Young Rail Professionals (YRP) is seeking support and collaboration in a cross-industry effort to inspire the next generation to join the booming railway industry. Gathering support from far and wide, and speaking with employers, professional institutions, educators, STEMNET, and government, YRP is proposing a National Rail Week to commence in 2016.
Vision for National Rail Week
Our vision is to focus on promoting the railway industry as a great place to grow and develop a career, as well as inspiring and developing young people on the various career paths in the rail industry.
Our YRP Ambassadors team is a group of young professionals already working in the industry that have a passion to “Get Ahead and Give Back” by working with other young individuals and providing advice on career options in the rail industry. We do this by supporting rail industry recruitment fairs, working with schools, colleges, and universities and supporting third-party events across the UK.
We see National Rail Week as a way for our YRP Ambassadors and wider leadership to work with cross-industry bodies, professional institutions, railway industry employers and educators to promote the railway industry in a united effort, nationwide, for an entire week.
We wish for the railway industry to open its doors and bring in young people, their parents, their teachers and their careers advisors to see first-hand the exciting projects and sites which are delivering the future sustainability of the UK.
We also wish for the railway industry to reach out, through seminars, public events and schools outreach, to promote its many inspiring opportunities and messages for young people, brought together under a single banner of a National Rail Week.
We have gained the enthusiasm of government and of the national STEMNET coordinators to rally them in backing this initiative and helping it reach as far as possible across the nation.
Who will be involved in National Rail Week?
Our YRP Ambassadors are the face of our industry, providing young people with a unique insight into the great careers the industry has to offer. We aim, in tandem with partners from across the railway industry, to inspire young people (ages 11- 19 years), educators and careers advisors, by raising awareness of career opportunities in the railway industry.
Each promoter of National Rail Week can contribute in unique and constructive ways. For example, rail industry employers can arrange site visits and presentations to bring young people into their companies, but they can also commit their graduates, apprentices and other employees to go out into schools and deliver seminars and events in the community.
Professional institutions can hold seminars, stage outreach events and provide members to volunteer for schools outreach.
All of the above arrangements could be coordinated through the regional branches of YRP, for local support across a national network of motivated volunteers. YRP can work closely with educators, employers and professional institutions in each region to deliver monumental local impact as part of a national dialogue.
Benefits to Railway Industry Companies
National Rail Week will lead to a result that is greater than the sum of its parts; with large-scale buy-in across many companies and institutions, the positive publicity for the achievements and career opportunities in the rail industry will reach a zenith in the public consciousness across Great Britain, under a united banner of National Rail Week.
Participation in a National Rail Week will showcase railway companies, raising profiles at local, regional, and national levels, with educators, the media, and the general public. Showcasing can help increase their respective attractiveness as an employer, enhance business contacts, community relationships, and the all-important staff retention and recruitment.
With the support of the YRP Ambassadors Committee to arrange local outreach opportunities, National Rail Week also allows for a large- scale, coordinated effort to develop employees’ presentational skills, giving staff the opportunity to inspire, encourage and engage groups of young people.
A National Rail Week will positively influence future generations: it’s not just the students you will be reaching, but also those who have an influential role in their lives – their teachers.
The messages which you give to students also inform their teachers, who can propose the railway industry when talking to their students about potential career options. Through successful teacher engagement, you will be reaching generations of students, who will be the future leaders of the railway industry.
Enquiries from companies large and small, from educators, and from enthusiastic people (of all ages) in the industry are all welcome! To learn more about the National Rail Week proposal, and to lend the support of yourself, your company, or your organisation, please contact: [email protected]
