Rail sector jobs are an exciting, positive destination

This is a guest blog from Southeastern Railway

Southeastern Railway’s biggest ever recruitment drive aims to hire 600 new people over the next year. They’ll join a workforce that’s already over 4,500 people, responsible for delivering half a million journeys every day.

But it faces a problem. The rail industry isn’t somewhere young people aspire to work in, with many considering it a dead end.

So to build a motivated and diverse workforce, Southeastern needs to act differently than it and the wider industry has in the past.

Having become the UK’s first rail operator to publish a Social Mobility Action Plan, they had a few starting points.

Southeastern already play a big part in supporting its region and its people, communities, and businesses. As a responsible employer they take the time to support and progress their colleagues through a rewarding career.

And with the steps outlined in their action plan they knew which communities it was that they needed to reach into to ensure they made a big impact.

Steve Foster, Southeastern’s People Director, noted how working with the Purpose Coalition helped their school engagement strategy: “they really helped to challenge our thinking, and it’s provided us with an opportunity to highlight why working in rail is a great career.

“We know some people think they need experience in the railway or specific qualifications. But that’s rarely the case and for many jobs we provide full training.”

Two of the Purpose Goals that Southeastern are most passionate about aligning themselves with are ‘Positive Destinations Post 16’ and ‘Fair Career Progression’, aimed at making sure people have access to good jobs that provide rewarding and ongoing careers.

“We are interested in applicants who have the right mindset, and we want people to progress in their career”, Steve added. “Ideally that would be in Southeastern but if they progress in Network Rail or the rest of industry, that’s great too.”

So what has Southeastern’s new approach resulted in? Having targeted their advertising in specific parts of Kent through specific digital channels, they’ve been able to change how they are perceived and widened their pool of applicants.

Steve said “We’re still processing the applications and need to fully assess the socio-economic impact of this work. But we already know that we’ve had 26 per cent more applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds and five per cent more women.

“It’s also been a great opportunity to highlight the work of colleagues and show how proud they are to work for an organsiation with a social purpose”.