What is it?
Network Rail is the organisation responsible for Britain’s railway infrastructure, from tracks and signals to bridges, viaducts and more than 2,500 stations. This includes managing day-to-day operations and maintenance, as well as redevelopment of the rail network. It has 35,000 staff and an annual budget of more than £30 billion.
What graduate jobs are on offer? Last year Network Rail more than doubled its graduate intake, hiring more than 200 university-leavers in less than 12 months. For 2010, it is running graduate programmes in commercial property, civil engineering, contracts and procurement, mechanical engineering, finance, operations and customer services, IT, project management and electrical engineering. Engineers can expect at least six placements over a four-year period.
Where are the jobs?
Network Rail’s corporate HQ is in London but it has operations throughout the UK and graduates can expect to be based in several cities during their training. All graduates begin with an induction at the training centre in Coventry.
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What’s the pay?
The starting salary for new graduates in Central London is £26,900, with those elsewhere earning at least £24,500. Network Rail also offers a welcome bonus of £3,000 and employees get a 60 per cent discount on rail season tickets and almost six weeks’ annual leave.
What’s the competition?
Britain’s leading engineering and industrial employers received an average of 45 applications per vacancy in 2009, but the odds of landing a specialist technical role were considerably better.
How is it rated?
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Network Rail was the third-highest new entry in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers in 2009.
How do I apply?
The application deadlines for several of Network Rail’s 2010 graduate schemes have passed but the company is still looking for 20 electrical engineers with a minimum of a 2.2 to begin their training later this year. Apply by this Friday, January 22. It is also recruiting 80 people for sponsorship on MSc project management courses — deadline early March. Further information at www.networkrail.co.uk/graduates
www.top100graduateemployers.com