Northern Apprenticeships you don’t want to miss
These apprenticeships at locations across the UK are open for applications right now!
Northern are recruiting for some exciting apprenticeships!
Apprenticeships are a great opportunity to earn money while you earn valuable qualifications that will set you up for life. And with Northern, you’ll get all this too:
- The chance to work at a choice of locations across the North of England (not at locations across the UK).
- More and more opportunities to join the company and build a career in the industry upon completion, as Northern expands.
- A chance to get to know about your City and how the industry keeps people moving, whilst focusing on long term sustainability.
Northern Rail Apprentices
The apprenticeships going right now are:
Rail Engineering Apprentice (3 Year Fixed Term)
If you enjoyed subjects like Maths, Physics, Chemistry, IT or just like taking stuff a part and re-building it then maybe and Engineering Apprenticeship might be right up your street. Here at Northern we have 4 Engineering Train Care Centres where we repair, maintain, and clean our fleet of 180 trains and service trains on behalf of other train operators. It’s your typically mechanical, electrical type stuff but on millions of pounds of metal that can travel high speeds across the country.
If that floats your boat, then why not take a close look at how we can offer you an apprenticeship scheme and find out how we can support you through into your first career step into Rail Engineering.
The industry is moving so quickly that in 3 or 4 years you might find yourself branching out into Quality, Production, Fleet Management – the apprenticeships help you to go places. Many Apprentices choose to stay with Northern after their apprenticeships and are now enjoying rewarding careers across many areas of the business.
Business Administration (15 Month Fixed Term)
A business like Northern has a lot going on behind the scenes, we have a whole range of head office functions and station staff who work together to keep the trains running and look after out people and a Business Administration Apprenticeship roles are a great way to join the industry and get a taste of where you might like to focus your career in the future.
You’ll get the opportunity to work alongside some of more experienced professionals who will offer mentoring, coaching, and training alongside hands on experience in a range of different customer focused and support teams.
The 15-month programme will equip you with all the skills and knowledge that you’ll need to take your first steps into an exciting and evolving career.
Train Planning Production Trainee (2 year Fixed Term)
If you are a logical thinker, love to solve problems and have a strong attention to detail, then the Northern Train Planning Apprenticeship opportunity could be just what you’re looking for. You’ll be earning as you learn whilst you work towards a Level 3 qualification in Business Administration.
During the time you’ll spend working in your role, you’ll gain experience with different teams and departments, such as our Customer Experience Team, our Training Team and our Management Team. So if you’re keen to really kickstart your career in a dynamic and diverse environment, gaining qualifications that will set you up for life while earning money, this is your chance!
Just make sure you get your application in as soon as possible, as the deadline is 13th March!
Still unsure? Here’s Alexandra Widdop’s experience as a year 2 apprentice working in the Neville Hill Depot in Leeds.
Alexandra Widdop, left, and Northern Apprentices
What’s your name?
My Name is Alexandra Widdop, I am 22 years old. I am currently a 2nd year apprentice working at Neville Hill Depot.
How do you personally feel about the benefits of doing an apprenticeship?
The benefits of doing an apprenticeship are that you are able to learn on the job. Most college courses are predominantly course work where as an apprenticeship is both course work and practical. With an apprenticeship you are learning far more than what a book can teach you, you are learning how to solve real problems in real time, you are gaining the knowledge from other workers who have over 20 years of experience in their field. This to me is far more beneficial with growing in a career.
How did you get to where you are today?
Personally I did the typical A level course, I made it one year into A-levels and knew it was not for me, THIS IS OK! I moved on from A-levels and chose to do a nail technician and massage therapy course at college which resulted in me gaining work experience within a salon.
This was a crucial part of my career journey as I learnt a lot about myself, with this job I learnt confidence within myself as well as people skills. However, I knew this was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, that’s when I did a complete 180 and applied for an engineering job. It was completely out of my comfort zone but I had grown up tinkering on cars with my brother so I knew I already enjoyed fixing things and being hands on.
This was the best decision I have ever made for my career. I am now in a career with great progression and I am constantly learning new things. I am learning hands-on skills and how to problem solve in real life scenarios.
How do you see Engineering changing in the future and what opportunities do we have to positively impact on building fantastic transport for customers in the future?
In the near future it looks as though most public transport are moving towards electric power. This is something that is completely new as most of the train classes are either diesel, being able to be there whilst these developments occur is definitely interesting. As I am an apprentice at the moment I will be lucky enough to be there when these changes occur and will be able to be some of the ones who get to carry out the transition from diesel to electric passenger trains.
What are your top tips for a young person considering a career in engineering?
My top tip of all is DO IT. The greatest achievements are made when you push yourself outside of your comfort zone. If you don’t know what you want to do, try engineering, there are far more to it then just being a fitter. There are so many different routes you can take from fixing the trains to designing them. Engineering is the future so get involved whilst you can and enjoy the journey!
What is your vision of 2050 and what would you like Engineering to look like in the future?
My vision for engineering in the future is to have younger people join the industry for fresh and new ideas, to have them train alongside the knowledgeable workforce we have now and to grow together.
Why do you think companies need to be encouraging girls/women to go into engineering?
Engineering should be about inclusion of everyone, young/old men/women. We should be encouraging those with an interest in engineering and show them that the opportunities in the industry are endless regardless.
Northern Apprentices at work
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