16 would a preserved railway want me for work experience

Hello thank you for reading

I'm 16 and as part of being at school (a levels) I have to do work experience and it's supposed to be relevant to future career plans

I would like a career on the railways and was wondering if this work experience could be done on a heritage line (I can't imagine a major operating company would take me on) , would a preserved railway be willing to take me on, it's for a week during july.

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me the liklehood of a heritage railway taking on a student for work experience, I know I'll be restricted to what I can/can't do.

Loads of TOCs take on work experience students for different roles. Would be worth checking with your local operator. Schools/colleges usually have a list of companies who participate too (I did when I was at school....albeit several years ago now).

Stigy said:

Loads of TOCs take on work experience students for different roles. Would be worth checking with your local operator. Schools/colleges usually have a list of companies who participate too (I did when I was at school....albeit several years ago now).

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Thank you for the advice

I saw a boy doing work experience earlier this year at Bishops Stortford station with a train dispatcher.

As has already been mentioned, TOCs do offer work experience, but check with the company and also your school/college.

I believe LNER (if your profile is right in saying you're Peterborough based) recently changed their stance on work experience to be open to more students, but it's something to check!

Some more things to consider - heritage railways in most cases accept volunteers albeit in retail/platform duties, which could be something a lot more long term for you. Also, LNER have an annual summer academy for 16-19 year olds, I attended this year's and it's been really good - especially with support afterwards.

omnicity4659 said:

As has already been mentioned, TOCs do offer work experience, but check with the company and also your school/college.

I believe LNER (if your profile is right in saying you're Peterborough based) recently changed their stance on work experience to be open to more students, but it's something to check!

Some more things to consider - heritage railways in most cases accept volunteers albeit in retail/platform duties, which could be something a lot more long term for you. Also, LNER have an annual summer academy for 16-19 year olds, I attended this year's and it's been really good - especially with support afterwards.

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Thank you for the advice, it's been really helpful.

I'll certainly look into that thank you.

Yeah I have been considering volunteering on my local heritage railway anyway.

Thank you, I'll look into that too.

wagwan my g said:

Hello thank you for reading

I'm 16 and as part of being at school (a levels) I have to do work experience and it's supposed to be relevant to future career plans

I would like a career on the railways and was wondering if this work experience could be done on a heritage line (I can't imagine a major operating company would take me on) , would a preserved railway be willing to take me on, it's for a week during july.

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me the liklehood of a heritage railway taking on a student for work experience, I know I'll be restricted to what I can/can't do.

Click to expand...

GTR had lots of work experience available this year, check their site regularly or set up an alert on the TOC sites that interest you that way you wont miss an opportunity when it comes up. Simples.

wagwan my g said:

Hello thank you for reading

I'm 16 and as part of being at school (a levels) I have to do work experience and it's supposed to be relevant to future career plans

I would like a career on the railways and was wondering if this work experience could be done on a heritage line (I can't imagine a major operating company would take me on) , would a preserved railway be willing to take me on, it's for a week during july.

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me the liklehood of a heritage railway taking on a student for work experience, I know I'll be restricted to what I can/can't do.

Click to expand...

I can't speak with any modern experience of the heritage lines, but your question raises a number of issues for me.
The first is the length of 'experience'. Frankly, one week is next to nothing. Or perhaps better put, if I were a regular employer, including a heritage railway boss, I would never consider offering 'work experience' for periods of anything less than, say, one month to the 'general public' school kid. It smacks of being far, far more trouble - and risk - than it's worth. The student would hardly get to learn where the tea was kept in that time.

The only exceptions to this would be:
a) if I consciously wanted to mentor and develop youth as a kind of civic duty, and I therefore budgeted this time, effort and risk into my plans and
b) if a trusted acquaintance recommended someone to me as 'a good 'un' who was seriously eager to learn and had a head on their shoulders about life. And on the railway of any kind, that would mean at least some awareness of safety in a working environment.

But obviously some companies are prepared to take youth on for a week, as your school mandates this. And I would presume that some heritage railways would be open to doing this as a kind of potential 'HR recruitment' programme in any case, ie if the kid likes the experience and is a good fit, he/she may well become some sort of regular, and a valuable contributor to the operation.

It is interesting that this subject comes up as I'm an adjunct lecturer at a local university. Of the 12 in my once-per week class, there are two, maybe three excellent students who don't know how good they are. That is to say, it is not that they are so good at the specialist subject (they definitely have more to learn), but their attitudes towards work and learning are so good that I would recommend them (and have indeed just begun to do so) to a number of potential employers for possible work experience jobs in order to help them (the kids) expand their horizons.

But I have to say that even in the case of these super exceptional kids, I wouldn't advise anything less than a month as a period for any meaningful learning 'on the job' somewhere.

70014IronDuke said:

The first is the length of 'experience'. Frankly, one week is next to nothing. Or perhaps better put, if I were a regular employer, including a heritage railway boss, I would never consider offering 'work experience' for periods of anything less than, say, one month to the 'general public' school kid. It smacks of being far, far more trouble - and risk - than it's worth. The student would hardly get to learn where the tea was kept in that time.

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You sound very much like the Poundland chap liaising with the Jobcentre. Send as many as you can for work trials/experience but it has to be a minimum of one month.

Darandio said:

You sound very much like the Poundland chap liaising with the Jobcentre. Send as many as you can for work trials/experience but it has to be a minimum of one month.

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Well, I don't know the poundland chap in question - but I'd say he has a good point.

And you would say what, exactly, on this subject?

70014IronDuke said:

Well, I don't know the poundland chap in question - but I'd say he has a good point.

And you would say what, exactly, on this subject?

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What would I say about Poundland? Taking on as many jobseekers as possible for at least a month at a time and then only making them stack shelves, it's nothing but exploitation.

BTU said:

GTR had lots of work experience available this year, check their site regularly or set up an alert on the TOC sites that interest you that way you wont miss an opportunity when it comes up. Simples.

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Thank you for the advice

70014IronDuke said:

I can't speak with any modern experience of the heritage lines, but your question raises a number of issues for me.
The first is the length of 'experience'. Frankly, one week is next to nothing. Or perhaps better put, if I were a regular employer, including a heritage railway boss, I would never consider offering 'work experience' for periods of anything less than, say, one month to the 'general public' school kid. It smacks of being far, far more trouble - and risk - than it's worth. The student would hardly get to learn where the tea was kept in that time.

The only exceptions to this would be:
a) if I consciously wanted to mentor and develop youth as a kind of civic duty, and I therefore budgeted this time, effort and risk into my plans and
b) if a trusted acquaintance recommended someone to me as 'a good 'un' who was seriously eager to learn and had a head on their shoulders about life. And on the railway of any kind, that would mean at least some awareness of safety in a working environment.

But obviously some companies are prepared to take youth on for a week, as your school mandates this. And I would presume that some heritage railways would be open to doing this as a kind of potential 'HR recruitment' programme in any case, ie if the kid likes the experience and is a good fit, he/she may well become some sort of regular, and a valuable contributor to the operation.

It is interesting that this subject comes up as I'm an adjunct lecturer at a local university. Of the 12 in my once-per week class, there are two, maybe three excellent students who don't know how good they are. That is to say, it is not that they are so good at the specialist subject (they definitely have more to learn), but their attitudes towards work and learning are so good that I would recommend them (and have indeed just begun to do so) to a number of potential employers for possible work experience jobs in order to help them (the kids) expand their horizons.

But I have to say that even in the case of these super exceptional kids, I wouldn't advise anything less than a month as a period for any meaningful learning 'on the job' somewhere.

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Yeah I agree a week isn't very long, but it's not down to me it's down to my school it's out of my control. I think it's because it takes up time that could be spent in the classroom ( yes I agree that we should spend more time doing more useful practical stuff as well but that's a completely separate conservation)

I've been thinking about volunteering anyway, as I've got the time and I'm willing to help/learn useful skills and it'll look good on my cv.

wagwan my g said:

Hello thank you for reading

I'm 16 and as part of being at school (a levels) I have to do work experience and it's supposed to be relevant to future career plans

I would like a career on the railways and was wondering if this work experience could be done on a heritage line (I can't imagine a major operating company would take me on) , would a preserved railway be willing to take me on, it's for a week during july.

I was just wondering if anyone could tell me the liklehood of a heritage railway taking on a student for work experience, I know I'll be restricted to what I can/can't do.

Click to expand...

you don't say what you are planning to study.

are you :
mechanics/engineering
sales and marketing
operations/logistics

I'd agree that one week is nowhere near enough to gain any real in depth experience,but there's nothing to stop you contacting either heritage lines,ToC's or even train manufacturers for work experience/internships.
at 16 you probably won't be doing anything safety critical,until you've got the necessary paperwork and training,but if you're accepted and they find you enthusiatic enough,they may well offer some kind of day release option to you where you can work with them and also get time for the qualifications.
to be honest,that route is more certain with a ToC or manufacturer,as they will already have a setaside budget for human resources and training, whereas a heritage lines funds are much more limited.

it's common in the telecoms field for such companies to be doing the milkround at colleges and universities in the area.Those gifted enough have the chance of getting bursaries,with the provison of a couple of years committed employment with the company upon completion of a degree.

being peterborough based I assume you are referring to nene valley railway?

70014IronDuke said:

I can't speak with any modern experience of the heritage lines, but your question raises a number of issues for me.
The first is the length of 'experience'. Frankly, one week is next to nothing. Or perhaps better put, if I were a regular employer, including a heritage railway boss, I would never consider offering 'work experience' for periods of anything less than, say, one month to the 'general public' school kid. It smacks of being far, far more trouble - and risk - than it's worth. The student would hardly get to learn where the tea was kept in that time.

The only exceptions to this would be:
a) if I consciously wanted to mentor and develop youth as a kind of civic duty, and I therefore budgeted this time, effort and risk into my plans and
b) if a trusted acquaintance recommended someone to me as 'a good 'un' who was seriously eager to learn and had a head on their shoulders about life. And on the railway of any kind, that would mean at least some awareness of safety in a working environment.

But obviously some companies are prepared to take youth on for a week, as your school mandates this. And I would presume that some heritage railways would be open to doing this as a kind of potential 'HR recruitment' programme in any case, ie if the kid likes the experience and is a good fit, he/she may well become some sort of regular, and a valuable contributor to the operation.

It is interesting that this subject comes up as I'm an adjunct lecturer at a local university. Of the 12 in my once-per week class, there are two, maybe three excellent students who don't know how good they are. That is to say, it is not that they are so good at the specialist subject (they definitely have more to learn), but their attitudes towards work and learning are so good that I would recommend them (and have indeed just begun to do so) to a number of potential employers for possible work experience jobs in order to help them (the kids) expand their horizons.

But I have to say that even in the case of these super exceptional kids, I wouldn't advise anything less than a month as a period for any meaningful learning 'on the job' somewhere.

Click to expand...

The idea about work experience is just that; to gain experience of the workplace. It’s not intended to train somebody to do a job etc. One arguably doesn’t even have to have an interest in working in said industry. It’s solely to prepare them for work. Having said that, it naturally makes sense to have a taster of what working within an industry you want to eventually work in is like.

Darandio said:

What would I say about Poundland? Taking on as many jobseekers as possible for at least a month at a time and then only making them stack shelves, it's nothing but exploitation.

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Well, if you can find hard evidence of my advocating exploitation in the original post, kindly point it out. Otherwise, may I say (in the spirit of reciprocity) you sound plain perverse and stupid.

Work Experience !
Work Experience !
Work Experience !
Work Experience !


https://gtrailwaycareers.com/jobs/vacancy/find/results/

70014IronDuke said:

Well, if you can find hard evidence of my advocating exploitation in the original post, kindly point it out. Otherwise, may I say (in the spirit of reciprocity) you sound plain perverse and stupid.

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Perverse and stupid? What on earth are you on about? You asked what I thought about it, I told you, that is how Poundland operate.

hello again.
just for a little inspiration. watch this.

it certainly can be done. The fireman is 18 years old!

My office often takes on students for a weeks worth of experience, its usually an eye opener for them as they’ve never worked 9-5 before!
The issue you might have with a heritage railway is they often only work weekends and some shut down totally for long periods over winter.

Don’t know if it’s a bit late but I am doing my work experience at the east Lancashire railway. It certainly can be done.

Tried asking the nene valley railway at all? I don't know if they'll give you a go