst Train Dispatcher.

 

This is only an abbreviated summary.

Great info. My Cousin who is an electrician supervisor in MTA thinks top pay is in 3 years. He's been in MTA over 15 years. So he i think is off. Is it 7 years for top pay??!! If so do you know the percentage it goes up year after year?? 

 

Also what is the top pay for Train operator, tower operator,assistant dispatcher?? 

I'm on ot now at my job making $39 per hour as i type this on ot. And next July will make $47.64 with ot after 35 hrs. I just dont get a good pension nor as many vacation days. Anf only 8 sick days. 

Very curious what route to take. 

[Jchambers2120]

1 hour ago, Schecter said:

What's there email?

examsunit@nyct.com

[noekozz]

2 hours ago, Nyctransitorhotels said:

Great info. My Cousin who is an electrician supervisor in MTA thinks top pay is in 3 years. He's been in MTA over 15 years. So he i think is off. Is it 7 years for top pay??!! If so do you know the percentage it goes up year after year?? 

 

Also what is the top pay for Train operator, tower operator,assistant dispatcher?? 

I'm on ot now at my job making $39 per hour as i type this on ot. And next July will make $47.64 with ot after 35 hrs. I just dont get a good pension nor as many vacation days. Anf only 8 sick days. 

Very curious what route to take. 

Forgot who posted this but here you go

 

http://www.twulocal100.org/sites/twulocal100.org/files/pay_rates_by_title_2017-2019.pdf

[DrewMania]

2 hours ago, Nyctransitorhotels said:

Great info. My Cousin who is an electrician supervisor in MTA thinks top pay is in 3 years. He's been in MTA over 15 years. So he i think is off. Is it 7 years for top pay??!! If so do you know the percentage it goes up year after year?? 

 

Also what is the top pay for Train operator, tower operator,assistant dispatcher?? 

I'm on ot now at my job making $39 per hour as i type this on ot. And next July will make $47.64 with ot after 35 hrs. I just dont get a good pension nor as many vacation days. Anf only 8 sick days. 

Very curious what route to take. 

To be honest i’m in a similar position. I work for UPS as a driver i just started making top pay which is 35 dollars a hour for a 27 year old is a blessing but in my case i’ve aways wanted to work for MTA. And now that i’m getting closer to that goal i’m going to take the MTA job over UPS. I’m going to take a leave of absence just in case. But yea it’s a pay cut for a few years but i’m set up to make that transition.

I think right now you have to ask yourself is it something you really wanna do. Because if this wasn’t a goal of mines then I wouldn’t even be on this forum. 

Then ask yourself can you survive a few years before you even reach back where you was when you left the hotel job. Because to be honest the kind of money your making now you can go set up a nice retirement fund from TD bank and that penision you get from the hotel won’t matter cause you got plently saved away for a honest living.  

[Dred]

Hoping to catch someone before I leave early this morning.

It says on the exam notice not to bring a cell phone. Should I not bring one at all, or is it OK if I leave it in my pocket?

I would like to have it with me for the travel.

 

Thanks, hoping someone responds tonight!