Go-Ahead's Bus Graduate Management Programme - apply now!

[Annie Go-Ahead]

Are you are a creative, hard-working and committed graduate, enthusiastic about your personal development and keen to take on real responsibility in a diverse and varied industry starting September 2020?

On Go-Ahead’s two-year bus management graduate programme you’ll be exposed to the diversity of the business working with a variety of departments to understand the role each plays in making our vision a reality. As well as getting stuck into all aspects of operations management from scheduling and customer service to basic engineering and supervisory roles, you’ll even learn how to drive a bus! You can expect shift work alongside real responsibility, coordinating projects that will immediately impact the two-million people travelling on our network each day.


Key information

• Salary: minimum of £25,000 per year
• Locations: Brighton, Dublin, Hull, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford and Poole
• Closing date: 1st December 2019
• Start date: September 2020

Click here for more information and to APPLY now - https://www.go-ahead.com/our-people/graduates

About The Go-Ahead Group

We are a leading provider of public transport in the UK bus and rail service sectors, delivering over one billion passenger journeys each year. Almost two million journeys take place per day on our bus network – as well as being London’s largest bus operator, we own eight regional UK bus companies. Currently a FTSE250 company employing 29,000 people across the country, we’re also expanding our international bus and rail portfolio. We are strong believers in local brands run by local management for local markets, and so are looking for motivated graduates who will grow and develop into our future operations managers and directors.

 

[markymark2000]

Why does everyone have to be a graduate. Can't they just employ people who want to get into the industry without going via university. Just because people haven't been to Uni, it doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing, in fact, they probably know more about what they are doing because they haven't been stuck in a Uni for the past however many years.

It annoys me so much that they are happy to offer graduate to management schemes but won't try to help non graduates into the industry in non driving roles.

 

[carlberry]

Why does everyone have to be a graduate. Can't they just employ people who want to get into the industry without going via university. Just because people haven't been to Uni, it doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing, in fact, they probably know more about what they are doing because they haven't been stuck in a Uni for the past however many years.

It annoys me so much that they are happy to offer graduate to management schemes but won't try to help non graduates into the industry in non driving roles.

Lots of companies have apprentice type schemes and there are plenty of companies where a driving role can lead into management. Unfortunately if the percentage of people who go to university rises (as it has over the last few decades) a degree is an easy way of filtering the number of applicants down.

(Holder of a degree in life sucks!).

 

[37114]

Why does everyone have to be a graduate. Can't they just employ people who want to get into the industry without going via university. Just because people haven't been to Uni, it doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing, in fact, they probably know more about what they are doing because they haven't been stuck in a Uni for the past however many years.

It annoys me so much that they are happy to offer graduate to management schemes but won't try to help non graduates into the industry in non driving roles.

Sorry but there is nothing in what Go-ahead are doing that says if you are not a graduate that you won't get on into the business. GA should be lauded for actively trying to include new talent into the industry. Assuming GA take 8 or so graduates that is a tiny fraction of the roles they are likely to make available over the course of a year. There are various apprenticeships and learning programmes out there to support non graduates into non driving roles, but any employer will be looking for some relevant skills they can bring to the company.

To be open I spent 3 years at Uni doing International Transport Management, with a gap year in Industry working at the coal face. During that time I was actively learning about the industry, some of that learning I use today "not stuck in Uni"...I applied for the First graduate scheme at the time although failed at the last hurdle and so ended up in Freight transport. I have driven lorries, worked shifts, managed teams etc over the last 20 years, so like many graduates I am not afraid of getting my hands dirty or understanding the parts of the business. I am now at a senior logistics role for a major retailers and have delivered some major projects.

During my time I have worked with people who have successfully worked their way up the ladder starting at the shop floor/walking in off the street, and any good employer will have a talent development programme which will progress people irrespective of their background.

Ultimately if you are that interested in getting into the industry without a degree then there are ways you can do it, how you do it rests with you....

 

[Bletchleyite]

Why does everyone have to be a graduate. Can't they just employ people who want to get into the industry without going via university.

I don't know about buses specifically, but a lot of employers run apprenticeship schemes alongside their graduate scheme. These often do later lead to some kind of qualification.

It's much, much more difficult for a middle aged adult wanting to get into an industry they are not already in.

 

[markymark2000]

Lots of companies have apprentice type schemes and there are plenty of companies where a driving role can lead into management. Unfortunately if the percentage of people who go to university rises (as it has over the last few decades) a degree is an easy way of filtering the number of applicants down.

(Holder of a degree in life sucks!).

A degree doesn't mean you have any life experience or any knowledge of how the industry works. What it does mean though is that those who are very early 20s and just graduated, have absolutely no experience about anything except sitting in a classroom.
Graduates are generally disliked by lower staff because of their inability to know and do basic things within the industry. Just start openly employing people and then narrow down depending on job requirements at the time. Everyone should have a chance though!

From my experience looking at rail and buses, graduates get management schemes and apprentices get engineering. Nothing the other way round and nothing to support those wanting to get into the industry. Unless you have a silly certificate saying you have sat and listened in a Uni for 3 years, you have almost 0% chance of getting a non driving job. I have never found an apprenticeship in which you have am 80% chance of securing a management job by the end of it within the industry!

 

[Bletchleyite]

From my experience looking at rail and buses, graduates get management schemes and apprentices get engineering. Nothing the other way round and nothing to support those wanting to get into the industry. Unless you have a silly certificate saying you have sat and listened in a Uni for 3 years, you have almost 0% chance of getting a non driving job. I have never found an apprenticeship in which you have am 80% chance of securing a management job by the end of it within the industry!

In many industries you do still get people working their way up to management from the coalface. It might surprise you that in the IT industry this is extremely common - I worked as a developer alongside the person who is now the manager above my manager.

Is that not true in the bus industry?

 

[carlberry]

A degree doesn't mean you have any life experience or any knowledge of how the industry works. What it does mean though is that those who are very early 20s and just graduated, have absolutely no experience about anything except sitting in a classroom.
Graduates are generally disliked by lower staff because of their inability to know and do basic things within the industry. Just start openly employing people and then narrow down depending on job requirements at the time. Everyone should have a chance though!

From my experience looking at rail and buses, graduates get management schemes and apprentices get engineering. Nothing the other way round and nothing to support those wanting to get into the industry. Unless you have a silly certificate saying you have sat and listened in a Uni for 3 years, you have almost 0% chance of getting a non driving job. I have never found an apprenticeship in which you have am 80% chance of securing a management job by the end of it within the industry!

All of this is true, however it's not going to change anything. As an employer you have a choice between people educated to GCSE standard, A level standard or degree standard. You're likely to have to pay a little more for the degree ones if it's relevant for your industry (plenty of degree level applicants for any kind of work and you wont find any degree entry position that'll give you 80% chance of securing a management job either).

So which do you choose, remembering that every one that you get in is a cost to you for finding the time to interview them.

However have a look at the top people in the industry and you'll find a surprising number who started on the coalface but managed to get to the top anyway, often by things like open university degrees.

I have to agree with Bletchleyite that it's easier in IT however!

 

[sprunt]

A graduate has demonstrated that they can start something, stick with it for a number of years and see it through to completion. It's hardly surprising that an employer would see that as beneficial. Additionally, they don't just sit in a classroom, degree courses involve a lot of self-driven work, and for STEM subjects they will also involve practical experience. Going to university is not just going to school for another three years.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I have to agree with Bletchleyite that it's easier in IT however!

I've always thought it somewhat of an enigma that what is probably the newest industry of them all so often follows a very traditional approach to career paths.

 

[markymark2000]

In many industries you do still get people working their way up to management from the coalface. It might surprise you that in the IT industry this is extremely common - I worked as a developer alongside the person who is now the manager above my manager.

Is that not true in the bus industry?

IT can be true but not always. Most companies have schemed for you to go through management training but why should everyone else have to work from the bottom-up yet someone who has done nothing but sit in a classroom for 3 years can walk in and have 80% chance of being a manager within 2-3 years.

Most of the management schemes require you to have worked there for so long and they prefer you to work up a bit slower so like driver to allocator and onto management etc.

All of this is true, however it's not going to change anything. As an employer you have a choice between people educated to GCSE standard, A level standard or degree standard. You're likely to have to pay a little more for the degree ones if it's relevant for your industry (plenty of degree level applicants for any kind of work and you wont find any degree entry position that'll give you 80% chance of securing a management job either).

Just because someone is educated to a degree standard, it doesn't mean that they are any good at the job or have any real life experience in the industry. I can understand them preferring people with a degree but the point remains it should be open to all internal and external employees. If someone with a degree is best for the job, so be it. I have no issues then but to open up a management job to someone who may not have even worked in the industry and may know very little about how some of the important bits of it works, it's stupid. You have people working for you and people who may have worked elsewhere for 30 odd years but they don't get the chance to experience higher up, yet a 20 something who hasn't done a day in the industry can walk in at management. It's not right.
Almost all transport based graduate schemes I have seen give a guaranteed managerial job upon completion of the scheme. Whether that be in your area is a different matter but you will be offered a managerial job.

 

[Bletchleyite]

So, you've established that a degree is advantageous to your ideal career path, and it seems you're quite upset at the fact that not having one is limiting your career.

Have you considered completing one yourself, perhaps via the OU?

 

[sprunt]

someone who has done nothing but sit in a classroom for 3 years

Again, this is untrue.

 

[rg177]

What it does mean though is that those who are very early 20s and just graduated, have absolutely no experience about anything except sitting in a classroom.

As someone set to graduate with a journalism degree in June 2020, I can assure you that if I'd worked as you're describing then I would have been kicked off VERY quickly. If I also wrote the same sweeping generalisation you've just put I'd probably also not last very long

I'd actually love to apply for this role myself but alas I need to get learning to drive first!

 

[Starmill]

It's so unedifying that, having come to this board to access talent, members respond to a verified representative of Go Ahead Group by criticising their recruitment strategy.

I would take the view that it is a vote of confidence in the capabilities, good humour and positive contribution of these forums that somebody from Go Ahead wishes to use it to bring attention to their vacancies. They wouldn't do so if there were no prospect of acquiring talented and committed candidates.

If members have real problems with the modern employment market, I would say that those are rightly addressed as a matter of government policy, and I would recommend writing to their MP with their concerns, rather than coming here to complain. Go Ahead are entitled to recruit in the way that they wish, and to appoint people who will meet the needs of their business.

I offer my best wishes to everyone who applies for the vacancy.

 

[CC 72100]

Almost all transport based graduate schemes I have seen give a guaranteed managerial job upon completion of the scheme. Whether that be in your area is a different matter but you will be offered a managerial job.

Well be rest assured that this is not universal, if you're no good then as far as the company is concerned they've had their try before you buy and they're not wanting to 'buy' you!

 

[B7rleThrasher]

I’m a product of a bus group graduate scheme and it’s very disconcerting reading some of the posts on here - the biggest challenge even to the most competent graduate trainee is the unfounded criticism and scepticism of young people in the industry.

I was lucky enough to secure a 4-depot managerial role off the back of a graduate scheme and I’m a couple of days into a new role abroad with another big bus group - I’ve been nothing but supported along the way - why? Because I’ve invested a huge amount of time into being on the front line, getting my hands dirty, driving buses and learning on the job. You never stop learning, moving abroad is already proving to be a fulfilling experience!

 

[Megafuss]

I've dealt with enough operations managers which have been either from the graduate pool or through the business from the "bottom" to know that they are both as good or bad as each other.

Common traits I have found.... the good ones (grad/non grad) have a bit of personality which the "system" doesn't batter out of them. The bad ones behave like they are made like sausages or don't like upsetting folk

 

[37114]

Why does everyone have to be a graduate. Can't they just employ people who want to get into the industry without going via university. Just because people haven't been to Uni, it doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing, in fact, they probably know more about what they are doing because they haven't been stuck in a Uni for the past however many years.

It annoys me so much that they are happy to offer graduate to management schemes but won't try to help non graduates into the industry in non driving roles.

As per my earlier post there are many people who have progressed through a non graduate career path to be very successful, some without ever taking a degree, some who have done an OU degree or similar later in life. You seem to be implying that having a degree or not is a very binary enabler to career success and that is really not the case, it is down to the individual (I.e. you) how you forge a career and exploit your potential.

 

[njlawley]

This is one of two "entry to management" schemes that Go Ahead runs. The Management Graduate scheme is very successful and has resulted in some excellent young managers entering the fold. But there is also a Management Trainee programme for existing members of staff, so that drivers etc can have the opportunity to progress through that channel.

 

[RJ]

Why does everyone have to be a graduate. Can't they just employ people who want to get into the industry without going via university. Just because people haven't been to Uni, it doesn't mean they don't know what they are doing, in fact, they probably know more about what they are doing because they haven't been stuck in a Uni for the past however many years.

It annoys me so much that they are happy to offer graduate to management schemes but won't try to help non graduates into the industry in non driving roles.

Ambition and drive is entirely down to an individual - you can't just get annoyed and blame other people for lack of opportunities because ultimately, you choose your own path.

You don't have to be a graduate to get into a non-driving role, but it does usually help if you have demonstrable skills, knowledge and experience. Whilst there is always some learning element in any role, not every role is about building up skill sets from scratch. Why not market yourself as a talented individual that the company would feel compelled to hire?

Alternatively, what's stopping you from going in at the top and starting your own bus company? There isn't any requirement at all to have gone to university at any stage in the process of running such a business.

If you don't want to go to university and apply for graduate schemes yourself, maybe network and wrangle some experience in different departments. The more contacts you make who can see your skills, the better chances you have of securing other roles.

Don't waste time hating on graduates. I know a few who have risen fairly quickly and have a reputation for being able to turn their hand to whatever role they do. I am a bus driver and forever hear colleagues talking about graduate managers - some are well respected.

There are options available but one thing that won't help is being angry at companies who are trying to attract talent.