Graduate Project Manager Review

The scheme was very structured, and it was designed to give graduates a very broad range of experiences: There were 3 main 8-months rotations in 3 different departments across Leeds, York, Milton Keynes and Manchester which allowed me to network with many colleagues across the company and industry. The structured training enabled us to acquire the APM, Prince 2 qualifications, as well as the IEMA, IOSH, CIRO and Fuel Learning qualifications, too. The graduate scheme managers looked after the graduates well: they provided support, clarity and guidance and helped to make us improve our placement experiences. Overall, a fantastic experience with loads of opportunity to grow, explore and to customize the scheme based on what the graduate is interested in.

Rotation 1: TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU)
On TRU Route, the trains' signalling systems are being upgraded to newer version of the ETCS. I was involved with creating a plan for train fitment with the new ETCS systems. Bringing together various stakeholders in the industry from all Train Operating Company sectors that operate on TRU route is what I enjoyed the most. I worked with colleagues in the passenger, freight, OTM and Heritage & Charter sectors to understand and plan how their rolling stock will be upgraded with the new ETCS system.
Rotation 2: TRU
In this team, I was mainly focused on managing depot expansion projects which aim to increase the capacity of some of the train depots on the TRU route. This gave me a very broad experience in project delivery: I led on project risks, managed change, the H&S File, led periodic progress reviews, attended site visits and performed various other activities, too. I enjoyed this role, because it gave me an in-depth understanding of what actual project management looks like and how delivery looks like in construction when working with contractors.
Rotation 3: Rail Investment Centre of Excellence (RICoE)
Last, but not least, I also worked for RICoE where I gained insight into a completely different world: Data, automation and reporting. Here I developed completely new skills: Building efficient Power BI reports to replace manual data processes with automated ones and thus, saving time for colleagues. With the automated report I created, it actually saves about 10 working hours every 4 weeks for some colleagues. This was an incredibly rewarding role because the time saved for colleagues was a very tangible outcome of my work and I gained insight to a very different part of the business.
In summary, it has been a varied, exciting and rewarding 2 years, full of learning, networking and new opportunities. I highly recommend it!

I believe whether one feels they contribute meaningfully and feel valued by the team depends on where they work, and whether they know what they are looking for. It took me time to understand what I was looking for and every rotation helped me to understand that better. Network Rail is a large organisation with a vast number of teams, functions and areas of work. Every team is different, and in my experience, at this organisation one can find the team where they feels they contribute meaningfully and are valued by the team. I definitely found teams like this and I definitely feel valued here.

There is 75% discount on rail leisure travel as a Network Rail employee which is amazing. There are also flexible work arrangements, benefits, and discounts. I think these really made a significant impact on how much I could save.

It definitely does prepare me well. There are various learning opportunities; the culture is quite self-reflective meaning that lessons learnt are important; the rotations provide a broad spectrum of experiences and in the past 2 years of this graduate scheme I made hundreds of - if not a thousand - connections.

Both the line managers and the grad scheme managers were quite helpful and provided the support I needed. Whether it was a personal difficulty, a workplace request, a question or AL booking, I always received timely, and adequate support.
The only challenge I'd say was the complexity of reporting to both the graduate scheme and the local line manager on the particular rotation. It was sometimes complex to understand what needs to be reported to whom and there were overlaps, as well. Since we started in 2023 there have been new cohorts of graduates every year and I know they always work on lessons learnt from previous cohorts, so I'm sure they got better and clearer at this.

This was highly depended on what team I worked in. Some teams are more flexible than others due to the nature of work in that team or the management in that team. For example, in teams where the work to-be-delivered was less urgent, it allowed greater flexibility in prioritisation. In contrast, where the work was more operational, and things were changing every day, work required immediate attention meaning less flexibility. Work-life balance at NR in general is great, but to gain the qualifications on this grad scheme please expect that you will need to study outside work and that there might be a significant commute time involved to attend the training days depending on how far you live from there. However, on the pro side, these will end once you complete the qualifications and work life balance will be restored.

Positive, welcoming for graduates. Currently, there is an expectation of working at least 3 days in the office, so max 2 days of home-office are allowed. There are often flexible working arrangements which are adjustments to working patterns based on an agreement with the line manager.

This has been outstandingly good. We had quite a few workshops, elearning and even training focused on these topics. They are really trying to embed these in the culture.

Yes

I would, if the friend has ambitions in the railway, in data, or in Construction Project Management. I think this is a niche industry to work in, so besides NR being a great organisation to work for, the ambitions need to be there to work in the industry.

Just like for any job description I read during applications, I the details were correct, but very high level. I feel the recruitment process gave very little information about what the actual job will be about, but I think this is due to the fact that 1) it is very difficult to describe in detail what you will be doing, 2) there is a lot of confidential information and 3) the job is quite different in all the rotations. E.g. the placement in delivery looked completely different to a placement in data. Nevertheless, the application process provided good expectations on the qualifications, training, structure and support that the scheme would provide.