UK Rail Graduate Schemes

[BantamMenace]

Evening all,

I am currently in my final year of university studying Accounting and Finance at a UK top ten university.
I was wondering if anybody has any advice or experience of the relevant graduate schemes on offer.
I have applied for Network Rail's project management scheme in Manchester and this would be my first choice of job.
I have also applied for Arriva CrossCountry's operations/general management scheme in Birmingham.
I have considered applying to First Group but I cant decide between their Commercial and their Operations programmes, any advice would be great.


-Does anyone have any other operations/non customer facing graduate schemes to recommend?
-Does anyone know how secure these office based roles at TOCs are when a franchise is lost and won?
-How flexible on location would other TOCs be as I want to be based outside of London ideally?

 

[Mojo]

Have you looked at the London Underground & Rail management scheme? Doesn't fit your "non London" criteria but you could always commute. If you want to go into an operational role then it might be something you enjoy; as it is all one company (unlike the main line) you get to do stuff that you really cannot do with any Toc. You'd be trained to do loads, as well as the standard people and performance management stuff, most things from how to secure points and run a station, to driving trains.

As for First I'd recommend the operations management. I'm sure at Tocs in addition to First and Arriva, I've seen something on the Chiltern web site in the past.

 

[E&W Lucas]

-Does anyone know how secure these office based roles at TOCs are when a franchise is lost and won?

They're not.

Re flexibility, based on my experiences of Graduate work in my former life, they will expect you to jump through their hoops, not the other way round.
You seem to be very specific/ restricted in what you will consider. There are plenty of others out there who aren't. Lots of graduates out there, chasing very few opportunities.

 

[Simon11]

Don't just restrict yourself to only focusing on graduate jobs, there are other ways to get into the industry through normal jobs and getting experience (placement years). Look regularly at companies you are interested in to see what roles are on offer & salary levels.

I've personally gone down the route of working my way up having done a placement year, after not getting onto a graduate scheme after uni. I now have experience of working for a couple of TOCs under my belt, which is more valuable to potential employees who have spent 2-3 years on a graduate scheme working for one TOC. At the age of 25, I'm now in a fantastic role within a bidding team and learning more in a year than you would learn at a TOC for several years due to the nature of the role!

I would also advise that you have a Linkedin profile, keep this up to date and look out for potential connections. I actually got my current job through linkedin and frequently invited by recruiters for interviews.

If you decided to not consider London, then you are easily excluding yourself to 50% of the UK market for finance jobs within rail firms.

Good luck

 

[BantamMenace]

Thank you for this advice, my first choice of job would unquestionably be with Network Rail.

I also looked at applying to the likes of Maersk and DB Schenkers but they require Danish and German respectively.

I have now applied to others outside the industry like Jaguar Land Rover and Royal Mail.

Does anyone know how long it takes to hear from Network Rail after applying?

 

[RJ]

Looks like TfL (including London Underground) have now opened applications for their graduate schemes - well worth a look. It appears the entry requirements for a few of them have dropped to a 2:2.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/careers/graduate-scheme/graduate-roles

I'm also in my final year and looking at my options

 

[BantamMenace]

Yeah, i have looked at that and was also surprised that they have dropped to a 2:2 given the amount of people graduating with a 2:1 and not being able to find a job.
I hope to achieve a first or a high 2:1 so the drop isnt necessarily a good thing for me as i'll be competing against more people so each role now.

I also have submitted an application now to Manchester Airports Group as that seemed like a job where i'd be happy and enthusiastic on a day to day basis. Still not sure working in London is for me.

 

[ctrh136]

The TfL ones were reduced to 2.2 last year when they reopened applications for some of their schemes in January. They've kept those particular schemes at 2.2 for this year.

 

[Wolf]

Don't just restrict yourself to only focusing on graduate jobs, there are other ways to get into the industry through normal jobs and getting experience (placement years). Look regularly at companies you are interested in to see what roles are on offer & salary levels.


Good luck

Agreed. I went to uni a few years ago and am now a trainee driver. Gaining a degree is a good way to make yourself stand out for Driver, Conductor or even Signaller roles. Yes theoretically you need a lot less than a degree to apply for Driver and Conductor roles but making yourself stand out, especially for driver jobs is a whole different board game. All three pay well, even conductor which a lot of people think low paid, pays around £30000 a year or more when overtime is included and the working conditions and benefits are very similar to what drivers get. Non of these jobs are what i would consider unskilled or beneth graduates, training can be tough and the working environment is very strict with regards to following rules and regs and not making mistakes. A lot of graduate roles also pay considerably less.

 

[BantamMenace]

Agreed. I went to uni a few years ago and am now a trainee driver. Gaining a degree is a good way to make yourself stand out for Driver, Conductor or even Signaller roles. Yes theoretically you need a lot less than a degree to apply for Driver and Conductor roles but making yourself stand out, especially for driver jobs is a whole different board game. All three pay well, even conductor which a lot of people think low paid, pays around £30000 a year or more when overtime is included and the working conditions and benefits are very similar to what drivers get. Non of these jobs are what i would consider unskilled or beneth graduates, training can be tough and the working environment is very strict with regards to following rules and regs and not making mistakes. A lot of graduate roles also pay considerably less.

Is there ever any scope for progression from driving into management though?

While part of me wouldnt mind being a driver i'd like to go more towards the management side and hopefully eventually the franchise bidding side of things.

 

[RJ]

Yeah, i have looked at that and was also surprised that they have dropped to a 2:2 given the amount of people graduating with a 2:1 and not being able to find a job.
I hope to achieve a first or a high 2:1 so the drop isnt necessarily a good thing for me as i'll be competing against more people so each role now.

I also have submitted an application now to Manchester Airports Group as that seemed like a job where i'd be happy and enthusiastic on a day to day basis. Still not sure working in London is for me.

You may be competing against more people, but the recruiter might not consider them to be the same calibre as you - never be dissuaded by competition!

There was a careers fair at the university I attend a couple of days ago. Among some of those already mentioned, Colas Rail were advertising their schemes. It sounded quite good, there was an emphasis on investing in personal development and a certain degree of freedom and choice in what placements you do. There's also the opportunity to attain the necessary competencies to drive trains if you so desire.

http://www.colasrail.co.uk/careers/graduate_programme.html

 

[muz379]

Agreed. I went to uni a few years ago and am now a trainee driver. Gaining a degree is a good way to make yourself stand out for Driver, Conductor or even Signaller roles. Yes theoretically you need a lot less than a degree to apply for Driver and Conductor roles but making yourself stand out, especially for driver jobs is a whole different board game. All three pay well, even conductor which a lot of people think low paid, pays around £30000 a year or more when overtime is included and the working conditions and benefits are very similar to what drivers get. Non of these jobs are what i would consider unskilled or beneth graduates, training can be tough and the working environment is very strict with regards to following rules and regs and not making mistakes. A lot of graduate roles also pay considerably less.

Im a graduate and currently working as a conductor . Like you said add up your commission overtime and Sundays which are paid extra at my TOC £30k is easily achievable. and out of all of my Friends that I graduated with I earn the most apart from one girl who earns £44k but works in London so has to pay London prices . The working conditions are great as well , 5 day weekends every 5 weeks and no obligation to work Sundays,guranteed 12 hours between shifts , none of this daft forced unpaid overtime you get in other industries , strong union recognition ,full uniform including footwear provided ,free parking - one of my friends pays £90 a month for city center parking . Decent annual leave and to be honest I dont feel overqualified for the job . There is a great deal of responsibility in that you are left alone to do your job so have to do it the way you have been instructed .

Prior to this I was working in retail as a manager . And the micromanagement and mithering you got from Managers was unbearable . The money was also nowhere near as good .

For me joining the railway was the best decision I ever made and eventually one day I want to go driving .Id much rather a job where I get given my diagram at the start of the day and work through that unsupervised . Compared to a lot of graduate jobs where you have one manager or another breathing down your neck .

In terms of Career prospects , Because of your operational knowledge and experience train crew are valued in terms of internal promotion opportunities , at least that's my experience at my TOC . When I was training and we visited control all apart form the maintenance control staff where ex train crew ,maintenance controllers had come form an engineering background understandably . You obviously have the management of train crew themselves be it driver or guards manager . You also have roles like Operations Manager which will put you in charge of managing all of the staff at a Depot or something like that . Then there are other head office roles like rostering , performance management , procurement .

 

[RJ]

c2c's schemes were advertised through the university email today - http://www.c2c-online.co.uk/about-us/careers/graduates/index

 

[BantamMenace]

Just to update you with where im at;

I've reached the final stage of an assessment day with Jaguar Land Rover to be held in the new year sometime.
I've just completed my online numerical test with Network Rail and waiting to hear back.
I've passed the written application stage with Arriva Cross Country and i'm now waiting to hear what the next stage is.
I've submitted my written application to Manchester Airports Group.

I also met with a representative from Network Rail at my university's careers fair the other day. He said network rail are notoriously slow at getting back to people and getting them through the recruitment process. He was also a project manager that joined through the graduate scheme and he couldn't have expressed any more about how relaxed NR tend to be when it comes to the hours you work at project delivery, i.e. theres no push for you to work nights, weekends and holidays as by then it is in the hands of the construction contractor, can anyone second this?

 

[387star]

Im a graduate and currently working as a conductor . Like you said add up your commission overtime and Sundays which are paid extra at my TOC £30k is easily achievable. and out of all of my Friends that I graduated with I earn the most apart from one girl who earns £44k but works in London so has to pay London prices . The working conditions are great as well , 5 day weekends every 5 weeks and no obligation to work Sundays,guranteed 12 hours between shifts , none of this daft forced unpaid overtime you get in other industries , strong union recognition ,full uniform including footwear provided ,free parking - one of my friends pays £90 a month for city center parking . Decent annual leave and to be honest I dont feel overqualified for the job . There is a great deal of responsibility in that you are left alone to do your job so have to do it the way you have been instructed .

Prior to this I was working in retail as a manager . And the micromanagement and mithering you got from Managers was unbearable . The money was also nowhere near as good .

For me joining the railway was the best decision I ever made and eventually one day I want to go driving .Id much rather a job where I get given my diagram at the start of the day and work through that unsupervised . Compared to a lot of graduate jobs where you have one manager or another breathing down your neck .

In terms of Career prospects , Because of your operational knowledge and experience train crew are valued in terms of internal promotion opportunities , at least that's my experience at my TOC . When I was training and we visited control all apart form the maintenance control staff where ex train crew ,maintenance controllers had come form an engineering background understandably . You obviously have the management of train crew themselves be it driver or guards manager . You also have roles like Operations Manager which will put you in charge of managing all of the staff at a Depot or something like that . Then there are other head office roles like rostering , performance management , procurement .

excellent post and 40k is achievable as a conductor lol

 

[sarahj]

excellent post and 40k is achievable as a conductor lol

It might be, but then you might want a life. I do basic, plus my rostered sundays. so some RD's, but not many. my ticket sales are 100.04% of the average. My P60 said £30,000.

BTW, I have a 2.2 in European Studies (politics,history and languages). Got me a average job, in a average office and I was bored silly. On this job, if you do your job, you are left alone. no two days are ever the same, even if your doing the same 'job'. ok, there are times when its 1am on a sat night and you think, sheesh. But what the heck.