Graduates
Our bus graduate programme is 18 to 24 months long, with a starting salary of £25,000pa. It is designed to fully prepare you for an Assistant Operations Manager (AOM) role, or equivalent. A new AOM typically earns around £35,000pa and has responsibility for safely managing hundreds of employees, thousands of customer journeys and many millions of pounds.
Your development programme with Go-Ahead is all about giving you the intensive training, qualifications, experience and management insight to be able to take on this business critical role.
What will I be doing?
What support and development will I receive?
This is an intensive programme and you will learn both on and off the job. Critically, you will be driving most of your personal development. The responsibility for your own development starts before the programme with access to hundreds of online learning modules. We will let you know what you need to complete before you start, but if you’re keen to get going and accelerate your development from day one, you can access our Learning Hub sooner.
From there the training continues with:
- An assigned mentor working with you throughout the programme
- Membership of the Young Bus Managers Network
- Membership of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation
- An interactive and experiential induction including everything from Institute of Occupational Health and Safety training to lean management, personal effectiveness and time with our CEO and other senior leaders
- On the job courses, training and qualifications to complete within your first six months, which are all arranged locally to ensure that you can operate safely and legally
- After your first three months you will begin a Diploma in Management and Leadership: an externally accredited, assessed and moderated qualification taking 12 to 18 months
- After year one, you start management development training with the other graduates, including a mock employment tribunal to understand your role and legal obligations as a leader
- Your final year is full of technical training to prepare you for your AOM role, not least of which is completing your Operators Licence Certificate of Professional Competence
- Throughout your programme you will have regular reviews, feedback and coaching to support your ongoing development
At the end of the programme you will undertake your final management development training with the other graduates, including a presentation and dinner to celebrate your completion of the programme.
How do I apply and what are you looking for?
Our rail graduate programme is two years long, with a starting salary of £25,000pa plus a £3,000 relocation package. It is designed to fully prepare you for a role as a Station Manager, Train Crew Manager or equivalent, typically earning £35,000 to £40,000pa by the end of the programme.
As a Station Manager or equivalent, you will typically be responsible for managing hundreds of employees, thousands of customer journeys and many millions of pounds of budget and assets.
Your development programme with Go-Ahead is all about giving you the intensive training, qualifications, experience and management insight to be able to take on this business critical role.
Applications for the 2019 graduate scheme are now open.
What will I be doing?
The rail graduate programme consists of three job rotations over 24 months, moving between different locations around our train networks:
Phase one
Your first rotation is eight months in a station management environment. But before you can get on to the station you will spend an intensive two months undertaking all of the critical, certified, regulatory training to ensure that you can operate effectively and safely. This is followed by six months at the station, involving everything from dispatch (safe train departure) to ticketing, passenger services, disabled passenger services, managing incidents, staff rostering, gateline (where passengers put their tickets through the gates), catering and customer care.
Phase two
Next, you will spend six months developing your knowledge of operational essentials: train planning, operational resourcing, performance control including faults and safety and behavioural standards. Again, this rotation starts with five weeks of intensive training before you get the chance to work on a project for the next four months. As part of this rotation you will scope and make a business case for the project that you then spend four months working on.
Phase three
Finally, you will spend the last eight months as an on board supervisor. As with all aspects of the rail industry you will spend the first two months undertaking extensive training before undertaking six months on the trains. As an on board supervisor you will be responsible for everything from conductors to catering, safety, managing complaints, revenue protection, incidents, damage, safety, working with the transport police, disembarking, customer care, mystery shopping and full on board assessments. 
Just remember, trains run at all hours of the day, every day of the week, so in this period you will find yourself getting up at 3am to manage the early trains, finishing at midnight on the late trains or working weekends. All of which is excellent preparation for taking up a position as a Train Crew Manager, Station Manager or equivalent role at the end of the programme.
Due to the nature of the work you will need to undertake a medical examination, which will be conditional to a job offer.
What support and development will I receive?
This is an intensive programme and you will learn a lot both on and off the job. Critically you will be driving most of your personal development. The responsibility for your own development starts before the programme with access to hundreds of online learning modules. We will let you know what you need to complete before you start, but if you’re keen to get going and accelerate your development from day one, you can access our Learning Hub sooner.
From there the training continues with:
- An assigned mentor who will work with you throughout the programme
- Membership of the Young Rail Professionals Network
- Membership of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation
- An interactive and experiential induction including everything from Institute of Occupational Health and Safety training to lean management, personal effectiveness and time with our CEO and other senior leaders
- On the job courses, training and certifications to complete across the two years to ensure that you can operate safely and legally in this safety critical, highly regulated environment
- After your first three months you will begin a Diploma in Management and Leadership: an externally accredited, assessed and moderated qualification that taking 12 to 18 months
- After year one you start management development training with the other graduates, including a mock employment tribunal to understand your role and legal obligations as a leader and manager
- Throughout the programme you will have regular reviews, feedback and coaching to support your ongoing development
- At the end of the programme you will undertake your final management development training with the other graduates, including a presentation and dinner to celebrate your completion of the programme.
How do I apply and what are you looking for?
We are looking for two Mechanical, Electrical or Electronic Engineering graduates to join the business. Our engineering graduate programme is two years long, with a starting salary of £25,000pa. It is designed to fully prepare you to become a key part of the engineering management function, and is IMechE accredited, suited to graduates aspiring to gain Incorporated or Chartered status. We expect you to become an Engineering Manager or Supervisor earning in the region of £35,000 to £40,000 by the end of the programme. You will typically be responsible for supervising critical engineering works, people management, and many millions of pounds of budget and assets.
Your development programme with Go-Ahead is all about giving you the intensive training, qualifications, experience and management insight to be able to take on this business and safety critical role.
Applications for the 2019 graduate scheme are now open.
What will I be doing?
The engineering graduate programme consists of four job rotations over two years:
Phase one/two
Your first year is full of intensive technical, regulatory and compliance training with accredited certificates, manufacturers courses, shadowing senior leaders, Group departments and extensive in-house training. In between this you will undertake two, six-month long, supervisory and management placements designed to give you hands-on maintenance experience and to develop and apply technical and analytical skills. Towards the end of the rotation, you begin to develop your people management experience. One placement is in London and one will be outside of London.
Phase three/four
Your second year will also be made up of two six-month placements. The main focus is to gain maximum exposure to the Engineering Supervisor/Manager role and to take on all of the responsibilities involved. Your role will not only include engineering management and supervision, but critically, people management, quality, compliance, work planning, budgetary and cost control, vehicle inspections, managing contractors and risk assessments. This is a significant step up in responsibility and prepares you to secure a management role at the end of the programme.
Across the two year programme you won’t just be working 9am to 5pm, you will do the night shift, find yourself getting up at 3am to manage early shifts or, finishing at midnight on the late shift. All of which is excellent preparation for the 24-7 reality of engineering within the Transport sector.
What support and development will I receive?
This is an intensive programme and you will learn a lot both on and off the job. Critically you will be driving most of your personal development. The responsibility for your own development starts before the programme with access to hundreds of online learning modules. We will let you know what you need to complete before you start, but if you’re keen to get going and accelerate your development from day one, you can access our Learning Hub sooner.
From there the training continues with:
- An assigned mentor who will work with you throughout your programme
- Membership of IMechE and progression towards Chartered status
- An interactive and experiential induction, including everything from Institute of Occupational Health and Safety training to lean management, personal effectiveness and time with our CEO and other senior leaders
- On the job courses, training, certifications and qualifications arranged locally to ensure you can operate safely and legally. Covering everything from audit and quality to vehicle maintenance, testing and technical skills
- After your first six month placement you will complete the Engineering Managers course to prepare you for supervisory and management responsibility
- Participation in the Group Engineering Forum consisting of four, one day meetings every year
- Visits, shadowing and training courses with manufacturers including Scania, Volvo, Cummins, ADL, Wrights, ZF Powertrain and more
- Management courses including Chartered Institute of Management Accountant accredited financial/budgetary training at the London School of Business and Finance, the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health course and examination, Certificate of Professional Competence in national passenger transport and much more
- A programme of visits and shadowing with key Group departments such as marketing, environmental management, traffic, operations, properties and service and senior managers
- Throughout your programme you will have regular reviews, feedback and coaching to support your ongoing development
- At the end of the programme you’ll undertake your final management development training with the other graduates, including a presentation and dinner to celebrate your completion of the programme.