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About Network Rail

About Network Rail

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Are you ready to make a difference in people's lives? At Network Rail, we connect people and goods with where they need to be. Click here to watch our inspiring video to learn more about us!

We want to build a diverse and inclusive organisation that reflects the passengers we serve. To achieve this, we aim to make the most of the skills and expertise of our talented workforce. Together, we intend to create a safe and accessible railway for everyone. Discover more about the importance of diversity and inclusion at Network Rail by clicking here.

About our people and the recruitment process: we're an inclusive employer of choice and we welcome applications from everyone. We encourage our colleagues to work flexibly, If you want to consider working flexibly, just let us know and we'll do our best to help and invest in your career with us, whilst you have a healthy work life balance. 

We're also a Disability Confident Leader employer and we'll try our best to adapt the process and offer a reasonable alternative to help support people with disabilities access, apply and interview for roles.

Brief Description

About the role

We have an exciting opportunity for an Early Engagement Client Partner to support our continued growth to build a future skills pipeline of talent into the business. In this hands-on role, your challenge will be to inspire young people, particularly those from under-represented groups to ensure STEM careers is seen as a viable career choice for younger people.  You will take ownership in the planning and delivery of our national STEM programmes, from work experience, school education programmes, events, campaigns and digital offerings.

A significant part of the role is to engage with a variety of stakeholders internally and externally, who support the delivery of our early career programmes. This is a vital role for Network Rail to support our continued growth and will be instrumental in helping us deliver successful outcomes and to build our diverse pipeline of talent into the business.

This role is ideal for someone passionate about early careers development and has experience of delivering outreach initiatives around early careers engagement. You should demonstrate knowledge of safeguarding, working with young people, volunteer recruitment, planning and delivering events and education programmes. We are looking for someone who is organised and possess a creative approach to problem solving and initiating improvements. This is a varied and exciting role and will involve travel to different events and offices and will require overnight stays.

About the role (External)

What does the average day look like?

Key Accountabilities

·                           Develop and implement the corporate strategy and framework for early engagement and Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) to support Network Rail’s future resourcing requirements.

·                           Create and manage a framework of external partnership programmes to support Network Rails’ requirements for future new entrant talent pipelines. This will involve the day-to-day management, tactical problem solving and stakeholder management.

·                           Create and maintain an internal network of all new entrants, STEM ambassadors and early engagement volunteers to share resources and ideas to create a consistent message to be delivered to young people.

·                           Manage and execute high level early engagement marketing activity through a range of social and digital channels and events to build reach and engagement with future talent, education providers and parents/carers.

·                           Engage and build the capability and tools available to internal stakeholders in order to integrate new and existing partnership programmes into business-as-usual activity.

·                           Liaise with business functions and use operational and strategic workforce planning knowledge and market insights to anticipate future capability demands and to shape entry points for future school, college and university leavers.

·                           Provide guidance, support and best practice to internal stakeholders particularly the early engagement leads in the routes and regions, on marketing activities including internal and external engagement workshops, insight days, events and other engagement tools.

·                           Key interface with volunteers to ensure they are correctly briefed on events and providing necessary details to ensure a smooth process and line of communication.

·                           Continuously improve partnership programmes through regular reviews with key stakeholders internally and externally.

·                           Build and manage reporting frameworks to evaluate and continuously improve the return on investment of early engagement activity.

·                           Establish frameworks and work in partnership with key third parties and external stakeholders, to share best practice and promote Network Rail as an employer of choice.

·                                        Manage early engagement comms channels (SharePoint site, Viva Engage, newsletters, email enquiries) and to produce communication and publicity materials to promote volunteering opportunities.

What essential skills and experiences are required?

Essential

·      Knowledge of early engagement, Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) interventions, the target audience and stakeholders

·      Strong project management skills demonstrating evidence of planning and delivery of a wide range of STEM school programmes and events.

·      Knowledge of developing and adapting age-appropriate STEM lesson plans and curricula for various age groups, ensuring alignment with educational standards.

·      Experience working with education partners to create hands-on learning, interactive and exciting learning experiences.

·      Experience of implementing best practice resourcing solutions to drive a value-added service.

·      Proven ability to identify and develop effective working partnerships and gain buy in from external partners.

·      Proven experience of working with business areas to identify, develop and implement appropriate resourcing solutions to meet their talent requirements.

·      Evidence of transitioning new projects into business as usual.

·      Experience of building engagement and capability with internal stakeholders. Ability to develop, high quality, trust-based relationships, and work collaboratively, internally & externally with colleagues, and clients.

·      Experience of working collaboratively across a resourcing environment with a good working knowledge of resourcing policies, processes and systems.

How to apply (External)

Duration: Permanent

Please note, secondments are subject to agreement from your line manager, please discuss this opportunity with them before applying to avoid disappointment.

Location: This role is based at The Quadrant, Milton Keynes, where you’ll be expected to work for at least two days a week. There is the opportunity for regular travel to other locations in the UK too.

Closing date: 11^th December 2023. Late applications will not be accepted.

Band & Salary: Band 4B - £35,582 - £40,029

If you have any questions about this role, or if you have an HR related questions or require any reasonable adjustments/modifications, please contact Recruitment Support: Recruitmentsupport@Networkrail.co.uk

“We’re delighted to have been named as one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality 2023.”

🌞 Generous annual leave (28 days plus statutory days), with the option to buy/sell days.

 Defined benefit pension scheme

🚂 75% subsidy on train tickets.

🎟️ Interest-free travel loan for train and car park season tickets.

🎁 Discounts at stations with your Network Rail pass.

🌍 Flexible/hybrid working arrangements.

🕊️ Volunteer leave to make a positive impact.

Plus more….

Drugs and Alcohol Standard:

Our Drugs and Alcohol Standard is changing as of 16.01.2023. All prospective candidates who have not been offered a conditional role by 16.01.2023 will be required to undergo and pass a drugs and alcohol test. Your application will be rescinded if you record a positive test. All positive drugs and alcohol test results for prospective candidates will be securely held on Sentinel database and a 5 year suspension from applying for a safety critical role, a role which requires PTS certification or a Key Safety role on Network Rail Managed Infrastructure will be enforced.

We're an inclusive employer of choice, Disability Confident Leader employer, encourage people to work flexibly and we welcome applications from everyone.