Advice on a current vacancy for graduate railway managers.

[Quantumspotter]

Good afternoon all.

After reading several posts on here offering advice on train driving roles etc, I hope some people will be equally helpful towards mine.

I am interested in several vacancies with one of my many local train operating companies for posts in trainee graduate management. Two posts in what appears to general management areas and three in the engineering department. My questions are quite simply. What will they be looking for in the right candidate? I have previous experience of retail management however my degree is very much science based. I have also worked in the education sector to. So, I do have a wealth of transferable skills to bring to the roles. Does anyone know if I would need an engineering degree for the engineering roles. As for an understanding of how the modern railway system works, not sure anyone does really , I do understand how the structure of the system exists and how all the different operating companies etc interact.

Any advice or tips would be gretefuly received.

Kind regards.

Quantum.

 

[tiptoptaff]

For the engineering one yes ideally they want Graduate Engineers. As for general, it's just that. Simply as you could find yourself in any area of the business

 

[Simon11]

Firstly a few questions: Where are you based? What schemes are you looking at? How long ago did you graduate? (since you have retail management & worked in the education sector?) What type of roles are you looking for?

For engineering role, it will be very important to have an engineering degree, but they will be more relaxed for a general management scheme.

I'd also recommend that you look at more than just graduate schemes to get into railway management. For me personally, I did a one year placement scheme at a TOC as part of my degree. I was then unable to get onto a graduate scheme after university, but did manage to get a job with another TOC in a similar role. I've then moved around and six years later, I'm now working within a bid team and actually currently working on a bid in Singapore!

Finally, I'm always happy to review any applications or CV or provide additional tips. Good luck!

 

[Quantumspotter]

Hello there Simon,

Thanks for the tips there.

The TOC and location is Arriva trains Northern both based in York with travel around the TOC area. I worked for M&S for ten plus years then went to university in my early 30's for a university degree. While there I did some work in several schools. It's my understanding that an employer can not discriminate on the basis of age etc. As the closing date has been extended twice I am not sure what the position would be. As I say, I am prepared to try several different ways into the industry, however, there are few vaccines in the north east of England etc.

Kind regards.

Quantum