Hi
Just started sixth form today, and looks like we are doing work experience in July! I did my last work-ex at FGW in Swindon, but for my next I think I would like to go to Chiltern. Is there a way I can contact them about this, and does anyone know of any previous placements with Chiltern?
Cheers,
Ryan
I do! I was in almost exactly the same situation as you, I'd done my secondary school work experience with Central Trains and wanted to do my college placement with another TOC, I chose Chiltern too! I sorted it out by just writing to their HR department, shortly later they got back to me and asked me to attend a short (relatively informal) meeting at Banbury station so they could presumably check if I was the right sort of person for them.
I had a great time at Chiltern Railways and got to experience a lot of different roles; dispatching at Banbury, ticket office at Leamington Spa and Moor Street, I shadowed a guard and got to spend a few hours in their control centre (my visit coincided with a unit breaking down, which was great timing for me, as I got to see how all 'went down', from organising another unit to recover it to watching the driver lay detonators on the live station CCTV feed! I also got to attend a (very long) meeting of the companies various managers and briefly met Adrian Shooter, the Chairman of the company! You'd probably also get a tour of Marylebone station too, as I did; for such a small station, it has a heck of a lot of rooms upstairs and underground, it's like a maze! When I was down there I spent hours hanging out in the underground lost luggage area with this brilliant bloke from Nigeria (I seem to remember him telling me that), he such a funny, friendly guy. Saying that, almost everyone I met at Chiltern was incredibly friendly, no one seemed annoyed by me being there.
So after that unintentional essay, I'm basically saying go for it. When I had my interview with the HR women, she said that they wanted offer more work experience opportunities in future. Seeing as that was only two years ago, I'd be surprised if that stance has changed.
