British Gas

[ollski]

You have to take on and see through every job you get wheather you fancy it or not, you need to know and follow bg works procedures over and above general procedures, the on the job and post complete checks can be a bind and everything that can be measured regarding everything you do is recorded and could be used against you.
All you can really do is preempt what will be the hot topic for the next quater ie recalls, first time fix, parts etc and manipulate things so that your figures come up right.

 

[newcomers]

Ok the trouble is, Ive only been doing breakdowns for 2 years (1 year on my own) and my company has never put me on any training courses. I try to teach myself as much as I can but I still sometimes struggle, especially on boilers that ive never seen and also on the new condesing boilers.

At the moment where I work, theres not that much pressure on me, and if I cant complete a job or fit a part, its not that much of a problem and they'll get somebody else to go and do it.

Basically, if I **** up (which I havent done yet, well not badly anyway lol) it doesnt really matter because they know what my limits are and they dont pressure me.

Will I have the same, or similair luxury at BG?

 

[pannierstan]

 

[Agile]

I was like that until I got utterly p****d off with the fact that nobody wanted to actually repair a boiler or take ownership of their jobs and then I left.

Dont listen to bigoted old farts like me. Im just saying that the grass IS greener on the other side

Stan

Be aware that the grass MAY be greener on the other side but thats only after 20 years with BG.

They give excellent training if you take it seriously.

You can take ownership of every job if you are serious.

If you are seen to be acting responsibly and not being argumentative and negative you can get promoted after a few years.

It really is a good career structure for positive outgoing people who are technically good! Trouble is too many BG people become slackers and just amble along.

I was talking to a head hunter last month who was having difficulty filling a £45k service manager job when none of the 75 engineers in the patch were considered suitable. ***

If you want to get ahead you have to be better and give an extra 10% !

Or you can just amble along until retirement! Its still a good job even then!

Tony


PS Edit *** Not a BG job! It was for a manufacturer! Primarily man management but also dealing with serious customer problems.

 

[Paul Barker]

Pass on my name please?

 

[pannierstan]

Pass on my name please?

You dont want it Paul trust me.

Stan

 

[kevplumb]

I was like that until I got utterly p****d off with the fact that nobody wanted to actually repair a boiler or take ownership of their jobs and then I left.

Dont listen to bigoted old farts like me. Im just saying that the grass IS greener on the other side

Stan

Be aware that the grass MAY be greener on the other side but thats only after 20 years with BG.

They give excellent training if you take it seriously.

You can take ownership of every job if you are serious.

If you are seen to be acting responsibly and not being argumentative and negative you can get promoted after a few years.

It really is a good career structure for positive outgoing people who are technically good! Trouble is too many BG people become slackers and just amble along.

I was talking to a head hunter last month who was having difficulty filling a £45k service manager job when none of the 75 engineers in the patch were considered suitable. ***

If you want to get ahead you have to be better and give an extra 10% !

Or you can just amble along until retirement! Its still a good job even then!

Tony


PS Edit *** Not a BG job! It was for a manufacturer! Primarily man management but also dealing with serious customer problems.

subbed for bg once

****ehawk

 

[denso13]

Much the same experience here with BG.

Full time job may be the way to go.

As for sub contracting, don't get me started. I'm still out of pocket

 

[slyslick+wicked]

initial training is very good,but after the honeymoon period is over
you are expected to meet targets, gross bpi these words will haunt me
for ever

 

[gasright]

Applied for a Service Fitter JOB with BG 2.5 weeks ago and have'nt heard anything back at all apart from the e-mail that they had received my application.

For a company that is going through a shortage of Corgi engineers, they're pretty slow at getting back to RGI's

 

[Garfeild]

Ring Lesley on 0800 801161 shes quite helpful,and may be able to let you know whats happening.

 

[scatmanjohn]

kevplumb wrote:

****ehawk

Kev, you have an amusing turn of phrase.

 

[gasright]

Ring Lesley on 0800 801161 shes quite helpful,and may be able to let you know whats happening.

thanks mate,

I did that a week ago and she said that they've received a lot of applications lately and have a backlog

 

[namsag]

And that starts to sum up BG, disorganised choas. Best way to join them is as a service fitter where there is far less pressure and hassle and half decent money. See if you like it, see how the engineers are treated and how that side works then decide if the extra money is worth it

 

[nickso]

BG do so many things right and do so many more wrong.

whether or not you enjoy your job with BG really does depend on your personal outlook and temperament. you have to learn to say no a lot to various managers and their mad plans.

i personally enjoyed the majority of my time. got paid very well for doing very little hours. got very little hassle from the managers once they realised i didnt take any ****....cant be many jobs where you can tell your boss to **** off over the phone 3 times in one week.

major downsides are:-

the office staff have no clue whatsoever about what an engineer does or is expected to do and are very unhelpful when you refuse to do certain things...overtime, long start and finish journeys for example.

expect lots of whining when you dont do major overtime when they demand it.

weekends can be a nightmare if you are on standby.

the standby and evening emergency calls (GA) are open to major abuse from office staff...this is where you will need to learn to say no.

high level managers are on the whole complete idiots. most have never lifted a spanner in their lives. dave kendle and the new MD in particular are two of the biggest morons i have ever met.

the computer system is dated and annoying on many levels....you will learn to hate it.

to order any parts out of the ordinary or things like cylinders that cant be sent by the normal royal mail delivery is a chore involving more generally incompetent office staff.

you are expected to make targets that are actually impossible to make. in order to meet them you wont be able to follow the procedures that they could nail you with should they want to.

their demands for sales are tiring.

support on the patch can vary depending on your TSM....mine was good so i was lucky i think.

upsides are:-

good basic pay

if you make 90%+ of your BPI and other targets are close you will be largely left alone

cant say for everywhere but our patch had a good set of lads even though you dont see them often.

if you learn to say no you can be home every night at 5pm...unless on shift.

good training initially.