Hello... advice?

[ja_lo]

Hello,

I have just found out that I have got a job with Royal Mail Group working in a Crown Post Office as a Financial Service Specialist, I found out for the first 5 weeks i have to go on a residential training course, its only for 3 days a week though. has anyone else been through this and do they know what i do for the other 2 days a week? I know that the majority of peeps on here are RM but just incase there were any PO staff out there, they said they would post my contract out to me, do you know how long this takes?

Cheers :)

[POSTMAN]

Welcome,will move this to the PO forum.

[the loan arranger]

Hello,

I have just found out that I have got a job with Royal Mail Group working in a Crown Post Office as a Financial Service Specialist, I found out for the first 5 weeks i have to go on a residential training course, its only for 3 days a week though. has anyone else been through this and do they know what i do for the other 2 days a week? I know that the majority of peeps on here are RM but just incase there were any PO staff out there, they said they would post my contract out to me, do you know how long this takes?

Cheers :)

Hello - I worked as a FSS or as they now call it a FS and I loved trying to sell credit cards, life insurance and savings to all the dole merchants - complete dead loss, stuck it for 4 months and never received a contract - am now on the counter as they were so short of staff - good luck

[ja_lo]

Hello - I worked as a FSS or as they now call it a FS and I loved trying to sell credit cards, life insurance and savings to all the dole merchants - complete dead loss, stuck it for 4 months and never received a contract - am now on the counter as they were so short of staff - good luck[/quote]

Thanks very much, do you know the answer to my question though about the training?

Cheers

[obe2005]

Hiya mate, I have just started as a fs recently and just finished my training. I never had to go into branch on my two days after the course but I know a few fs's that did so it just depends on your manager and what they need. Most will want you in branch but my fs station hadn't been set up at the time I started. If I was you i'd start looking for a new job because the fs job is a load of bollocks and unless you are in a posh area and the customer's have half a brain you'll be ok, but if not you will be sitting there twiddling your thumbs, sorry to sound negative but it's awful.

[billyhayes]

If I was you i'd start looking for a new job because the fs job is a load of bollocks and unless you are in a posh area and the customer's have half a brain you'll be ok, but if not you will be sitting there twiddling your thumbs, sorry to sound negative but it's awful.

Wow, you quickly saw through the brainwashing they give at the FS interviews, schools etc.

Can you tell us how they 'sold the job' to you?

I ask because we had a couple of new FSs in training in our branch and both basically said that it was not how they were told the job would be. The constant pressure to meet weekly targets NO MATTER WHAT being one of the highlights. I believe one has now jacked it, while the other is waiting for the big push.

[cashman]

I check the IRIS job site from time to time & all you see advertised is FS positions all over the country.
I wouldn't consider the job for one second .

But if I was on the Dole...

[goggins69]

Hope you are in the southwest. Our crown office normally has two fss. One left last week to join the Nat west the other off sick. When can you start?

[ja_lo]

In Scotland I'm afraid, I'm looking forward to it, worth a bash anyway! although still not clear on bonuses etc, but i'm sure that will all come :)

[The BFO]

Hiya mate, I have just started as a fs recently and just finished my training. I never had to go into branch on my two days after the course but I know a few fs's that did so it just depends on your manager and what they need. Most will want you in branch but my fs station hadn't been set up at the time I started. If I was you i'd start looking for a new job because the fs job is a load of bollocks and unless you are in a posh area and the customer's have half a brain you'll be ok, but if not you will be sitting there twiddling your thumbs, sorry to sound negative but it's awful.

Do you not feel that this post, and your ‘strap line’ about Counter Staff being pessimistic is a little hypocritical?

[billyhayes]

Hiya mate, I have just started as a fs recently and just finished my training. I never had to go into branch on my two days after the course but I know a few fs's that did so it just depends on your manager and what they need. Most will want you in branch but my fs station hadn't been set up at the time I started. If I was you i'd start looking for a new job because the fs job is a load of bollocks and unless you are in a posh area and the customer's have half a brain you'll be ok, but if not you will be sitting there twiddling your thumbs, sorry to sound negative but it's awful.

Do you not feel that this post, and your ‘strap line’ about Counter Staff being pessimistic is a little contradictory?

Probably not.

See, they have got it into their head that it's all down to the counter staff that they can't sell.

The first foul they are taught to cry is "a lack of referrals".

Coupled with the fact that the counter staff are more than likely the ones that showed them the 'truth'.

No one likes to be lied to so that you will take a job only to be told by some bod on the counter how crap it is.

Therefore they 'shoot the messenger'.. Hence the signature.

Damn I'm good.

[The BFO]

A colleague of mine recently overheard our FS complaining bitterly about the counter staff not ‘Referring enough’ whilst unaware she was within earshot.
Highly amusing.

[bigjames]

The relationship between Counter staff and FS's was always going to be an uneasy one, for a number of reasons. Not least because for every full time FS in an office 35 hours were taken off the counter duties, as some genius decided they were 'customer facing' and therefore dealt with the same number of customers as a counter clerk over a similar time period. You don't need a laptop and a spreadsheet to see that that idea is flawed.
FS's need referrals to get sales, no amount of queue hosting/walking etc will generate enough 'self-generated' sales, and in truth most so-called 'self-generated' sales come off the back of customers who have at some point been referred from the counter.
Undoubtedly we have some good products, and there are customers out there who want to buy them, once they know we sell them, but sales will always be limited whilst Counter staff and FS's fail to realise just how much they need each other.

[0151Tom]

should get in a suboffice !! most postmasters dont push the sales as much at the po

[PostalOfficer]

should get in a suboffice !! most postmasters dont push the sales as much at the po

Very true in the vast majority of cases. Why not give the FS job a try first? It would most likely be better money that a SO and would no doubt look better on your CV. You can always move on to commission based sales if you find you are good at the job, flogging Sky TV in WH Smiths etc.

At my office there`s a bit of moaning both ways, FS saying we don`t get enough referals, counter staff say if he stopped playing games on his laptop and walked the Q he would do better. I wouldn`t say it was hostile though, just part of the stress everybody is under. Don't be too proud to help shift a few mail bags etc either.

Give it a try for the experience, just don`t believe the blurb the PO give you and realise that they will always want more. I suspect if you sat there all day signing up car insurances, you would get an email saying "Well done, but the life insurances are low this week". Am I right, people?